100 Skills Every Man Should Know

[BigKahuna]

+1

Horse farm raised here.... means we didn't produce anything but road apples.

I just spit ice tea on my computer screen!

At least they weren't sheep!

 

[Revvy]

For me, this list (and similar ones) are really more about the satisfaction and fulfillment in knowing that I've amassed skills for a level of self-sufficiency that has been dying in this country for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if in these bleak economic times there is a resurgence of interest in the homesteading movement.

Here, here...

I've vented about this for awhile, the fact that some basic skills are becoming lost arts...

I mean gone are the days of the true "shade tree mechanic" or at least when you had a car problem and popped the hood in the garage or your driveway, within minutes every oldtimer, and teenager who knew cars in the neighborhood came over to help, and 9 times out of 10 if you couldn't fix it, one of the other guys could...Now in most cars you cant even change a lightbulb, let alone do something like change a fanbelt, let alone any serious car diagnoses without a computer...

There's some nearly lost skills I'd still like to try at least once...blacksmithing, glass blowing, and I want to learn to weld, even with the stick welder mentioned in the quiz.

And yeah knowing a few things like this will really matter when the world goes to hell in a handbasket...

Brewing is really a great skill to know, the history of brewing has been about making something potable even when the water is bad...even kids drank the third runnings or small beers...

I know there's some people on here that I'd like to have at my back when the sh@t hits the fan...I've been thinking that there needs to be some off the grid communication system/postal system for when the power grid goes down....Geez I sound like something out of the Postman or something

 

[BigKahuna]

Can we add "How To Use The ****ing Search Function" to that list and make it 101 things?

 

[flyangler18]

Can we add "How To Use The ****ing Search Function" to that list and make it 101 things?

Now I just spit iced tea on my monitor, you bastid!

 

[wildwest450]

Why are you homos drinking iced tea? This is a homebrew site manup.

 

[Yooper]

Most of that crap is every day life when you live in the country. You are just not going to survie till adulthood without learning at least 75 out of that list. The rest...You just gotta turn off the damn tv and go outside!

That's a good point, and the reason I contend that this past year's flooding out in Iowa and some other places didn't turn out as bad as it could have. The people there have a very broad skill set.

I'm NOT a man, but I have many of those skills. Part of it comes from my current lifestyle- I can easily run a chainsaw and hunt and fish, and probably better than many men. When you heat your home with wood (I did until recently), you will freeze if you don't learn how to cut wood.

But, some of us are about 20 years older than the "less skilled", and sometimes things are just learned in a lifetime of experience. I've slept in a hammock in a jungle in Central America, play hockey, scuba dived in the Bahamas, lived in Europe, had kids, bought and sold homes, etc.

Now, I feel inadequate for not having a working knowledge of power tools.

 

[shecky]

Most of that crap is every day life when you live in the country. You are just not going to survie till adulthood without learning at least 75 out of that list. The rest...You just gotta turn off the damn tv and go outside!

Don't live in the country. Never have. Maybe I should read the list more carefully. I don't watch TV and spend most of my time outside. But never during that time have I needed to drop a tree.

 

[wildwest450]

Now, I feel inadequate for not having a working knowledge of power tools.

Hmmm, im not touching that with a ten foot pole.

 

[flyangler18]

But never during that time have I needed to drop a tree.

Not unless that's a fancy new euphemism for poopin'!

 

[shecky]

Not unless that's a fancy new euphemism for poopin'!

Now that I could do outdoors if need be. I have learned what is and isn't poison ivy.

 

[srm775]

That's a good point, and the reason I contend that this past year's flooding out in Iowa and some other places didn't turn out as bad as it could have. The people there have a very broad skill set.

Well, I wouldn't go that far ... Madison, Wisc. area was hit pretty hard and it's full of twits.

 

[HBHoss]

Don't live in the country. Never have. Maybe I should read the list more carefully. I don't watch TV and spend most of my time outside. But never during that time have I needed to drop a tree.

If you're selective in your viewing, you can learn a lot of this stuff on TV these days. You have DIY channel and Discovery quite a bit of knowledge there.
I've done some hunting (bow) but was never successful so I never did learn how to dress game and butcher it. That is one skill I would find useful in A.Z. days.

 

[shecky]

If you're selective in your viewing, you can learn a lot of this stuff on TV these days. You have DIY channel and Discovery quite a bit of knowledge there.
I've done some hunting (bow) but was never successful so I never did learn how to dress game and butcher it. That is one skill I would find useful in A.Z. days.

Yeah, go figure. I've got DirecTV and hundreds of channels at my disposal. What do I watch? The Red Sox and college football.

I am such a loser. But I bet I can turn a double play better than any of you. Better yet, I've got a killer knuckleball and I could dunk back in the day.

BFD.

 

[zoebisch01]

Well, I wouldn't go that far ... Madison, Wisc. area was hit pretty hard and it's full of twits.

I have never been there, but in general I think people can have these skills without being highly educated. I have seen some really dumb hicks (for lack of a better, more polite description) who have just enough knowledge to be dangerous .

At any rate, a country person could easily find himself/herself in harms way in a city in no time flat and visa-versa. The list seems to be biased towards skills that you would find living out in the country rather than the city.

 

[shecky]

At any rate, a country person could easily find himself/herself in harms way in a city in no time flat and visa-versa. The list seems to be biased towards skills that you would find living out in the country rather than the city.

Agreed there. Crossing safely against the light in NYC is a skill that not many have. Navigating Penn Station is no picnic, either.

 

[olllllo]

effit. I am building a better list.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/100-more-skills-every-hbt-member-should-know-83534/

 

[FireBrewer]

I got 98%.

7. Use a stick welder

Would love to learn to weld...need to ask my father-in-law sometime, he has a stick welder.

11. Reverse hypothermia

A lot more to it than just throwing warm blankets on them. If you handle them too roughly or warm the extremities first, you could stop their heart.

39. Change a diaper

In the dark at 3am, no less.

78. Calibrate HDTV settings

Yeah, ummm...no HDTV yet, but I do have a HD-capable TV.

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

I can do somewhere between 81 and 90 of those things, but my question is this: if you know how to brew your own beer, do all those other things really matter?

 

[flyangler18]

if you know how to brew your own beer, do all those other things really matter?

Brewing won't help you when the zombies come to eat your brains.



Unless you brew Belgians:

 

[jgln]

I don't get this list at all; it's all over the place and lacking a lot of important stuff and including a lot of important stuff. For automotive it lists using a stick welder but not check the oil. And fly a stunt kite? Why not plain old kite or throw a Frisbee? How many people would own a stunt kite? Actually I do and I know how to use it too. Cast a line should actually read "catch a fish". I think every man and woman should know how to shut off the water, gas and electric mains in their homes. I guess this list is more for entertainment.

 

[jgln]

I don't get this list at all; it's all over the place and lacking a lot of important stuff and including a lot of important stuff. For automotive it lists using a stick welder but not check the oil. And fly a stunt kite? Why not plain old kite or throw a Frisbee? How many people would own a stunt kite? Actually I do and I know how to use it too. Cast a line should actually read "catch a fish". I think every man and woman should know how to shut off the water, gas and electric mains in their homes. I guess this list is more for entertainment.

Correction: I don't get this list at all; it's all over the place and lacking a lot of important stuff and including a lot of unimportant stuff.

 

[knarfks]

I'm pretty good with my 97 considering I'm 27 years old and know how to also not get killed in the inner city. I grew up just outside of Lawrence,KS (rock chalk), spent a summer in inner city Jackson, MS. I have done work in Guadalajara and Juarez, Mexico as well as working in Nouakchott Mauritania (N. Afria). 5 years remodeling/electrical/plumbing work then became a registered nurse.
Where does it ask if you can run heavy equipment?

I wouldn't put any stock in manhood based upon this list, but it is good to see how life experiences and having a learning spirit can add up.

"I think every man and woman should know how to shut off the water, gas and electric mains in their homes." Add changing a tire/ checking oil and I'm all with you, especially before you own a home or drive a car.