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To: Boplicity who wrote (38465)	8/22/1999 2:13:00 PM
From: David Andersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

My wife subscribes to Gourmet magazine. I was looking through and there was a full page ad for the Thin Phone. Very nice ad. Large picture of phone, at what appeared to be just under actual size. I looked for and "actual size" notation but did not see one. Very little text, but a nice attention grabbing presentation.

To: Boplicity who wrote (38465)	8/22/1999 3:39:00 PM
From: Kayaker	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 152472

OT For the life of me I have no idea why the USA will not convert. It will never happen now. USA failure to go metric is the like the French refusing to use some silly words for fear of losing their culture. I just don't get it. I was thinking about this today, listening to someone being interviewed on CBC who mentioned that the US is the most "individualistic society on earth". If I remember correctly, back in the 60s or 70s, both Canada and the US committed to "going metric". Despite loud protests, and a few legal challenges, it gradually/eventually happened in Canada. But in the US, it died in the starting gate. As I see it, Canadians (for better or worse) will accept these kinds of changes being imposed on them, and Americans will not. Or maybe, it's just that American politicians cave in quicker than Canadian politicians. IMO the same thing has happened with the introduction of dollar coins. Up here in Canada, they introduced the "loonie"; lots of folks weren't too happy with it, but the government yanked all the dollar bills out of circulation, and we had no choice. Now, we have the "toonie", and all $2 bills have been pulled. Neither would be widely used if the bills were still in circulation. In the US, the government was either unwilling or "unable" to remove dollar bills when the Susan B. Anthony coin was introduced. I've often heard folks puzzled as to why the dollar coin didn't "take". I found this quote: "The public rejected the Anthony dollar because it looked and felt too much like a quarter. The paper dollar won't be removed from circulation." IMHO a dollar coin will never be widely accepted unless it is forced on people (by removing dollar bills from circulation). Same thing with the metric system.

To: Boplicity who wrote (38465)	8/22/1999 3:53:00 PM
From: JGoren	Respond to of 152472

I thought USA did go metric with respect to most industrial, commercial products that are made for both US and export market. It's certain consumer products that still have the other measurement system, like furniture. Resistance to the dollar coin was as much from vending machine companies as anyone else. If the dollar coin hadn't been the Susan B. Anthony, which was "political" and rather ugly, it might have worked. But, you are right, countries that made the transition removed the corresponding currency from circulation.