Mr. Kihn reveals both his age as well as his ignorance of history in "Don't Drink the Grape-Flavored Sugar Water..." (March). The phrase "drink the Kool-Aid" doesn't come from the Jim Jones 1978 Guyana tragedy. It comes from the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests in San Francisco in the '60s, where concertgoers were encouraged to "drink the Kool-Aid" (laced with acid) to see if it would help to "immerse" themselves in the music.
Gene Gustafson
Cascade, Colorado
I was surprised to see the 180-degree turn your magazine has taken with regard to personal branding ("Me Inc.: the Rethink," March). You neglected to look at the hundreds of personal-branding consultants who are operating successful businesses, and more important, the thousands of people who have advanced their careers or businesses by applying the concepts of personal branding.
In a world where we are being Googled before we get a job interview or get in to see a client, personal branding is one of the only tools we have to ensure our success. In a recent newsletter, ExecuNet -- which your magazine dubbed one of the best Web sites for executives -- called personal branding the number-one tool for executive job seekers. The Ladders, a job service for $100,000-plus jobs, has published no fewer than five articles related to personal branding in the last three months. And your Paris Company of Friends group chose personal branding as its theme for 2005. I don't know how your author defines revolution, but personal branding is a movement that still has lots of momentum.
William Arruda
I have to admit that driving a car as small as the European Smart would make most Americans nervous given all of the huge vehicles on the roads ("Super Size Me!" February). But I work for a large insurance company in Ohio, and some of our recent research indicates a steadily growing population of single people of all ages. If the car manufacturers started looking at this population index, they might take this interesting fact and run with it. Mercedes should give it another year or two and try again in the United States, as I know there would be a market.
Name withheld
Columbus, Ohio
I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting the smaller Smart car to do well in large U.S. urban centers. I live in Chicago, for example, and a lot of us single urban dwellers could use something exactly like this. When I visited Munich last year, I stayed with someone who owns a Smart car, so I can attest to how much fun they are and how efficient they can be in a big city. Maybe they won't appeal to the average suburban SUV driver, but there is definitely a significant niche market for them here in America.
Jason Pettus
Chicago, Illinois
Not all Americans are fat, SUV driving, 3,000-square-foot-house dwellers. Some of us would be quite happy driving a Smart here in the United States. It's ironic that Smarts are being sold just a few miles away from me in Vancouver, British Columbia, but I, as an American citizen, cannot legally buy one and drive it home here to Seattle.
D. Jackson
Seattle, Washington
Let me get this straight: Mercedes is selling a reliable, ultra-fuel-efficient car in Europe that's priced so I can buy it with a check, sized so I can park it anywhere, and styled to turn heads, but they're not sure if the American market will go for it? It won't beat a souped-up Honda in a drag race, but I'll be able to take a vacation off the savings in gas alone.
Rich Hunt
Ft. Riley, Kansas
Kudos to Elon Musk and his team for redefining the entire space business ("Hondas in Space," February). Beyond space, though, this is really a great attempt to completely rethink the way business gets done. The ideas in the story will hopefully inspire other companies to redefine their cost structures so as to serve poor people in the developing Asian, Latin American, and African markets. For that reason, I look forward to SpaceX's success.
Ravi Kanth
Pune, India
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