- A custom-synthesis chemical supplier (drugspowerstore.com) was noted as “interesting” by fenn, hinting at gray-market bio-reagent sourcing for DIY biology.  
- RepRap build advice dominated a segment: fenn recommended the Prusa design, RAMPS electronics, Adrian’s geared extruder, PLA over ABS, and starting with a 10-hour extruder burn-in test.  
- kanzure floated the idea of a global public registry where developers pledge to ignore or reform software patents, arguing that critical-mass non-participation could pressure systemic change.  
- Discussion of pharmaceutical patent “prize funds” (Bernie Sanders’ bill) concluded that prizes alone fail; fenn argued the deeper issue is the FDA’s billion-dollar approval bottleneck and suggested tiered testing levels.  
- kanzure and fenn debated personal web presence: kanzure’s sprawling file dumps versus a curated blog or showcase; fenn pushed for topical categories (manufacturing, biotech, neuroscience) and RSS-friendly updates.  
- Visualization tooling was surveyed: kanzure suggested Raphael.js and three.js/WebGL for interactive lifelog graphs, while fenn preferred lightweight 2-D time-series rendering.  
- A brief anecdote about Git’s rise—CEOs of SourceForge and CollabNet dismissing Git/GitHub in 2008—was used to illustrate incumbents missing disruptive shifts, a parable for open-source hardware and transhumanist tech.