More stupid ,well i Don't know.
 

I'm thinking yes people these days lack practical skill's ,something i'm good at and have earn't my living from (workshop manager on a large cotton/grain farm)
One thing i can say is to watch the young use computers etc is like they were born with the knowledge build in unlike myself who has had to acquire these skill's.
The lack of understanding of how machines work has lead to people being ripped off .the other day i visited with my mother looked at the back sliding door dragging ,mum said yes we have had someone look at it and we have to replace the whole door $600 .i took a look at it decided it needed new rollers ,went to the hardware shop purchased new rollers ,fitted to the door ,$35 latter door fixed.
My point is always do your own homework .

Hmm. If four different grown adults couldn't figure how to screw tight the cap on the jerry can, perhaps it wasn't quite as simple as you may think...

Not a screw cap, it's curved levers on the moving hinge that cam the seal down. The design is this way so squadies didn't lose the cap or cross the thread. All part of the improvement over the metal flimsies used up until the 1940's. The disadvantage is that the hinge slips so the levers won't start. You need to pull it open and start again a counter intuitive action and why the plastic replacements went back to screw thread. Joe public is expected to use one every 10 years, no training required where as the Afrika Korps were a bit more frequent.

IT makes back street mechanics look like saints. I remember sales reps bringing lap tops back to the office with claims the screen had gone. Tales of coloured boxes bouncing round. Fear of viruses. All gone after a good charge and restart though. The IT swines changed the screen savers to big red letters saying DANGER.

Andy

The style of can described by Andy above (with the cam style closure) is the original Jerry can design, and the only one that can be truly called a jerry can. They were designed by, and used by, the Afrika Corps in WW2. They were prized bounty for the British who called them Jerry cans after their slang term for the Germans. They were so highly prized because the design was significantly better than the Allies screw top cans which leaked and lacked robustness in the harsh desert environment

Many years ago, I showed my wife how to open and close the top of a Jerry Can I have, she was amazed (then) how simple it was, and couldn't understand why all cans are not like this...

Is the world getting dumber? Absolutely, but what do you expect when everything is engineered to be as simple as possible to minimize risks. The issue I have with it is that people are no longer embarrassed about it and as a result lose the motivation to use their brains.

The biggest annoyance Ive got is the lack of knowledge of basic geography. This Canadian girl couldn't tell me which direction she used to live from Calgary. She did know it was in Alberta and between 1.5 and 2 hours drive. Her excuse was that she was never good at geology!!! And that wasn't me making a typo. She wasn't even embarrassed about it.

I was looking for a classic video of the chaser guys going through the streets of the US with a world map, but can't find it. There are a few others though. This is just as bad here in Australia.

Chasers : War on Everything -Americans - YouTube

Geography Lesson for Americans - YouTube

I handed one of mine, open, to my wife today and gave her the back story. That scared her! However, having never seen one before, she had mastered the sliding hinge and closed it in under a minute. She's OK with mechanical stuff, but not particularly practical so those people must have been well down the scale!

Cheers

Nigel in NZ