bricolage

weed grinder? nope. seed grinder.

In the middle of preparing my contribution to an Ethiopian potluck I found myself in need of crushed coriander, cardamom, and allspice.
My dilemma: I only had whole seeds and my mortar and pestle shit the bed a while back.
Solution: pull a MacGyver.
The result: tasty.

i loved MacGyver as a kid and I think 'jury rigging' is one of my few skills. The ability to 'MacGyver' things is, in my opinion, a dying art. I've taught Intro to Geography lab several times during my grad career and have seen a complete lack of problem solving skills in my students. In my opinion it's pervasive and I think it's related to our 'ready made' society and the disappearance of 'blue collar' families. Most items come pre-assembled from somewhere else; kids don't see things being made anymore. Things seem to have always existed as they see them now. The concept of 'process' is absent. Also material goods are disgustingly convienent and cheap; In the past, poor families were forced to repair things. Nowadays if something breaks most people call a specialist or buy a replacement. Rarely do people try to fix it themselves. The end results is that 'Jack of all trades' types like my dad are an endangered species. Their skills, resourcefulness, inventiveness, and industriousness, are dying with them to the detriment of us all.
I can't help but worry about the future when the future can't figure out which way a river is flowing on a topographic map or how to measure the length of something that isn't straight.