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Tristam

@trist.am
149 followers 363 following 1.4K posts

Recovering from BigTech. Procgen and 3D rendering enthusiast. Restauranteur

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Tristam @trist.am · 30/09/2026
You can no longer disable slackbot from showing up in the right-hand navigation bar #enshittification
A screenshot of Slack’s navigation preferences panel, showing that the checkbox for hiding the Slackbot is now greyed-out and innacesible
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Tristam @trist.am · 26/08/2026
The 90's called, and they'd like their benchmark back
Up to 2.3x faster spreadsheet calculations in Microsoft Excel when compared to Mac mini with M1, and up to 1.5x faster than M4.
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Tristam @trist.am · 08/08/2026
1 year anniversary of opening the cafe
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Tristam @trist.am · 10/07/2026
However, I think you can remove the ternary, observing that d is always 1.0 on the Color.xyz*d side of the branch?
outCol = vec4(mix(dark_blue, Color.xyz, step(1.0, d)), 1.0);
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Tristam @trist.am · 21/05/2026
That's the classic #WaveFunctionCollapse in a good place. Now to investigate if the state of the art on global constraints has progressed in the last few years…
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Tristam @trist.am · 15/05/2026
Back on my bullshit - dusting off an old wavefrontcollapse tile map project
A 3d render of a small island cluster with cliff arches, surrounded by ocean. The terrain is flat-shaded with minimal lighting, there are soft shadows and the coast is surrounded by flat sea foam
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Tristam @trist.am · 15/05/2026
Really loving this new iteration of iOS, whether the weather app can apparently eat my whole battery in just 3 minutes…
Screenshot of the iOS battery screen. The battery is down to 41%, and the built-in weather app is the #1 offender, with 32% impact on just 1 minute of active use, and 2 minutes of background activity
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Tristam @trist.am · 21/04/2026
Hilariously, that also burnt 20% of weekly usage, so you get... ~5 hours/week usage on the $20 plan
Kimi dashboard showing 20% weekly usage
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Tristam @trist.am · 18/04/2026
As much fun as it is to dunk on bsky reliability, the alternatives have their own challenges…
The mastodon.social status page, showing 43% uptime
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Tristam @trist.am · 13/03/2026
Really curious why this random Amazon vendor decided to vacuum-pack my usb cables
4 vacuum-packed usb-c cables
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Tristam @trist.am · 12/03/2026
I'm laughing, and also somewhat dubious about this test, because I am *extremely* colourblind. Like, not allowed to wire up a plug or fly a plane levels of colourblind
Screenshot of the colour differentiation test result, with a JND of 0.0052
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Tristam @trist.am · 10/03/2026
(you might also like @oskarstalberg.bsky.social's crazy cool hex tiling with dedicated centre tiles and different shape tiles on each transition)
A screen shot of @OskSta's combination hex tiling system
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Tristam @trist.am · 30/01/2026
The labeller agrees 🤣
Screenshot of Patricia saying "I need to log off", to which the labeller has applied the label "Posts a lot: more than 50 times yesterday"
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Tristam @trist.am · 20/01/2026
I recall many times as a kid, using this as a sword for my various LEGO knights
The lego flame piece, which conveniently has a base that can be held by a mini figure
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Tristam @trist.am · 18/01/2026
Apple UX designers please stop overloading swipe gestures challenge (difficulty: impossible)
Annotated iOS 26 screen shot showing the 5 different vertical swipe gestures in mobile Safari
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Tristam @trist.am · 09/01/2026
It's funny to me that they looked at the gritty world of the Expanse as seen on TV, and decided the video game crew should look like they came out of a made-for-CW teen drama
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn promotional poster, with a painted glamour shot of the young and attractive crew members posed in front of a giant helmet
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Tristam @trist.am · 02/12/2025
On my macOS Sequoia install it looks like this
The macOS Sequoia game controllers settings panelcreating a new game controller profile in the settings panel
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Tristam @trist.am · 26/11/2025
On a whim, I tried using the official "Qt Online Installer" and that installs a correctly-signed-by-Qt-corporate build of Qt Creator 🤦‍♀️
The output of the macOS codesign CLI tool, displaying the correct signature of the Qt Creator binary
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Tristam @trist.am · 26/11/2025
Have you given your terminal app bypass permissions?
"Allow the applications below to run software locally that does not meet the system's security policy"
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Tristam @trist.am · 24/11/2025
The snail, however, is my favourite
The snail-shaped “Cowry” PC case from Lian-li
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Tristam @trist.am · 23/11/2025
It’s not a small chunk of their budget, by any means
The servicing of the national debt cost 22% of the Japanese national budget as of 2023.
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Tristam @trist.am · 02/11/2025
They've used stingrays in this capacity for years, whereas civilians face heavy jail time for spoofing cell towers
Except from https://www.forbes.com/sites/the-wiretap/2025/09/09/how-ice-is-using-fake-cell-towers-to-spy-on-peoples-phones/

But the case shows that, despite having been criticized by civil rights groups for using Stingrays during the last Trump administration, ICE continues to use the technology. Earlier this year, new media publication Straight Arrow News said it had analysed “mobile network anomalies” around a Washington state protest against ICE raids that were consistent with Stingray use.

Forbes found contract records showing ICE purchased nearly $1 million worth of “cell site simulator vehicles” in May this year, indicating it’s taking the surveillance tool fully mobile. That was part of a contract first signed under the Biden administration in 2024.

ICE also has an active contract worth up to $4.4 million with the original Stingray manufacturer, Harris Corporation, for unspecified “equipment to determine the location of targeted mobile handsets.” That deal was also signed during the Biden years.
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Tristam @trist.am · 02/10/2025
I actually don’t think this is entirely unworkable? Hexagon is just a 2D projection of a cube, it decomposes into 3 squares quite nicely. Of course, they are a bit squished when viewed in 2 dimensions, and they don’t form straight lines… but otherwise they pretty much act like a squares grid
Sketch of a hexagon divided into 3 parts, which is the same as a 2D drawing of a cube
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Tristam @trist.am · 30/09/2025
I love that they couldn't even be bothered to cleanup all the broken text in the opening shot
Something that is probably supposed to be text written on a sign, but the AI fucked up
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Tristam @trist.am · 29/09/2025
You can’t fool me, this is just C++
Declarations

There are four types of declaration. Constant constants can't be changed in any way.

const const name = "Luke"!
Constant variables can be edited, but not re-assigned.

const var name = "Luke"!
name.pop()!
name.pop()!
Variable constants can be re-assigned, but not edited.

var const name = "Luke"!
name = "Lu"!
Variable variables can be re-assigned and edited.

var var name = "Luke"!
name = "Lu"!
name.push("k")!
name.push("e")!
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Tristam @trist.am · 27/09/2025
Took me a bit, but finally beat the boss on normal difficulty. Drone+missile build did the job. Definitely a bit dependent on luck - if the last boss gets their card manipulation trick in my hand too soon, I always lose
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Tristam @trist.am · 25/09/2025
You know, I've had this blasted theme song stuck in my head for about the last 20 years, and it finally dawned on me that it's probably meant to be a heavily-synthed version of the Soviet national anthem
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Tristam @trist.am · 23/09/2025
It’s wine making season once more. My neighbours make wine by the many 1,000 litres, but I’ll content myself with this one damajuana…
A 16-litre glass demijohn of red wine, with airlock valve mounted
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Tristam @trist.am · 09/09/2025
I see Slack has decided to add yet another mutually-incompatible way to organise messages
Screenshot of the Slack user interface showing the new "Starred" section. The subtitle says "Drag and drop your most important conversations here"
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Tristam @trist.am · 08/09/2025
All I can see is the Java mascot
Duke, the Java programming language mascot
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Tristam @trist.am · 27/08/2025
You made me look, and this is sufficiently horrifying that now you need to see it too 😂
In parts of central Canada, a ground meat patty wrapped in flank or round steak is known as a London broil. Some butchers will wrap the flank steak around a concoction of seasoned and ground or tenderized flank steak. Others sell a pork sausage patty wrapped in flank or top round steak labeled as London broil. Another variant, popular in Southern Ontario, is a London broil "loaf", wherein the tenderized flank steak exterior is wrapped around minced and spiced veal as the filler. In some regions,[which?] bacon will be added between the flank steak and the veal grind.
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Tristam @trist.am · 16/08/2025
After a macOS update, apparently I'm being protected from my own previously-installed system extensions. I feel... safer?
To enable system extensions, you need to modify your security settings in the Recovery environment.
To do this, shut down your system, then press and hold the Touch ID or power button to launch Startup Security Utility.
In Startup Security Utility, enable kernel extensions from the Security Policy button.
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Tristam @trist.am · 16/07/2025
You successfully nerd-sniped me with this. I have an iPhone with a 120hz display, however, the browser defaults to 60Hz on this test (30Hz in low power mode). To actually the tester to display 120hz, you have to go into Safari’s advanced settings, and toggle the following feature flag
Safari on iOS settings screen, displaying the toggle for “Prefer Page Rendering Updates near 60fps” under “Advanced Settings” -> “WebKit Feature Flags”
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Tristam @trist.am · 11/07/2025
Has the strange Chinese logistics platform become self-aware?
"Xiao 7 is desperately trying to search, Please wait for a moment..."
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Tristam @trist.am · 09/07/2025
Hmm. Maybe it is this setting?
The MacOS settings panel option to disable "inline predictive text"
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Tristam @trist.am · 07/07/2025
There’s this ruined castle on a mountain top, just across the border in Portugal. It’s bit of a hike to get up there, and then you sit at the top of the world, and feel the sun and the wind on your skin…
The ruins of Castro Laboreiro in Portugal
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Tristam @trist.am · 19/05/2025
On reflection, I'll give a shout out to Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor in this context. They have some very complicated level geometry, and the map does a really good job of making it readable
Screenshot of the map UI in JedI: Fallen Order, showing a particularly complicated level (the Imperial Headquarters)
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Tristam @trist.am · 04/05/2025
I simplified generation quite a bit. Now all the plate tectonics runs on a pure triangle mesh, and then as a post process I replace each vertex with a hex tile (more or less taking the dual of the triangle mesh)
A small hex-shaped patch of procedural terrain with hexagonal tiles visible
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Tristam @trist.am · 26/04/2025
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Tristam @trist.am · 23/04/2025
... globetonics?
the hex-based terrain is now a spherical planet, with mountain ranges at the edges of continental plates
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Tristam @trist.am · 22/04/2025
Did someone order plate tectonics?
Hexagonal terrain with continental plates outlined, and mountain ranges where the plates collide
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Tristam @trist.am · 21/04/2025
A hexagonal terrain made of many smaller hexagons
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Tristam @trist.am · 13/03/2025
This widget has been bugged for at least the last two iOS patches, and apparently Apple hasn’t noticed yet…
Bugged screen time widget showing 1,401 hours of screen time this week alone
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Tristam @trist.am · 19/02/2025
Hey, Apple, whatcha protecting me from this time...
Malware Blocked "com.docker.vmnetd" was not opened because it contains malware. This action did not harm your Mac.
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Tristam @trist.am · 09/02/2025
I see your screen time, and I raise you my iOS bug 🔥
iOS screen time, but it’s reading hundreds of extra hours
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Tristam @trist.am · 10/01/2025
Every now and then I encounter horrors beyond my comprehension on GitHub
See banksy to integrate horsey into woofmark
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Tristam @trist.am · 07/01/2025
There was a bug in my sampling code, I think this is probably about as good a result as the single SDF method will produce (there may be some errors in the final mipmap during to the 4 sprites bleeding together)
SDF mipmap generation with somewhat improved sampling
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Tristam @trist.am · 07/01/2025
Generate a full-size SDF once, and then generate each mipmap by sampling that directly instead of the previous mipmap level. As @runevision.bsky.social says, this *shouldn't* make any sense, but it does help preserve certain details
decreasing resolution mipmaps of the provided black-and-white mask image, generated by sampling an SDF
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