• Bryan Bishop (kanzure) shared two Russian-language interviews with himself covering Bitcoin development, Facebook’s Libra, cryptocurrencies, and the prospect of “designer babies,” hosted on Forklog.com and Forklog.media.  
• nmz787_ announced that the garage-focused ion beam (FIB) system—a Seiko SMI3200—has been successfully brought online; initial tests show sub-micron destructive imaging capability on U.S. coins and scrap silicon wafers, with photos and status updates posted on Twitter and diyhpl.us.  
• docl proposed an open-hardware phased-array optics (PAO) experiment that would steer a Blu-ray laser beam using hundreds to a million low-cost MLCC ceramic capacitors repurposed as piezoelectric actuators; mirrors would be glued aluminum foil cut with an X-Acto knife.  
• Discussion of practical scaling followed: Jenda` quoted PCBWay assembly at ~$884 for 100 000 MLCC placements, while docl considered switching to PZT buzzer disks for better piezo performance and noted that thermal noise and auto-calibration feedback (heterodyne interferometry) will be critical challenges.  
• fenn clarified terminology (PAO = phased-array optics) and questioned achievable resolution, citing a 64×64 fiber-based demo video and the need for dense elements to approximate a Fresnel pattern without producing a “diffuse blob.”  
• kanzure circulated a tweet from OSH Park showing John McMaster’s live, decapped ATmega328 still functioning inside an Arduino Uno as an example of extreme hardware hacking.