Why has the birth rate cratered in the “developed world” including, quite recently, the United States? The standard answer includes a heavy dose of “children used to contribute to the family’s financial well-being, as farmworkers and future caretakers in old age, now they are just a costly burden.” Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, herself the mother of 8 and also a business professor, sought to find an answer by looking at the other side of the coin: women who make the intentional... Read more
What, you may ask, is a chicken shredder? And why do I have a photograph without a carefully sourced caption indicating the usage rights for the picture? This was a rare instance of purchasing a product advertised on Facebook, not necessarily this particular version of it but I was intrigued by the general concept of a “chicken shredder” which actually is pretty nifty: cook your chicken breast (I used the instant pot) then place it on top of the spikes,... Read more
Some time ago, I wrote a number of blog posts about the troubles that boys and men were having in the U.S., that boys were struggling in school and men were struggling in the working world. Sadly, I mostly wrote these before I got into the practice of putting useful tags on the articles, and one of those that I can find, was before I transitions to Patheos, and the images didn’t make it. Nonetheless, in January of 2014, I... Read more
No, I am not going to rant about Trump, and I’m not going to rant about Harris. To be honest, both campaigns and the candidates’ supporters appear increasingly disconnected from reality, with absurd claims that Donald Trump is going to put everyone who disagrees with him into concentration camps (the campaign twitter account @KamalaHQ is particularly egregious for distorting Trump’s statements, but many Dem pundits have used Trump’s statement that there will be a “bloodbath” among American car manufactures if... Read more
First, some pictures: At Badlands National Park, at sunrise: Buffalo at sunrise (own work) and at sunset: We had some more but these were my two favorites from our road trip with the two key destinations being Custer State Park and Badlands National Park, and yes, the buffalo is scratching his back on the sign. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that it took as long as it did, for the kids to be almost all out of the house, for... Read more
IQ tests are designed to measure raw intelligence, irrespective of educational level or age. Hypothetically, a score of 100 is meant to indicate an intelligence that’s precisely the average. You’d think that the United States, given our economic strength, would have an above-average IQ; turns out, that’s not the case, as studies indicate an average of 97 or 98, significantly lower than Japan’s 106.48 or 105 or South Korea’s 102 or 106. And, yes, these international comparisons are controversial, but... Read more
Two weeks ago, Chicago’s Cardinal Cupich gave the opening prayer at the Democratic National Convention. It was in one respect, quite fitting, since it was held in Chicago, but at the same time, it merits asking whether his decision was wholly appropriate, or, rather, whether the contents of the prayer was appropriate. And, no, I’m not upset that Cupich didn’t make any mention of Jesus. Instead, well — on the one hand, party conventions are a part of our democratic... Read more
“Housing shortage” is a term that conventionally pops up with reference to historical events such as a war or natural disaster destroying housing, or in the past, communist countries putting people on decade-long waitlists because housing was centrally planned, or in rare instances, a particular town or region suddenly becoming jobs-rich, such as parts of North Dakota recently due to the oil boom there. How can America have a housing shortage, in general, when none of these conditions apply? How... Read more
By now everyone has read about the controversial Olympic Opening Ceremony scene last week, so I’m not going to provide the full details here, but I nonetheless Have Thoughts About It. Yes, it was definitely a reference to the Last Supper, though it was a dynamic scene rather than a still image, so that it shifted from “Last Supper” to “Greek Gods” to “catwalk.” But participants in the scene perceived of what they were doing as exactly this, with the... Read more
So JD Vance’s criticism of childless women, or crazy cat ladies, went viral over the past week, with various pundits claiming this was disqualifying in the election for Vice President. His claim, quite simply, was that childless women were less able to think about the long-term future, than mothers whose perspective was influenced by their concern with their children. Will those childless women, and the child-ful women who support their literal or figurative sisters, rise up in support of Kamala... Read more
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