- Huntsville’s Makers Local 256 is hosting a multi-day “hackerspaces meetup” (Sept 18-20, 2009) with visiting spaces from across North America bringing two MakerBots and a McWire cartesian table; they have open-sourced a USB-drive-based door-lock system and are prototyping an AR conference badge, large-format 3-axis CNC, Linux photobooth, multitouch table, and automated blimp.  
- Channel members caution that synthetic biology demands BSL-2 containment, expensive reagents, and advanced knowledge, urging DIYbio to focus on lower-barrier biology first and calling for a well-structured ontology of lab protocols to complement SKDB’s manufacturing taxonomy.  
- SKDB developers are writing unit tests for 3-D Lego interface vectors, debating how to verify mating points after arbitrary rotations and translations, and have switched to explicit “lego_interface” objects to track connection points and physical units.  
- A distributed rsync mirror network for open-access scientific papers was proposed; protocola.org (a new Django project) will crowdsource step-by-step protocol verification with real-time syntax and accuracy feedback.  
- Lunar in-situ manufacturing scenario sketched: a RepRap or microwave-sintering robot lands on the Moon, prints modular structures from regolith, and is later sealed by a rover—touching on mass drivers, maglev railroads, and lava-tube habitats.  
- Extreme-environment life-support brainstorming included liquid breathing with perfluorocarbons, blood oxygenators, and wireless electrolyzers; single-molecule DNA sequencing and the ethical fallout of linking genes to personality traits were also discussed.  
- Pyjamas (Python-to-JavaScript compiler) highlighted as a way to write browser or desktop apps without touching JavaScript; multi-user dev environments debated, with a GNU screen tutorial shared and a wish for unobtrusive shoulder-surfing mode.  
- RepRap “wrench-built” variant documented: frame assembled with only wrench and hacksaw, fully bolted and three-way braced for rigidity, with step-by-step instructions and photos promised once the redesigned Z-stage is complete.