Did you read about Passover, same-sex marriage, and mermaids?

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Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.

Hey, did you read:

• That the Egyptian captivity—the reason for Passover—probably didn’t happen? —Tony Adler

• The NYT graphic on potential outcomes of the two same-sex marriage cases being heard in the Supreme Court today and tomorrow? —Julia Thiel

• That Karl Marx might’ve been right about capitalism? —Gwynedd Stuart

• Marc Fisher’s New Yorker story on Robert Berman, a former teacher at New York City’s prestigious Horace Mann School who is accused of molesting and brainwashing numerous students in the 1970s? —Tal Rosenberg

• That in another sign that reality has become satire, the $60,000 IRS Star Trek parody cum training video was released only after a FOIA request on the part of CBS? (And that the IRS’s video “When Will I Get My Refund?” still has more views?) —Kate Schmidt

• What a mermaid would actually look like? (And that eating one makes you trip like crazy?) —Tal Rosenberg

• The database that researchers can use to determine whether Nike or Adidas is mentioned more often in hip-hop? —Mick Dumke