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Is the Seeking of Lost Skills/Arts a Hacking Analog?

Posted by Cliff on from the hack-the-world-without-a-keyboard dept.

bigattichouse asks: "Having just finished my first batch of home-brew beer, I've been thinking about my attraction to 'lost arts', and collecting books on 'how to do stuff'. Some I try, some I just read: metalsmithing, sewing, baking bread, making soap, knot tying, brewing beer, woodcarving, yogurt and cheese.. there are so many skills 'lost' in the modern 'american' lifestyle... but I find my fellows tend to have books on these subjects lying around, too. Is this common in geekdom? Is this an expression of 'hacking' outside of machinery/engineering?"

6 of 796 comments (clear)

  1. oh wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Moron discovers 'hobbies' - film at 11, coming to
    a slashdot near You!

  2. Imagine. by boulat · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Imagine you lived in stone age - or simply there were no computers or power supply to run them?

    All those people with MCSE/CCNA/etc and Computer Information Systems degrees.. end up being useless.. 'teh sucks' - nobodies. Unless of course they took Calculus and lot of other engineering courses and posess knowledge important to advance the technology forward, not just be a servant of the society, doing LAN administration or running UNIX - the kind of 'clerical' work in computers.
    Wake up! ALl your nerds not doing anything!! you just learning simple things - unix administration? firewalls? geez you created the problem. You created the need for IT departments and for IPSecs and for so many things - because of you dumb packet kiddies we are stuck here today from 1980s not having a single advancement in computers except that those from 80's packed the transistors, expanded the amount of memory and simply 'improved' the technology.. But the real 'geeks' are the engineers, professors - those 'nerds' who are advancing the field through their research and experiments, while all those 'unix geek hax0r l33t bizniatchees y000' are nothing but computer operators.

    Back to the topic : expand your horizons, folks!

  3. Re:SCA! by Lazyhound · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    If you are totally bound and determined to live like an animal, there are still many places on earth where you can go and do just that.
    My, you are a bigoted little ratfuck, aren't you?
  4. Re:Geeks just want to learn by shaitand · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Perhaps sir Nazi should get over the english books and study something useful... the english language serves one purpose, to convey a message from one being to another. I'm reasonably sure he did so successfully.

  5. Re:Absolutely by shaitand · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    ATF = Alchohol, tobacco and firearms.

    They are the ones who went in with tanks, filled waco with gas then set said gas on fire. They definately has snipers, lots of guns, FSCKING TANKS, black helicopters among other toys.

  6. OT: spelling etc. by No-op · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Some people were raised and taught in a system that enforces correct spelling (and grammar, although the US educational system eliminated that in the late 70's/early 80's). After a long childhood of being penalized for incorrect spelling, punctuation, and the like it's not surprising that some people have fixations bordering on anal retentive levels.

    That said, I really don't think it takes too much effort to check your spelling, especially if you are someone who has a problem with it- it helps you to come across more fluidly, as spelling mistakes can be quite jarring to those who can spell correctly.

    Also, people who became English majors in college need to have something to justify their existence, since we know they are all useless otherwise :)

    --
    EOM