# Key Points from IRC Log

• Tim Schmidt reported progress on stl2pov, a tool for generating high-quality renders of STL files, mentioning his preference for free software despite POV-Ray's licensing limitations.

• Bryan Bishop (kanzure) was mentioned in the first French H+ conference as a counterpoint to AI-only transhumanism, highlighting his work in biohacking and rapid prototyping.

• A discussion about stopping Earth's rotation explored how planetary rotation affects climate, with QuantumG noting that Earth's temperature is maintained by calcium deposits and plant life, not just rotation.

• Kanzure shared interesting statistics from Bulgaria showing women obtained 50% of engineering degrees, 70% of natural science degrees, and 73% of mathematics and computer science degrees in 1992.

• Ed Boyden's work on optogenetics for brain function augmentation was shared via a video link (http://www.scivee.tv/node/17535).

• Kanzure worked on a JavaScript version of theuncertainfuture.com, discussing UI behavior options for manipulating curves in the interface.

• Several academic resources were shared, including http://altmetrics.org/manifesto/ for alternative metrics for filtering scholarly papers, and a paper on extending Arxiv.org for open peer review.

• The group discussed technical issues with SKDB (a shared knowledge database project), including repository management and fixing spurious merge commits.