Wednesday roundup and quick ramble

Ukraine hasn't stopped functioning, but keeping it together is going to be complicated.

So you don't care about pigs; fair enough. Do you care about water?

More science about how men needn't be smug about aging, with regard to parenting.

Jezebel's guide to writing about females (summary: it's not rocket science (but if it's about rocket science, focus on the rocket science, not on the shoes)).

I'd blogged earlier about expensive, status-seeking behavior; it turns out that David Ramsey sums it up: "We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”

Among the things you don't need for money you don't have: butt implants. Take it from someone with a formidable backside: it's not that hard to make your own.

I was not previously aware that Mark Twain had thoughts (or writings) on this matter.

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I've been thinking, lately, about how the internet is just so f*ing vapid. A very original thought, I know... so I should specify that I mean the part of the internet that used to be at least mostly substantive. Exhibit A has been the Huffington Post--never entirely hard-hitting, but once more so than the fluff-and-spin site that it is now. It's just a contentless mass of bull$hit. And then there was the Slate Double XX piece on tights, which rivals the Jezebel series on Foods That Should Not Exist. I'm not asking these sites to be all seriousness, all the time, but is there anything to be gained by engaging in pissing fights about things that don't matter? Some people love tights; some people don;'t get tights; who the f* cares?? Is it even worth addressing? Some people love tofu; other people love Twinkies. That's certainly worth addressing, but not in a culture-war way. This type of coverage is a microcosm of idiotic internet discourse that dumbs us all down and wastes our time. F*ing hell, stop writing about tights, especially with regard to other people's preferences. Who. The. F*. Cares??