• A cryptographic set-reconciliation problem was posed: how can two parties with large identity lists detect shared elements over a low-bandwidth channel without transmitting the full lists?  The solution suggested was the PinSketch/Minisketch protocol (https://github.com/sipa/minisketch), which achieves near-information-theoretic efficiency by sending only the symmetric-difference-sized sketch.

• Discussion of GNU Taler (Taxable Anonymous Libre Economic Reserves) as a free-software micro-payment system endorsed by Richard Stallman, highlighting interest in censorship-resistant financial infrastructure.

• Critique of UK and US ventilator-shortage responses: emphasis on IP licensing failures, the futility of “hackathon”-style crash programs, and calls for eminent-domain-style seizure of critical medical-device designs to save lives.

• Tor Project layoffs (13 staff) attributed to COVID-19 funding shortfalls, with reference to its 2018 revenue of ≈ $1.2 M from U.S. government sources and $23 k from DuckDuckGo.

• Open-source CAD ecosystem debate: comparison with Blender’s $1.2 M annual budget and success in computer graphics; proposals for revenue models including certification programs, trademark licensing, and cloud-based FEA/CFD services.

• Release of open-source FPGA tooling news: a full break of Xilinx 7-Series bit-stream encryption (Project X-Ray + nextpnr-xilinx) enabling open place-and-route flows for previously locked-down hardware.

• DIY transcript additions to diyhpluswiki: Amiti Uttarwar’s Bitcoin Core attack-analysis talk at LA BitDevs, and Laolu/Joost/Oliver’s VR presentation on LND 0.10.

• Link to Andreessen Horowitz essay “It’s Time to Build” (https://a16z.com/2020/04/18/its-time-to-build/) framing COVID-19 as evidence of systemic underinvestment in physical and technological infrastructure.

• George Hotz’s open-source COVID-19 ventilator project (GitHub: geohot/corona) and related livestream discovery.

• Admiration expressed for RISC-V assembly language, with speculation on future Windows or macOS ports to the open ISA.