• Kevin Kelly’s “moral obligation to increase technology” and James Burke’s “Connections” finale were cited as foundational extropian inspirations, with Burke’s 1980s prediction that the Internet would accelerate invention singled out as prescient.  
• The RepRap Gada Prize rules were hotly debated: participants questioned whether entrants must release complete open-source hardware (schematics, CAD, firmware) from day one or may keep designs secret until the deadline, with kanzure arguing that secrecy violates the RepRap ethos.  
• A proposed license model for Gada entries—GPL-only plus an optional “no-derivatives-in-this-competition” clause—raised concerns about derivative works built on pre-existing open-source components.  
• SpaceHack.org (citizen space exploration directory), OpenMoon’s OHANDA-branded “C-ROVE” lunar rover, FocusFusion.net (DIY fusion reactor group in NYC), and Fusor.net (amateur fusion community) were shared as active open-science resources.  
• A 2009 PDF guide to micromachining 100 µm-scale glass structures via electrochemical discharge machining (EDM) was reposted, reviving interest in an abandoned EDM-based RepRap variant.  
• John McCarthy’s essay “How Long Will Nuclear Energy Last?” (http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/cohen.html) was used to argue that seawater uranium and coal-ash uranium could power civilization for billions of years, framing “peak uranium” as a defeatist myth akin to the 1970s collapse of space-based solar power.  
• QuantumG’s blog post “Space Colonization as Savior of Liberal Democracy” (http://quantumg.blogspot.com/2011/01/space-colonization-as-savior-of.html) was promoted as essential reading on the socio-political necessity of off-world expansion.  
• Logs from two Second Life sessions on lunar resource exploitation and self-sustaining Moon bases (http://www.thefulfillment.org/chatlogs/010811ExploitingMoon.htm and 011511ToTheMoon.htm) were shared, prompting skepticism about Second Life culture but praise for the technical content.