Obsolete Skills

[jackflashdrive]

Great OP, and some great responses so far. I'll note with glee that a sense of direction is quickly becoming an obsolete skill. This is great for me because I have the worst sense of direction of anyone I've ever met. This also illustrates the relation between evolution and environment. Ten-thousand years ago I would have wondered off with no hope of returning home the first time my mother took her eyes off of me (I have plenty of modern-day stories to this effect from when I was a kid). Now having a sense of direction just doesn't matter. In fact, I read an article a few weeks ago about someone developing a GPS belt you wear on your waist that vibrates at true north (e.g., a small vibration just above your right hip indicates that true north is in this direction), or that can vibrate in the direction of a preloaded waypoint. I need me one of them belts.

Edit: Jesus, do you realize how much money you could make selling these belts to Muslims with the waypoint for mecca preloaded? "When you are praying to Mecca X times per day, show the prophet your devotion and accept no substitutes."