- A back-of-the-envelope calculation showed that the entire annual electricity demand of the United States could be met by a square array of 20 %-efficient photovoltaic panels roughly 105–120 km on a side, assuming capacity factors between 17 % and 25 % depending on location (with a live WolframAlpha link provided).  
- Participants debated the practicality of such a scheme, noting that the required battery storage or other accumulators could rival the cost and footprint of the solar array itself, and that real-world capacity factors in northern states drop as low as 12 %.  
- A U.S. solar productivity map (Wikimedia Commons link) was shared to ground the discussion, showing peak annual yields of 2 045 kWh / kW (≈ 23 % capacity factor) in the Southwest versus ~17 % in more median regions.  
- The conversation pivoted to recycling economics: several members argued that curbside recycling is largely a “feel-good scam,” with profitable exceptions such as car batteries, aluminum cans, transformers, and large appliances; municipal post-collection sorting was proposed as an alternative.  
- One participant defined “recycling” iteratively as any material reuse that is not yet economically rational, contrasting it with hoarding or investment behavior (e.g., unworn jewelry).  
- Software project estimation came up: an ongoing “six-month” slicer project was cited as entering its second year, prompting discussion that spending ~10 % of project effort on early spikes can narrow estimates to ±20 % for 1–4-month efforts, but this breaks down when most work is exploratory.  
- Functional-programming design (Haskell and algebraic approaches) was credited with reducing predictable “scutwork,” thereby increasing the proportion of time spent on unknowns and making estimates less reliable.  
- A Nature news article on “What’s next for AlphaFold and the AI protein-folding revolution” was dropped into the channel, marking continued interest in AI-driven structural biology.