- SKDB, the open-source “Standardized Knowledge Database” for hardware, achieved functional Lego-brick snapping after fixing a coordinate-transformation bug; commits c3ca4e7, 9d429de, and 4010035 add working interface-alignment code, volume-based collision detection via OpenCASCADE’s BRepGProp.VolumeProperties(), and an O(n²) interference checker.  
- The SKDB codebase was reorganized: the obsolete “pymates” module was removed and geometry/GUI utilities were moved into new geom/ and gui/ packages (commits 1d6d886, c5ccd5b, 46f701a).  
- Patent drawings were highlighted as a copyright-free image resource; U.S. policy exempts patent text and illustrations from copyright, with an example patent (patd253711.pdf) provided.  
- A 56 MB index of public-domain books (1923-1963) was noted, but its 350 MB XML file was considered unwieldy for immediate use.  
- optfunc, a Python CLI helper that auto-generates optparse arguments by introspecting function signatures, was introduced; the repo is available at github.com/simonw/optfunc.  
- A Nature Protocols paper on recombinant adenoviruses (nprot.2007.135.pdf) was shared via the channel’s internal mirror at adl.serveftp.org.  
- Members discussed a Biopython pipeline to fetch DNA sequences via NCBI Entrez, run Primer3, and output ready-to-use primer pairs; development is planned for the weekend.  
- A $13 angular-rate gyro (Goldmine-elec G17270) was showcased, alongside tongue-in-cheek plans to express cone-snail or rattlesnake venom proteins in E. coli once promoters, RBS, and stop codons are assembled.  
- The Solar Impulse project’s attempt at the first round-the-world solar-powered flight—operating day and night without fuel—was framed as a forcing function for technological advancement; the official challenge document is at http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/documents/challenge.php?lang=en&group=challenge.  
- Discussion linked the large-scale Solar Impulse effort to personal-scale innovation via a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcWSI03NKo0) and the eSoaring site (http://esoaring.com/index.html), illustrating the channel’s pattern of translating headline projects into accessible maker or bio-hacker experiments.