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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?"

14 of 796 comments (clear)

  1. Soap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    making soap
    Tyler Durden? Is that you?
    1. Re:Soap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      GF: Mmm, honey, I love the way the back of your neck smells.. what kind of soap do you use??

      you: Purified animal fat mixed with lye. I get it from the butcher, he collects it for me over the course of a month or so.

      GF: Please go far away.

  2. Wellll by Timesprout · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Having just finished my first batch of home-brew beer, I've been thinking about my attraction to 'lost arts'

    Drinking a skinful of beer will put these thoughts in your head. I usually solve all the worlds problems after a few. Can never seem to remember the solutions the next day though

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  3. No, it's survival training by IO+ERROR · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're all preparing for Y2038.

    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
  4. Why do you need to ask? by KDan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hacking is just like being the One. No one can tell you you're hacking, you just do it.

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  5. Re:Geeks just want to learn by maxpublic · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought geeks did these sorts of things because they couldn't get laid....

    Max

    --
    My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  6. Are you implying... by poity · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... that the Amish are the 31337est hackers?

    --
    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  7. Re:SCA! by squidfood · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...things like make soap...

    That's not the first skill I'd associate with the SCA.

  8. Brewing Beer a lost art??? by Shoten · · Score: 4, Funny

    Once homebrewing became legal again (which happened in the 80s, if I remember correctly), the homebrew industry started to regain strength. At this point, I wouldn't say that brewing is by any means a lost art...I've brewed hundreds of gallons at this point. The stuff is like zucchini...if you produce it, you produce a LOT of it...and let me tell you, nothing moves your data mining requests to the front of the line faster than giving the DBAs lots of homebrew! :)

    --

    For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
  9. If you live in Wisconsin like I do! by codepunk · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you live in Wisconsin like I do, brewing your own beer is not a lost art it is required.

    --


    Got Code?
  10. Chain mail by GQuon · · Score: 5, Funny
    They're pretty much the only people left in the world who make battle-quality chain mail, scale mail, and plate mail in the medieval style.

    Hm, I wonder how medieval style chain mail would look like?

    "Hear ye! Hear ye!
    This chain letter was started by our saviour Jesus Christ the day he died for our sins. And you will be forever damned if you don't follow it's instructions, as it is the words of the Good Lord.

    You will all get rich because of your faithful devotion. You will earn one thousand shilling in just one year. Send one shilling to each of the people on the list. Then strike the name at the top of this list and your own name to the bottom of it. Then send copies of this letter to dozen of your friends and relatives, as Jesus had a dozen apostles.
    If you cannot aford the parchment, or at least a herald, you will just have to go read this message to them yourself. If you cannot read, just learn this letter by heart.
    You must do this within half a dozen moons, and keep the holy chain running, unless you want yourself and your house to be forever damned."


    And yes, I do know that we are really talking about body armor.
    --
    Irene KHAAAAAAN!
  11. Hacking Ananlog? by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 4, Funny
    No, no. Building a Moog synthesizer is hacking analog.

    Brewing beer is an excuse to make your apartment smell horrible, making soap is an excuse to see how quickly various household items dissolve when exposed to lye, and metalsmithing is an excuse to pretend that you're Sauron.

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  12. Re:They scare me... by PD · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not to mention that a tremendously successful pickup line is "did you know that in the Middle Ages people use to have sex just like we shake hands today?"

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    If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  13. Re:They scare me... by binarybum · · Score: 5, Funny

    that seems like a dull way to have sex.

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    ôó