Here are instructions on how to back up your Tumblr in the event of another calamitous outage. Because, you know, God forbid all that preciousness and whimsy be lost to the world.

Until now I have been consoling myself with the idea that if I am somehow unsuccessful in my efforts to drink and smoke myself into an early grave, I will at least live out my dotage free from the burdens of desire. But Science just told me to go get fucked.

Zoe Hyde of the University of Western Australia and colleagues surveyed more than 2,700 men aged 75 to 95 for their study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

They asked a range of questions about health, relationships and sexual activity.

“The older men were, the less likely they were to be sexually active, but sex remained at least somewhat important to one fifth of men aged 90 to 95 years, refuting the stereotype of the asexual older person,” they wrote in their report.

“Of those who were sexually active, more than 40 percent were dissatisfied with the frequency of sexual activity, preferring sex more frequently.”

This is terrible news. I had such ambitious plans for the days when I would no longer be lead around by my cock. I was going to read Proust! And Henry James! It was going to be a life of the mind, where I made up for all the lost time of my youth. And now it turns out that I’m still gonna be chasing tail, even if said chase is conducted with the assistance of a walker. You can’t win. I should probably just smoke more.

Photo by Klearchos Kapoutsis, from Flickr.

New Jersey’s Star-Ledger weighs in on Governor Chris Christie’s behavior: “Christie has turned state politics into one never-ending yo’ mama joke. It doesn’t matter who you are — school superintendent, teacher, student, U.S. senator, state Assembly leader, former education commissioner or just a regular guy trying to have a conversation: If you disagree with him, Christie will try to humiliate you publicly.” [Via]

Start saving your pennies (okay, dollars) now: “The Philip Glass opera ‘Einstein on the Beach’ will be revived in 2012, its producers said on Tuesday. The 1976 work will go on tour starting in Montpellier, France, in March of that year and travel to London, Toronto; Brooklyn and Berkeley, Calif., before closing in Amsterdam in January 2013. Mr. Glass and his collaborator, the director Robert Wilson, will be involved in the restaging, said the producers, Pomegranate Arts. “

Here is a new song from Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli, produced by his long-time partner DJ Hi-Tek. (The two often record as a duo called Reflection Eternal.) It’s really good. And so is the video, which was directed by Nim the Dream and looks a bit like one of those old “Cube” print ads painter Mike Thompson did for Marc Ecko. And it makes a nice addition to the list of rap songs that can serve as music history lessons.

Three things you could do with $13,000 instead of spending two quarters in a grad school. (To this list I would add that you could have bought 438 shares of BP at $29.67 in June and be cashing it in today at 43.16, for almost $19,000.)

Yes, yes, Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times decided to review Andrew O’Hagan’s The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe from the perspective of the talking dog from “Family Guy.” Reviewers do this occasionally. (Kakutani has previously written as Bridget Jones, and I recall Frank Bruni putting on a couple of disguises during his tenure at the Dining desk.) Rather than mock this device I think we should probably look at it as a comforting reminder of a welcome fact: Even critics occasionally tire of the sound of their own voice.

Manatees are seeking shelter by the warm waters of power stations! Palm Beach County, “the nation’s No. 1 winter vegetable producer” (and who knew that), is in a panic! An ice-cold panic grips America’s wang!

The adorable British tradition of caring about what is the number one song at Christmas time got a little more interesting yesterday when a group of musicians gathered to record a cover of John Cage’s silent composition “4’33.” “Madness star Suggs and dance acts Orbital and Pendulum were among those who did nothing in a recording studio,” reports the BBC, which also notes that “Billy Bragg participated on speaker phone from his tour bus while singer-songwriter Imogen Heap recorded her part earlier in the day.” Pete Doherty was a no-show, but that is also a contribution of a sort.

“Many Americans have come to the conclusion that nobody represents them in Washington anymore. They are right.”