Sal

Abstract

Since the early 2000s there has existed the meme that “DOOM can run on anything”. Whether it be an ATM or a calculator, someone at some point has recompiled DOOM to run on it. Now the quantum computer finally joins the list. More specifically, this project represents the first level of DOOM loosely rewritten using Hadamards and Toffolis which, despite being a universal gate set, has been designed in such a way that it’s classically simulable, able to reach 10-20 frames per second on a laptop. The circuit uses 72,376 total qubits and at least 80 million gates, thus it may have use as a benchmark for quantum simulation software.

These past few days I have been learning about bootloaders, kernels, assembly, and general OS stuff. In that process I stumbled upon your project of Redox OS.

I like the concept of the more modular micro-kernel architecture. Using Rust seems like the right choice if one were to start an OS from scratch today.

Very cool stuff. I'll use your project as my reference as I continue to learn. Happy to find you in Lemmy! Just wanted to stop by to give you a thumbs up 👍

I kept a Lion's mane petri dish stored in the fridge for well over a year.

I decided to make an attempt at refreshing it by transferring into fresh petri dishes. After a week I noticed some strong mycelium growth.

After inoculating a grain jar with one of the cultures, I decided to have a look under the microscope to double check, just in case.. And that's when I noticed a morphology that I had never seen before. It looked nothing like Lion's Mane. The full length of the mycelium is covered with these pegs with a sphere at the end.

After some searching, I am almost convinced that this is a Verticillium sp. - a new contaminant for me!

I then checked all of the petri dishes and they are all this same fungus. So, time to get a new fresh culture 😅

This is a Trachycephalus typhonius, formerly Trachycephalus venulosus, from Yucatan.

These frogs secrete a sticky and irritant milk-like fliud through its skin when bothered. Several years ago I got some some of that fluid into my eyes by accident - that hurts similar to scratching one's eye after touching a spicy pepper. So, they are not terribly toxic but I certainly do not recommend the experience.

Funnily enough I just ran a search and found a publication of someone who describes a similar but worse experience: https://www.thebhs.org/publications/the-herpetological-bulletin/issue-number-152-summer-2020-1/3101-09-a-caution-on-handling-i-trachycephalus-venulosus-i-anura-hylidae-toxic-effects-of-skin-secretion-on-human-eyes/file

You may notice that the finger pads of this frog look green. That's because its bones are green! A characteristic feature of this species. Here is a photo (not mine) of a skeleton of one of these : https://www.pybio.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/t-ven31.jpg

This gullfriend got an itchy eye during the photo-shoot.

Took this photo in Park Frankendael in Amsterdam a few years ago - just learned about this community and thought it would fit 😁

A new paper on a Bolitoglossid showed up in my alerts today! 🥳

It is a one-pager and comes with a beautiful photo of a foraging arboreal salamander 😄

Found this Imantodes cenchoa sleeping on top of a leaf in Punta Laguna, Quintana Roo.

Here is a photo of where it was sleeping:

There are a few different snakes of the genus Imantodes in Yucatán. What sets this species apart is that the row of scales on its back consists of enlarged scales. Here is a closeup emphasizing that row of scales. The green arrow points at an enlarged mid-dorsal scale, the blue arrow at a regular scale.

In comparison, here is a photo from an Imantodes tenuissimus that I took back in 2009 in Mérida, Yucatán (with a less sharp camera), and a closeup of its mid-dorsal scales that does not show this enlargement.