Blog 3 Columns

The Grim Reader: Five Plague-Related Stories for Quarantine 0
- Culture
- March 23, 2020
In times of social distancing, fear, and sickness, it’s always interesting to look back at the past and see how others have dealt with similar situations. Here are five relevant reads for times such as these: The Plague, by Albert Camus. It is said that when the French become philosophical, they write novels. The great French
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Is the US Too Dependent on China for Medical Supplies?0
- Economics
- March 23, 2020
The COVID-19 coronavirus – which originated in Wuhan, China, and turned into a pandemic across the globe – should spur America to examine its options as it relates to China’s outsized role in this country’s medical supply chain, some experts say. Amy Anderson, an assistant professor of nursing at Texas Christian University and the University
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Witnesses in the Cloud: Church in the Time of COVID 0
- Culture
- March 20, 2020
The novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, represents a threat on many fronts: physical, mental, societal, financial, political, and so on. An oft-neglected aspect of the pandemic, however, is the strain it has placed on American religious life. In addition to the threats to our bodies and wallets, these are also “the times that try
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Viktor Frankl: Saying Yes to Life in Difficult Times 0
- Culture
- March 20, 2020
Man’s Search for Meaning is one of the most powerful arguments for human dignity of the 20th Century. The author is Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and a Jew, who spent about three years in concentration camps, including Auschwitz. His father, mother, brother and his pregnant wife all perished in the camps. Frankl was astonishingly
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Did Communism Make the East More Culturally Stable Than the West?0
- Culture
- March 20, 2020
Communism is an oppressive totalitarian ideology that strips people of every aspect of liberty, attacks religious institutions, and has resulted in the death of over 100 million people through its sordid and bloody history. With all the horrors that Communism has rained upon the globe, it’s hard to imagine it could bring any benefit to
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Advanced Degrees Bring Higher Starting Salaries – but Also Higher Debt 0
- Economics
- March 20, 2020
People with a master’s degree or doctorate can bank on a much higher starting salary than those with the same major but only a bachelor’s degree. That’s according to a recent survey of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. We reached the same conclusion about the payoff for advanced degrees in a
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Will We Know If Our Precautions Kept Coronavirus at Bay? Here’s One Simple Test 0
- Culture
- March 19, 2020
Last week I published an article about the novel coronavirus, my ignorance, and my wonder at the fear and panic that have ensued. “There,” I thought, mentally dusting off my hands. “That’s it. No more coronavirus articles for me.” Then came Friday and my daily trip into my hometown of Front Royal, Virginia. First up on the
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Why Germany’s Coronavirus Death Rate Is So Low 0
- Culture
- March 19, 2020
As major news outlets like the New York Times have updated the number of cases of COVID-19 and confirmed deaths from it, a new trend has emerged: the death rate, measured as the number of deaths divided by the number of cases, is falling. Six days ago, on March 12th, there were 36 deaths caused by the virus in the
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How to Make Presidential Debates Serve Voters, Not Candidates 0
- Politics
- March 19, 2020
Presidential debates are not debates at all. They provide candidates with opportunities to deliver their own pre-scripted messages, largely unchallenged. Ideally, presidential debate scholars agree, these events should help voters identify which candidate they agree with most on key issues, and, as other academic debate coaches put it, see how a candidate would “make decisions,
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The Grim Reader: Five Plague-Related Stories for Quarantine 0