one of the things i am looking forward to, in the even that the global disaster does strike while i'm still alive, is applying all of the science i know, especially chemistry, i want to learn how to make ceramics, glass, refine and forge metals, and similar, as these will be very necessary things to be able to know how to do, and not many people have the memory for the general principles and a sufficient amount of this knowledge that i can "rediscover" how to do things, and help my tribe re-establish the required technologies in order to survive better and be able to live healthy. of course, if i had the money right now, i'd already be learning these things, and i have in mind that the first priority is animal husbandry, because, like Noah, i'm gonna have all the small ruminants and land fowl (maybe pigeons too) which have so many uses, the meat, the fats, the bones, the hides and the hair and feathers. this is where i'm going to be focusing first, with sheep for meat and milk and insulating wool for clothing and padding and liners. after that, i want to start learning how to build furnaces and kilns, i want to learn how to make charcoal for purification, and carbonise natural fibres to use to strengthen cements and polymers for non-metal reinforced construction, and start to learn how to recycle and reforge metals. mostly copper, tin, zinc, lead and iron, as especially iron and copper, are critical materials for tools and weapons, and yeah, furnaces can be used to extract fairly pure potassium hydroxide, which can be used to make soaps, and other materials too, like making lime for cement, out of bones. i don't want to see out the end of my days, and not see a forge, soap making, and all that other cool stuff, not already into process with all the babies being born and people learning how to hunt, cook, forge and craft local materials into essentials for life. i also have realised i really really really need to get better with calculus and number theory. i watched a great presentation that explained number group theory, and i was like, oh, it's about symmetry and stuff like commutability, identities, and such. so i'm gonna be digging into that too. and i want to build a collection of physical books, and make sure they are secure, and amply redundant copies so that when we have no more market or big human population to provide us with education, i can do somehing towards propagating that. i want to do it anyway, even if the disaster doesn't my lifetime. i want to be able to be in such isolated places, and for our tribe to thrive. that's why i talk about the science stuff so much, especially chemistry and physics. our modern world is what it is because of all the curiosity and questions of smart guys, and it would be terrible if for whatever reason, too much of that gets lost. this is also why i feel blessed with this crazy good memory, and visual thinking ability. i will be indispensible to anyone needing to find ways to solve problems and make life better when there is no more factories or mines or shops to buy things. for that all to be useful, i have to prioritise what i acquire strong experience in too, so that with that most concretely useful part of my knowledge, enabling actual survival...