Being male, I never considered taking shorthand, but I did take two years of typing. My father said I would never use anything else from high school. That was back in the 60s. I can also tear up a 10-key adding machine. I can cook a lot of meals from scratch without a cookbook, as I helped my mother when I was a child. I also helped her prepping vegetables for canning and helped with the actual canning. I only got as far as doing a chain stitch with my fingers in crochet. Mechanics and carpenters do something similar with long electric cords.