- A new open-source CAD workflow is emerging: kanzure is wiring HeeksCAD-style toolbars into InteractiveViewer.py via PythonOCC so STEP/IGES files from SKDB packages can be previewed and thumbnailed without proprietary software; screenshots and scripts are posted at heybryan.org/books/Manufacturing/pythonocc/.

- Participants revived 1960s NASA fluidic logic as a radiation- and EMP-resistant alternative to electronics, brainstorming hobbyist water-rockets and guidance systems while noting contamination tolerance as a key design constraint.

- Cryonics economics were updated: Alcor now offers neuropreservation for ~$80 k via life-insurance with 84 patients stored as of January 2009, prompting debate on whether future slice-and-scan methods can capture electrochemical state fidelity.

- A DIY tDCS (transcranial direct-current stimulation) project is underway; the builder is testing whether stainless-steel electrodes will corrode under current, aiming for a low-cost cognitive-enhancement device.

- Offline knowledge preservation tactics were compared: the full English Wikipedia is ~4 GB compressed (~160 GB expanded), with WikiTaxi and a custom build script (http://users.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~ttsiod/buildWikipediaOffline.html) offered as practical solutions in the absence of an official torrent.

- Microfluidics prototyping was democratized: gene proposed etching Sharpie-drawn masks with ferric chloride to create reusable microchannel stamps, bypassing e-beam lithography for garage labs.

- A 45-ft trimaran is being outfitted as a mobile maker space with lathes, welders, and 3 kW standby power, raising questions about tool density and stability on small seagoing vessels.

- The RepRap “make_bot.py” script (reprap.svn.sourceforge.net) automatically generates G-code and cut lists for self-assembling frames, sparking half-serious talk of a “Grendel” grey-goo variant.

- DIYbio regulation was likened to amateur-radio Morse-code barriers; participants argued the community should drive costs so low that enforcement becomes impractical, aiming to become “unregulatable.”