It's nothing to do with manliness, but just common sense. If you don't know the sun sets in the West and is at its highest point roughly at noon in your local timezone what else is there that you don't know? Basic practical knowledge comes in handy all the time. There isn't a skill that I have that I have not used (and not just to use it when some better alternative was available) and there are still plenty that I'd like to acquire and it has nothing to do with the end of the world but mostly with living in the one I am in right now.

> If you don't know the sun sets in the West and is at its highest point roughly at noon in your local timezone what else is there that you don't know?

And how many more things I do know

> Basic practical knowledge comes in handy all the time.

It doesn’t. The ability to strike a tent, roast a grizzly bear, read weather from moss and bird patterns comes in handy about 0% of the time.

Even knowing that the sun sets in the West has zero practical applications in urban settings.

> Even knowing that the sun sets in the West has zero practical applications in urban settings.

Certainly not zero. If I know I'll be coming back to my car in the late afternoon, knowing roughly where the sun will be means I can park in a spot where the shadow will probably be, possibly even in an unfamiliar lot.

Here's another one. The first step in cell phone navigation is frequently something like "Head West on such-and-such street". In the absence of any other markings, the sun can tell you which way that is.

> Even knowing that the sun sets in the West has zero practical applications in urban settings.

I use it to decide where to sit when eating outside - will the table be more in the sun or the shade after an hour or so?

Unless you care about whether you are going to be in the sun or shade ...

It's not about preparing for the Zombie apocalypse, it's simply a matter of attaining and retaining skills that might come in handy in one or several fairly unlikely scenarios. Very few preppers expect to actually survive armageddon on their own; if the shit hits the fan for real then then only way to survive AND thrive will be as a part of a group.

Being able to set up some basic shelter and navigate in the wilderness is more likely to be handy if your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and your cell phone battery is flat.

> but let's not delude ourselves about how prepared any of us really are for The End Of The World.

What does that even mean? Is there an upcoming mass extinction event that comes with a detailed list of skills required to survive it? All the parent was talking about was basic practical skills that lets you solve day to day problems. You can chose to solve them differently, or avoid those problems altogether.