Really, really bad design.

I often rant about bad web design, or sometimes bad building design, but this tale of bad design made me laugh out loud.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Muni drivers have reported over the last couple of weeks that people have been shutting down the power on their buses by flipping a switch that can be accessed easily through an unlocked panel on the outside of the bus.

When that happens, the drivers can't accelerate, they lose radio contact with dispatchers and the interior lights on the buses go out. The power loss does not affect the brakes.

How stupid is that -- placing the off switch behind an unlocked panel outside the bus? It's just begging to be monkeyed with! Now Muni is on the hook for locking the panels and probably will have to develop a full policy for access to the panels, too. If I were them, I'd be sending a big fat bill to the company that built-in the design flaw.

Weathering the weather.

Sigh. Another day, more extreme weather... I wonder at what point do we consider it no longer extreme? Our region has been battered for over two months now with storm front after storm front... wind, heavy rain, snow, repeat. Meanwhile friends and family in Central Canada are barbequing in January. Frankly, I'm tired of it.

I had a small tantrum this morning trying to get into my snowboots; the lining in the right boot tends to scrunch up and there is no easy way to hold it steady so it just takes repeated attempts. I'd buy a new pair, but until the past couple of months I had worn them maybe a total of eleven days and I've had them for about 15 years.

Also, someone in Saanich Works this morning likely got a real earful as the police had to help our bus get down a nasty unsanded incline (we slid somewhat, which was white-knuckle scary on the top of a double decker, lemme tell ya, but the police had cleared other vehicles) -- on the other side there were three busses waiting to get up. The section of road looked no different than any other stretch but there was a nasty layer of black ice. Yikes. Aside from that adventure, the ride in was just fine and I was thankful not to be driving today.

Now the sun is shining bright and I may try to get some photos... but only from inside; I'm not putting on those boots again until I go home.