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

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?"

Soap?

[Anonymous Coward]

making soap

Tyler Durden? Is that you?

Wellll

[Timesprout]

"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

No, it's survival training

[IO ERROR]

We're all preparing for Y2038.

Re:SCA!

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Though a lot of people do make battle-ready spam mail. Unfortunately.

Why do you need to ask?

[KDan]

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

Daniel

How About..

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot staff taking some time out to seek the lost art of a decent Slashdot article?

Re:Geeks just want to learn

[maxpublic]

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

Max

Re:How About..

[qwerty823]

or Taco learning the lost art of the Dupe Check!

Are you implying...

[poity]

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

Re:k5

[Anonymous Coward]

Figured out what?

How to turn the US into a Socialist Commune as quickly as possible?

Re:SCA!

[squidfood]

...things like make soap...

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

Re:Rambling thoughts about this...

[Ondo]

What happens when the whole system breaks down. (When was the last time a complex system like the ones we have today didn't break down).

Yesterday.

Re:Imagine.

[titzandkunt]

Back to the stone age! Cool!

- I'd be the first stone age hacker^h^h^h^h^h^cracker: I'd wait until you invented something really useful, then creep stealthily up and use my stone age nmap (a large club).

When you awoke, you'd see that I'd also defaced your site (cave wall) with crude and insulting cave paintings: "T&K h4s 0wnored ur firez!", "All your fires are belong to us" etc.

I'm so excited I can't wait. When do we start?

T&K.

Brewing Beer a lost art???

[Shoten]

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! :)

If you live in Wisconsin like I do!

[codepunk]

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

ob.Simpsons quote

[Anonymous Coward]

Banner: Are you the beer baron?

Comic Book Guy: Yes, but only by night. By day, I'm a mild-mannered reporter for a major Metropolitan newspaper.

Banner: Don't crack wise with me, tubby!

Comic Book Guy:Tubby? Oh yes, tubby.

Chain mail

[GQuon]

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.

Hacking Ananlog?

[American AC in Paris]

No, no. Building a Moog synthesizer [ucsc.edu] 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.

Re:a few "lost" arts come to mind

[Anonymous Coward]

"banging on a piece of machinery that's older than my grandmother"

... must ... not ... reply ...

Seriously, man ... too easy.

Re:SCA!

[crow]

Actually, we have some wonderful hand-made soap that a friend of ours in the SCA made. My wife bartered some caligraphy for it, along with some home-brewed mead.

Of course, what you'll find in the SCA depends on where you are. When you have smaller groups, they tend to focus on fewer things (generally fighting). In areas like Boston, there are people doing all sorts of things.

Re:Soap?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:They scare me...

[PD]

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?"

Re:Lost arts? Come on.

[Cpt_Kirks]

Belgian beer is the *WORST* swill I have ever tasted. I have drunk beer all over Europe. Some is good, some is great. Belgian beer sucks.

Not to mention the fact that you said a *VERY* dirty word...

Re:Are you implying...

[Lazlo Nibble]

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

Sure. Where else would you go for an open source barn?

Re:They scare me...

[binarybum]

that seems like a dull way to have sex.

Re:Wellll

[dillon_rinker]

You forgot the most important of all!

Memory loss --> writing

Re:Definitely!

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, you could've bought a tap for $10 at the hardware store and done it yourself. It's not rocket science.

Re:They scare me...

[pyrote]

Most /.'rs still have 'sex' like they're shaking hands. atleast it involves shaking hands.

make soap; make clean;

[xixax]

>> ..things like make soap...

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

That's because you have to issue make clean as well:

localhost$ make soap; make clean;

Xix.

Re: Knives and RCMP's

[Anonymous Coward]

Well you are talking about Canadian police. The fact that 73 out of 85 missed the knife surprises you?

Re:SCA!

[Anonymous Coward]

Baby Bush is a tenor? Given the irritating squeakiness of his voice, I would have figured him for at least an Alto, if not an outright Soprano. ...or did you mean "tenure"?