religion Pope condemns the "wealthy few" who hoard the riches that "belongs to all" Cory Doctorow

deaths Former Pope Joseph Ratzinger dead at 95 Rob Beschizza

Those RenFaire kids Almost 90 minutes of Fantasy/RPG bards and tavern music from video games Jason Weisberger

Jesus Where is Jesus's foreskin? David Pescovitz

kickstarter Jim Starlin, creator of many awesome cosmic comics, has a new Kickstarter for his labor of love Thom Dunn

tabloids How Mafia Killed the Pope, Meghan & Harry quit the Royal Family, and the Obamas divorce, in this week's dubious tabloids Peter Sheridan

religion Project leveraging AI to scan and translate Vatican texts dating back to the 8th century Séamus Bellamy

politics Former White House spokesman Anthony Scaramucci threatens to sue kid who criticized him Rob Beschizza

History The arc of history is long, but how do we bend it? Cory Doctorow

donald trump Curses, superstition, and slaughtered billy goats: why the Cubs World Series win means your vote matters Maureen Herman

russia Learn the Russian alphabet in ten minutes Andrea James

uk Happy Chilcot Day (A Fairy Story) Charlie Fletcher

surveillance The medieval origins of mass surveillance Cory Doctorow

Funny Papal threat display Cory Doctorow

crack pipes Twitter tells James Woods to put down the crack pipe Rob Beschizza

John Dee was the 16th century's real-life Gandalf Jason Louv

History Misleading on Marriage: how gay marriage opponents twist history to suit their agenda Lisa L. Spangenberg