A "Wooded" Ville? Sadly, No

As you may know, Adelaide is sweltering as "Southern Australia endures worst heatwave for 150 years".

But the hot weather is not a novelty for Adelaide. So you'd think that authorities would make plans with this in mind? Today's rant is about my local council's failure to think ahead.

I live on an "avenue". According to Wikipedia: "traditionally, an avenue is a straight road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side." If only my street could actually live up to the "avenue" part of its name! On days like today I'd be able to walk down it and benefit from some shade. Trees would also keep the bitumen roads from absorbing and radiating large amounts of heat.

What makes the dearth of trees even more ironic is that my council used to be called "Woodville". The intention was for the area it to be a "wooded" ville, i.e. a place with lots of trees. Generally, councils in the western suburbs seem averse to planting trees. Adelaideans living east of the city are fortunate to have had councils with enough foresight to have planted trees many years ago.

Late last year the council finally started a serious tree-planting project down my street. Unfortunately, it could be a while before I can expect any significant benefits on days like today.

[A slight bit of relief today in Adelaide. The maximum temperature was only 40.6 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit)!]

Cramped Seating on Buses

Australians are apparently getting physically bigger:

Obese Aussies get big ambulances

So why do bus seats seem to get smaller and more cramped?

On my bus trip home tonight I made the mistake of sitting on one of the face-to-face seats. The bus became rather packed, and someone had to sit directly opposite me. We had to place our legs in uncomfortable positions to avoid knocking each other's knees.

It's not just the face-to-face seats that are cramped. Other seating configurations cause different types of cramping. For example, seats over wheel arches require passengers to raise their knees (on the window side), or have one leg higher than the other (in the aisle side). And the seats behind the barriers near the exits allow barely enough room for your feet. Those with long legs and big feet can try sitting sideways, but that's difficult if the bus is packed and you have to share the seat.

The larger bags and other accessories that people carry around with them just makes things worse.

We should be trying to get as many as people as possible to leave their cars at home and use public transport. But making the seats uncomfortable is not the way to do it.

PS: To rub salt into the wound, another bus came past a few minutes later and was practically empty! Maybe the bus I caught was running late, and so was taking on additional passengers. If the buses ran on time, I probably wouldn't have had to feel like a sardine. Buses not following schedules is a topic for another rant :)

Mobile Phone Blues, Episodes 451 and 452

Last week, before recharging my mobile phone (A Sony Ericsson 310), I notice the battery had become rather swollen. Since the phone was getting on a bit (I got it in mid-2003) I decided to get a replacement battery and not to risk leaking, a fire or even an explosion.

This lead to a series of disappointments (not surprising since I've been generally disappointed by my phone, which I'll identify shortly). First, finding someone in Adelaide that sells replacement batteries for Sony Ericsson phones is not easy. Next, when I found a place stocking batteries for my phone, the price was $40! Each! Yes, I know there are places online that provide batteries for much less, but I'm a bricks-and-mortar kind of shopper when it comes to electronics.

Ok, did I want to spend $40 on a new battery for a phone I'm not overly happy with (Plan A)? Or should I buy a brand new phone (Plan B)?

Before discussing the options, I'll list the grievances I have with my current phone:
* Loooong startup time
* Silly joystick navigation
* Unresponsive user interface
* Battery compartment opens too easily when phone falls

I had hoped that getting a new phone would at least solve some of these issues. So Plan B looked like a goer, until I actually started shopping around. This triggered another series of disappointments ...
1. Mobile phone salespeople are pushy, and want to sell you things you don't want
2. There are so many models to choose from
3. Not all vendors stock all the models
4. Phones come with all sorts of stuff that I don't want: cameras, radios, GPS, younameit
5. Basic phones exist but are often tied to plans (which are confusing)
6. Generally buying phones outright is still too expensive
7. Most importantly, you don't get the opportunity to try out a phone's user interface before you buy it

The last point was the main source of disappointment with my current phone. Had I been able to use it beforehand I would probably have chosen another model.

Some people think all this choice is great for consumers. But I would argue that is not the case. Anyone who has read "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less" by Barry Schwartz, will be well aware of the problems with too much choice. I've ranted about this before in "Too Much Choice Considered Harmful" and written about the book in another blog, so I won't repeat myself here.

Another nagging concern is that all this "choice" is illusory because vendors and telcos seem to select particular combinations of plans and models, making it difficult to compare. Looks like there are opportunities for cartel-like behaviour to me.

So, after pounding the concrete for a few days, and getting increasingly frustrated with the ordeal of buying a new phone, I decided to go for Plan A. I bought a replacement battery for my existing phone. I resented having to pay such an an exorbitant price, but at least ...
* I won't risk the "buyer's remorse" of getting something that fails to satisfy
* I won't have been responsible for the waste caused by manufacturing a brand new phone
* I save some money, at least in the short term

I'll probably get a new phone eventually, but at least I will have had time to prepare a little in advance. I can ask to try out the user interfaces of other people's phones. Technology can only improve (right?), and who knows, Apple may release an iPhone mini in Australia by then :)

Finally, some advice: Check your mobile phone battery often before you recharge it.

Fortress Suburbia

At 8:45am every weekday morning the draw bridge opens and the gleaming metal carriage rides out of the fortress.

No, this is not the scene from a medieval story, but rather everyday suburbia. It's not really a draw bridge, just a massive electronically-operated garage door that is raised to reveal a thirsty behemoth of a car. Some children are being taken to school. But in fact the scene is repeated several times a day. The thought of simply walking out the front door to go to the shops or elsewhere has become an alien concept in this day and age of convenience.

Perhaps it's more than that. In the suburbs we seem to want to close ourselves off from the big, bad outside world. So if we do need to venture from the absolute safety of our homes we need to surround ourselves by a tonne of metal and glass. Not content with having our whole house airconditioned to the perfect temperature, we also have to take that perfect climate with us. No matter what the consequences are for our global climate.

Wake Up Australian Car Makers!

Almost everyone and their dog now accepts that global warming is happening. Unfortunately governments can't always be relied upon to do the right thing. Witness how the Australian and United States governments still refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Look at the participation map for the outcasts in red.

Australian citizens may decide to take the future in their own hands. This could be disastrous for the local car industry, because the three locally-manufactured vehicles have pathetic carbon dioxide emission numbers:

• Holden Commodore (VE) ..... 260 g/km
• Ford Falcon (BF) ................. 244 g/km
• Mitsubishi 380 (DB) ............ 259 g/km

Source: http://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/

A random look at typical overseas-produced vehicles highlights how bad the Australian-made cars look in comparison:

• Fiat Punto ............ 145 g/km
• Honda Civic ......... 164 g/km
• Peugeot 307 ........ 188 g/km
• Toyota Camry ..... 210 g/km

Admittedly these are all 4 cylinder models, while the Australian-built cars are all 6 cylinder models. But perhaps the local manufacturers need to wake up and smell the coffee before it's too late.