Emmo wrote:
I would mention that those men who can do even the most basic of work,
whether on the home or car, are richly rewarded by all the women who love
being with someone who is 'handy'.

It depends a lot. Many women regard those kinds of
technical skills as "nerdy" and stay away from such
men. Understanding how things work, and being interested
in such things, has become a wierdness/freakyness, and
an alarming thing for many women. Stuff like that is
only something one does for a job, and not something to
be interested in during free time. Really. Having a
machine shop, or even lots of electronics/RF equipment,
is a social suicide with women. I'm talking about the
age group 20-35 years. The "acceptable" hobbies include
sports and culture, but definitely not technology/science.

Just today I noticed that my internet access didn't work.
Checked stuff, and found out that ADSL modem had stopped
working. I switched power off and back on, and only the
power light was lit, but no life otherwise. I opened it,
measured the SMPS voltages with oscilloscope, noticed
that 5V had huge ripple, and replaced the electrolytic
capasitor with a similar low-ESR cap I had. Started working
again. Yeah, there's advange - did get internet access
working still during sunday, and it cost me practically
nothing. A normal person would have waited until monday,
and bought a new ADSL modem, and propably paid someone
to get it configured/installed.