1.  My Motorola enV phone has incredible reception (Verizon) and battery
life.  It also has the flip open keyboard.  Great phone.

2.  Interesting you mention Ford and engineering.   The Ford truck plant
in St. Paul, MN is scheduled to close.  It sits on the Mississippi river
and has its own power plant...generates its own electricity and has since
the 40s, or whenever it was built.  Ford is getting alot of encouragement
from Minnesota to retool it and build the next generation of cars/trucks
that fit our times.  They're also getting alot of offers to sell the
acreage to developers because it's a beautiful piece of riverfront
property.  We'll see what happens.

John Lee




> --- Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> It may, but it won't in the US or Canada. Motorola doesn't market it
>> here. This
>> phone was designed specifically for developing countries. See:
>>
>>    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_FONE_F3
>
> Why do companies do this?
>
> I would love to have a diesel minivan, especially one getting 48 miles per
> gallon.
> It's no wonder Ford is doing so poorly.
>
> http://www.mpgomatic.com/best_gas_mileage_van.html
>
> So we're going out on a limb. We're giving the 2007 Best Mileage Minivan
> crown to the
> diesel-powered Ford S-Max ... a minivan that you simply cannot buy here in
> the States. Runner-up
> goes to the maxi-sized Dodge Sprinter Van.
>
> By all accounts, the Ford S-Max is one of the sweetest minivans ever to
> roll off an assembly line
> .... but sadly, none of those assembly lines can be found in North
> America. The Ford S-Max is
> currently being produced in Belgium and China. For whatever reason, Ford
> has not committed to
> bringing the sleek seven-passenger to the good old USA.
>
> Testing has shown that a S-Max equipped with the 125 PS 1.8 Duratorq TDCi
> diesel engine and
> Durashift 6-speed manual delivered 35.8 city ("urban") and 54.3 highway
> ("extra-urban") miles per
> British gallon. The 2.0 liter diesel models achieved impressive results,
> as well. A S-Max equipped
> with the 140 PS 2.0 Duratorq TDCi diesel engine and Durashift 6-speed
> manual produced 34.9 city
> and 52.3 highway miles per British gallon, while the130 PS 2.0 Duratorq
> and Durashift 6-speed
> automatic version netted 28.5 city and 48.7 highway. These are lovely
> numbers, even considering
> the 20 percent difference in volume between the British and American
> gallon.
> *********************
>
> So why can't we get this in the US?
>
> -Craig
>
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