The Lost Art of Carrying Loads | Hacker News Reader

The Lost Art of Carrying Loads

carryology.com

56 pointssurprisetalk41 comments

With regards to how skill is more important than technology in these other form of carrying:

A couple years ago I read Survival of the Bark Canoe by John McPhee [0].

There are several discussions of a crooked knife and how it was the "multitool" of craftsman in the northern forests and was used for everything from making canoes to snowshoes.

This led to me learning more about crooked knives and even starting https://crookedknives.com.

One of the most interesting parts about this journey was reading the below quote:

"Skill allows you to do a lot with one tool whereas many tools can be used to replace skill".

e.g. it's hard to learn how to use a crooked knife but once you do learn, it's like having a plane, gouge and carving knife all in one hand.

This article feels very similar in that it probably takes more skill to use a soft bag or basket to carry loads instead of a modern backpack but also gives you a lot more options.

0 - https://amzn.to/4cR46FW

Thanks for the essay Claude. It’s good info, just something feels off. It doesn’t feel like a person wrote this article… what are 10 options to fix this?

Ctrl-F load-bearing. 1 hit.

> For the gauchos, real utility was never about .... It was about ...

> the rastra’s silver coins weren’t merely ornaments: ... they were portable wealth

> ... isn’t just inconvenient; it can also be fatal.

> it was more than a container. It was a collaboration

> ... isn’t about resisting nature, but collaborating with it.

> the next frontier of carry isn’t ..., but rediscovering what we’ve left behind

Though it's associated with Africa, head portage was commonly practiced nearly everywhere.

https://youtu.be/BRnwg3dpboc?t=731

Over the decades, I have gotten many a weird look from family, friends and strangers when I use my head for assisting carrying things - but, it works, and often lets me use either one - or both hands to stabilize the "load", provides unobstructed view and far easier maneuverability (less walking backwards, easier to navigate corners, etc.).

It's a "no-brainer", "use-your-head" simple thing...

I'd like to add another thing about the gaucho: the recado (the traditional saddle) was also a really important part of his equipment. It was basically his whole camping setup. The different layers could be taken apart at night and used as a mattress, blankets, insulation from the ground, etc. Then in the morning everything went back on the horse.

> Freshly harvested birch is flexible, allowing it to be woven into complex forms. Once woven and shaped, those fibers create a rigid structure that resists sagging beneath heavy loads while remaining lightweight.

There are stories of Native Americans weaving baskets that were so precisely made that they could carry water.

Funny I've been obsessed with carrying systems since last December when I started going out-as-a-fox to do photography which means carrying a lot of photography gear, therian gear, costume changes, gear to hold gear, etc.

I used to be really clumsy but it seems the more gear I wear the less I get tangled up in things, the more deliberately I move, it's like it rewrites my body image.

Anyhow I ought to find that web site, which sells stuff for carrying, interesting, but somehow I don't.

Lots of expensive backpacks, like really expensive backpacks. I already have an expensive backpack. No leg bags. (I found one that's not quite alt-fashion or cosplay and it's the best for a phone, a few credit cards and 100 business cards.) Nothing 1/10 as cool as the third world solutions they point to for inspiration. And I found a messenger bag on Amazon for half of their cheapest bag that might not tick all my boxes but somehow nothing ever seems to fall out of it even when it could.

It took me forever looking at fashion-oriented sources to find an easy way to carry a tablet where I could grab it instantly [1], then I found out you get something for $12 meant for waitresses which is the right size and has tons of pockets. I'm planning now to get a police baton holder for my selfie stick [2] since it is one more way to demonstrate how prepared I am.

[1] to show people photos I just took and a radical innovation for taking group photos because I can know if I got one where nobody had their eyes closed, funny half the people I show it to think it is a miracle, the other half take it for granted

[2] ... now if I could just convince somebody for a moment that it is a lightsaber!

Obvious slop

The problem is not "AI written" it is that is is poorly written and wastes the reader's time

Not just that, it's a poorly-disguised shilling operation for Bellroy:

When we talk about “we” (or “our” or “us”), we mean Bellroy Pty Ltd and all its wholly owned subsidiaries. We are based in Australia but we review gear from all over the world.

Source: https://www.carryology.com/privacy-policy/

Not a single comment about the content.

Replying to your comment about lack of content, which itself isn't commenting on the content, with my own comment which also is not a comment about the content. Contentedly.

Because there's not that much content there.

I blame OnlyFans.

Interesting article.

But I don't know if I am imagining it; I'm starting to feel Claude's (AI) writing everywhere. Like this sentence for example:

> The genius of the gaucho’s system isn’t storage. It’s integration.

The x isn't y. Its z.

Yes. I missed that specific bit, but, the more I read on, the less it felt like a nice in-flight magazine-tier diversion and the more it felt like I was reading the result of asking Claude to write an essay about the bearing of loads.

(Which makes me personally a lot less interested in reading it.)

Yeah as soon as I hit the gaucho section my clanker alarm started going off like crazy.

Yeah the writing tastes like processed food. There’s no substance just “here’s some stuff people do” but nothing about why it works or where you could learn more.

Just ask "More James Burke Connections".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCJh5D0FCZk

Assuming it is AI-written, who cares? Would the article have been written if AI hadn't authored it? Did you derive less utility from the article than had it not been written at all?

Bunch of Veruca Salts here. I want ALL the entertainment/information, I want it NOW, I'll pirate it if I have to, and GOD FORBID IT USE AI.

While I agree that the topic is actually pretty interesting and any decent info > no info, in more general terms we pay with the most important commodity we have - our free time.

So just because something is free doesn't mean people automatically flock in masses for it and have uncritical relationship with it.

Yes, but criticism itself takes our free time, and there are better places to allocate that criticism/free time than this particular pile-on.

Be the change you want to see!

By whingeing about an allegedly Claude-written blog post on [checks notes] carryology.com???

Literal Gandhi!

I care. If the article was AI written, I'm massively less interested in writing it, and in fact I'll only do it if absolutely necessary, or if I'm getting paid.

That's just how it is for me. If you disagree: no problem! Some people are inclined to argue with people about their opinions, but I'm not one of them, at least not on this matter.

Wild that the messenger is more important than the message. No wonder politics is such a shitshow these days.

If you read the objections you’ll see they are about content (or lack of it) not the producer of the content.

Perhaps you are unable to tell the difference, but for others reading this sort of ersatz thought is like a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.

Now who's being a Veruca Salt? Everyone in this thread is clearly literally talking about the message.

A slot machine that rolls sentences based on statistical weights isn’t a “messenger” and it’s output isn’t a “message.”

The messenger tells you a lot about the message with AI articles.

It being written by AI instead of a human is an indication the writer didn't care enough about the information being communicated to communicate it themselves and if they didn't care enough to put effort into writing it and making sure it is actually good why should I spend my time reading it?

It's also an early indication that the content won't be that good too so it's a convenient signal that reading it will likely be a waste of time. Just look at the article here. Lots of fluff and some completely vapid praise of some of the carry systems that put a significant load into the necks of the carrier. We know that's not good for you it's just convenient when you have low tech.

The intent to communicate particular ideas is actually important to the writing. If you have a lot of well put together words with relatively low intentionality behind it, what you have is something that is very effective at wasting your time. If I want to waste my time I'd rather be playing videogames.

> Did you derive less utility from the article than had it not been written at all?

At least in the economic sense of the word, utility is a measure of the subjective value that a person receives in exchange for something.

Indeed! And even subjectively, I find it difficult to believe that even if AI-written, the new information learned has negative marginal utility (or less marginal utility than had it been human-written). That is in fact the basis of the point I am making, though it is implied rather than stated.

For me it’s about human connection. I want to know the thoughts of others somewhere else to learn or share in their experiences.

> Assuming it is AI-written, who cares?

I care. I'm interested in what humans have to say, not the slop produced by a clanker.

> Did you derive less utility from the article than had it not been written at all?

Unironically yes. When I read an article and realize it's slop partway through, not only have I wasted my time but I experience the annoyance of having wasted my time. It would be better for me if such articles did not exist at all.

Yea I also stumbled across that one. Overall the article was really enjoyable to read, but this one sentence threw me off.

X isnt y it’s Z needs to die

Here's a certified human written post from the one and only Yvon Chouinard about tumplines. Patagonia actually used to sell a tumpline compatible with some of their packs briefly in the 2010s!

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/culture/design/on-tumpline...

Load bearing load carriers.

You're absolutely right! This is a load-bearing article.

I suppose I read enough books that I've seen this from human writers all the time for decades. It's even an English construction that I was specifically taught Japanese and Spanish equivalents in my foreign language classes decades ago, and I use the German equivalent with my family all the time.

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