In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web. Plus, you may think navel-gazing is a relatively new idea — but it goes back at least to the 14th century, when meditating monks really did look like they were studying their bellies! Also, why don’t actors in movies say goodbye at the end of a phone conversation? For that matter, why don’t some people answer their smartphones with “Hello”? Plus, a poetic puzzle, duke’s mixture, small as the little end of nothing, Chesapeake Bay crabbing lingo, omphaloskepsis, nightingale, light a shuck, bumpity-scrapples, the big mahoff, and if a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his butt.

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