Motels, Phone Bezels, Samsung S22, Brooks Adrenaline, Bonanza

Motels, Phone Bezels, Samsung S22, Brooks Adrenaline, Bonanza

Motels

Why do motel breakfasts end before I wake up. Of course a lot of them are not good enough to care. But some expensive motels have decent breakfasts that end way too early.

And then there is the checkout time. On a long trip, I may stop at a motel after midnight. Then I have to be up and out by 11am? Not fair.

Phone Bezels

I just read an article about the iPhone15 having even thinner bezels than the iPhone 14. The writer concluded that it really doesn't make that much difference.

But the problem with thin bezels is that it makes it too easy to accidentally touch the screen. On any high end phone now, the only way to avoid accidental touches is to use a phone cover that projects above the screen. The cover is somewhat thicker than the bezel. Of course they could write software to make the touchable area smaller than the full screen area, but then they might not have enough people designing new emojis.

Samsung S22 Issues

I've used my Samsung S22 for about 8 months now. The single worst issue is that the next alarm is not on the lock screen. I need to know when the next alarm is - why should I have to unlock the phone to check.

Issue two - the on screen fingerprint read is useless if your skin is dry. Facial recognition unlock works only about half the time. Google HAD a fingerprint reader on the back of the phone that worked over 95% off the time. Why did the state of the art regress so badly?

Issue three - the lock screen is too dark to read in sunlight and sometimes in my living room. It doesn't adjust properly to the ambient light.

Not nearly as important - when on a phone call, the hang up button is about an inch wide. About a quarter of an inch above the center is the speakerphone button, a circle about a quarter inch diameter. It is way too easy to accidentally hangup when in a hurry to turn on the speakerphone. Android has had its 13th yearly update. It has thousands of celebrated emojis (I haven't figured out their purpose). But a really stupid layout for the phone buttons.

Why do none of the reviews note these important problems. I have no expectation of them ever being fixed.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS Running Shoes

I bought my first pair of these shoes, model 20, in 2020. Very nice shoes. "Stability and support" but a flexible toe that I require. Available in wide (2E), extra wide (4E). Many colors and patterns available, but solid black and blue or black trimmed gray are the only colors that I will wear. These are the only shoes that I wear, so black when I need to dress up (can't remember the last time). The shoe (wide) can hit my toe, despite the length and width being good - I take an xacto knife and cut a vertical slit at the corner of my toe (toe not in shoe at the time!). This fixes the problem without going to an oversized shoe.

The top/back of the shoe is convex. Shoes that have a U shaped cutout tend to grab my loose socks and pull them down into the shoe. No sock grabbing with these shoes.

Model 22 added elastic pieces on each side of the tongue attached to the bottom. This keeps the tongue centered. But I hate being squeezed by shoes or socks. I cut the outside elastic piece. Problem solved.

Model 21 and 22 are just as good as model 20. Three years of good shoes. I wonder how long this will last. I guess I should stock up on them.

Bonanza, Season 3, Episode 26

I lucked into this TV show from 1962 that put Albert Michelson into the Bonanza world and got him past a bigoted teacher and into Annapolis Naval Academy. Other than being in Virginia City at approximately the right time and getting a presidential appointment to the Naval Academy, this is fantasy. But nice to see a physicist celebrated on popular TV.