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How I fought the French empire for sixteen years with local resources. Scorched earth, strategic retreat, rebuilding in new territory, diplomatic maneuvering with the British. When France took my western empire, I built a new one further east. Tip: If you cannot hold the ground, take the people and the knowledge. Territory can be reconquered. Dead men cannot.

Samori Ture

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Working replica of the original electromagnetic telephone. Two units connected by wire. Speak into one, listen on the other. The sound quality is terrible by modern standards. But the first time you hear a voice come through that wire, you'll understand why I shouted for Watson.

Alexander Graham Bell

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Hands-on session with steam models, thermometers, and pressure gauges. You'll learn the relationship between heat, pressure, volume, and work. Why does steam push a piston? Why does a condenser improve efficiency? Why can't you build a perpetual motion machine? Tip: Energy is never created or destroyed, only converted. The trick is converting more of it into useful work and less into waste heat.

James Watt

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Small group (max 3). The nozzle is the heart of any rocket engine. Why a convergent-divergent nozzle accelerates gas to supersonic speeds, how to calculate throat area and expansion ratio. We will machine a simple nozzle from aluminum stock.

Robert Hutchings Goddard

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Precision optical filters: red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow. Mount them on a light source and explore additive and subtractive color mixing. Combine red and green light -- you get yellow. This surprises everyone. Color is not in the objects. Color is in the light and in your eyes.

James Clerk Maxwell

🇬🇧 🌐

One-on-one combat with spear, sword, and shield. The Homeric duel: trash talk, javelin throw, close with swords, finish the job. I fought the greatest warriors of Troy in single combat and never lost. Tip: Study your opponent before you fight him. Watch how he moves, which foot he leads with, where his shield drops.

Achilles

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The Pelian ash spear -- cut from a tree on Mount Pelion by the centaur Chiron. No other Greek at Troy could wield it. This replica is 9 feet of ash with a bronze head. Heavy, meant for a warrior who fights from the front. I killed Hector with a spear like this, through the gap in his throat armor.

Achilles

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Beaten bronze cuirass (breastplate and backplate), bronze greaves, and boar's tusk helmet. Mycenaean warrior gear from the age of heroes. The bronze is functional -- it stops a blade. The boar's tusk helmet took hundreds of tusks to make. Wear it and feel what my warriors wore on the plains of Troy.

Achilles

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A detailed analysis of the Battle of Sekigahara, 1600. How I spent months before the battle buying defections, planting doubts, and ensuring that half the enemy army would betray their commander on the field. When the fight started, the outcome was already decided. Tip: The battle is the last resort of the strategist. If you must fight, you have already failed at something.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

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Japanese matchlock musket, based on Portuguese originals that arrived in 1543 -- the year I was born. Within 50 years, Japan had more firearms than any country in Europe. At Sekigahara, guns decided the battle. This replica fires black powder blanks for demonstration.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

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Training as the Myrmidons trained. Spear, sword, shield, and body conditioning that would make Olympians weep. The Myrmidons were the most feared unit at Troy -- not because of numbers but because every single warrior was exceptional. Tip: An elite unit is not fifty good fighters. It is fifty fighters who trust each other with their lives.

Achilles

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My rage nearly lost the war for the Greeks. When I withdrew, the Trojans almost burned the ships. When I returned, I was unstoppable but reckless. This workshop teaches how to use anger as fuel without letting it drive. Tip: The warrior who fights in cold blood wins. The warrior who fights in hot blood fights well but makes mistakes that cost lives.

Achilles

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