Have you noticed the recently introduced search engine on the Cool Beans Blog? You can access it from the CliveMaxfield.com homepage or from the main Cool Beans Blog page.

The new search facility on the homepage (Click image to see a larger version)
The new search facility on the Cool Beans page (Click image to see a larger version)

This all started when my chum Charles Pfeil said that he was looking for an old Cool Beans column he remembered reading but that he was finding hard to track down. Thus, I contacted the hero who created my website, my friend Denis Crowder from CroDesign, asking for a search tool, and he responded with the little beauty you see above, which searches blog titles, body content, and comments.

The reason I mention this here is that — many gibbous moons ago — I pledged for the Turing Tumble Kickstarter. As we see in this video, the Turing Tumble is a mega-cool mechanical computer that, quite apart from anything else, is a perfect STEM toy for kids on pandemic lockdown.

Also, this video from The Action Lab shows an adult perspective of the Turing Tumble.

Happily, anyone can now purchase one of these little beauties from the Turing Tumble Website. As fate would have it, I have my own Turing Tumble from the original Kickstarter here in my office. It’s incredibly fun to use as an adult; I only wish I’d had this when I was a kid.

Actually, I was just thinking about my twin brother who — tragically — was dead when he was born. I often ponder what it would have been like to grow up as an identical twin. Would we both be sharing an office working together now, I wonder. The thing is that, if I had two kids who were both interested in this sort of thing, I’d buy them each a Turing Tumble and let them try to out-do each other, because I’m sure that’s what my twin brother and I would have done.

As an aside, I couldn’t remember if I’d mentioned the Turing Tumble in an earlier Cool Beans Blog, so I just used the new search tool to perform a quick hunt for “Tumble,” which returned the following results:

So, I’m delighted that my new search capability works as well as it does, but I’m saddened to discover that I haven’t shared my meandering musings on the Turing Tumble before here on the Cool Beans Blog.

The thing that sparked all of this off in the first place is that I recently enjoyed a video conference with the creator of the Turning Tumble, Paul Boswell. I have to say that Paul is as fun and interesting a person as one might hope to meet.

Just for giggles and grins, I’m going to tell you that Paul told me about his next project, which will be announced shortly. I can say no more at this time, except that when this new project is launched: (a) you’ll hear about it here on the Cool Beans Blog first and (b) you will squeal and squirm with excitement (I know that’s what I’m doing). Until that frabjous day, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the Turing Tumble.