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Blowhard
Sir: You insult thousands of highly trained, intelligent Air Force ground crewmen who maintain our B-52s when you suggest that Cassius Clay [Feb. 25] could learn such a skilled job. The only thing he might be able to do is blow up a tire if the air compressor broke down.
RAY RILEY
T/SGT, U.S.A.F.
Aberdeen, Md.
Breaking the Diet
Sir: As a missionary in Kerala, India for 17 years, I disagree that "the vast majority" of the catch of shrimp, lobster, mackerel and sardines is sold for export, and that Keralans "largely ignore the sweet potatoes, bananas, pineapples and coconuts that abound" in the state [Feb. 25]. Fish and shrimp are part of the regular diet of millions of people, and the other items mentioned are eaten daily. Unfortunately, the prices of such commodities have risen tremendously recently.
H. E. HEINLEIN
Dodge Center, Mich.
Some Gasser
Sir: We think that an Andy Warhol endorsement [Mar. 4] for our liquid helium would be a real "gasser." As the nation's largest supplier, we can keep his balloons filled for life. That ought to give him a lift.
ROY H. PRICE
General Sales Manager
Gardner Cryogenics Corp.
Hightstown, N.J.
Olds's Olds
Sir: Although there was no Sloan car [Feb. 25], at least one of G.M.'s vehicles was named after its inventor: the Oldsmobile, named after Ransom Eli Olds, and first produced in 1887 as a three-wheeled, steam-powered horseless carriage. In 1900, the "Curved Dash" Oldsmobile was developed at the Olds Motor Works. It was some time later that the Oldsmobile became associated with G.M.
METTA ANDERSON
East Lansing, Mich.
Nectar of the Globs
Sir: I hurl myself into the breach in defense of Paul Ricard, inventor of the finest drink since sour mash [Feb. 25]. Your reporter, probably an undercover man for the W.C.T.U., has slandered the drinking man's Thomas Edison in saying that ice added to Ricard's pastis turns the licorice into a gooey glob. I modestly claim the record for annual consumption by an American of this delightful brew, and have yet to find a single glob in any of my well-iced drinks. Retract your calumny against this benefactor of mankind.
C. O. FRENCH III
Casablanca, Morocco
Sir: A Ricard is the most insidiously sly drink that ever slipped down an unsuspecting gullet. Two Ricards should be the maximum; I once tried three and felt that I was the most fascinating type, physically and intellectually, in the sixth arrondissement. Such illusions are not good for a man of my age.
W. L. WILEY
Kenan Professor of French
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, N.C.