Afternoon Links — 10.25.10

Immigrants from the Middle East settled in Europe and succeeded in part because they could digest a miracle food , milk, reports Der Spiegel .

Intellectuals who put down the Tea Party movement so contemptuously risk betray their calling, notes Mark Bauerlein. “When people offer up extreme characterizations in such a blithe and complacent way, we may be sure that they feel the force of a generalized rectitude and superiority backing them.”

There are three rules for Catholic church architecture , writes Michael Rose: it must be durable, evoke the heavenly and eternal, and bring the gospel to life. (This is a temporary link, I think.)

A seaside town in Italy plans to ban the minskirt to “restore urban decorum and facilitate better civil co-existence.” Using powers given mayors by the government, other towns “have banned sandcastles, kissing in cars, feeding stray cats, wooden clogs and the use of lawn mowers at weekends.”

Women live longer than men because ” the female body seems to be better at carrying out the ‘routine maintenance’ that keeps cells alive and ageing at bay,” making men “literally more disposable than women,” reports The Independent , describing a study of aging by a researcher at the University of Newcastle.

Catholic blogger Carl Olson analyses one of the sillier articles you’ll see (not that it’s a popular subject) on Catholic blogging.