I recently got a new cell phone - the Sony Ericsson W810i. (Really, who comes up with the model numbers for these things? Why can’t it just be the Sony Ericsson 3?) It’s not sleek and sexy like the popular new phones - razr, krazr, masturbatr. But among OS X geeks, the phone has a cult-like following. Removable memory card, 2 megapixel camera, infrared remote control, blue tooth, mp3 player, video player, and, get this, a radio.

Radio? WTF? What is this, the 19th century? Besides NPR, I never listen to the radio. And even 95% of my NPR listening is via podcasts. I’ve always been a proponent of doing away with radio completely. Those radio waves are valuable spectrum and they should be used for something else.

In december the Seattle area was hit by a major storm and that major storm created a major power outage. Some areas - including the once-rural, lakeside neighborhood of my 77-year-old grandmother - were completely without electricity for over a week. No internet, no lights, no electric stove, no refrigeration. For a week she got by with candles, canned food, and her trusty wood burning stove. (21st century cyber-geek that I am, I had never thought of that wood burning stove as anything other than a quaint way to keep the house warm.) And, as she pointed out, her only way of staying informed was with her battery-powered radio. (Luckily, the Seattle area has radio stations that are not owned by Clear Channel)

The comforts of cosmopolitan life have a way of making us feel invincible. I can’t fathom a week without electricity, seven days without the Internet, here in the Bay Area. We know that we should have a shelf of canned food, flash lights, extra batteries, candles, etc. But most of us don’t. A scenario in which we would actually use them seems too fantastic. And, in all honesty, the same is true with that little radio built into my cell phone.

But, I’ve changed my mind; I’m glad that it’s there.