Sure, you know that Nick Kristof is a Pulitzer-winning Times Op-Ed columnist. You probably also know that he used to be associate managing editor of that newspaper. And maybe you were even dimly aware that he has a TimesSelect blog, 'On The Ground,' where he posts dispatches from his exotic visits to various underprivileged peoples. And you might recall that he picks a lucky gal (or guy! maybe) to accompany him to Africa each summer. But did you know that he is all up on The MySpace?

Nick has some predictable late-boomerish music tastes, we soon learn:

Simon and Garfunkel. Mozart. Stay with me, I'm gonna blow your mind. Early Madonna. U2 in general, but mostly because I like Bono. Cheap Trick: my college roomate loved them.

Whoa, our mind is totes unblown. His 'who I'd like to meet' does pack a few more surprises, though:

Julia Roberts. Princess Di, if she were alive. Also the Dalai Lama. Maybe Osama bin Laden and Musa Hilal (a leader of the Janjaweed in Sudan). Princess Masako of Japan. President Hu Jintao of China.

Julia and Osama are totally invited to our fantasy dinner party scenario too, in a way. (An opposite-day way). But perhaps the most revelatory detail is to be found by perusing Nick's list of heroes:

Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Mukhtar Mai (if you don't know her, google her, she's Bono-cool)

That is a filthy lie, Nick. How could anyone be as cool as Bono? No. Even if she was Glamour mag's 2005 woman of the year!

Kristof On The Ground [MySpace]