Amateur radio skills prove useful during bushfire emergencies

Re:Amateur radio skills prove useful during bushfire emergen... by syshum on Monday February 03, 2020 @08:50AM (#22224075)

I was recently in a line at the store where a person paid using cash, a rare thing these days. The Cashier, mid 20's person, could not even tabulate the total amount handed to them in their mind to enter that total in the computer to get the change amount. Ended up handing it back to the customer using "how much is there"

I wept for the state of public education, basic addition is lost skill it seems

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Re:Amateur radio skills prove useful during bushfire emergen... by throw0101a on Monday February 03, 2020 @09:57AM (#22224645)

> I wept for the state of public education, basic addition is lost skill it seems

What does this have to do with "public education"?

They could have been taught it in elementary school, but if they were in their mid-20s, then it would probably have been over a decade since they were tested on it even in secondary/high school.

And that skill would have atrophied with non-use on a day-to-day basis.

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Re:Amateur radio skills prove useful during bushfire emergen... by syshum on Monday February 03, 2020 @10:32AM (#22224987)

basic addition is not a skill that atrophies. We are talking the most basic math there is, adding whole numbers. 1+1 = 2, or in this case 50+20+1+1+1+5 = 78

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Re:Amateur radio skills prove useful during bushfire emergen... by throw0101a on Monday February 03, 2020 @10:46AM (#22225133)

> basic addition is not a skill that atrophies.

The evidence you provided suggests otherwise. :)

I'm sure the person can still add, but it's a bit slow(er) without practice, they got frustrated, and so handed back the change.

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