- Ubuntu’s xsplash boot screen was debated as a case of “Not-Invented-Here” syndrome, with participants weighing whether hardware constraints justified rejecting Fedora’s Plymouth solution.  
- A technical comparison of Git, Mercurial, and Bazaar (bzr) centered on whether bzr’s file-centric design for distro packaging warranted building a new DVCS instead of extending Git.  
- A new H+ Magazine article, “Hackerspace Your Garage: Downloading DIY Hardware Over the Web,” introduced SKDB and the vision of distributed, open-source hardware fabrication; readers were urged to leave substantive comments to grow the community.  
- Discussion of micro-manufacturing economics asked when 3-D-printing pipette tips becomes cheaper than purchasing them and imagined “dry workflow” microfluidic labs that eliminate disposable tips entirely.  
- Romie Littrell’s modular microfluidics platform—integrating electroporation, cell-sorting, and microscopy—was presented; licensing openness was questioned as a prerequisite for adoption.  
- superkuh sought fabrication methods for a 1 mm-thick PCB requiring 2,500 precisely spaced 1 mm holes for a Thick Gas Electron Multiplier; options included CNC milling, water-jet cutting, and commercial quick-turn services.  
- Ex-Amgen employees launching Cure Pharmaceutical were identified as potential recruits for open-source drug-manufacturing initiatives.  
- Gapminder.org was praised for persuasive data visualization, and kanzure highlighted its custom motion-chart upload feature as a tool for open-science communication.