Totally OT, but frustrated.....

[der Mouse]

>> [...], how many of you have the knowledge of metalurgy to make any
>> metal tool from say... the Bronze age, or Iron, or make gun powder,
>> sure you know what's in it, but can you obtain the raw materials,
>> and build the contraption that they used to make it?

Anyone who's read _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_ knows how to make
gunpowder (well, anyone who's bothered to remember the details).
Myself, I'm not sure I can keep it straight which ingredient is which,
but I remember the 75:15:10 ratio, so it's at most six tries. :)

As for metallurgy, well, no.  But I could probably reinvent rudimentary
cast iron with at most a few years' work; I expect the hardest part to
redevelop would be extracting iron from ore.

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