Yo, nerds! I bet I am not the only nerd that is kind of excited (NERD ALERT!!!) by Google Scholar, currently in beta testing. It's just like Google, but just for academic/scholarly shit - you know, only the good stuff! Via Crumb Trail, who correctly wonders why exactly Google thinks this is worth its valuable time - long-term contracts with universities and academic publishers, maybe? I have no idea how that market works, I'm just making shit up.
I do think this'll change the blog discourse, once all these professors and students and scholar-wannabes have as easy access to academic articles as they currently have to the news. I've definitely been in situations where I've been writing a post and wanted an academic article to incorporate into my argument but settled for a loosely related news clipping instead (because I am pretty lazy!!). So, you know, let's all get smarter OK?
Speaking of which, this seems a good a place as any to mention that I'll probably be OFFICIALLY LEARNING again starting in January, to make up some ECONOMICS coursework so that I can maybe apply for grad school (this program specifically - good idea?) next year. The honest and somewhat pathetic truth is that I had been planning on just chilling for another year or two, but I've been 'pushed' by the fact that due to staff expansion I am going to lose my fucking office, my dimly-lit, music-playing, bottle-of-red-under-the-desk blogging-HQ, I am being banished back to cubicleland. SUUUUUCKS!!! But anyway, once I started thinking about being back in school I got kind of excited (NERD ALERT!!!), the working world has been pretty fun but I get bored really easily, and I abuse the freedom really quickly... Basically, I'm saying 'get ready for a lot more Marginal Revolution links'.