- The channel discussed the open-source Taverna workflow engine (http://taverna.sourceforge.net) for integrating bioinformatics web services and its visual “UML-to-code” interface, questioning past failures of similar approaches.  
- Dave Gingery’s DIY machine-shop book series—including titles on building a crucible furnace, coil-winding machine, and electrical-resistance shop furnace—was collected and shared as raw scans (≈350 MB) plus supplementary 3-D models and schematics.  
- Universal Business Language (UBL) XML schemas and the ebXML/UDDI stack were dissected as potential standards for automated, machine-readable business documents (orders, RFQs) in open-manufacturing supply chains, with real-world adoption examples from Denmark and Sweden cited.  
- A debate on “crypto-money” referenced Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and The Diamond Age, focusing on untraceable e-currency and its hypothetical impact on taxation and state collapse.  
- The group explored extreme long-distance communication concepts—von Neumann probes, quasar-based signaling, and “spooky action at a distance”—as practical or sci-fi methods for an “intergalactic computer network.”  
- A newly reported form of tactile-emotion synaesthesia was mentioned, where textures like denim or silk trigger specific emotional states.  
- BackType (a “Twitter for comments” aggregator) and OpenID were briefly compared as approaches to decentralized online identity and discussion tracking.  
- A rear-projection touchscreen technique noted on Slashdot was flagged as a possible low-cost human-interface innovation.