Smart people doing unsmart things

[PlanMaestro]

The Professor, the Bikini Model

and the Suitcase Full of Trouble.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/magazine/the-professor-the-bikini-model-and-the-suitcase-full-of-trouble.html

[woodstove]

Thanks for that.  Interesting article.  Illustrates how many different flavours of "smart" there are.

[writser]

yeah, excellent read, thanks :)

[valuecfa]

I had a kinda similar thing almost happen to me when i was around 19 years old. I was doing a long backpacking trip with my younger brother throughout Europe and northern Africa. When we got to Marrakesh (our last city to visit) to fly back to the US with a London connection, i was standing in line at the airport and struck up a conversation with a young, attractive/cool hippie looking girl who was traveling with one of her girlfriends. I think she was from Holland. We chatted up while waiting in line to check in and the ticket person informed her that she would have to pay extra for her all her additional bags (they had lots of souvenirs in cheap plastic bags). She saw that i only had one bag that i was checking in with no carry-ons, and asked if i can carry one of her other bags as a carry on to the gate, and then give it back to her, on the other side so she could avoid the large fees. I said, sure no problem. It wasn't until i got to the security checkpoint that it had occurred to me that i may be doing something very stupid. This is a muslim country, there are very stiff drug penalties. I didn't know this person, and she looked like the type that may try to sneak something through. Though, we had already walked from the check-in all the way to the security area, right by the gate, and i had already agreed to it, and most importantly i didn't want to be uncool and change my mind at the last minute. My heart was racing, when the bag was placed onto the conveyor belt. I though of that movie, Brokedown Palace for some reason, and pictured myself in a third world prison as i was was watching the security guard's face the entire time the bag rolled across the belt. It went through, and everything went fine. I gave the girl back her bag at the gate, and she offered to buy me a drink to thank me when we arrived in London. For some reason, perhaps b/c of the internal drama i just went through, i said no thanks and just went to sit with my brother near the window of the gate. This sticks out as one of the more stupid things i have done, and of course all b/c of a pretty girl.

 

As a side note, a few weeks earlier, while i was in Asilah, my private tour guide offered to take me to the marijuana fields. We were kids, and my brother was all about it, and thought that would be cool. The guide said, "yeah it would be a cool souvenir to take pics in front of the massive fields to show your friends back home". En route to the fields in the Riff mountains, I backed out, even though my brother was really pissed. I later found out from a local that it is a common tourist scam to take college backpacking kids to the fields, have them take pictures in front of the rows of plants, and then take their camera and extort them into paying them a great deal of money to not turn the pictures into the police who were in on the scam.

 

Anyway, it is kind of unrelated, but this story reminded my of that incident.

[siddharth18]

The Professor, the Bikini Model

and the Suitcase Full of Trouble.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/magazine/the-professor-the-bikini-model-and-the-suitcase-full-of-trouble.html

 

Great article! Read it fully, although it's hard to sympathize with someone's plight who has demonstrated an utter lack of common sense from the get-go. And of all people, a theoretical physicist!

[CONeal]

 

 

As a side note, a few weeks earlier, while i was in Asilah, my private tour guide offered to take me to the marijuana fields. We were kids, and my brother was all about it, and thought that would be cool. The guide said, "yeah it would be a cool souvenir to take pics in front of the massive fields to show your friends back home". En route to the fields in the Riff mountains, I backed out, even though my brother was really pissed. I later found out from a local that it is a common tourist scam to take college backpacking kids to the fields, have them take pictures in front of the rows of plants, and then take their camera and extort them into paying them a great deal of money to not turn the pictures into the police who were in on the scam.

 

Anyway, it is kind of unrelated, but this story reminded my of that incident.

 

Thanks for mentioning this, I would have fallen for this trick.

[mhdousa]

I struck up a conversation with a young, attractive/cool hippie looking girl..

she offered to buy me a drink to thank me when we arrived in London...

For some reason, i said no thanks and just went to sit with my brother near the window of the gate.

This sticks out as one of the more stupid things i have done...

 

 

 

Quoted for truth.

[valuecfa]

I struck up a conversation with a young, attractive/cool hippie looking girl..

she offered to buy me a drink to thank me when we arrived in London...

For some reason, i said no thanks and just went to sit with my brother near the window of the gate.

This sticks out as one of the more stupid things i have done...

 

 

 

Quoted for truth.

 

;D We were both only connecting through London, and going to different places... It would have gone nowhere.