good idea and bad idea casio watches
Over the years, I've bought many Casio digital watches. I still own a small pile of them, but I've also bought and returned a few - some on the same day I bought it.
I'm going to list a few of the good and the bad, and the reasons for each.
Good: Casio F-91W
Why it's good: Small and thin, but legible and easy to use. Not-so good night light, but has that classic loud beep if you decide to use the alarm feature. The basic black is the best version.
Bad: Casio CA-53W calculator watch
Why it's bad: Small display, no night light, and pretty much entirely sold on nostalgia alone. True, it wears very comfortably, but once the nostalgia wears off, it is (said nicely) difficult to use the calculator feature. The buttons are tiny and can only really be pressed effectively with the eraser end of a pencil. Also, it does have a date feature, but that's not shown on the display by default and requires an addition button press just to see it.
Good: Casio W218H
Why it's good: Fantastic legibility, fantastic night light, light in weight. It's basically a slightly larger F-91W as the feature set is identical (with the same loud beep). Buttons are a joy to use. Easy to press, and work every time.
Bad: Casio AE1200
Why it's bad: Time is big and night light great, but Month-Date is tiny, and that's made even worse by the insert that casts a shadow over it when trying to read it in sunlight. Buttons on this one are completely hit-or-miss. You might get one where the buttons work properly, and another where you have to mash it with your finger just to get a button press to register.
Good: Casio AE1500W
A big watch that actually delivers with big time and month-date display, but surprisingly can still fit small wrists (note: the long-strap version is the AE1500WHX). If BIG digits and BIG date is what you need, this absolutely works.
Yeah, it's built tough just like all G-SHOCK watches are with 200m water resistance. But the battery life is poor (you're lucky to get 2 years before a battery change is needed) compared to regular Casio watches, the display has nasty LCD washout, the recessed 'adjust' button is infuriating to deal with, and overall visibility is poor. You're basically trading readability for toughness. At least with the GWM5610 you get solar power. Legibility doesn't improve that much, but the battery will last a whole lot longer.
And never, EVER get a negative LCD display. That's the worst. Doesn't matter what watch it is. Nobody ever said, "Yes, I want something that makes the watch more difficult to read", and nobody ever will.
little gpses part 2
I've talked about little GPSes before, and I recently acquired another. There's just something cool about a small tech thing that can do a big job.
This time around I got a model that was never released in North America, the Garmin Drive 40LM. This little guy only has a 4.3" screen measured diagonally, and to the best of my knowledge is the last matte screen model in this size Garmin ever released.
While this isn't the smallest GPS I own (the StreetPilot i3 is the smallest I have, which is slightly smaller than a baseball), it's something which can still be used now when updated with alternate map data from OpenStreetMap.
True, one can simply use infotainment or the phone to navigate with, but I prefer to use a dedicated Garmin device. All the maps are stored locally to the device (no data connection required!) and it's something I can leave in the car and not worry about it. This is why I use a Garmin DriveSmart 66 now.
The little-guy GPSes hold a special place with me. I've got this little screen with a tiny memory card and a tiny circuit board inside, and it receives signals from space that lets me know where I am and instructs me how to get places. To this day, I am still fascinated by that. Feels like magic.
And yes, I consider what it does to be a big job. Being lost while driving sucks. I'm not lost, even when using a little Garmin like the Drive 40.
I had to get the Drive 40 all the way from the UK since it was never a North America model. Why did I get it? It's the only 4.3" model with an on-map Turns list. Look at the photo above on the right side. That's the Turns list. The 40 was the only 4.3" that had this feature, and it's a good one. Yeah the DriveSmart 66 has this too, but to have it in something that small is just neat.
i hate daylight savings time
Daylight Savings Time, which just happened 3-Nov-2024, is something I've never liked. And I'm pretty sure most other people can't stand it either. Both smartphones and the older feature phones auto-update their clocks for DST and always have, (or do they? More on that in a moment..) but there are a lot of clocks that don't, and this is how I personally deal with it.
My Casio W213 like most Casio digital watches has absolutely no ability at all to automatically adjust for DST when it occurs. Every time DST happens, the hour has to be reset manually.
I'm actually okay with this directly due to the fact I have to set the time myself.
Years ago, phones did not update the clock for DST on time. The way things were supposed to work is that on the day of DST at 2am, a time signal was sent from the network and the phone updated itself. That didn't happen. The phone's clock didn't make the adjustment for several hours. Anywhere from 2 to 24 hours after the DST change did the phone's clock actually update itself. And bear in mind this happened even if you were in your local area and weren't traveling between time zones.
When I manually adjust the time on my Casio, I know it has been changed properly. I don't have to guess as to whether the clock on my wrist is correct or not. It is.
Were I a traveling man...
If I traveled across the US routinely, yes I would wear a "world time" Casio. Probably the AE1000W just because I like that one better than the AE1200 even though the feature set is identical between the two. I can easily track 5 time zones with that watch with ease and can switch between zones with just 1 button...
...and I would not trust the phone's clock at all. The phone is supposed to auto-adjust its clock depending on where you are, but I'd always be second guessing whether that clock is correct or not. With a Casio, again, I know it's correct.
And let's just say I took a flight to another part of the US in a different time zone, and my phone didn't update its clock. Would a reboot of the phone fix that? Possibly not. In that instance, all I can do is wait and HOPE the phone updates its clock. Well, I'm not waiting around for that, so again, I keep a Casio on the wrist so I have something I know is telling me the correct time for where I am.
It is one of those "if you want the job done right, do it yourself" things
The clocks I have to manually adjust DST for are wristwatch, microwave and car. I'm now okay with this. My reasoning is that while changing clocks to adjust for DST is annoying, it's even more annoying to deal with a clock that's supposed to auto-adjust for it and doesn't.
Changing the clocks myself is basically the lesser of two evils. It's either take a chance with an auto-adjusting clock that may or may not work, or adjust a clock manually which I absolutely know does work.
For the clocks I have to change myself whenever DST happens, that now doesn't bother me as much as it used to.
how to prepare for when the toilet does not work
Recently, there was some plumbing work that needed to be done where I live, and it required me to not use the water at all. I had to go without showering for a few days.
That was something I could deal with, since it's easy enough to wash with a wet cloth.
But what really bothered me was...
...I couldn't use the toilet.
This was one of those plumbing situations where running water or draining it into the pipes was an absolute no-go. If it were a situation where I couldn't run the water but could drain it, no problem, just fill the toilet tank manually, get one flush from that, then refill manually again for the next flush. That was not an option.
For the first time in my life, I had to acquire a portable toilet, a.k.a. a camping toilet.
But let's be real here. It's a shitbucket.
Did I actually have to use this thing? Fortunately, no. The plumbers got here, did the work and got the toilet (as well as other things) working again with the plumbing.
However, I was ready to use this thing if I had to.
The 101 on using a portable toilet in the house
In basic form - which is what you're seeing above, one of these toilets is just a 5 gallon bucket with a plastic toilet seat fitted to it. In fact, you can just outright buy the lid alone and use whatever 5 gallon bucket you want. The one I acquired came with both the bucket and lid.
What you need to successfully use one of these is the bucket itself, a kitchen trash bag to line it with (with spares for obvious reasons), some toilet paper or wipes such as Dude Wipes, and a disinfectant spray like Lysol, preferably of the aerosol variety.
And there's one last thing needed. A place to take the bag once you're done with your business, as in outside into a trash bin or dumpster. That bag can't stay in the house.
Better to have this than not have it
Worst case scenario is that you wake up at 2am with an urge to "do a number 2". Two choices present themselves. Either get dressed, get in the car and find somewhere that's open 24 hours with a toilet, or sit on the bucket.
Better to just have a seat, do your business and get it over with.
Again, I didn't have to use this thing. But if I had to, I would have. Better to use the bucket instead of literally having to drive into town just to do a bodily function.
nobody uses windows 11?
According to StatCounter, Microsoft Windows 11 has only commanded just barely over 36% of United States market share per the last three months. I'm being generous, because had I used the last 12 months of data, it would have been barely 31%. I know 36% isn't "nobody", but still, that's pretty low...
I switched to Linux about 500 days ago. No, I'm not telling you to switch, but the fact Windows 11 isn't the main OS on most PCs tells me a few things.
Windows 10 is still #1
From that three months of data I mentioned, Windows 10 trounces Windows 11. You'll see Win11 at barely over 36% and Win10 way ahead at 61%.
The Win10 end-of-life happens October 14, 2025. Some time ago I said to myself yeah, that's going to be when people finally dump 10, but now I'm not so sure.
Win11 was not good enough to make people buy a new computer
A big reason why more people aren't on Win11 is because of that must-have-newer-hardware "requirement" crap just to install that OS. How many people saw that "this computer can't run 11" notice in Windows Update? A lot. And did people run out and buy a new computer just to run 11 when they saw that? Of course not. There was no reason to when the older PC hardware ran just fine with Win10, so people just stayed on 10.
I purposely use an old computer because I'm cheap. But even if I were willing to spend more, why would I bother when I can get refurb Dell PCs for under $200 all day? Some are even under $100. Yeah, they all come with Windows, but I don't care. I'll just wipe the drive or install a cheap SSD and put Linux on it. Job done.
Win10 may stick around for a lot longer than I thought it would
If Win11 was at 50% US market share by now, sure, I could see Win10 being put out to pasture once the end-of-life date comes. But it's nowhere near 50%, which may mean 10 will stick around for a long time, even after Win12 is released for whenever that happens.
How long? If Win10 continues to hold the top spot as the #1 PC OS, years. Maybe to 2027 or even to 2030. Yeah, that long.
The only thing I can see killing Win10 is if both Google and Mozilla stop making a web browser for it. But I don't see that happening any time soon. If Win10 keeps its spot as #1, Chrome and Firefox will continue to exist for that OS.
Windows 10 is a safe bet?
Yes, I think it's actually a safe bet to stay with Win10 if that's what's on your PC currently. I wasn't saying that at the beginning of 2024, but I am now.
From the looks of things, it's highly unlikely Win11 is going to make a miraculous comeback. And as for Win12, eh... we'll see about that one.