I watched the NASA feed live via the CBC this afternoon. It was wonderful! In ten minutes the first-stage booster had done its job and was down on the drone ship.
It does have a scale factor, but with only two settings. Even on the finer setting, I couldn’t get some of the parameters to zero out.
The problem may have been that I was trying to be more precise that I really needed to be. I didn’t check what the tolerances were for position and orientation that would still allow you to dock. I was trying to be perfect.
The problem there is that your AC unit is defective. If you’re adjusting it at all, it isn’t working properly. A device that needs constant adjustment probably demands a physical control. But one that is set once and left alone after that doesn’t demand a dedicated control.
My car has the temperature control on a touchscreen. I set it to my preferred temperature when I bought the car two years ago and haven’t touched it since.
You are right though that there is an immense amount of bad UI out there. And touchscreen UIs are probably less forgiving than others. They have to be very responsive and the designer has to be aware of having properly sized touch targets, etc. Physical controls tend to be naturally easier to get right, if for no other reason than button and switch manufacturers build their products to be worked by human fingers.
Initial docking maneuvering will begin in about half an hour for those of you who are still awake.
On CNN they got the countdown wrong. The liftoff was around 3 seconds left.
They brought along Tremor the Apatosaurus: SpaceX launch: this stuffed dinosaur is Crew Dragon’s zero-g indicator - The Verge
Brian
But does Tremor the Apatosaurus have an evil laugh?
Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
I was watching the launch, and also Zooming with some friends. When the dinosaur floated into view, I said something along the lines of “What, is Wash flying that thing?” And then of course we all hoped nobody got a big spear through the chest. (Uh, spoiler alert, there.)
Interesting to learn from N9IWP’s link that this sort of thing is apparently something of a tradition among astronauts.
Wooo! Docking complete!
And docked.
Some emphasis on making sure the internal cameras are off before the astronauts on Endeavour take their suits off.
I guess Bob and Doug aren’t going to be doing any Orbital Stripteases today!
Remember John Glenn’s comment that you didn’t so much get into the Mercury capsule as put it on?
It seems immediately after (or during) boarding the ISS, one of the astronauts (far right in the initial group photos) had apparently hit his head on something. He kept touching the right side of his forehead, and eventually started patting it with a cloth, like there was blood. NO ONE in the crew even seemed to notice.
I don’t see any mention of it in the news thus far. Anyone else notice?
Yeah, I guess it is a balancing act. The public wants to see what is going on in the capsule, and that is fine, but if I’m taking a good healthy dump, then I don’t care what kind of taxpayer money went into this, the cameras are off no matter what. Loss of downlink, Houston.
Man, what the heck is up with audio-visual technology, anyway? I’ve seen actual “rocket scientists” struggle with the #$*&%@! microphone and the sound system when giving public presentations down here on Earth, too.
They are not staying 6 feet apart and they are hugging. 
It was Doug Hurley, and yes he did injure his head. I found it odd nothing was mentioned during live commentary, when it was clear he had been hurt.
Here is one article:
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/06/01/doug-hurley-head-injury-did-the-astronaut-hit-his-head/
I can’t find a cite, but I heard somewhere that the change from seven to four seats is in part due to the change from propulsive to parachute landing, and the resulting higher impact during landing. Something about the 7-seat configuration wasn’t adequate for some set of parachute landings, maybe just that there wasn’t enough room for everyone to be in an optimal seating position for a hard landing.
In any case, NASA seems to be happier with four crew and extra cargo. Boeing’s Starliner also has enough volume to pack in seven astronauts, but they’re just going with four as well.