It’s only June, but I’ve already come across a clear front-runner for this year’s “worst sentence to make it into print.”  Cooper said Massachusetts law and regulation prohibit retailers from passing their bulk buy discount to consumers, and that Total Wine & More will “seek a change in both statute and regulation to be able to enable all retailers to be able to pass those discounts on.”  This comes to us via the State House News Service in Massachusetts and appeared in several local newspapers, but we can’t hold the publisher responsible.  This seems to be a direct quote from some kind of press release.  It’s nice to take the bull by the horns, and work to put yourself into a position where you’ll be able to enable someone to be able to do something.  But in this case, I think we could have hoped for much simpler phrasing, perhaps along the lines of:  will “seek a change in both statute and regulation enabling retailers to pass those discounts on.”  For that matter, I think “allowing” would be a better verb choice.  All that abling and enabling is just legalese and doublespeak, quite literally (or is it triplespeak in this case?).  Christopher Daly, the Better Editor  https://thebettereditor.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/were-they-really-enabled-to-be-able-to-say-that/

The Right to Read by Richard Stallman  This article appeared in the February 1997 issue of Communications of the ACM (Volume 40, Number 2).  From The Road To Tycho, a collection of articles about the antecedents of the Lunarian Revolution, published in Luna City in 2096.   For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college—when Lissa Lenz asked to borrow his computer.  Hers had broken down, and unless she could borrow another, she would fail her midterm project.  There was no one she dared ask, except Dan.  This put Dan in a dilemma.  He had to help her—but if he lent her his computer, she might read his books.  Aside from the fact that you could go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books, the very idea shocked him at first.  Like everyone, he had been taught since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and wrong—something that only pirates would do.  And there wasn't much chance that the SPA—the Software Protection Authority—would fail to catch him.  In his software class, Dan had learned that each book had a copyright monitor that reported when and where it was read, and by whom, to Central Licensing.  (This story is supposedly a historical article that will be written in the future.)  Read more from GNU Operating System, sponsored by Free Software Foundation, at https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html 

Author Emma Straub (Modern Lovers, The Vacationers) and her husband Michael, a graphic designer, only signed the lease for the former clothing store in February, 2017 and came up with the whole idea to start a bookshop just six months ago, when their neighborhood’s beloved Book Court closed after 35 years of being in business.  Books Are Magic is now open at 225 Smith Street in Brooklyn.  “People were heartbroken—I was heartbroken!” says Straub.  “We needed to offer people a rope to hold onto.”   With a series of midnight blue mugs, enamel pins, stickers, and pens proving that the project was reassuringly real, Emma and Michael then turned to ordering books—10,000 to be precise—which will line the same wooden shelves sourced from Book Court.  AlexRedgrave  See pictures at https://domino.com/emma-straub-books-are-magic

Narcissus was a hunter in Greek mythology, son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope.  He was a very beautiful young man, and many fell in love with him.  However, he only showed them disdain and contempt.  One day, while he was hunting in the woods, the Oread nymph Echo spotted him and immediately fell for him.  When Narcissus sensed that someone was following him, Echo eventually revealed herself and tried to hug him.  However, he pushed her off and told her not to disturb him.  Echo, in despair, roamed around the woods for the rest of her life, and wilted away until all it remained of her was an echo sound.  Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and revenge, learned what had happened and decided to punish Narcissus for his behaviour.  She led him to a pool; there, the man saw his reflection in the water and fell in love with it.  https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Narcissus/narcissus.html

How to pronounce narcissistic, narcissistic and narcissist  http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/pronunciation/american/narcissism

3 Most Popular Books From Each Decade 1950-2010 from Factual Future Blog May 14, 2017  

http://factualfuture.org/3-most-popular-books-from-each-decade-1950-2010/  (The Lord of the Rings, The Catcher in the Rye and Charlotte's Web begin the list, and although there are three books listed for the 2010s, it's too early to say if they are accurate.)

earwig  noun  any of numerous insects (order Dermaptera) having slender many-jointed antennae  earwigged, earwigging  transitive verb  to annoy or attempt to influence by private talk   Earwigs are small insects that were once thought to crawl into the ears of sleeping people.  This isn't true--earwigs prefer moist, dark places under leaves and rocks to human ears--but the superstition led people to name the insect ēarwicga, Old English for "ear insect."  Over time, people connected the idea of having an insect in one's ear to situations that involve whispering or speaking privately into someone's ear.  The noun earwig came to also mean "a whispering busybody" (though this sense is now considered archaic), and the verb earwig evolved to refer to the acts of such meddlers.  In British English, the word is more commonly used to mean "eavesdrop," as in "earwigged on their conversation at the party."  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earwig

earwigging the chancellor  Earwigging is a legal term that is unique to Mississippi; no other state incorporates the term into any code, rule, or statute.   As the term relates to Mississippi law, earwigging is intended to prevent an attorney from discussing facts of a case outside of a formal legal proceeding; basically, it is a prohibition against ex parte communications.  https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=79+Miss.+L.+J.+Supra+115&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=9f158de13c39559e6d405e220bf80055

See Attack of the Killer Earwigs in Judge Larry Primeaux's Blog about Practice in Mississippi's Chancery Courts (with pictures of a genuine earwig and a genuine ear wig) at  https://betterchancery.com/2010/09/01/attack-of-the-killer-earwigs/

A flatbread is a bread made with flour, water and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough.  Many flatbreads are unleavened[yeast]]—although some are slightly leavened.  Flatbreads can range from one millimeter to a few centimeters thick.  Find flatbreads (including nan, bannock, farl, pita, pizza and tortilla) listed by regions of the world at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatbread

flat bread recipes  http://allrecipes.com/recipes/345/bread/yeast-bread/flat-bread/?page=2

recipes for matzo (only ingredients are flour and water) at http://www.thekitchn.com/try-this-homemade-matzo-81256 and http://www.post-gazette.com/life/recipes/2017/04/05/passover-matzo-bread-recipe/stories/201704050005

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1719  June 6, 2017  On this date in 1946, the Basketball Association of America was founded in New York City; the BAA was the precursor to the modern National Basketball Association.  On this date in 2004, Tamil was established as a "classical language" by the President of India, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Indian Parliament.