EU Overlords, Welcome to North Carolina!

I KNEW I made the right decision when I moved here to Ireland from North Carolina.  Now even economists are telling me I was right :-)

OK, so the economy here is in disarray and we're all (by this I mean ME) panicked that our salaries are going to get dumped in the toilet, but here is somebody saying not only that some of the basics of the economy are actually quite strong, but that Ireland is North Carolina's sister state.

I knew it all along!

What's A Brainiac To Do?

You know the economy is really tanking when, instead of being a blessed escape from the harsh realities of life, grad school is actively being discouraged as a "career" choice.

This NY Times article , "Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times" just makes me shudder (mostly in relief that it's not me). The thought of having survived so many years of research minutiae, dissertation writing, teaching bored undergraduates and surviving on noodles and peanut butter, only to not even be able to find a job at the end of it is just terrifying.

. . . . excuse me while I suffer through the flashbacks . . . .

If academia isn't the last, best escape from the working world, what is?!