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As I read through the list, I was recalling learning these things (installing lighting, felling a tree, learning to shoot, hitching a trailer, split firewood, grill outside, fold a flag, all the outdoor and medical stuff) and realized I had learned it almost all of this in Boy Scouts. Great program.
 
pauljmccain said:
As I read through the list, I was recalling learning these things (installing lighting, felling a tree, learning to shoot, hitching a trailer, split firewood, grill outside, fold a flag, all the outdoor and medical stuff) and realized I had learned it almost all of this in Boy Scouts. Great program.
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Yep. Learned how to cuss and play poker and stuff like that too heheh.
 
Beezy said:
I just sanded a floor for a customer. The woman of the house installed it! WTF is going on here? I would let my wife near a saw or nailer. Pittsburgh is probably not that bad tho. I haven't seen man purses. Men still wear mustaches around here ffs.
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My wench runs a wet saw, paints, puts in irrigation, and yes, has installed a wood floor and reconditioned another. I think its sexy. ;) I can work on the cars and do things that require more strength... this is my second marriage. I took full custody of my 2, 4, 7 year old boys and raised em as a single dad for three years before I met my lady. Its a balanced relationship. But her first husband was a grade A certified virgina so im sure she could relate to this thread
 
emjay said:
I only qualify for 38 out of 100 on that list (in my own opinion, obviously), but as a 25yo student, I'm almost shut out of about 30 of them (the tool ownership and teach your kid part), as I don't have a kid (although I can do all of that easily enough myself :)), nor much of a need for all those tools yet, and if I need a tool, my father's a retired contractor, and my brother's a carpenter, so they will almost definitely have what I need anyways (except for some automotive tools.) The tools I do have are mostly for electronics stuff, like a soldering iron, heat gun, wire strippers, crimpers, small screwdrivers, pin removers, etc.

But I actually just got one of the listed tools on Friday, #100, when I went out and bought my own feeler gauge. It probably wasn't what they meant though, as I bought it to set the gap on my Barley Crusher grain mill rather than to use for spark plugs or anything automotive :). Speaking of which, #17 should probably be adjusted to homebrew beer from grain (or at least unhopped extract). I can just imagine some guy who used a Coopers kit once seeing that, and thinking, "I've done that!!!" despite it really not being "homebrewing" any more than throwing some Pillsbury cookies in the oven is "baking".

Interestingly enough, the categories I absolutely ace are handling emergencies, medical myths (the name is apt, and most people would probably think they get these points even if they're very wrong... eg, sucking the venom out of a snakebite), primitive skills, surviving extremes, and, oddly in a completely different direction, technology - which I could literally do blindfolded, except for taking the perfect portrait, calibrating an HDTV, and shooting a home movie, since those are all meant to produce visual results. The hardest thing in that section though is probably installing a graphics card, and the vast majority of people will say they can't do it, but I think people might just find it intimidating and not even bother trying (and risk ruining their expensive computer), as in my opinion it's probably harder to somehow mess it up than do it right.

And then a good chunk of the rest of my points come from the Home section, some of which is interesting because a lot of manly men would scoff at the idea of using a sewing.machine, but it's a great skill to have. My family was never poor, but I remember as a little kid having way more fun making my own stuffed animals than with ones that were simply bought. I don't understand how folding a flag is such a crucial skill (and admittedly don't know the "right" way to do it), but I'm guessing it's just an American thing
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it is an american thing, before he civil war, it was uncommon in ANY country to fly a national flag for anything other than military purposes.

and 73, trying to be honest, and i'm 22 (but i did have the luck to work at a big harware store in a small town, and spent most of the time picking coworkers brains) most of them, like everyone else so far, i learned as a boy scout, others by necessity or from experience at Ace.
 
47 posts in and still no mention of manly virtues such as being supportive and loving to family, reliable and trustworthy to friends, chivalrous or any of that other good stuff that anyone can be while holding a purse.
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
47 posts in and still no mention of manly virtues such as being supportive and loving to family, reliable and trustworthy to friends, chivalrous or any of that other good stuff that anyone can be while holding a purse.
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Actually, family virtues WERE mentioned.
 
Metro-men called to check an A/C not cooling get there and the guys friend is there with A/C service van but he only helps the techs sits in the shade and waits for them to call him to help..WTF watching the techs do their job showed me the right and quite a bit of the wrong ways to do work ,can't believe the way people don't care to know at least an inkling of how things work. These are the people that can't understand why they get taken to the cleaners by Mechanics and Plumbers etc.....
 
Odd thread.

Let's see, I can bench more than my body weight, etc., etc. I can do some home repairs, but I'm also man enough to know what I can't do. I can fix my cars, but I can also put a French braid in my daughter's hair.

I prefer to think of my 'manliness' as it relates to my worth to my wife and daughters, not in terms of what society mandates I should be able to do.

To each his own.
 
Real big man serious stuff in here now jeez we are not worthy. The rest of us are all just pieces of crap because we didn't post first lul
 
I don't post much here, but I love this forum simply because 90% of the people posting can do 90% of the items on that Popular Mechanics list. It's hard to find people like that in California.
 
In general the U.S. is starting to lack people who can/are willing to do hard work themselves. Mike Rowe recently went before a senate committee to show how dire our countries situation is in terms of lacking skilled labor (see link below). I teach high school science and I had a good conversation with my students the other day about how silly it is that society sees someone with a bachelor degree in art history as more successful than someone who has a two year degree and is a master welder.


http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/mike-rowe-senate-testimony.html
 
IowAve said:
In general the U.S. is starting to lack people who can/are willing to do hard work themselves. Mike Rowe recently went before a senate committee to show how dire our countries situation is in terms of lacking skilled labor (see link below). I teach high school science and I had a good conversation with my students the other day about how silly it is that society sees someone with a bachelor degree in art history as more successful than someone who has a two year degree and is a master welder.


http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/mike-rowe-senate-testimony.html
Click to expand...

As a machinist of 12 years, I know in our shop (modern cnc) we can scarcely find anyone willing to train. Oh, and, half of my friends went through various universities around the country, and are still struggling to pay their loans off meanwhile making significantly less than I do. If there's a real legitimate reason for going to school, such as a particular career to be pursued, that's great. But most of these people just went to college because their HS counselors/parents told them its the thing to do, but now they are drifiting around doing stuff like teaching developmentaly disabled kids, or working for Social Servicies. There degrees are earning them nothing.
 
beaksnbeer said:
Metro-men called to check an A/C not cooling get there and the guys friend is there with A/C service van but he only helps the techs sits in the shade and waits for them to call him to help..WTF watching the techs do their job showed me the right and quite a bit of the wrong ways to do work ,can't believe the way people don't care to know at least an inkling of how things work. These are the people that can't understand why they get taken to the cleaners by Mechanics and Plumbers etc.....
Click to expand...

Pretty similar to how I can't believe people don't care enough to write in coherent sentences.

As shecky said, to each his own.
 
OK, I had to go read the list and happy to say I got 98 out of 100, then found I am a complete failure because I can't bench press my own weight. Thats actually because I trashed both shoulders loading a 150 lb battery into a cabinet, so maybe not that bad. I can still handle the dead lift and squat well beyond the requirements so I am ok.
I do own a sewing machine and will someday learn to use it,

WTF is a French Knife?
 
I blame the parents :)

I had this neighbor years ago who used to get his mom (and her friends) to drive down from a neighboring state to paint his condo. I actually painted one of the rooms for him.

Does he not know how to paint? I dunno. I just think he couldn't be bothered.

My current boyfriend is a fairly lazy guy. He'll do the mechanical things that he enjoys doing like tinkering with his car and motorcycle, but it takes a lot of nagging to get him to do the small repairs around here that the landlord doesn't take care of.

Hell, I ended up replacing the latch on the back screen door because I got tired of waiting for him to do it.

Can't fathom one of the metro guys incapable or unwilling to change their own light bulbs. I'd probably laugh at them.

Basic skills every adult should have (in my opinion) - change light bulbs, replace the air filter on your car, replace a shower head, replace a toilet seat, connect basic home electronic components, paint a room without getting paint everywhere else but on the walls, hang pictures on the wall(s), assemble cheap particle board furniture... and be able to boil water (basic stove usage 101) or use a barbeque grill to cook meat to where it is no longer dangerous to eat. I would also say that it's extremely useful in this day and age to know how to obtain, install, and use anti-virus software for your computer (but then again, I'm a tech so it doesn't really count).
 
emjay said:
I don't understand how folding a flag is such a crucial skill (and admittedly don't know the "right" way to do it), but I'm guessing it's just an American thing
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2 lengthwise folds bringing the bars to the stars. Fold triangles from the bars to the stars. Tuck remainder inside last fold. All that should be seen are the stars on blue.
 
I think flag etiquette is about the most useless skill on earth. The kind of thing most of this list concerns is that of self sufficiency. I think bouts of natural disaster brings more of this necessity to the forefront. If you had to bail from the city like they do in the typical disaster movie, would you be able to kick ass and provide for your family. Hey, you there, can you gut a deer? No but I can fold the flag for you.

I almost don't blame the 3rd generation city dwellers. If you make a ton of money to pay for things to be done for you, whatever.
 
I'm not a real handy person, but I can usually figure something out if I try. The garbage disposal stopped working so I took it apart, found the aquarium pebble jammed in the side, and put it back together. No problem.

Sometimes I would rather pay a professional for specialized jobs because I've seen what kind of crappy jobs people can do when they don't understand everything. Changing a lightbulb and general maintenance is not specialized.
 
I agree that people should have some basic idea of how to take care of themselves and their belongings, but the Pop Mech list is a little ridiculous. If the question is could I do the things on the list, the answer is sure I either know how, or could figure out how to do most of them. But many of these I've never needed to do. For instance knowing how to use a sandbalster. I can honestly say I've never run into a situation that necessitated the use of a sandblaster, but I'm sure I could figure it out.
 
Bobby_M said:
I think flag etiquette is about the most useless skill on earth. The kind of thing most of this list concerns is that of self sufficiency. I think bouts of natural disaster brings more of this necessity to the forefront. If you had to bail from the city like they do in the typical disaster movie, would you be able to kick ass and provide for your family. Hey, you there, can you gut a deer? No but I can fold the flag for you.

I almost don't blame the 3rd generation city dwellers. If you make a ton of money to pay for things to be done for you, whatever.
Click to expand...

If you're not a vet, you wouldn't understand
 
Bobby_M said:
I think flag etiquette is about the most useless skill on earth. The kind of thing most of this list concerns is that of self sufficiency. I think bouts of natural disaster brings more of this necessity to the forefront. If you had to bail from the city like they do in the typical disaster movie, would you be able to kick ass and provide for your family. Hey, you there, can you gut a deer? No but I can fold the flag for you.

I almost don't blame the 3rd generation city dwellers. If you make a ton of money to pay for things to be done for you, whatever.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that was a general jab or one more locally aimed towards me. I own pistols, rifles, and shotguns. I have killed deer with muzzleloader, centerfire rifle, and shotgun. I have also cleaned said deer. I have also knocked squirrels out of trees with a .22 rifle. That same .22 harvests mistletoe at Christmas time.

Did I mention that I was until recently an ASE certified master auto tech. I am a diesel mechanic now so I didn't bother renewing it. I am a decent welder too.

Between my wife and I we have 3 4wds. A tahoe, grand cherokee, and a wrangler. Speaking of my wife. She is a better shot than I am with rifle or pistol. She wants an AR-15 for her birthday/our anniversary.

We would probably be able to hang during the not so typical doo doo smacking the fan scenario.
 
I had a buddy tell me he needed a new gas grill. I asked him why and he said it wouldn't light. I went to his house (for a bbq ironically) and it wouldn't light. I could hear the gas and new it was coming out somewhere. So I bent down, followed the gas line and saw it came disconnected. No tools needed, I lifted up the line and put the tubing over the inlet of the element. Flame lit right up!

He was going to buy a new grill because he couldn't figure it out!!!

This is also the same friend who has me do all of his mechanic work on his car. I don't mind because I like showing him but he has no interest in doing it himself in the future. He said he'd rather pay someone. He is from Kentucky and I'm from Southern California.

His dad was a government employee and my dad was a general contractor that forced me to do all of the projects with him since I was old enough to turn a wrench!

I think most men now are okay with paying someone to do their work.

I, being frugal, can't stand paying someone unless I give it a shot first. This last weekend my DIY tendencies did get the best of me. I changed my wife's transmission filter a few weeks ago by watching a few videos on Youtube and figuring it out. So I decided to change my tranny filter as well.

I got under my car, dropped the pan, swapped the filter and bolted everything back up. Just needed to add the fluid.... but couldn't find the dipstick. Turns out it was a sealed/closed transmission!!!! CRAP. So I grabbed a tow chain and had my wife pull me to the closest auto shop. They filled it for free and had a good laugh with me. Didn't charge me a dime but the manager asked me to tip his guy. I gave him $20 and wrote a great review for his boss.

Sometimes DIY can get you in a little too deep but at least I'm a MAN.
 
Great_Neck_Brewer said:
If you're not a vet, you wouldn't understand
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Thank you. I'm not a vet but a do appreciate what they have done. A fellow mechanic is a 1st Sergeant Army NG. Twenty some odd years of service. 2 tours in Iraq. A kid two doors down grew up into a young man who would guard the tomb of the unknown before doing a tour in Afghanistan. Add in the many guys that I went through high school with that have been or are currently overseas and you get a man who cries during the national anthem and appreciates a tightly folded flag.
 
mcaple1 said:
Here's the link.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/4281414

Check out number 17....at least we got that covered!
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‎7 - I can use one, I'm just not very proficient at it.
11 - No clue.
15 - I've used one before and broke my friends needle.
18 - No clue.
37 - I don't even know what a faucet cartridge is.
38 - I've never been much of a plumber.
43 - No clue.
51 - Never done it.
53 - Never done it.
56 - I don't know what a rip current is.
72 - Meh.
77 - I know how to take pictures. I don't know what constitutes the perfect portrait though.
89 - No clue.
96 - Never used one.
100 - Never used them.
 
Beezy said:
Poolside blowjobs? Exactly. Yeah I do the cooking too. I am terrible at watching the kids even though I do it.

I have to come clean. I don't work on the car too much. I have done a lot of work on cars but I hate it. Would rather pay someone to do it. We have a good mechanic that doesn't overcharge. Hell with it.
Click to expand...

Same here. I've done small stuff like changed brakes, oil, fix a flat etc. and I've even done more advanced stuff like swapping a door, lowering my truck, etc. I prefer to pay someone else to do it.
 
pauljmccain said:
As I read through the list, I was recalling learning these things (installing lighting, felling a tree, learning to shoot, hitching a trailer, split firewood, grill outside, fold a flag, all the outdoor and medical stuff) and realized I had learned it almost all of this in Boy Scouts. Great program.
Click to expand...

I'm an Eagle Scout, always will be! I still put it on my resume and I got my first job in High School because it was on there (and it was really the only thing I had on there so it worked out well!)

I plan on putting my boys in scouting, when they get older. The early years in cub scouts are fun but the later years around 9-10 years old is where they really start to learn. Boy Scouts are a great program and it pisses me off that Obama is the first president that will not sign/send a congratulations to Eagle Scouts.

I received a letter from Presidents Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush Jr. and a lot of local government and Congressman for my state. I still have it all in a box and it is one of the only sentimental items I will hang onto.
 
I've just finished fixing a new ceiling fan to the existing light fitting in the kitchen. The two are different makes and aren't supposed to be connected in a single assembly at all. Do I win a man card or a Darwin award? :D
 
Gender rolls only use is to help people remember what equipment they have between their legs. I think everyone should know how to swing a hammer and operate basic (power)tools. I think most people are just lazy.

Thinking back, my mom taught me almost as much as my dad did when it comes to being handy with tools, and giving me the confidence to know I can do it myself.
 
Interesting, there isn't a single communication, empathy, social, or stress-management skill on the whole list.

What is this the 1950's?
 
BenjaminBier said:
Interesting, there isn't a single communication, empathy, social, or stress-management skill on the whole list.

What is this the 1950's?
Click to expand...

Word.
 

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