<p>Posters here prove that “passion” is a meaningless subjective buzz word. This thread started out with a question about “intellectual passion” and quickly morphed into comments on human rights activities and typing. The only meaningful criterion used to assess an applicant’s “intellectual” qualifications is a proven track record of accomplishment in academics/research, i.e., “excellence.” The rest is at best superfluous BS and, properly regarded as such.</p>