# Summary of #hplusroadmap IRC Log (July 17, 2011)

- A tool called "hdl-make" for generating multi-purpose makefiles for FPGA projects was shared, with git repositories available at git://ohwr.org/misc/hdl-make.git.

- Discussion of PacBio DNA sequencing machines revealed they were being sold commercially for approximately $800,000-$1,200,000 each, rather than only offering in-house sequencing services.

- A speculative conversation occurred about using China's gender imbalance as a potential driver for space exploration, suggesting males might "travel to where the girls are for about any price."

- Participants discussed caustics (patterns formed by light refraction and reflection), with mention of using CNC-shaped glass to create arbitrary caustic patterns.

- The MAGE (Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering) paper was referenced, with the comment that "oligo-mediated allelic replacement" would be a better descriptive name for the technique: http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/urc-care/hhurparticles/0910suggested%20articles/GenomeEngineering.pdf

- A humorous anecdote was shared about a Unix game programmer who extensively commented his code because he "smoked pot when he coded and would lose his train of thought when the screen scrolled."