Wasted years: a flattening of emotions

I arrived in the dead zone that is North Dakota early this morning. The sleep was nice, but the reading of the morning paper was as abrasive on my soul as the toilet paper at Arby's is on my asshole. Every time I read the "Sun" I am tempted to waste my days writing responses to letters and editorials. Is it just my bias, or do all papers inflame me such? Well, anyway, I read an interesting little article in the business news about some lady who got her degree from Phoenix Online University, and I got a little interested. Funny how some things that make me shake my head so much could get me to do this much research and pique my interest. It was a real pretentious sounding article where it said that this woman and her husband were now both PhDs. I really got to thinking about the title of PhD. In our society they're experts (we say and think). In the business community, degrees are simply a piece of certification that allows you to get more money and power. "Oh great, here's another anti-capitalist rant by that commie FiestaWizard." I know that's what you're thinking, but don't be so shallow. I'm neither here nor there, I just like making fun of things and being a jerk. In this case I'm making fun of people that love certifications for the simple purpose of furthering their ability to say, "I have a PhD." This actually points to a lack of ability. Although some online universities are accredited and offer some worthy opportunities, they nonetheless lack a true academic atmosphere. Well, they don't have an atmosphere at all, which saves them money, but your dark, damp little apartment with the sweaters strewn about does lack academic atmosphere, and that's where most of your studies will be completed. A final word of caution before you get to partake in the fun part of this post: be careful of people who introduce or salute with "... PhD." If they need to mention it out of context, regardless of how they got it, they did it for the wrong reason. Anyway, here'e the fun part; the research I did. Here's a couple of "degree mills" where you simply pay for a degree based on "work experience" and they send you all sorts of shit (including a transcript with grades you would have received. This is followed by poor souls who brag about these same degrees.

Rochville University

Poor Sucker #1

#2
(search for "Belford," it's another fake university)

Dr. Feelgood

Defense Worker, oh great
(I've heard that some hundreds of defense employees held fake degrees)