Be kind
I wish being kind was easy. Sometimes I feel like kindness is one of the hardest things to do.
Sometimes it is, but that’s part of why it’s so valuable.
“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Rewind.
Everyone should learn the basics of troubleshooting!
When trying to resolve a problem it’s really important to keep as many variables under control as possible so that you can find the root cause and fix it.
I see lots of people who try a bunch of things without isolating the issue first but can’t figure out what is wrong. Then because they messed with it so much it’s almost impossible to figure out.
This is important for car maintenance, home maintenance, electronics, computers. Just about everything that can break or stop working right in your life.
My skills at troubleshooting are pretty much limited to
“Turn it off and back on again. The slow way. Sometimes twice.”
But you know what? Mostly it works!
Your troubleshooting skills are above average, tbh.
You’ve identified that there’s an issue. You tried something simple to remedy. You even tried it again to make sure.
You didn’t make a bunch of crazy assumptions about what the problem was. You didn’t do a bunch of weird shit all at once to try to fix it. You didn’t do something to make the problem worse.
You’re doing great!
Oh I have to share what just happened! My husband’s power wheelchair suddenly wouldn’t drive. In tilt mode it would still tilt, but in the driving modes it had an error message. By asking in forums he learned that message could mean it thought it was tilted back too much for safe driving, even though it was fully upright. So he tilted way back, and I looked underneath for anything loose, finally tightened one loose screw that I frankly think was unrelated. Then he tilted upright again, giving it an extra couple seconds of push on the joystick, and I pushed forward on the back of the chair. Nothing moved, it was already fully upright. But it did the trick! It’s driving fine now.
Wonderful! And the lesson here is, just fucking try something, anything. Your story made me feel good. Fine job!
There’s also unplugging and replugging, that works a lot.
My dad can’t do this. I’ve tried to teach him but it’s like, a piece of equipment breaks and I’m like “What have you tried so far?” the answer is always nothing because he doesn’t know cars/computers/watches/lights, etc etc.
I don’t know half of those things either but I’ll go over and press all the buttons, if that doesn’t work I google it. I’ve showed him this so many times but it’s like it doesn’t go in and he’s like “But you’re good with these things!” Nope, I’m just hitting it until it works.
Print this out for him: https://xkcd.com/627/
I actually sent that to him, multiple times.
How do I print this out?
Wire stripping and crimping. Especially if you plan to do offgriding homesteading with solar but occasionally comes up in home applications when you want to revive a mangled extension cord or install a fixture. Specialized cables start to add up very quickly its much more cost effective to buy a big bag of connectors, a big roll of decent gauge wire, dig out an old set of wire cutters+needlenose and fire up a 2 minute instructions yt video. Like all other skills it takes time and error to get good at it but its not too terribly difficult as wel as very cool to essentially build your own electrical grid from the ground up with wires and connectors you made yourself…
I’d add simple soldering. It’s amazing how many little gadgets go bad because a little wire inside broke loose when it was dropped. I’ve fixed headphones, a temperature sensor, and even done things with the vehicles.
About a year back I stumbled across these cool products that are a heatshrink sheath with a metal ring coated in low temp solder inside. They made all of my wire joining a million times easier. Just strip the end of two wires, push them into the sheath and blast them with a heat gun for 20 seconds until the ring contracts into a crimp and the solder flows onto the wires. Better physical and electrical connection than a crimp, with none of the futzing that comes with soldering and sheathing.
Thank you for sharing, this looks awesome! Will have to look into getting some.
These are so cool! Do you have a link to buy?
Edit: Found them! These are crimpless solder sleeves. Crimpless Solder Sleeve Heat Shrink Variety Kit - 90 Piece
sewing with a needle and thread. nothing complicated, the bare minimum is useful in a lot of ways.
i keep a small kit in my car because my pants waistlines keep shrinking mysteriously and i’m starting to randomly lose buttons and getting blowouts in the crotch. [likely due to far-reaching, nefarious, conspiracies and not b/c of the other kit in my car that’s full of snacks].
what used to be my crippling, irrational fear of inadvertently exposing myself at like a job interview or in an uber with a cute driver, is now an easy fix i can do in a minute AND it’s certain to make an impression.
old winter jackets with a lot of zippered pockets are especially great practice. try unstitching and removing a few of the pockets, then add them to other jackets or whatever you can think of.
Learn where all the shut off valves for your waterlines are at your house or apartment. When you have a leak is not the time to find out or rather figure out where your shut off valves are at. if you don’t know where your shut off valves are at, what could’ve been a minor water mess could turn into a major bill.
Yep! I once tugged the hose too hard and broke the pipe it was attached to and WAM! Water gushing up like a fountain. But luckily I knew where the ‘key’ (what’s the T thing called?) and got to the shut off valve in less than a minute.
Imagine not knowing where it is and feeling so helpless as you watch that water drain your bank :(
LOL, the ‘key’ is literally called a “water key”. Good job!
(Pliers, of most sorts, work as well, but they’re a PITA vs. an actual tool for the job.)
Why is it so massive??? Can I limit the size?
Learning how to say no. Having personal boundaries.
Can I have money?
No.
But what if he’s the tax collector?
I am a tax fraudster
Biblical or modern?
Could be either one, though now that I think about it, Biblical tax collectors were the ones who were, in a 100% literal sense, state sponsored muggers (due to the fact that Ancient Rome didn’t have an advanced census system to do it systemically with).
I. AM. A. SOVEREIGN. CITIZEN.
Yes.
Learn when to say no. I have missed a lot because of this.
It said easy skill
For those in the US: Learn how to file your own taxes. It’s really simple for the large majority of people, and usually just consists of copying numbers into boxes off a sheet your employer made for you. After you’ve done it once, subsequent times you’ll probably have it done yourself in less than half an hour.
You can do it for free on a ton of sites unless you make significant income, freetaxusa is typically the most highly recommended one.
FreeTaxUSA is the best. TurboTax can eat my ass.
Intuit and H&R Block are the reason we have this depraved, inhumane, anti-consumer tax system. They’ve created the laws that make it necessary to use tax prep software. They should not be rewarded for this by getting business for that very tax prep software. Everyone should say no to TurboTax.
There are always a bunch of perfectly good competitors to them listed. Use those competitors. For most people it’s totally free.
Indeed.
A better tip is to just maintain and monitor your finances on a regular basis. At least once a month sit down and quickly review all your income and expenses. Then at least two or three times a year do full detailed review just so you know where your money came from and went and when it all happened.
I wish I knew this earlier in life.
Think about it, what did you spend your money on two weeks ago? A month? How much did you make in the past month? What did you spend your money on?
Sure many people can give an estimate off the top of their head but it makes a big difference if you can see it all written out and documented in front of you.
Isn’t the IRS rolling out an actual free filing program this year?
Yes, I’m not sure if it’ll be ready by this year’s tax season or not, but it was happening. Last I heard they were doing some limited runs on it.
Sewing, by hand or by machine.
Pollution from “fast fashion” is one of the most insidious types of pollution and one of the highest source of microplastics.
Knowing how to sew has allowed me to keep some garments looking new for over 15 years.
I still have a “snakes on a plane” themed hoodie from 2007 that is still going strong, thanks to sewing and proper washing/drying.
Knowing how to separate your clothing for washing is also helpful in this regard, because it also can make clothes last longer. T-shirts can last a decade if they’re washed on a delicates cycle and hung out to dry.
I honestly could give a flying fuck if everything I own is out of style, I’m fucking old anyway.
I have the coolest clothes. Where’d I get them? I made them, patched them up, altered them, etc. It’s so nice :) You can even patch up things like shoes, luggage, furniture, pet toys, and so much more. Honestly, the world would be just fine if every company stopped making anything at all. There is more than enough products out there to satisfy the world.
Too your last point, yes!! I do not care what people think about me and it helps so much.
Change a tire on your vehicle. Sure beats waiting for AAA or whatever. (Although some newer cars don’t come with spare tires).
Jumpstart a car. With jumper cables or one of those battery jumpstart boxes.
Changing your oil can save some money. Add chassis lubrication too while you’re at it. Can save quite a bit on service costs. (Just don’t skip other regular services, lest your car fail you which will be expensive in the long run)
Repair a toilet by replacing internal parts such as: valve, flapper, float, flush lever.
Related: dont pay for AAA.
Tow companies aren’t paid enough by AAA for them to prioritize you in any way. You will get lesser quality service from people who are frustrated their workplace contracts with AAA.
As much as it sucks, try to save money for vehicle emergencies and/or be able to fix minor vehicle issues yourself.
More importantly, learn your vehicles maintenance schedule and follow it religiously. If you are only maintaining it when something goes wrong, you are missing the forest for the trees.
If you are only maintaining it when something goes wrong, you are missing the forest for the trees.
On the coast we have a ferry system, a public-private partnership - aw fuck, right? - that “runs to failure” and only maintains when things are actually broken.
It’s become such an unreliable mess, now. But the CEO gets a bonus.
Some basic first aid
Even a quick YouTube session on some common cases should help. If you want, getting certified is pretty easy and it looks good on resumes (or at work, you could be the designated person in emergencies)
If someone close to you has an emergency, it’s nice to have an idea of what to do while you wait.
On the flip side, I had someone open up about regret from not learning; it was heartbreaking hearing it. Their family member may have died anyways, but they felt like a few extra minutes could have helped the odds, and regretted not knowing what to do
Swimming.
It’s easy and it will save your life.
Parents threw me in a class when I was 5. Scared shitless, screaming bloody murder, all that.
And I did indeed save my own life. And I was swimming with a certified lifeguard. Read on…
19, second year of college, fucking around with my neighbor, who I got to fuck, because I lived.
Perfectly still pond, nothing crazy. We were a bit drunk but had our wits about us. For some reason, I lost it. No idea what happened.
Went down like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Literally. Hand sinking for the third time.
(At this point, I would recommend you all watch a video of what drowning looks like. It probably ain’t what you think. You might save someone’s life.)
Thought, “Figure this out or die. This very second.”
Remembered my lessons on floating, got my lips above water and took a sip of air. Stopped fighting, floated back up, did it again. After 3 or 4 tries, I had enough air to calm down, lay on my back and breathe. Just dandy after that. Went home, got laid, and here I am typing this dumb comment 30+ years later.
Learn to swim no matter if it scares you or not.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
watch a video of what drowning looks like
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
When I was a pre-teen I was trying out a Boogie Board and a wierd current pulled me much further out into the ocean with much more force than any of the other waves, but years of swim lessons had me more focused on finding upward and trying to stay in place than panicking so I got dumped back onto the beach conscious instead of needing the lifeguard to drag me out
Basic setup of an electric guitar or bass. It’s stupid simple.
Does everyone need to learn that though? How often do people come across guitars that are not set up and find themselves desperate to do it?
Hey man, when you’re lost on the savannah and a pack of lions or hyena could descend upon you at any minute, you’ll need to have that guitar strung and ready. Use the Lion Guitar and hope you didn’t pack the Shark Guitar instead.
(I kid. My favourite uncle helped end the Sierra Leonean rebellion in 2005 with a beat up guitar … maybe he had the Unity Guitar that day?)
Cooking
I see so many posts, “I don’t know how to cook!”
Of fucking course you do. Can’t boil water or make toast?! Start and practice. You can only get better.
Years ago, I learned to shave with just about any sharp, straight edge (yes, I even practiced with a razor sharp axe). It’s interesting how the ‘fine edge control’ transfers to other activities; using a kitchen knife, swinging an axe, cutting with a Xacto, etc.
In the apocalypse, I will be the clean-shaven villain, who is surrounded by all the hot mutant ladies who adore my pretty jowls!
Edit: I use cannabis daily. I found I can shave quickly with a straight razor (after years if practice), or I can shave high. But not both. FTR: cutting yourself a bit here and there simply isn’t as bad as it sounds.
Don’t forget the shiny jumpsuits and garages full of sports cars. You never know when you might want to upgrade to being a Bond villain.
Already have the jumpsuit. Crotchless, silver, soft on the inside.
Switching to double edge safety razors changed shaving for me.
My beard hairs are so thick even a 3 blade cartridge clogs and slips. I’ve had multiple barbers comment on how tough my beard hair is.
For a better shave: 1) switch from canned shave creams to a higher quality cream or a shave soap with brush. 2. Switch to a DE razor and buy a sample pack until you find a blade you really like.
Cartridges are faster still, but I always get rash or burn from them. A good DE blade I might nick myself but an after a little styptic and it’s not noticeable.
I’ve never tried a straight edge, it sounds cool but I’ve been told to expect to cut yourself when learning and I’m happy enough with my setup.
I’m so glad I learned to use shave creams and safety razor. The experience is miles better than foam and disposable razor.
You get a bit of aromatherapy and a good shave without clogging the razor constantly.
I find shaving much more mediative with brush and hard soap. It took a little while to learn the technique and the directions my hair grows in but it’s a much more enjoyable process than with a cartridge razor and canned soap. Plus I can change my blade every 4 shaves or so and it’s like 10p a shave so much cheaper than cartridges.
I enjoy it too
I bought myself a scuttle and some nice shave bowls, I’ve got a brush I like and an adjustable razor that I start with open and close for my final passes. It’s a nice way to start the morning for sure.
First aid.
