* Robert J. Lang on the use of origami to improve optical systems.
* Mike Aquilina on philosophical ancestors of the Music of the Ainur
* There was a recent kerfuffle about celebrating Mass ad orientem rather than versus populum; Corpus Christi Watershed notes the current state of liturgical law on the subject.
* Geoffrey Pullum lets loose all guns against Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.
* Matthew Normand argues that psychologists would be better served by more careful causal studies of single cases than they are when trying to pull their conclusions out of statistics of populations.
* Gregory Stackpole on the contribution of monastic governance to some of our common expectations for good political systems: Part I (only the first part is currently up).
* Ian Ground on the philosophical analysis of ugliness.
* How Voltaire became rich by gaming the lottery.
* Ancient and Medieval Anesthesia at "Aliens in This World"
* Therese Ann Druart, Al-Farabi, at the SEP
Nadja Germann, Al Farabi's Philosophy of Society and Religion, at the SEP
Karen Gorodeisky, 19th Century Romantic Aesthetics, at the SEP
* The reasons for the success of the AR-15, at "DarwinCatholic"
* Eve Keneinan on Plato's tripartite account of the soul and on Intellect vs Imagination.
* Clothing in the Viking Age
* Sukaini Hirji on Aristotle on virtue and eudaimonia at Meena Krishnamurthy's blog, "Philosopher".
* The Vatican Library is digitizing its entire manuscript collection.
* How easy is it to move in late medieval and early modern armor? Contrary to the popular view, it is remarkably easy to do so.
* Ages ago, one of the things I argued here is that while a sense of disgust is not in any way sufficient for moral life, it is in fact (contrary to the views of a number of current moral philosophers) a necessary moral sentiment, and cultivating it in proper directions is an important part of moral life. I was reminded of this because of Anthony Esolen's recent article on the uses of disgust.
* Die Fuggerei was founded in Augsburg, Bavaria in 1516 by the Fugger banking family to be a community for the needy, and is still doing today what it was founded to do. To rent the apartments there was originally one Reinischer Gulden a year, so to keep the rent about the same as it has always been, the current rent is 0.88 euros a year. Obviously there are preconditions; one must be Catholic (and willing to say basic Catholic prayers each day as part of the religious life of the community), have lived in Augsburg for at least two years, and not, despite one's unfortunate circumstances, actually be in debt.
