- A participant asked for a “quick-and-dirty design for a really high-power maser,” indicating interest in open-source microwave/laser hardware experimentation.  
- Discussion referenced the Fab6 conference: Ron Weiss’s standard synthetic-biology talk was noted (Google Video link provided), and it was reported that “someone implemented first-order logic in biology,” hinting at progress in biological computing.  
- A USPTO application (20080270152) titled “Patent Acquisition and Assertion by a (Non-Inventor) First Party Against a Second Party” was shared, sparking debate on using patent law itself as a weapon against patent trolls.  
- The concept of “minimum-complexity design” for cyber-physical systems was introduced, drawing an analogy to Kolmogorov complexity to argue that every engineered system has a simplest functional form.  
- A web-app monetization experiment—automatically purchasing CO₂ offsets based on site traffic—was mentioned (co2stats.com) as the only revenue model that “made sense.”  
- The Emotiv EPOC EEG headset was announced as newly acquired by a participant, underscoring ongoing grassroots BCI exploration.  
- Bitcoin was briefly discussed; one participant expressed enthusiasm while another preferred abolishing money entirely.  
- A Singularity Institute slogan—“every 18 months the minimum IQ required to destroy the world drops by one point”—was cited as an example of AI-risk FUD.