Nerd Notes: An Interview With the Cartoonist of PhD Comics

Poking fun at grad school is a fantastic defense mechanism.

Nerd LOL: Clickbait Dissertations

What if dissertations were titled like Buzzfeed articles?

Nerd Fun: Hilariously Reductive Theses

The brilliant blog Lol My Thesis invites nerds to submit humorous summaries of their research projects, theses, and dissertations.  My current top 3 favorites:

3) "Screw you. Love, the Polish language" - linguistics thesis from Cornell

2) "Rats like cocaine" - a psychology thesis from Reed College

And a drum roll for the best of them all ...

1)  "Why is the Security Council dysfunctional? Because the Russians are devious liars" - a political science thesis from the University of Pennsylvania

Mens Sana in Corpore Sano

Meet the 10 most educated MMA fighters. Together they hold a very impressive number of graduate degrees.  One used to be a math teacher, a fact that made me think of this.

Nerd Notes: Naughty and Nice in Academia

My advice: Don't be a jerk, even if other people are.

LOL: PhD Student Pays His Tuition With ...

Ingenious.

Great Moments in Research: UK Physics Grad Students Devise Formula for Kicking Soccer Balls

No, really!

Nerd Fun: Professor Drezner and "the best paragraph I have ever read in a dissertation prospectus"

Voila!

Nerd News: Drezner's Weekly Picks

They're all worth a look.

Nerd News: *Sigh*

Sure, that's academic freedom and room for debate - let's shut up everyone we don't like.  Let's just admit there are politically correct sacred cows about which we refuse to have an honest discussion. I do use "we" in a very loose sense of "self-identifying academics."  People like that make every denizen of Nerdworld look bad.  More here.

Monday Therapy: the "PhD Comics" Movie!

First there was this delightful comic strip about grad school.  Now it's a movie!  RELATED: In case you think that once you're out of grad school you're out of the woods ... Tenure: the Movie.

Satire Alert: Grad Student Deconstructs Take-Out Menu

Here's a golden oldie from the Onion.  Oh, it still makes me laugh.

Nerd Fun: Grad Student Work Never Ends

I somehow missed this glorious comic yesterday, but it's too good not to share!  Ah, Nerd Lords!

Friday Fun Video: Ph.Diddy and the Biotech Lab

Nerd News: Dartmouth Grad Student Busted for Meth Lab

That's the WRONG KIND OF LAB, pal!  Trivia: He happens to be Belgian.

Higher Edpocalypse: Hey, Let's Turn Grad School Into More Of A Joke!

Ugh, look at this facepalm-worthy story from the UK about the University of Birmingham’s School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion.  Yeah, there are a bunch of factors involved, though as usual money's the prime mover.  So much for standards and academic rigor.  Look, edu-crats have succeeded in turning the bachelor's degree into a glorified high school diploma that means nearly nothing, so now let's diminish grad degrees too, why don't we?  Dime a dozen in a bad job market.  Pretty soon you'll need a PhD just to be a waiter. Then again, if you'll pardon my snark, what else are you going to do with a grad degree in philosophy, theology, or religion?

Nerd News: the Master's Degree Is the New Bachelor's

Ugh. Maybe I should start labeling all these types of posts "Credentia-Dementia" or "Higher Edpocalypse" or something.  The degrading of degrees is going to be the end of us all, especially as it's coupled with soaring student loan debt!  So now we got a lot of overly-credentialed (note that I did not say "qualified" or "educated"), often under-skilled and utterly indebted (and frequently whiningly entitled) people running around in a lousy job market. That's just friggin' great. 

UPDATE: "Higher Edpocalypse" it is.

Great Moments in Higher Education: Get a PhD in Manga Studies

No, really!  The announcement just went out from Kyoto Seika University, which already offers a master's in Manga Studies.  Here's the program website.

Nerd News: Murder Most Academic

Don't read this article about a serial killer British grad student unless you want to be utterly disgusted.  Bonus: He was working on a PhD in homicide studies.

Nerd News: Too Sexy For a PhD

Heh.  

I'm not a mathematician, but ... Should I be worried?  Should I stop wearing sassy high heels to my Nerdmoots?  Um ... NO.  If I'm going to crash and burn, I'm going to do it my way.  It's not as if I'm not already getting comments like "funny, you don't look like a (insert position here)" and "do you have a husband?" and "you still have a few years to get married" and other such hilariously inappropriate and Neanderthalish utterances from male nerds who honestly think they're enlightened and progressive, yadda yadda yadda.  Rubes!  I haven't yet had to kick anyone in the keister with my stylish yet affordable shoes, but I will if I have to!  You see, ladies never start fights, but ladies can finish them ... and the best revenge is being successful, especially if it means beating the Neanderthals at their own nerd-game ... and doing so while dressed to kill and smiling with sweet, sweet innocence.