Nah. I stopped reading them ages ago. As a kid I devoured them. I made my first arc welder and a carbon arc furnace from what I read in those Popular mags. I sure sent off for stuff in the back pages. M80 casings and end caps and fuse and formulas. I had to talk a girlfriend's aunt into taking me to a chem supply house to get my chemicals. Made my first rockets and cannons. When I was investigated for my clearance for the Navy, I discovered the stupid FBI had me listed as under suspicion for possession of explosives. Who didn't blow things up as a kid? I haven't read a Popular Mechanics or Science probably now for over 45 years.
I am mostly wood. I would be considered elegant in my application of log and timberframing. I have a high sufficiency in standard carpentery, and I can hold my own in steam-bentwood, turned stiles, and coopersmithing... I am nearing mastery in mechanics (small engine and automotive), advanced in machining, fair in hydraulics and competent in iron frame (trailers and such)... I am top flight in computing where machine diags and os diags are concerned... and I can hack control systems pretty well... Pretty handy all around. But get me around servos and electro-mechanical controls and I am a plumb idiot. And the same for diesel beyond the common farm tractor...
Most of which I accomplish in the company of a three pound anvil hammer.
But if you want an old camper stuck up on pilings and turned into a hella deer blind... Well that sort of thing is where I shine. Not the sort of thing learned in popular mechanics... And I bet they didn't teach you that sh*t at NASA...
And I still love blowing sh*t up. SO I am prolly on a list somewhere, even if it is just the dumass list for the county sheriff.