October 18, 2016

Updates on the push to retake Mosul from the Islamic State. / The Guardian

Selling nothing but bonhomie, Canada decided we need some cheering up right now (what with this terrible election) and came together in a video to tell us why we’re loved. / Politico

Nicholas Kristof puts Clinton in Trump’s shoes and tests the waters for a double standard in politics. / The New York Times

As Rome’s exorcists age out of the job, the Vatican struggles to find their replacements. / BBC

So, does the curse exist? For millions of Cubs fans, it does: the team’s travails have included decades of mediocrity punctuated by heartbreak that damned the good years. Last year’s collapse even came at the mercy of a Mets second baseman also named Murphy. / livescience.com, USA Today

A small amount of people account for almost all of the noise complaints at US airports. / Twitter

“The first 10 months of 1918 were consumed by world war, and even after the war ended, the Spanish flu epidemic continued.” When historians pick the worst year in history, many pick 1918. / The Atlantic

Jesse Singal writes an accessible guide to the “methodological terrorism” debate that’s roiling psychological research—about research replication, haggling over results, and the differences between publishing in peer-reviewed journals and being bombed. / New York

The souvenirs market for the body parts of dead slaves is not only macabre, disgusting, and accepted—it also can be found in the form of sharing images of black death. / National Geographic

Winnie the Pooh gets a new friend, Penguin, for his 90th anniversary. Author Brian Sibley was inspired by this picture of A.A. Milne—Pooh’s creator—and his son. “The thought of Pooh encountering a penguin seemed no more outlandish than his meeting a kangaroo and a tiger.” / CNN

Fans invoke plenty of folk superstitions when cheering for the Cubs, but the team has gone further. / Chicago Tribune

“This is about the mass commercialization of marijuana by for-profit companies.” As of now, 25 states allow the sale and use of medical marijuana; four states plus D.C. have already legalized it for recreational use. / PBS

Based on a speech he delivered in 2014 calling for “fewer Moroccans” in the country, a trial starts on Halloween for politician Geert Wilders. / The Economist

“MGTOW (pronounced ‘MIG-tau,’ at least per everyone I spoke with) is a worldwide social phenomenon and online community of heterosexual men who have chosen a lifestyle that avoids legal and romantic entanglements with women at all costs.” Meet the self-described “Viet Cong of the gender war”—straight men who believe women have let them down and want nothing to do with them (except loveless sex). / Narratively