What a stupid list
Sep. 27th, 2007 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumPopular mechanics, referring to Glenn Reynolds (WTF?) has a list of things a "Man" should know how to do.
Such lists are always intereting, more because they reveal the social predjudices of the list maker, than they reveal much about those who take the test.
1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network
I can do all of those (and some of them, like 13, I can do a lot more besides, I can catch, clean, fillet, and cook the damn thing too. For 19, I can strip, tune, reassemble and dope it in too).
When they say unstuck, in 15, from what? Deep sand, mud, being parked in?
I notice that of the 25 6 relate to cars, and one (use a torque wrench) is; for most people, something which only comes up when working on cars.
And what is "male" about extending a network, hooking up a TV, or retouching a digital photo (not to mention... huh? A real man wouldn't need to retouch them :).
That's the interesting thing, actually. What makes any of these things which are essential to being, "A man,"?
The answer is... nothing.
Me, I hold to the theory that:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
There aren't any skills which belong to one gender over the other, and I can't really see any "set" like this to be telling, even if one were to make it "people".
Being able to communicate, check.
Being able to understand, check.
After that, yeah, it's nice to be able to change the head-gasket on my car, but if I didn't, I know where to go to find someone who can.
So maybe First Aid is one of those things which one can't afford to leave to other people.
But hell, one of the things which makes being human so different from (so far as we know) every other animal on the planet is that we can preserve the knowledge our predecessors collects, and refer to it, as needed.
We don't have to be remember every last thing we might need.
Such lists are always intereting, more because they reveal the social predjudices of the list maker, than they reveal much about those who take the test.
1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network
I can do all of those (and some of them, like 13, I can do a lot more besides, I can catch, clean, fillet, and cook the damn thing too. For 19, I can strip, tune, reassemble and dope it in too).
When they say unstuck, in 15, from what? Deep sand, mud, being parked in?
I notice that of the 25 6 relate to cars, and one (use a torque wrench) is; for most people, something which only comes up when working on cars.
And what is "male" about extending a network, hooking up a TV, or retouching a digital photo (not to mention... huh? A real man wouldn't need to retouch them :).
That's the interesting thing, actually. What makes any of these things which are essential to being, "A man,"?
The answer is... nothing.
Me, I hold to the theory that:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
There aren't any skills which belong to one gender over the other, and I can't really see any "set" like this to be telling, even if one were to make it "people".
Being able to communicate, check.
Being able to understand, check.
After that, yeah, it's nice to be able to change the head-gasket on my car, but if I didn't, I know where to go to find someone who can.
So maybe First Aid is one of those things which one can't afford to leave to other people.
But hell, one of the things which makes being human so different from (so far as we know) every other animal on the planet is that we can preserve the knowledge our predecessors collects, and refer to it, as needed.
We don't have to be remember every last thing we might need.
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Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-28 09:32 pm (UTC)If it were a more manly man, I'd not ask, but the targets are small, and I suspect you will hit bone as well.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 07:25 am (UTC)And I'd be amazed if he had enough of that to give me any trouble.
So I'd like a celebratory, rather than consolatory, footrub after, please. I shall bring the champagne.
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 07:28 am (UTC)Since I expect people like him to react to the sort of emotion you'll be wielding by tucking their tails between their legs...
In either case, I like Vueve, and Tatt.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 07:34 am (UTC)*whistles* Damn, you're not cheap.
but are yu easy?OK, but I want coffee in bed. Kona or better.
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 07:45 am (UTC)Depends on how one defines easy.
In re coffee: How, pray tell, do you define better? I think I can take a pot's worth of the Blue Mountain out of the freezer, or I could roast some of the brazilian.
Otherwise: do you take cream? What sort of sweetener?
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:01 am (UTC)How, pray tell, do you define better?
I let you define it, and see what sort of mugful that gets me. Early indications seem promising...
Cream: yes, please! And proper sugar or nothing. Demerara or raw when I can lay hands on them.
But in truth it varies. I drink it double-double, barefoot, and every way in between, based on fluctuations in mood, quality of bean, and accompaniments.
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:05 am (UTC)TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:09 am (UTC)And when did I so compromise myself as to mention breakfast, sirrah? I refer, or course, to the fine tradition of a demitasse at the end of a pleasant evening, and Madame Grundy will never prove otherwise.
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:14 am (UTC)That's where you made comments a gentleman would take to mean breakfast, and crepe-soled shoes, lest a guest be awakened in her room.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:18 am (UTC)I meant "chaise longue". Clearly. The merest slip of the tongue, as the Bishop said to the dancing girl...
(Barefoot is quieter.
And more convenient)Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:21 am (UTC)Barefoot is far more common, even when I'm in the kitchen.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:25 am (UTC)I am enjoined not to go barefoot until my foot heals, which irks me greatly.
And, talking of breakfast it is 4:30 am here, so I to my virtuous bed must go...
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:27 am (UTC)Coffee at 10:00 am?
It being well-nigh 0130 here, I should hie me to sleep as well.
I have work to do on the morrow.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:35 am (UTC)Oh ... use your initiative.
And so to bed. Having already provided a bedtime story, I send you off with a kiss. (and a frog, just because he is such a HANDSOME frog. Do you not admire my frog?)
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 03:50 pm (UTC)But he is a handsome frog.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:05 am (UTC)Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:08 am (UTC)I'll just creep out of bed about an hour before I expect to make you concious, and pulverise some beans, break out the briki and make some greek/arabic/turkish.
Maybe I'll manage to get Brust to tell me how to make klavah.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:20 am (UTC)The secret to the espresso thing is that the espresso must be EXTREMELY freshly made, and of very good beans. Cinnamon is good in it, too, though it clogs the filter on the moka something fierce...
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:24 am (UTC)But that's ok, because I know lots of ways to make drinkable coffee products without one.
TK
Re: I appear to be a man...
Date: 2007-09-29 08:26 am (UTC)