There's nothing like a New York Times trend story to brighten your day. Whether highlighting a seemingly non-existent fad or coming very late to a party, the Times is reliably entertaining in its endless quest to capture "The Way We Live Now." Thursday offered a Timesian classic, as the paper announced to its readers that it had uncovered a new thing called the "butt" that is all the rage these days. The piece had all the hallmarks of a good Times trend story. It was slightly out of date, coming after other publications had already declared 2014 the Year Of The Butt and been trashed for seemingly getting excited about this only now that some white people are into it. It quoted professors and other butthropologists to lend it that intellectual air that any Thursday Styles piece needs: Myra Mendible, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, has written extensively about the cultural significance of the female buttocks.