Industry vs. Academia: the neverending struggle

So recent events have been forcing me to re-evaluate my professional prospects. I'm currently being tugged in two mutually exclusive directions: The glitz, glamour and fortune of industry at the expense of....my soul.... versus the noble life of intellectual pursuit at the expense of...a guaranteed roof over my head?

I guess it's kind of like Star Wars (warning: my Star Wars knowledge is shaky at best). On the one hand, you have the dark side, giant, omnipresent, well-funded, capable of providing you with wealth and power beyond your wildest fantasies, if only you'll join it. Then there's this rag-tag band of tweed-attired bandits whose hearts are good and pure, but can they defeat the Death Star? Of course, they did in the movie, but that's Hollywood, the same place where the nice guy gets the girl in the end, good always triumphs over evil, and other such fantasies completely divorced from reality. So how will this end?

I guess this PhD comic strip sums up the dilemma (click to enlarge)...

Gaddafi in Conversation

On March 2nd, 2007, the 30th anniversary of the declaration of the Libyan Jamahiriyah ("state of the masses") Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sat down in discussion with Anthony Giddens and Benjamin Barber (author of Jihad vs. McWorld). The discussion was moderated by Sir David Frost. The result: a fascinating insight into the thoughts of this oft-misunderstood leader.

Watch for yourselves here:

www.LibyaInTheGlobalAge.com

Interesting stuff I think...

Movin' on over....to Saudi Arabia...

Hello All,

I haven't written because there hasn't been much worth writing about, but now some big changes are about to transpire. I had been requested to transfer to a project the company has going in Saudi and I've decided to accept. It wasn't an easy choice. I know I had complained about it often in the past, but I'd kind of gotten used to Libya and the team there. Regardless, I will definitely look back on my time there as a profoundly educational and positive experience.

Now on to Saudi...who knows what awaits me...I certainly don't...