Critical thinking. Consider the intent of the source.
This, and reading comprehension.
It’s a big ask, but Empathy.
I see plenty of Empathy in the world, compassion is what we need I think. Empathy ironically makes people egotistical becaause if the feeling they emphesize with is bad they might blame the victom for transmitting them ‘bad vibes’ for instance. Or you might make an unfair decision because it appealed to your emotions. However with compassion you recognize someone is in need of help and try to provide that help, sidestepping all sorts of nasty pitfalls and leaving you a lot chiller.
I feel like empathy is an umbrella term for different kinds of understanding about “the other person” at different times and different situations. It’s so vague it’s easy to both miss seeing it and finding it at all.
People should really know how to research. Sure, almost everyone knows how to do a google search, but there are shockingly many people who can’t research, i.e view multiple sources including those that don’t align with your views.
You’d be surprised how many people don’t even know how to do a Google search.
Yes! It’s all Facebook, Twitter, tiktok etc “content discoverable” platforms and WhatsApp.
Basic cooking.
You don’t need to be Gordon Ramsey, but in a pinch, know how to make pasta, chilli and a few other things.
Is chilli considered basic? Spicy food is not that common where I live. For me the basics would be to know how to:
-Peel and cut veggies
-Boil stuff
-Fry eggs
But maybe it’s a cultural thing! I’m interested in knowing what you’re doing with your chilli peppers ;)
I think they mean Chilli as a dish, often a meat stew
Oh i meant chili as in American chili. Beans and ground beef.
Basically, just knowing how to make something easy for a quick meal if you need to.
Food and shelter
Agreed. Everyone should be able to cook themselves some good meals and unlock their door to get into their house.
Very important skills.
Mmm Lemmy comment deletion is weird as it stays there with my username. Anyway I misread the question and responded food and shelter if anyone’s wondering.
Basic arithmetic to the point where you can e.g. calculate things like a budget when money is tight.
Enough understanding of statistics and probability to be able to understand what numbers reported in news stories about events and politics mean.
They never tell you enough on the statistics on the news to actually get much solid info. Like sample size, error bars, did they fit a particular distribution, what was tossed as outliers and more.
I always think about the chance of rain report and the different explanations of what it might mean (I don’t recall which is correct, but it illustrates how confusing it can be) :
Chance of rain today based on a predictive model
Is different from
It WILL rain today in this region and this percent of land area will get rain
Is different from
Over all the historical data for this region, we got rain on this percent of days when the conditions were “the same” in the past.
But all can be reasonably said to be 59% chance of rain today.
Agreed. But part of the reason why they never report the numbers is that most of the readers don’t understand them anyway.
And a lot of the time it is not even just complex studies people don’t understand. There are also those who can’t even judge the magnitude of numbers, e.g. when it comes to spending or the magnitude of percentages (e.g. that 25000 occurrences of a minor crime in a year is not a lot if the country has dozens of millions of inhabitants)
It does vary from place to place but in North America at least, most often it’s that it will rain in __% of the land area.
Additionally, I would add that knowing about statistics at least allows you to understand that without that additional info, any stat is essentially meaningless, or at least easily misleading.
That is true, I just think it might be hard for many people to understand.
Insatiable curiosity
The ability to survive outside / without a roof over one’s head.
I’m not talking surviving solely off the land type of outdoor survival, although that is an excellent set of skills to obtain.
- Learn how to set up shelter, or find shelter if a tent / tarp isn’t available
- Learn how to start a fire in multiple ways
- Learn basic hunting skills
- Learn how to sanitize / store drinking water
- Learn basic first aid
- Always remember the order of operations in a survival situation: Shelter, water, fire, food
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How to polish and maintain your boots. On that subject, an awareness of why old school leather boots are an outstanding lifelong investment.
Where does one find the proper old school leather boots?
Redwings are a good place to start. Still made in the USA using old standard foot lasts, still warrantied for life, and still great boots. I’ve been looking into some hand made custom boots lately. They’re about $500, but they’ll last me the rest of my life with an occasional $50 resole job and they’ll be tailor-made for my exact foot.
God i just trash my Iron Rangers and they stand up to all the abuse i can throw at them. A little wash and a bit of oil and they’re parade ready again.
Horror warning: My last pair got wet shoveling snow at work so i left them in the mud room to dry. Some thoughtful soul put them up next to the monitor heater to help them dry… Found them the next day shriveled abd unwearable. Heat kills good boots!
Some of the guys back in the Army would fill their combat boots with water and then wear them until they dried out. They’d stretch with the water and then shrink as they dried, basically giving them a custom fit. You could try that next time if it happens again.
I still have them and have been thinking about doing that, cool to hear it may work. I was pretty bummed about losing them.
Reading. Being able to quickly skim and comprehend text will give you an edge in basically every field.
Common sense, or better yet, critical thinking.
Basic zipper merge
Cooking! We eat every day and eating out adds up quick.
Basic plumbing skills
Know how to shut off a water line. Those knobs under your sink and behind the toilet? That’s your water shut off for that line. Got a toilet that’s about to overflow? Close the line in back quick enough and you won’t have to mop the floor. Or ruin your neighbors ceiling.
Know how to clear a clog. Know the difference between a sink plunger and toilet plunger. Sink plungers are those short deals and terrible for just about anything, their surface coverage is awful and they’re usually too shallow to push a serious clog. You want a flanged or accordion plunger for toilets. They make the best deal and do a lot do the work for you. A larger suction cup plunger, looks like the big boy version of the sink plunger, for sink drains.
For toilets, make a firm seal around the drain, push down once to clear the air out of the cup, make sure your seal is strong, then give several short, quick, full pumps like you’re performing CPR. This will usually clear a paper clog. Repeat if it doesn’t clear. It almost always will after a few tries. If your other drains back up when you’re pumping, you have a main clog. It’s time to call a plumber.
If your kitchen sink clogs, start by running hot water in the line with a little dawn soap. Most sink clogs are fat based, so hot water will help to loosen them by melting them a bit. Drain-o or other line clearer might work, but in my experience, if you don’t clear the clog, you now have a caustic chemical sitting in the line. The chemical burn scars on my right hand say that’s bad, and Tyler Durden agrees. If you haven’t cleared the clog, let it sit a bit and then get back to it. I’ve fought shower clogs for an hour before, but if I don’t see signs the clog is breaking up, it’s time to give up and get a professional in to snake it.
Also, when clearing a clog, don’t keep your mouth open! In fact, pucker your lips in. Trust me, speaking from experience.
Leaky faucet? Usually a 10¢ rubber washer, they only last about 10 years before they start to rot. Try to salvage the washer, bring it to your local hardware store, preferably plumbing supply, and ask someone to size it, otherwise bring the fixture. Toilet running nonstop? Adjust the chain or replace the flapper, again rubber parts only last about 10 years. A universal flapper will cost about $10. They usually just snap right in to place. Toilet base leaking? Replace the wax seal. They cost $5. Shower head clogged? Usually calcium or mold buildup. CLR for calcium, bleach for mold, and a scrub brush. Shower head joint leaking or spraying, remove it and apply plumbers tape, also called Teflon tape, to the threading, costs $1 a roll. In fact, apply it to any threaded plumbing joint you have to unscrew… It’s necessary for making watertight seals.
That’s like every basic water line in your house right there. If I could learn to do it as a teenage apprentice so many years ago, anyone can. If you’re not sure, Google has guides and visual breakdowns for every fixture and how to take them apart now. Just be careful not to strip threads or screws. Knowing how to service these parts could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars over the years.
Lastly, don’t flush spaghetti and meatballs down the toilet… Yes, that’s a thing.
