In order to feel better and get a dose of optimism, I went to the Ukrainian blogosphere / Twitter. There I discovered that the IMF has given a big chunk of cash to Ukraine (♡♡♡ IMF) and that Putin has disappeared. According to official reports, he’s ill. (♡♡♡ illness). Of course, every Ukrainian and every normal Russian blogger started publishing and Tweeting hilarious jokes about Putin ‘ s demise (♡♡♡ blogging and totally ♡♡♡ Putin ‘ s demise).

I’ve laughed so hard that my stomach hurts. Thank you, Ukrainians and ♡♡♡ Ukraine.

It’s warm, and when I open the bedroom window I can hear the splashing of the water in the creek.

The knowledge that I will probably have to let it go – one more thing to let go, one more, and more, and more – makes the sound pleasantly painful.

In more light-hearted news, have you, folks, heard about the Ecotricity scandal?

Back in 1992, a guy in the UK got divorced from his wife. Three years after the divorce, he created a wind-power company. The Green energy enthusiast ended up making millions  (as he rightfully should with such a great business idea.)

And now the wife sues him for a massive payout. Because she believes herself to be entitled to the money this guy made years after dumping her useless ass.

But the UK’s Supreme Court disagreed and ruled that once you get married, nothing – not even divorce – can terminate the ex-spouse’s entitlement to your property. So the useless ass will get paid for having once found herself in the vicinity of somebody who much later managed to make some money. Yes, I know, I’m confused, too. I guess one has to be British to figure it out.

I don’t even know what to say about this instance of extreme bizarredom.

We are cutting 100 courses across our College of Arts and Sciences, increasing the enrollment in language sections from 25 to 35, getting rid of part-timers, and increasing the teaching load of faculty members to 4:4. And this is just the beginning.

This was a good university with a great future but now it’s being dismantled because Mr. Rauner needs bigger handouts for a bigger bunch of “talented” bureaucrats. And no “I’m against the Big Government” warrior has dared as much as to offer a squeak against it.

A really good link on the myth of a lazy student.

Northwestern is freaking out about sex in a variety of entertaining ways. It’s good to see people who get a chance to navel – gaze like this while we are battling for the very survival of higher education down here.

Few things are more off-putting than Dan Savage ‘ s bizarre marriage advice. Is the guy even married? There is some sort of a huge marriage – related dysfunction going on with him. Plus, he seems to have a weird attachment to a fantasy about husbands concealing the truth about their sex lives from their wives.

Why it matters that the U of Oklahoma frat chant was also a poem.

Are there people who are stupid enough to pay $83,000 for an online medical degree when the real one costs exactly the same?

[Russian] A museum that will glorify Stalin will open in the Russian city of Tver.

[Russian] The Russians in the Crimea are making desperate and pathetic attempts to pretend that the locals are happy with the annexation.

What does it say about my fight against diabetes that the very first thing I associated with this article’s title was a candy bar?

“Fat people aren’t disgusting, but the whole fat acceptance/fat celebration culture certainly is.” Hear, hear. I agree completely. The extraordinary irresponsibility of the “fat acceptance” folks just boggles the mind.

” The Greek government also riled up its citizens and now doesn’t know how to deliver anything satisfactory to them, to the detriment of political stability.” I just hope the same kind of idiocy doesn’t happen in Spain. All the stupid Syriza has achieved so far was to buoy up Putin. And what a great achievement that was.

How I hate these strawman arguments: ” While the U.S. pretends to be a class-free society (even as U.S.-ians spend an inordinate amount of time making very subtle class distinctions), the reality is we do have classes with specific economic interests.” Who is the evildoer that pretends this is a class free society? Where are the articles and books making that case?

Making fun of Libertarians is always enjoyable.

When, oh when will people stop confusing psychological problems with a political stance?

Zygmunt Bauman condemns the insistent attempts to look for non-existent local solutions to globally begotten problems.

It is as much a mistaken strategy as looking for political remedies to private ills.

You’ll ask why it should bother me that some unknown person indulges in public spectacles of self-hatred. It bothers me because these exhibitions of diseased psyches leave no space for actual political discussions. Since I started referencing Bauman, he calls this sad process a colonization of the public arena by the unchecked spillage of the purely private. As a result, we have no public sphere any longer. There is just a never-ending stream of private woes, complaints, and narratives.