also, yeah, i was the last generation that was taught old school trivium "first principles" science. that's why i (along with my high intelligence) have the capacity to understand this stuff. i don't have much practical experience though, but i know pretty much the basics of how to produce all kinds of thermo/explosive basics, it's not really the most interesting part of the subject for me though. when i was in highschool, i was fascinated by organic chemistry, specifically polymers. as i've got older, i'm much more interested in things like soap and cleaning agents, fuel production, distillation, simple organic synthesis, and inorganic chemistry (of which largely the things that go bang or get very hot are about).
i'm most focused though, on understanding, now, what the essentials are for agriculture and hunting, and processing the production into food, and how to store it. but weapons are also very important, basic for hunting, but i want to have the lowest level fallback i can get. how to make a basic longbow, for a start, and then, how to craft a recurve bow. crossbows are only a small extra element of trigger mechanism and string puller, but can be made much larger for much longer range. and how to make various types of tips, what you can make the stick thing out of (i know there is a proper name) and in general the whole thing of fletching, putting the flights on the end, the proper ways to put the notch, and then, of course, how to use it effectively. it's something i plan to do in the near future. including the basic precursor, which is a knife. you need a knife to make a bow. knives are primary tools.
