• A Texas “esoteric engineering lab” is experimenting with diesel-compatible fuels produced via thermal depolymerization of common household waste, aiming to run data-center generators on self-made fuel.

• Participants concluded that Linux multi-monitor solutions (xrandr, xinerama, xdmx, TwinView, synergy) are inadequate for large arrays; fallback plans involve multiple PCs with SSH-X11/VNC and cheap PCI video cards.

• The io9 “Mad Science Contest” sparked brainstorming on entertaining synthetic biology: proposals ranged from MDMA-producing E. coli to bacteria engineered to display colors on contact lenses.

• A long thread explored ultra-dense, non-fab digital storage using arrays of bistable organic molecules (e.g., retinol) that an AFM tip can flip left/right; each molecule acts as a nanoscale “flip-flop,” potentially yielding >50 TB on a postage-stamp surface.

• Practical implementation challenges include slow AFM scan speeds, sub-nanometer actuator tolerances, and lack of high-speed automation; interim compromises suggest relaxing pitch to micrometres and using optical or DVD-style lithography.

• Extensive open-source STM/AFM construction guides, piezo-driver circuits, and plastic cantilever designs were shared, underscoring a community push to democratize nanoscale fabrication and metrology.

• Links and resources collected: diybio.org, openwetware.org, protein-coated optical discs, surplus-machine tool catalogs, and historical curiosities like the 16th-century “bookwheel” as inspiration for mechanical information access.