My next keyboard will be columnar/ortholinear. It just makes so much more sense compared to the staggered layout on a standard keyboard and it doesn't require you having to learn a whole new layout like dvorak.
When I learned to touch type a few years ago, I found it really useful having the letters on the keys so that when I messed up I could look down and make sure my fingers were in the right places and get going again quickly. Eventually after a week or so practicing, I had the hang of it and no longer needed to look at the keys. So I'm not really sure what blank keycaps achieves.
I use a blank keycap keyboard. There are little raised dots on the F and J keys to find your placement without looking down.
Two reasons to use one:
1) security - slows down most people when “borrowing” your computer.
2) looking cool and being able to joke that it used to have keycaps but you type so much that they all wore off
In England, you get (essentially automatic) early release at the half way point. He's now held on remand for the extradition proceedings: didn't ask for bail, and essentially no chance of him being granted it given what happened last time he was bailed...
I also saw a documentary about this, but it was called "A pharaoh to remember". Unfortunately in this one, the fake funeral just made the guy feel worse.
I totally agree that a combination of physical controls and touchscreen is the way to go. However there are ways to improve the design for touchscreen. Virtual knobs in my experience are pretty difficult to use on a screen, however sliders work reasonably well in their place.
Most industrial touchscreens I've seen are resistive which makes them much more difficult to use, especially for dragging motions, so that may be compounding the problem. Capacitive screens are generally much easier to use.
I have a Kobo Glo HD with what I think is one or more IR sensors for the touchscreen. It is very sensitive, even a fly walking on the screen will activate it.
I bought an origami cover for the reader, so it can be put at an angle on the desk.
The combination of both mean that I need to turn it off, otherwise it would randomly switch pages when it is in my pocket.
I miss my first Kindle with its physical page turning buttons.
I already do my part for the environment by not having kids. That's a much bigger impact than trying to reduce the amount of meat I eat. So I'll eat whatever I like, thank you.
The crew dragon is designed to be completely autonomous. 99% of the time, the astronaut is just a passenger, so there is less requirement for physical controls.
In terms of mission control telling you to press X button, it is almost certain that mission control would have a simulation of the cockpit running that would show them exactly what the astronaut is seeing on their display. So they will always be able to direct the astronaut correctly.
I definitely think a touch screen in this situation can be safer, because it can display information in a way that makes it quicker for the astronaut to understand the situation. It in theory requires less training because there is less requirement to remember the position and function of every single switch.
Space missions need to account for the times when things really hit the fan, that's when design really matters. If shit goes haywire why should I assume my touchscreen is now displaying the same thing as mission controls? If it's not then instructions go out the window. If shit goes haywire in the shuttle, mission control can safely assume they're looking at the EXACT control scheme the pilot is, and can read out controls accordingly. I get that automation is intended, but for emergencies a touch screen really doesn't cut it.
And, sensibly, stuff you would use while dogfighting or landing are switches and buttons. That, and things that have to always work like the radio and artificial horizon.
Do you need a full genome? If a person has symptoms the doctor doesn't need a full genome sequence, just enough to verify that it is the/a sequence the treatment can fix. The cheaper the better, accuracy is important but but quantity outside the sequence in question is not useful.
