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Comment by XL5 | Hacker News Reader

This is so unbelievably important. Too many people are unwilling to learn how to do the most basic of things to look after themselves.

We are intelligent and capable. We should act as such.

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Specialization is actually one of the wonderful things that fall out of the whole Adam Smith Wealth of Nations Capital system (its why we're not all subsistence farmers). When someone can make something better / faster / stronger then I can, it's a good idea for them to do it and not me.

That bed looks like it might not have been finished and sealed properly, he's definitely not using the green-hued pretreated wood. It'll probably rot by the end of the season.

Pressure treated wood is toxic. Cedar is a better choice for food applications.

Wood is more durable than that, it will last for at least several years.

I wouldn't eat things out of a bed made with pressure treated lumber.

It's cedar, like the others have said, you should never use pressure treated wood or any type of sealant in a vegetable garden.

I have a cedar raised garden I built 4 years ago. It rains 10 months out of the year here and it's still going strong. No indication of any rot or breaking down.

But your comment is important and shows the power of the internet though. If you went to build a garden, you wouldn't just run out and buy pressure treated wood because you know it lasts more. I'm sure you would take the time to research it at least a little bit on the internet. You'd find this out within the first 10 minutes and then go build yourself a great bed.

Also, even if it does break down after a year, you can just plop together a new one.

It's just wood.

"Specialization is for insects." -- Heinlein

A fiction writer, and a fictional character voices it, but seriously, fuck specialization. Sure I'm only a "master" of a couple domains, but familiarity (to the point of competence) in others gives me insight and ideas on how to further my work in my primary and secondary fields of interest/employment.

There is something else going on here. The writer's alternative to DIY was likely a time and resource consuming process of searching multiple stores for a suitable product (and even then probably not exactly right). There is a point where the custom product is easy enough to make and hard enough to find off-the-shelf that DIY is a compelling route even for the timid.

Adam Smiths point is that you should stick to the production of whatever goods you have inherent comparative advantage at.

That doesn't mean you should be a mono-skilled person with only a bimodal work/consume life.

To be a rounded individual, you need to pick up skills in a lot of different fields, to the point of not being afraid of them. AT the very least, you'll be able to converse to a wide variety of people without feeling like a dumb schmuck.

Yeah but I can see how for people it is really difficult to not fall into the trap of just taking the easier route and not spending the time to do it the hard-er way.

But this really all boils down to a version of the "teach a man to fish" thing.

The problem is by not learning how to fish (think and solve problems is this example) you are at the mercy of others to do things for you.

One thing I can probably say with fair certainty is that if the shit hit the fan some of the people out there running the much aligned "lifestyle" businesses would be able to survive quite well simply because doing that requires you to have skills in many different areas as opposed to people who end up being totally reliant on info and help from others to get anywhere or get by.

I hate to have to rely on anyone else and try to learn how to do pretty much anything I can that I might have to repeat at some time in the future if I can find the time to do so. And find that fun.

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