Open post mekhos @mekhos@mastodon.social · 2mo ago Replying to @frankashwood@flipping.rocks The cosmopolitan 'moss' springtail (Neanura muscorum) navigating a miniature forest of fungi on a decaying log. But it isn't alone — all those transparent blobs on its body are in fact curled-up, hitchhiking nematode worms (you can see these better in the second photo)! Much like the baby mite in my last post, these tiny worms are using a larger animal to help them disperse to new environments. It's thought that this 'phoretic' behaviour might be a stepping stone in how parasitism evolved in some nematodes. Read all about the incredible ways soil animals have adapted to the challenges of life, in my upcoming book #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet, which lands just one month from now! #SoilBiodiversity #SoilEcology #Nature #Entomology #Soil @frankashwood@flipping.rocks what an epic stack of organisms!
Open post mekhos @mekhos@mastodon.social · 2mo ago Replying to @nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social @sundogplanets@mastodon.social I'm wondering how realistic it might be for just some ordinary person somewhere with the right tools (to be clear, that's definitely not me — I definitely don't have the right tools. Oh, and I surely wouldn't do such a thing. Definitely) to somehow knock it out of orbit. Like I assume it has some mechanisms of compensation, but could someone sneak cubesats that target it or somesuch or shine lasers at it every single day or something? Probably impossible, just a fun thought. @nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social @sundogplanets@mastodon.social I think the most fitting end would be to get a bunch of cubesats with big magnifying glasses to fry it in orbit.
Open post mekhos @mekhos@mastodon.social · 4mo ago Replying to @david_chisnall@infosec.exchange @bluetea@ioc.exchange @Brett_E_Carlock@mastodon.online I cheated a bit back then by having a second computer (a dual-CPU P3 that I got very cheaply on eBay because the listing advertised a 'duel processor' machine and not many people knew to search for that typo) that ran FreeBSD and using a remote X11 to run the apps that didn't work on Windows. That was back before x86 supported virtualisation (and Windows on Xen was painful), but now it's very easy to boot a VM and run the few things that don't work (or are painful to install, which is more common) on Windows, and WSL2 makes it trivial. @david_chisnall@infosec.exchange @bluetea@ioc.exchange @Brett_E_Carlock@mastodon.online on power up the two CPU's fight to be the first to get the electricity and the victor runs the pc until next power cycle when they are destined to duel again
Open post mekhos @mekhos@mastodon.social · 4mo ago Replying to @Brett_E_Carlock@mastodon.online @mekhos@mastodon.social Shitpost or real? Things were wild at the edge of computing back then, I could believe it was basically roulette that picked the main device by what responded first, and the second was marshalled by the first. @Brett_E_Carlock@mastodon.online I agree things were loose so its possible. Totally worthy of a screenplay if true
Open post mekhos @mekhos@mastodon.social · 5mo ago Replying to @circfruit@fosstodon.org I fixed the bug! As a result of the efforts 3 major #reticulum micropython improvements: 1. Added IFAC support - now node can join password protected interfaces 2. Implemented the cryptography modules in C with #micropython bindings with fallback to native module The result on this is mind blowing: complete decode chain reduced from 3 sec to 75 ms! 3. Camera works! You can select quality and resolution of the image. I’m still to test over LoRa but on TCP receipt it’s almost instant. @circfruit@fosstodon.org tripple win well done!
Open post mekhos @mekhos@mastodon.social · 2mo ago Replying to @texttheater@mastodon.social Stolen and posted with alt text @texttheater@mastodon.social does this recipe style have a name? This could save hundreds of kilometres of repeatedly scrolling up and down horrendous recipe sites.