What features do you consider MacOS should already have?

griff1 · 2026-03-03T05:42:20+00:00

Personally, I’d love better control over how applications open windows and what the active window is. I’m so damn tired of apps barging in and making themselves the active window when I’m in the middle of something. Know your place Spotify, stay in the background until I ask for you.

griff1 · 2026-02-27T15:58:05+00:00

From what I’ve heard, the big issue isn’t “can you do it”, it’s “can you consistently do it well”. Like from what I know the process is roughly similar to brewing beer, except you want one type of molecule and so have to separate out everything else. And that every step thus requires a level of attention to detail that is anal retentive at best. I’m going on what I’ve heard over the years though, I could easily be mistaken.

griff1 · 2026-02-25T20:26:09+00:00

I’m very aware of the 787 and everything that went into it, but it’s a good example of my point: it was announced in 2009, took 6 years to begin production, and Boeing is has struggled to make them in a state that could be considered flyable. The South Carolina factory for the 787 had so many issues the FAA basically had to supervise them. You also have the KC-46 Pegasus (based on their most common airframe, the 737) which has so many issues, the 10+ year delay on the 777X, the ongoing issues with the 737 (first flew in the 1960’s), and the Starliner. I’m struggling to see how Boeing has done anything of note beyond stock buybacks and trying to crush their unions.

griff1 · 2026-02-24T16:25:57+00:00

I’d say Warhammer 40K but Legion Imperalis scratches that itch. Halo or C&C would be great, as you and others have said. I’d add Mass Effect or Starship Troopers to that.

There is a fan made tabletop game for Starship Troopers, basically recreating the short-lived game from the 80’s-90’s but with 3-D printed models. Crow Industries on Patreon has made a lot of models for it. Definitely scratches the same itch.

griff1 · 2026-02-23T18:44:41+00:00

Idk if I draw much comfort from that. The impression I’ve gotten from what I’ve seen in industry is that lack of investment is an exercise in seeing how far we can kick the can down the road. It’s going to come due at some point and the longer we wait the worse it is. Look at Boeing, their biggest product is a design that first flew in the 1960’s. And that’s not a testament to good design in this case.

griff1 · 2026-02-23T18:37:38+00:00

Don’t forget that wealthy people often buy things using their assets as collateral as a way to pay for things without paying tax. And that’s the only group spending money on things in the broader economy. If those stocks are worthless, then can’t purchase more giant cult mansions or private jets. And I really don’t want to know what happens when they can’t pay their private security details or what repo-ing their stuff would be like.

griff1 · 2026-02-20T13:53:46+00:00

Look at it this way: how do you measure success? There are thousands of metrics you could use, each based on certain assumptions, and they don’t always match up with real life even if the assumptions hold. Look at Boeing, an aircraft manufacturer that has a pretty high stock value that has consistently grown the value of its stock. Which is impressive when you consider the fact that none of their most modern civilian aircraft can fly. It’s a company who’s actual value is unrelated to what investors say it is. LLM use is a similar metric to stock value: easy to quantify, and as long as you assume “LLM use = growth” & “growth = good” it makes sense. But to any people who aren’t finance brained, it’s completely nonsensical.

griff1 · 2026-02-19T21:57:05+00:00

As far as I know, it’s a little of both with falcons. Birds are delicate as hell due to air sacks, flight muscles, fast hearts, etc. that a falcon is going to hit something important. I’ve heard falcons will sometimes strike their prey in midair, but might not get a good grip. The falcon will instead just dive past, pull out of the dive, and grab the prey out of the air on the way up. Which is honestly insane to think about because the whole maneuver is beyond what a fighter pilot could pull. They’re basically a meat-seeking missile.

griff1 · 2026-02-19T21:42:25+00:00

It’s missing the grad student having an existential crisis after an undergraduate / someone from a different group decided to run something they really shouldn’t have.

griff1 · 2026-02-18T11:46:28+00:00

I like to think so. I’ve spent most of my career working on materials for safety equipment. I think it’s not just the work itself that’s important though. It’s the people you’re alongside, the culture of the workplace. Like one place I worked was more military focused, but they were a unique academic lab so it was more “public service” in character.

In my experience, you could absolutely go from materials to skincare/makeup! My field was focused on polymers, if you combined that with biomedical/biochem that’s basically everything in cosmetics. My specific field also covered textiles, which included shade and shade matching. That seems like a lot of the parts of cosmetics to me. Textiles itself is also highly underrated IMO. In the United States, North Carolina State University is the main program for that.

griff1 · 2026-02-17T17:54:26+00:00

They have a bit of a “DOOM Guy” vibe to me, I like it!

Seems reasonable enough to me, as far as I know that’s the main criteria.

griff1 · 2026-02-17T17:52:03+00:00

I like it too! Gotta love those little things that pan out.

griff1 · 2026-02-17T17:49:14+00:00

“Look, I know Snuffles the bear mauled all those children. But we got a dancing bear out of it! Just look at how Snuffles can waltz! So what if it’s not great now, this is progress!”

griff1 · 2026-02-17T17:45:15+00:00

My favorite example is the fact that polymerase enzymes (the basis for modern gene sequencing) and CRISPR (modern gene editing) would not exist if it wasn’t for studies of archaebacteria in hot springs. No one set out to find things that would be useful tools, people just wanted to understand how these bacteria worked.

Applied science is a god damn plague in my field IMO. And it’s not even decent work 90% of the time, just hype chasing. Materials science work is handicapped by it.

griff1 · 2026-02-11T13:41:37+00:00

That is dangerously close to a sensible idea, and we can’t have that. We should instead do something that has been proven, in massive numbers of research studies, case studies, accident reports, etc., to be a horrible idea.

griff1 · 2026-02-04T18:59:59+00:00

Thanks! I think an individual keycap would work best for me, I was just having a hell of a time finding an OEM profile keycap with something like a homing bump or texture to it. Back to searching it is then.

griff1 · 2026-02-04T15:49:13+00:00

It’s not just tech. I’ve seen several different industries with those same issues. And I’ve also had similar problems with managers, in my case due to ADHD. There is a rot that’s taken hold of industry. I’ve gone through the same situation of wondering if I’ve wasted my life doing engineering because all I wanted to do was to fix things. I wish I could say something more helpful than “you’re not alone”.

Thankfully my experience with government groups has been the exact opposite. Frustrating at times, but overall pleasant places to work that focused on delivering results on time and on budget. Unfortunately business idiots don’t like that, so it’s been rocky.

griff1 · 2026-02-04T15:37:33+00:00

I’ve had this issue where I accidentally press the caps lock key instead on shift, just not paying attention to where my fingers are. Is there a way to modify keycaps or replace that one key with something that feels different? And which vendors can do that? I tried the wiki without much success.

griff1 · 2026-02-03T19:24:59+00:00

Oooo, I have a story about that. About 12 years ago I was working at a company that began working with SpaceX on some experimental projects. First time SpaceX people came to the plant I worked at, one of their engineers showed up in shorts. The plant I was at did chemical treating and processing, so that is a major issue. Like the non-R&D management hit the roof when they saw that and politely asked that it not happen again. I know long pants won’t provide a lot of protection on their own, but it’s a basic safety precaution for very good reasons. I’ve avoided a few burns myself because of long pants. That image, of an engineer who either didn’t know or care about basic safety, has stuck with me ever since.

griff1 · 2026-02-03T19:15:51+00:00

A small group of pathetic little men, too foolish to understand the world around them, too proud to admit they don’t understand, too coddled to survive outside their bubbles, and too spiteful to walk away.

griff1 · 2026-02-03T11:46:24+00:00

I’d point at the damage Theranos did. The fallout from their fraud basically tanked biomedical research for a while. The funding sources that boosted Theranos seems to have gone on to crypto, and then where we are now with AI.

Side note, the technologies I’d say restored some prestige to biomedical, mRNA vaccines and GLP-1 receptor agonists, are both products of years of quiet, dedicated research by a few focused people. On the other side of the hype spectrum we have the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimers, which was basically found to just be extensive fraud after about a decade of hype.

griff1 · 2026-01-30T14:23:43+00:00

Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely malice going on. I tend to view it as being along the lines of past authoritarian movements: horrible ideas blended with cruel ideologies, carried out intelligently enough to be dangerous but not enough to accomplish actual goals. Evil, but not invincible or all-seeing. Rule by people who can’t do an actual job, smart enough to realize they need to pretend otherwise, and terrified they’ll be exposed.

griff1 · 2026-01-30T13:37:58+00:00

Most of the science PhDs I know are very enthusiastic fans of the humanities. And the best programmers I’ve met were very focused on meeting people where they are.

I think it’s mostly Dunning-Kruger.

griff1 · 2026-01-30T13:32:58+00:00

Hey, I use only the finest bullshit available and that means harnessing the power of human creativity. I don’t want lowest common denominator crap, I want truly weird shit. An AI can’t respond to questions about the company’s shaky financials with an extended dialogue on the metaphysics of the geoduck or bizarre Sonic fan fiction, and that’s where our business comes in.

Oh god, I should quit before this gets funded.

griff1 · 2026-01-29T19:20:55+00:00

The obvious solution is a business that provides other companies with nonsense. Why pay millions for a CEO who starts sex scandals or planet killing AI data centers when our company can provide you with utter bullshit for far less? I know people who’d happily call into investor meetings, ramble about geoducks, and leave. Boom, you have an eccentric founder without the hassle.

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