Culture

New Houses Are Getting Smaller — But They’re Still Much Larger Than What Your Grandparents Had 0
- Culture
- March 8, 2019
The average square footage in new single-family houses has been declining since 2015. House sizes tend to fall just during reccesionary periods. It happened from 2008 to 2009, from 2001 to 2002, and from 1990 to 1991. But even with strong job growth numbers in recent years, it looks like demand for houses of historically
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Is Contentment Possible in the Midst of Calamity?0
- Culture
- March 8, 2019
Chesterton, the multi-biographer, intended to write many more biographies than he did. One of his intended subjects was the 15th century Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498). The grandson of a wealthy Florentine physician, Savonarola abandoned his own plans for a medical career to become a “knight of Christ” at 22. Thus began what would become a
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The New Moralism of Female Leaders 0
- Culture
- March 8, 2019
March 8th is International Women’s Day – a day to recognize women and celebrate their presence and contribution in society. This year it would seem that women have more than ever to celebrate, particularly considering the female surge into the United States Congress. Many of these newly inducted congresswomen were highly visible at the annual
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Is a Happy Marriage Just a Matter of Genes?0
- Culture
- March 7, 2019
What’s the secret of a happy and enduring marriage? According to a team from the Yale School of Public Health, it could be the genes of husband and wife. In a paper published last week in the journal PLOS One, it reported that when at least one partner had a genetic variation within the oxytocin
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The Secret to Having Model Manners 0
- Culture
- March 7, 2019
One day early last summer, we pulled our Alcuin Interns out of their normal work routine at Intellectual Takeout and informed them that they would be having a professional development day. This professional development involved going to a fancy club in downtown Minneapolis and taking a course in business etiquette. Knowing the instructor and having
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Looking for Springtime in an Age of Outrage 0
- Culture
- March 7, 2019
I am not a fan of talk-show radios. Too many commercials, too little charity. Nor am I a follower of Glenn Beck. I’ve read one of his novels, The Christmas Sweater, and Miracles and Massacres: True and Untold Stories of the Making of America, but otherwise have taken little interest in Beck’s work. So I’m
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