Hi all,
I've said for years that Canada should remove the "penny" from circulation and use a
slightly thicker/heavier version for a $5-coin.
BTW... many grumbled in Canada about the introduction of the $1 coin in 1987, but the
Royal Canadian Mint went ahead and made them anyway. The government stopped printing
$1 notes at the same time. Within 9 months not a single $1 note was to be seen.
Less grumbling happened with the $2 coin in 1996. I'm sure nobody will say a peep if
the mint decided to mint a circulation $5 coin.
Toronto was the first city to adopt a new area code in Canada. The metropolitan area
was given the new "905" number and the city kept the old "416" number. Alberta just
recently split in half; the larger city, Calgary, kept the old "403" number while the
northern half, containing the provincial capital, Edmonton, adopted the new "780"
number. I would suspect if there was a single national telephone network it would not
be difficult to adopt an 8 digit local number, but each province has it's own
telephone system, and many cities still have their own local phone company. It would
be very difficult without the heavy hand of the CRTC (Canaidan Radio and
Telecommunications Commission; the national regulator for TV, radio/cellular, and
telephone). I suspect we have nearly as much inertia as our American cousins, but at
least we have a stronger central government to knock us in a new direction... if they
set their minds to it, at least.
greg
>>> "Carter, Baron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2001-01-02 11:42:30 >>>
The other thing that Australia did was to remove copper coins. 5 cent coins
are the lowest coin denomination. $5 note is the lowest 'paper'
denomination. Their coins are:- 5, 10, 20, 50 cents and $1 and $2.
Baron Carter
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Potts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, 02 January, 2001 11:30
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:10159] RE: Aussie newspaper article on the USA's curious
'inertia'
Apart from using both "metric" and "imperial" in the plural, it's a pretty
good article.
I wonder where, in the US, he's living, though -- New York?. Around here,
everyone pronounces "quarter" as "quarter," not as "quadda." <g>
A lot of US metrication is invisible to him, of course. Most people are
probably unaware of the metrication of Caltrans, NYDOT and other state
highway departments.
Regarding the 8-digit phone numbers, even Denmark adopted them, about ten
years ago. Of course, as it's so small, Denmark doesn't have any area codes.
Bill Potts, CMS
San Jose, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Michael G. Koerner
> Sent: January 02, 2001 09:11
> To: U.S. Metric Association
> Subject: [USMA:10158] Aussie newspaper article on the USA's curious
> 'inertia'
>
>
> This appeared in the Saturday, 2000-12-30 issue of the Sydney Morning
> Herald, apparently written by their USA correspondant. It writes about
> the inertia that prevades American culture, preventing such utterly
> simple, logical improvements to day-to-day life as 8 digit local
> telephone numbers, dumping the $1 note for the MUCH more convenient coin
> and 'metrics'.
>
> Enjoy!
>
> http://www.smh.com.au/news/0012/30/text/features12.html
>
> l
> --
> __________________________________________________________________
> __________
> Regards,
>
> Michael G. Koerner
> Appleton, WI
> __________________________________________________________________
> __________
>
>
