"Cool," they said.

Some veteran makers gathered for 40 minutes and in a wonderful exchange of ideas and "asking" built a slingshot of straws. Their openness to ideas, alternatives, and what-ifs was invigorating.

As it happened, I was reading a book at home about ship-building. The next day I shared these images of how builders used the native strength of "crooked" pieces of wood for braces and stress-bearing components of sailing ships... and why generations of children used a yoked branch so make their slingshots.

 "Cool," they said.