"ranks up there with the discovery of fire"

Yup. There are a lot of fields where Americans can be proud of our ingenuity, but very few where we've come up with the tiniest, lightest solution to a problem. Not exactly what we're know for. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The thing is, it's much rarer now to come across a can without some sort of easy-open device... so, in this day and age, it's still worth carrying the tiny P38 against that eventuality. I don't think it would be worth carrying anything larger or heavier.