hacking real life
The 'theme' being presented here ties into something that I feel very strongly about. Fixing and improving your own shit.
I suspect that most of us who have parents older than 60 grew up around a Dad who could fix everything. And if not Dad, Grandpa sure as hell could. I know that I can count on one hand the number of times I saw one of my parent's cars ever go to a mechanic, but I have completely lost count of how many trips I made to the local auto parts store with the old man so that he could find a part to fix something himself. I've also lost count of how many wrenches I've handed him, paint brushes I cleaned, and hours spent in hardware stores looking at lumber.
What happened to being self sufficient? What happened to not being afraid to work on something yourself? A couple of years ago my air conditioner broke. I did some googling, asked a couple questions, and then took the damn thing apart. Luckily, it was an easy to identify fix that cost me about eleven bucks for the part. The worst part of the whole thing was I had to go to five or six different places in town to find a capacitor the right size. Saved me
at least $150 by not having to call a repair man. When I went to work and got asked what I had been doing, mentioning that I fixed my own A/C drew absolutely shocked looks followed by "How did you know what to do?"
Answering "I just figured it out" got even more amazement. You'd think I had mentioned that I invented perpetual motion. Same reaction when I mention that I build things in my garage, or that I make my own electronics.
Have we become so service dependent as a society that we've lost the critical thinking skills to 'hack' our environments? If so, I'm sad for society. I really am.
Please go back to the pointless thread now, I just had to get that out.
edit: Grammar and typo fix