This article on the funeral of Pope John Paul II is a great example of why I love Wikipedia. It's a collaborative article authored by people who actually want to read what they've written themselves, and as a result, it skips the snooze-inducing prose of the New York Times in favor of a host of wonderful details:

Did the Cardinal Camerlengo tap the pope's head with a silver hammer? (No, but he used the hammer to destroy the pope's signet ring.)

Was the pope's body embalmed? (No. And they didn't remove his heart and send it to Poland, either.)

What's in the pope's casket? (A sealed eulogy, and three bags of gold, silver, and copper coins, one from each year of his reign—the only monetary compensation he ever received.)

Why isn't professional journalism as good as this?