- A next-generation paper-downloading stack named “papermonk” is being prototyped in JavaScript to replace the aging Python “paperbot”; it uses streaming HTML parsing (via the trumpet library) and event emitters to deliver metadata and PDF links in real time.  
- Papermonk is designed as a modular system: each publisher-specific downloader (e.g., papermonk-downloader-plosone) exports a simple API consisting of matches(uri) → boolean and download(uri, cb) → stream, with the goal of running identically in both Node and the browser.  
- pdfparanoia, a companion utility, automatically removes per-page IP-address watermarks from downloaded PDFs; it currently inspects files with pdfminer but needs a writer-capable PDF library to re-assemble clean documents.  
- The legacy paperbot remains on IRC but is fragile: it times out on Springer/Cell links, depends on Library Genesis mirrors that frequently fail, and requires new handlers for IEEE and JSTOR.  
- Contributors are encouraged to open GitHub issues for both paperbot and papermonk; a Haskell PDF library called pdf-toolbox was suggested as a potential replacement backend.  
- Hacker Beach 2014 will convene in Lamu, Kenya, during January; participants will hack on personal projects on the beach, with most arrivals flying Nairobi→Lamu between 28 Dec and 2 Jan.  
- While in Paris, bkero connected with local open-source and DIYbio communities, including CAD/Python developers Thomas Paviot and Jelle Feringa, diybio leaders Thomas Landrain and Philippe Langlois, and Mozilla/Xiph video engineers.  
- La Paillasse, the Paris diybio lab, hosts a bioreactor and EEG equipment; an FBI interview transcript with Thomas Landrain was circulated for background reading.  
- A brief discussion referenced the OvercomingBias post “The Bright Future of Pipes,” half-seriously positioning data plumbing as the next major technological wave.