TomF

TomF, 3 months ago to random

TIL - the sugar "galactose" sounds really awesome because GALACTIC amirite? But it's actually called that because it's "ga lactose" - which just means "from milk" in Greek. Because it's one of the sugars in milk.

...which had me thinking wait so where does "galaxy" come from anyway oh no it's not just Greek for... yes, yes it is. "Galaxy" is literally just "milky way" in Greek.

TomF, 9 months ago to random

Remember - code is for PEOPLE to read, not machines. If the only reason we wrote code was to get machines to do stuff, we'd still be writing assembly. Languages were invented so that PEOPLE could read the code too. Never forget that's who you're writing code for.

TomF, 9 months ago to random

Please do not talk about the specifics of patents in social media!

Patent damages are 3x higher for knowing violation, versus unknowing violation. So if you broadcast the details of a patent, and the court decides that I read those details, even just while doomscrolling, now I (or rather my employer) have to pay 3x as much. The only sensible course of action for me is to MUTE YOU. And maybe you don't want that.

So moan about patents all you want. They suck! But don't say what's in them.

TomF, 4 months ago to random

Part 2 of my "exercise for people who hate exercise" series is up. I also tweaked the first part to clarify some questions people had.

https://cohost.org/tomforsyth/post/4111638-exercise-for-nerds-w

TomF, 4 months ago to random

People keep asking me for advice on fitness for us professional keyboard abusers, so I wrote it down in one place. Part 1 of "Exercise for nerds who hate exercise":
https://cohost.org/tomforsyth/post/4111638-exercise-for-nerds-w

TomF, 5 months ago to random

So apparently every state in the US has a system where if a check doesn't get delivered or whatever, instead the state takes the money, and then you can go and claim it back. My smart wife just got $110 back this way. So... go do that!

e.g. the Washington state one is here: https://dor.wa.gov/about/news-releases/2023/dont-forget-check-your-missing-money

TomF, 1 year ago to random

Neat thing I discovered. If you have a sprite with 5 directions of animation - from going right to going down (make the rest by flips), you can figure out which sprite to use by testing against lines of slope 1:5, 2:3, 3:2 and 5:1, which is really elegant on an 8/16bit machine.

TomF, 1 year ago to random

TIL: "In birds of prey, the [nictitating] membrane serves to protect the parents' eyes from their chicks while they are feeding them"

So basically evolution had this problem of chicks mistaking their parents eyes for food. So it could either evolve smarter chicks, or... fuck it... OSHA Safety Goggles before feeding your kids please!

TomF, 9 months ago to random

Good article by @jasonschreier:

"There's been a lot of silly discourse surrounding Baldur's Gate 3. Is it making game developers panic? Raising the bar for other RPGs? IDK. But the biggest factor behind the game's tremendous success is simple: It's not made by a publicly traded company"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-18/-baldur-s-gate-3-is-a-huge-hit-thanks-to-privately-owned-larian-studios

TomF, 7 months ago to random

My technogrudging parent needs an E-book of some sort. What should she get that won't bind her soul into an eternity of torment in quarterly payments, or become a useless brick in a year?

TomF, 6 months ago to random

I wish the GPU teams at Apple nothing but the best - they've made an amazing bit of hardware.

But it can only be "game-changing" if Apple gave a shit about games. And they don't. And they never have.

Maybe a good GPU and a decent HMD can change this? But right now Apple's history means nobody in the game industry trusts them at all. It's going to take a decade of work to undo that damage. And it's going to require going against everything Steve believed in. Not sure Apple can do that.

mcc, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

Poll: Have you, personally, ever had to fix a software/hardware bug caused by a time zone? (Poll 1 of 3)

TomF, 2 months ago to random

Public Service Announcement. Do not run Unity on a laptop. Always run it on a nice beefy desktop. That way when you get the urge to hurl the fucking thing out the window, you will at least get a decent leg workout on the way.

TomF, 4 months ago to random

You can upgrade your current TV to be a transparent TV for FREE. Move your TV. Take a picture of the wall behind it. Move the TV back. Upload the picture to the TV. Tada!

TomF, 4 months ago to random

Please please please if you are thinking of getting any sort of pet, and especially a breed of dog, GO TALK TO YOUR VETERINARIAN FIRST.

Because the breeders will assure you these dogs are perfect in every way, and this will be a gigantic lie.

Vets see every breed of dog, and they can very accurately predict what will go wrong with them and how much that will cost. You should believe them.

TomF, 7 months ago to random

German speakers! So we all know (we do, right?) that Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't do his own German dubs - because he sounds like a yokel. They were done by Thomas Danneberg (who died a few weeks ago - RIP).

BUT what I want to know is - do Arnie's catchphrases have the same recognizability in German as they do in English? If you say to someone in a menacing tone "Ich komme wieder" do they smile and laugh knowingly, or just look at you oddly?

TomF, 7 months ago to random

If there's one thing I've learned, it's always listen to Laura.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM5iJevGnzI

TomF, 3 months ago to random

The absurd amount of social media spam using bad porn as a fishing hook is a clear sign of the decay in society. It implies kids don't know where to get good honest porn - a clear sign of moral decay. I demand that schools start to teach proper pornternet literacy!

TomF, 2 months ago to random

A while back I wrote a post on doing rotations with three shears: https://cohost.org/tomforsyth/post/891823-rotation-with-three

This was an inspiration for a talk by Andrew Taylor: https://github.andrewt.net/shears/

...which Matt Parker saw, and now he's made a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LCEiVDHJmc

Science! (obsolete)

TomF, 20 days ago to random

Discovered today that the Windows Snipping Tool does video (and audio) recording now. Works great - does a screen subrect, captures the mouse, can pause and resume. When did this happen? Super useful.

TomF, 7 months ago to random

Gamedev folks looking for new gigs - I recently joined Rec Room and I love the culture and work style. We need a bunch of engineers! You should absolutely check us out. (we're all WFH)
https://recroom.com/careers

aeva, 1 year ago to random

"stop making jokes about Linux never having working audio it's not 2022 anymore"

buddy,

TomF, 5 months ago to random

So I have this conversation at work sometimes...

Bob: "Greybeard, how do you know what is hard and what is easy?"

Tom: "Because if I find something difficult, then it's difficult."

Bob: "But how do you know?"

Tom: "Because one of the benefits of 40 years of writing code is I know for absolute certainly that I'm a great coder. So if I find something is difficult, then it's fucking difficult."

Bob: "So... you're saying I should be more arrogant?"

Tom: "About how stupid you are? Fuck yeah."

TomF, 5 months ago to random

OK, the Dave The Diver and Dredge crossover is pretty neat. Genuinely unnerved. You should play Dredge - it's pretty frikkin awesome.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562430/DREDGE/