NO, I DON'T GIVE PHYSICALS. Michael Jennings has some thoughts about dissertation-completion euphoria, motivated by Josh Marshall's announcement of completion. (And good on ya, Dr. Marshall.) What is more important is how quickly that "Dr." vanishes -- the level of insecurity in a department varies directly with the proportion of people who have to call attention to their Ph. D. (or more notoriously their Ed. D.) on their office name cards.