Windell was just on the Cool Tools podcast talking about some of his recent favorite tools. These chats with Kevin Kelly and Mark Frauenfelder about common and esoteric tools are always engaging.

Windell was also previously on the podcast in 2015.

• LingYourLanguage is a game for identifying languages from short recordings
• IBM Computing Cheese Cutter Restoration (YouTube)
• Traditional rope making from vegetable fibers to braiding (YouTube)
• DIY 1:150 micro RC Car (YouTube)
• Velvetyne Type Foundry, designing and distributing free and open source typefaces
• The beautiful Mushroom Color Atlas catalogs fungi used for dyeing
• Command not found: Quick reference for installing software packages on Linux and Mac
• Pen plotters: not just output devices. Using a vintage HP Drafting Sight to measure graphical data
• Remove duplicate lines: An Inkscape extension that, uh, removes duplicate lines
• How to Grow Sodium Chloride Crystals at Home

• Source code for the famous Williams arcade game Defender
• Nanostructured materials may provide lightweight armor against microparticle impacts
• SVGnest: Open source SVG nesting software
• Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device Simulator
• Shark spiral intestines may operate as Tesla valves
• One Man’s Amazing Journey to the Center of the Bowling Ball
• Designing a “magic window” caustic image device
• Inside the MK-35D Soviet school calculator
• Cell Biology Candy on Kickstarter by Kristin Henry
• Beatboxing in an MRI (YouTube)

• Antique Fractal Vise Restoration
• Acoustic tissue manipulation (and other sound-related research at Stanford)
• Microbes are being used to stop mosquitos from spreading the virus that causes dengue fever
• The first integrated circuits to orbit Earth
• The 3 Simple Rules That Underscore the Danger of Delta
• 3D printable fractal vise @ thingiverse.
• Quantum Computer meets Pen Plotter
• BBC Micro Bot: A gallery of tweet-sized programs written in BBC BASIC
• Pottery Sherd Cookies

• Quiltimation is a quilted animation of the Muybridge horse photos (via JS)
• Clocko is a font that uses ligatures to set the positions of the hands of a clockface (via Nick)
• Lockdown, a sculpture by Nemo Gould
• First Chips On The Giant Cincinnati Milling Machine (YouTube)
• The National Audubon Society clarifies the Difference Between a ‘Borb’ and a ‘Floof’
• Tools, Tricks, and Hacks: Exploring Novel Digital Fabrication Workflows on #PlotterTwitter (YouTube)
• An optic to replace space and its application towards ultra-thin imaging systems
• The Fundamental Question of the Pandemic is Shifting
• Still File: Photographs recreating computer renderings as physical scenes
• American grown truffle breakthrough

• Interactive Conductive Thread Art (YouTube)
• Stenophylla: coffee for a warmer climate
• A 142 year old experiment on seed viability
• How to grow alum crystals at home
• How Microfishing Took the Angling World by (Very Small) Storm
• Embroidery animation by Alexis Sugden
• How Covid-19 helped redefined airborne transmission