Monday, January 12, 2009 - 9:36 PM
Via Glenn Reynolds, I see that professors have something in common with administrative assistants, baristas and personal trainers: they are all, "careers that have more sex appeal than you probably realize," according to Anthony Balderrama:
Behold the power of intellect: Someone who wasn't even on your romantic radar suddenly becomes the target of your affection when you find out he or she is intelligent -- or at least could be. Being a professor doesn't make anyone an automatic genius, but chances are these academics have expertise in at least one field, can speak a second or third language and have ambition (seeing as they spent a hefty portion of their time earning a few degrees). Plus, if anyone can make glasses go from nerdy to sexy, they can.
This is all clearly true. I would add that all professors are also snappy dressers and unusually punctual in their daily lives. Our hygeine is impeccable as well.
Seriously, however, if people underestimated the sexiness of "personal trainers," then maybe the misperception is not the fault of the professions, but the fault of people who use CareerBuilder.com.
Sunday, January 11, 2009 - 2:49 PM
The great Bono-as-columnist experiment has started at the New York Times.
And, I have to say, his debut column is a smashing success. In just his first effort, Bono has already managed to combine the worst tropes of Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd and fuse them together into some new alchemy of awfulness. At this rate, by March, he will have already progressed to Advanced Op-ed Babble, a state of nirvana heretofore only achieved by A.M. Rosenthal's "On My Mind".
Contest to readers: read Bono's column and, in 20 words or less, explain its theme in the comments. Here's my effort:
Did you know that I knew Frank Sinatra?"
Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
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