I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.
Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.
edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.
Driving. Moved here from Bangladesh to UK. I did a big mistake by not learning to drive in my country. Now its too expensive here to learn. Here driving is required if you want regular job well paying jobs. Don’t be like me. Learn how to drive.
Did you not trust your potential driving skills?
I never learned. Never needed to in my country.
I always think it’s weird when I run into people that can’t whistle or make a horn sound blowing a blade of grass. I’m not even talking like those ear-piercing 2-fingers-in-mouth whistles, just regular Andy Griffith style.
Definitely understand there are many whistling taboos(as there should be, Russia) and some bored rural-ness that factor in.
Mr Rogers was unable to whistle, so you’re in very good company!
Oak my god, I’ve never heard of the acorn trick! To the rabbit-hole!
Have at it!
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Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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I can whistle normally, but can’t do the two fingers in the mouth nor can I properly do the blade of grass trick. Wish I could though
I couldn’t whistle until I had dental surgery and realized it moved my teeth so much I could finally whistle. So I was like 20 the first time I ever whistled.
Could whistle normally as long as I can remember. Tried forever to learn the two finger loud whistles as a kid and never could make a sound but still tried. I still recall when I was around 13 yo reading Goosebumps and randomly did the gesture when suddenly I made the first successfull attempt. I literally turned to the mirror on the side becuase of the surprise and had that Shaq face on Hot Ones. After practicing for a while I discovered that, while you can whistle EXTREMELY loudly this way, you legit hurt your own eardrums the most. Basically kamikaze whistling. I don’t use it that often because of it.
The third way of whsitling is by blowing through your palms which makes that owl-like howl. You can basically do the first part of the song in Once Upon a Time in the West this way.
Also, snapping your fingers in a very “snappy” loud and deep kinda way.
I could never do the two finger whistle and still can’t. Never tried whistling through my hands before.
But now that I’ve had multiple dental surgeries I have to be careful when I speak because sometimes I get the siblin s sound now as an adult and if I do it too hard it’s like a high pitched squeal.
I could never get a whistle when exhaling no matter what I tried. It takes no effort for me to whistle while inhaling though, but the range and volume are limited this way.
In the dry SW US the answer is drink water when it’s 100F or worse 115F+. Having a half liter of water from the hotel for the half day mountain hike, or pounding a half gallon of ice water and throwing up five minutes later. Your body doesn’t tell you when you should drink, it tells you when you are already behind on drinking.
This is no joke. Even experienced hikers won’t bring enough water for their trek and will end up either being emergency heli-evac’d out or just plain die.
I just carry a half gallon thermal jug with me all the time. Hiking or not. If my mouth feels the slightest bit dry, I need to drink more water. I tend to piss clear, or very pale yellow cause of this, but the upshot is that I was fine wandering around Anzo Borrego national park, and two of my friends (who thought that my idea of covering myself head to toe in jeans, a trench coat, and a trilby was a bad idea,) damn near got heatstroke. I basically threw my water at them when I noticed they weren’t sweating anymore.
This is a real killer. People have no idea and tend to overestimate the risk from wildlife and underestimate the risk from weather conditions and exposure. Far more people are killed by hypothermia caused by extreme heat or cold than anything else in North American wilderness areas.
I’ve been part of my local SAR community here in Oregon for decades now and while we don’t have to worry so much about the heat, what gets people here is the cold.
If you are somehow lost or stuck in the high Cascades at night without adequate clothing or a heat source, you are in big trouble, especially if it rains or snows, both of which can and will happen even in the middle of summer.
River crossings are also a big danger since the current is always much stronger than it looks and the water is near freezing and if you fall in and don’t have dry clothes and it starts to rain and blow, you are fucked.
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Asian here, my home is addicted to all scented products including laundry with generous amounts of fabric softener. The river water is so hard it’s a necessity in any case, but we love everything having a good smell. In fact, the nearest market sells more scenting products than cleaning products if you can believe it.
English is my first language, but labels on laundry detergent are complete ass. And it seems to be an across the board thing for whatever reason. 90 % of them don’t say what it’s for on them, just various synonyms for clean, and scent or no scent. The other 10% say “detergent” or something vague in SUPER small text. I just Googled laundry detergent and the results were exactly as I just described. Like shit hopefully this jug of nondescript liquid makes my clothes clean lol.
the Big Laundry conspiracy runs deeper, fabric softener ruins some fabrics, and degrades most others
Don’t walk on dark places at night.
Where i live some places are completely peaceful during the day and extremely dangerous during the night, i speak from experience.
I didn’t know this. I do this all the time.
Paying attention to the weather to know if rain or severe winds are coming. I know people have access to hourly forecasts but locals can just tell when the weather will be bad.
- southern USA
Where I am the weather is unpredictable for everyone, even locals. The sky could look 100% ready for rain and then it’s like “pscyhe!”
In my immediate surroundings: small-scale farming. The old folks all know how to run a few goats and sheep, will have a few pigs and chickens, a vegetable garden, some fruit and olive trees, grapes, small fields. Once you figure it out you can feed yourself comfortably, but it’s a steep learning curve if you didn’t grow up with it. Quite a few foreigners who move in because they dream of self-sufficiency overload themselves with new stuff and become overwhelmed. I still can’t compete with my neighbors at gardening after 20 years but I’m getting the hang of it.
Pooping in the toilet.
When I went to university with a lot of international students, there would often be poop on the seats.
My understanding is Asian toilets are different and a good few students from there were standing on the seat and aiming at the bowl from height, with mixed success.
The opposite happened to me in Japan. For the love of God I can’t do an asian squat and there was only this old style squat toilet there. On top of that I really had to go because I had a bit of a diarrhea situation going on. I had no idea which one was the front and which was the back of the toilet. I figured if I try it I will just shit on my pants, so I had to completely remove them. Then I awkwardly lowered myself down no some kind of a weird squat, holding on to the walls of the stall for life, sweating like hell and bam, some of it went on the toilet.
I was relieved that I didn’t shit myself but mortified how to clean up my mess. In the end I was able to clean it with some water and I was lucky that it was in the night (at a cheap hostel) and nobody came in why all of this was happening.
Hadn’t thought about the trickiness the other way. Before I visit I will definitely spend some time googling how to poop in Japan.
Most bathrooms in Japan have either western style toilets or a choice of both, especially in urban areas. But better to not be caught unawares.
Wait, that’s how that happens? I always found it weird with those signs to not poop while standing up.
Lol no, you poop squatting on the toilet, without any part of your body touching the toilet. Toilets in India (and probably rest of Asia) are at ground level, with two porcelain blocks on either side to keep your feet on (the blocks are set into the ground and have a rough top; neither you nor they will slip). Most hotels will also have western toilets.
Also using toilet paper is considered unspeakably gross. You are supposed to use water and/or your left hand (right hand if you are left-handed), and to then wash your hands with soap. Because of this, you should touch food only with your dominant hand; using the other, however clean it actually is, is seen as uncivilised.
oilets in India (and probably rest of Asia) are at ground level, with two porcelain blocks on either side to keep your feet on (the blocks are set into the ground and have a rough top; neither you nor they will slip). Most hotels will also have western toilets.
Also this was the most common kind in the USSR.
“Western” seats are something more luxury, may or may not (EDIT: back then, not now, though I haven’t been in really depressive parts) be present even in apartment bathrooms.
That’s interesting. We copied a lot of stuff from the USSR; this might also have come from there.
How the hell is it gross though to use toilet paper when your hand would be even dirtier with poo if you use it plainly?? That’s a recipe for illness…
and to then wash your hands with soap.
The grossness is because it might not clean your backside as thoroughly as water.
That’s how it was explained to me by an Asian buddy who’d been back and forth. He and/or I could be wrong (or he could’ve been fucking with us…)
I have yet to figure out how a person who has leg problems or a back problem ever uses a toilet that you don’t actually sit on.
And related to this, using a bidet.
Seperating Litter, I guess. Many dont do it correctly anyways, but its worse in other countries.
Speaking English I guess. Not the best, but better than in former eastern countries. But yeah, fuck colonialism, so not really a great thing.
Riding the bike. Everyone should do it, and shocking to see many other countries struggle with that even more.
Which country are you from?
Guess
Atlantis
Germany?
Elbonia
Wakanda
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The ability open a glass bottle with a utensil instead of using a bottle opener.
I just use my teeth and it horrifys anyone I’m with…
Jokes on them though, because I’m the one with an open beer.
Oh I did that when I had most of my natural teeth. For some reason I don’t have them anymore, I wonder why
Careful man. I’ve seen so many people chip their teeth trying to do it. Only takes 1 mistake 1 time.
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rings, coins, lighters, keys, teeth, eye sockets… Anything is a bottle opener if you are dedicated or drunk enough
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Swimming. My brother in law is from India and he never learned how to swim due to him growing up in a place with only one extremely dirty river and no other lakes or swimming pools near his family. Apparently no one in his family can swim. He kinda can swim now but it still looks funny. A bit like I must have looked from the outside when I learned to swim - as a six years old. I always found this very odd because the dude is smart, hard working and has a degree but it took years and him becoming a dad to realize that swimming is something pretty much everyone can.
Better that than being unable to (such is my dilemma).
I assume that was meant as comment reply? :)
I think in many European countries bicycling is at least a common way for the kids to get around - at least it was like that in Germany, where I’m originally from. There are huge differences in the available infrastructure (which also impacts how many adults stick to cycling) - but also was fine in Germany just by bike.
Infrastructure in Finland is a lot better, though, and cycling in winter also not a problem.
Yeah, I pressed the wrong button here. I’m new to this app, used RIF before and I’m still getting used to how this Works
In any case, I know that bikes in the Netherlands are so normal that I think I was born on one. It’s nice to see that other counties are (getting) there too. I now live between Mexico and Canada and cycling in either country is suicidal, still.
I feel that, with climate change being what it is, car cities are unsustainable and entire cities will require redesigns in infrastructure and uramban layouts to allow for bicycles and pedestrian traffic. Design cities for people, not cars!
Parallel parking. And overall parking in anything else than a US parking lot. People have no idea how to move their car around if it doesn’t go straight forward or backwards. I’ve even seen people failing simple K-Turns. I have both a French and US drivers license. Also manual transmission, but that’s less surprising.
This is the one part of driving I actually got a perfect score on.
I feel like Latin Americans in general take for granted that you’re supposed to pull and push everything to make it work. Sometimes with clever but shitty and overspecific solutions for the problem, or shifting the goals to something more achievable. Some examples:
Three examples:
home oven
The top of the inner part of your oven is partially corroded, so the top heating element does not stay in place. If you leave it as is, it’ll get in the way, burn you, and burn your food. And you don’t have money for a new oven. You’re reasonably sure that the heating element is coated with some elec-proof stuff.
So what do you do? You put a big nail across the hole caused by the corrosion, and hold the element to that nail with some wire. “Just temporarily”. (Nothing is more permanent than temporary hacks.)
Linguistics, field work
Linguistics. You’re making field work on phonetics. You need clear records of speakers speaking their variety, that means good mic + noiseless environment. And yet you’re studying a variety mostly spoken by farmers, and the ones willing to help you out can’t travel, so you’ll need to record them from a cellphone in their farm, and your record will be filled with pigs oinking, birds chirping, and a rooster going “CRAAAA” nonstop.
The solution? …screw phonology, your paper is now about syntax. It’s far easier to detect by ear if the speaker used pronoun reduplication than if he used [ɾ], [ɹ] or [ɻ].
Chemistry, organic synthesis
You got a synthesis route demanding glacial acetic acid (HAc). Except that the HAc bottle is empty, requesting another will take a week because bureaucracy, and oxidising ethanol to HAc through permanganate is bound to get someone screeching at you “YOU’RE WASTING OUR REAGENTS!!!”.
Your solution? Run some quick maths on what’s cheaper: 1) to distil supermarket vinegar, or 2) to use bleach to oxidise ethanol at some loss. Then you do it.
!!< In between the ! And !
On sync for lemmy and probably other apps, there are buttons to do the markdown automatically haha. By the way, a new line is made by giving the previous line two empty spaces.[ ][ ]
New line. I just learned that one, and it’s better than Shift+Enter new lines.These new lines
Waste so much space.
In India we call this sort of engineering ‘jugaad’. And we do it all the time, sometimes to a dangerous level.
