• The Emotiv EPOC EEG headset is being reverse-engineered; it exposes raw EEG data only through a $1,000 “super DLL,” while cheaper licenses provide dumbed-down APIs, prompting work on an open-source Linux driver.  
• The headset’s wet felt electrodes are stored in a “hydrator pack” and must be moistened with saline; users report finger injuries from the plastic spikes used to snap electrodes into place.  
• Technical discussion of the EPOC’s signal-processing pipeline referenced PCA, MANOVA, and Bartlett’s statistic inside the “CognitivGaussianTraining” module.  
• A new Google Group, makerbot-dev, was announced for open-source 3-D printer development, and the channel linked to a Bluetooth-hacking project page at hackfromacave.com.  
• Participants debated the merits of the EPOC versus the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator and concluded the latter “sucks,” while also noting the lack of Linux support for most consumer BCI hardware.  
• The BioBricks Foundation (bbf.openwetware.org) was highlighted as the canonical synthetic-biology parts registry, though a separate, newer academic collaboration with a catchy acronym was sought but not identified.  
• NSF cyber-infrastructure grants were mocked for buzzword density, exemplified by the “Virtual Organization for Innovative Conceptual Engineering Design” program.  
• A wearable “remembrance agent” paper (Bradley Rhodes) and a Swedish morphogenesis essay were shared as background reading on augmented cognition and self-transformation.  
• Anecdotal evidence of highly lucid, productive 90-minute REM cycles—including sleep-typing and sleep-relationship-management—was offered as a potential genetic trait worth further study.