This isn't so much for me as it is for those that are busy implementing something very important right now (note: I replaced all the references to naked women with something a little less sexy):

A grad student, a post-doc, and a professor are walking through a city park and they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out in a puff of smoke.

The Genie says, "I usually only grant three wishes, so I'll give each of you just one."

"Me first! Me first!" says the grad student. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat with a gorgeous emu who sunbathes topless." Poof! He's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the post-doc. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with professional emu and a Mai Tai in each hand." Poof! He's gone.

"You're next," the Genie says to the professor.

The professor says, "I want those guys back in the lab after lunch."


*****

There were a bunch more grad student jokes but looking at them I found myself thinking, uh, none of these are really as funny as they are sad. So I'm sparing you. You're welcome.

Such a difficult journey an idea takes from one mind to another -- it almost never survives in tact.

*

So they say. Today I learned of a study that said that the most effective way to persuade someone is to convince them that you are like them. An "appeal to similarity" was found by this study (which I cannot site because it's not on the internet apparently) to be enormously powerful -- in fact, even more powerful than expertise, knowledge, a convincing argument, or anything of the like (now, if you guys are thinking big fat politics, yeah, me too). at least part of the study worked like this:

A man walks into a paint store, looking to buy, well, paint. He is confronted with one of two salespeople. The first sales person would convey to them that they've been selling paint and painting walls/houses for years and years, know exactly what they need, etc. etc., would take them to the appropriate paint section and answer any questions they had. The second salesperson would say, "you know, I just started this job a week ago and I painted my (whatever it is the person is painting -- living room, kitchen, bathroom, etc.) this morning!" The second salesperson knew nothing about paint but what color it said it had on the can. And who sold more paint????

The second person. And why? Apparently because they could relate to him. Another possible answer for this phenomenon might be that people don't like know-it-alls, or that people don't give a damn about paint outside of the color, and that's certainly possible, but my experience in retail suggests otherwise. I almost always had much more success selling to twenty-somethings than any other age group (and saw similar effects with my older managment), had more luck selling to college students or anyone with whom I could establish (sometimes fabricate) a bond. That's just a fact of the sellin' biz.

But okay. Whatever. People are more inclined to believe people who remind them of them. Sure. That makes sense, and is mostly boring unless you apply it to our upcoming democratic nomination and the showdown that follows. Or unless you apply it to our presidential past, or anyone leader who makes an argument that the bulk of their constituents buys into. The likability factor turns into the similarity factor -- and how do you remind the most number of people of themselves? Especially in a country that prides itself on diversity.

Anyway, these are my musings. I'm tired as hell and I've just been told I look it. I'm going home.