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Myconvertoble has a 5-speed stick shift. If anyting happened to immobolize me, the only family member who might be able to back the car out our our garage is one daughter-in-law. She drove a stick while in high school and college approx 20 years ago. My wife can't (although I taught her to drive my TransAm with stick 40 years ago), my sons can't, and the other D-I-L can't.
I can drive a stick including complex trucks in either a left hand or right hand position. In my life almost all the stick driving I did was either my 300 hp pony convertible (middle age toy) US army trucks or in England where we never got the auto requested. So I actually do stick better wrong side.
Can parallel park even with a trailer.
I can do celestial navigation competently with no electronic assist. Don't though - electronic is so much better. A sexton is also a useful device for all sorts of measurements. Measure one leg and calculate the other.
Can navigate planes or boats from paper charts.
I can still fix tube devices. Last generation to learn tube design in the EE program.
Could change the transmission or clutch in a 50 Ford in less than two hours including picking up the parts.
Can do Morse code at around 15 wpm. Maybe not that fast today but it would easily come back if practiced a bit.
Was a professional at swiping tomatoes out of neighborhood gardens climbing up on the garage roof to eat them in peace. And one of us also had to swipe a salt shaker.
This started on the Automotive forum. Someone posted about parallel parking. Few do it nowadays. Also driving a stickshift. Both were almost critical for drivers in the 1950's but not so today. Someone mentioned ironing. I would add tying a tie: fewer men need to wear one, and when they do, use a clip-on. I would try to avoid "hobby" skills like Morse Code. What can you do that almost nobody can today, but was useful when you're younger?
Hand drafting exploded assembly views of complex things. I moved to AutoCAD and other 3D CAD software, but it's still cool to do it by hand and to be able to visualize all that without a computer.
Things that seems to be obsolete:
Cooking from scratch, knowing the source of your food, being able to name fruits, veggies, cuts of meat, ironing, hand washing delicate laundry, sewing, simple car or household repairs, cursive writing, phone manners, communication skills, knowing proper etiquette, showing manners, being kind and caring, knowing languages, having a hobby, doing math in head, having basic survival skills, knowing how to survive without the gadgets...
HAVING A COMMON SENSE....
Planting a garden! That's something that most people are unable to do, but it's not obsolete. It's hopefully coming back.
Phone courtesy is a big one. What about embroidery along with sewing. Doing math in head requires discipline since it's so easy to do without thinking.
Hand drafting exploded assembly views of complex things. I moved to AutoCAD and other 3D CAD software, but it's still cool to do it by hand and to be able to visualize all that without a computer.
I do that too. Still use the old drafting concepts to visualize but implement with modern drawing programs. The kiddies do not know what the are missing if never learning to project that junction over a right angle.
I do that too. Still use the old drafting concepts to visualize but implement with modern drawing programs. The kiddies do not know what the are missing if never learning to project that junction over a right angle.
I think that being able to visualize something in an exploded view, or design the parts assembly, is pretty cool. I don't think children really do that sort of mental acrobatics anymore when it's so much easier to play a video game. It's like doing mental math calculations in 3D.
This started on the Automotive forum. Someone posted about parallel parking. Few do it nowadays. Also driving a stickshift. Both were almost critical for drivers in the 1950's but not so today. Someone mentioned ironing. I would add tying a tie: fewer men need to wear one, and when they do, use a clip-on. I would try to avoid "hobby" skills like Morse Code. What can you do that almost nobody can today, but was useful when you're younger?
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