Good morning. It is a long weekend in some places and a wet one in most, so this edition leans toward pieces you can settle into. A long piece on the history of the pencil, a short one on why bridges hum, and three more.

The pencil, at length. Henry Petroski wrote a whole book about the pencil and this essay is the argument for why that was a reasonable thing to do. Graphite, cedar, the Napoleonic wars and a factory in Nuremberg that still runs. Forty minutes, worth every one.

Why bridges hum. A short explanation of vortex shedding from an engineer who spent a career listening to cables. Includes the story of a footbridge that was closed for two years because it sang in a particular wind.

The last typewriter repairman in Mumbai. A profile that is really about what it means to keep a trade going after the trade has gone.

A reader in Tromsø sent us a photo of a pocket notebook that went through a full cycle at forty degrees, in a coat, with the coat. Every page is still legible.

Also this month: the autumn edition ships on the 15th. Three colours, the usual count.