CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America”s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, and a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Colors, like people, tend to mix and mingle according to their inclinations. Sometimes two complementary HEXes will combine to create a new color. Sometimes two similar HEXes will merge to illuminate a more brilliant hue. Is it preposterous to label such unions as "straight" and "gay"? The ColourLovers library is full of colors with orientations identified in their titles. At a glance, can you tell a "straight" color from a "gay" one? Here's a three-part quiz, each more challenging than the last.
In this first quiz, one column features colors with exclusively gay names. The other column features colors with exclusively straight names. Which is which? For the answer, click on any color to reveal the name.
A
B
In this second quiz, things get trickier. One column contains gay colors, one contains straight colors, and one contains transsexual/hermaphroditic colors. Which is which? For the answers, click on the colors to reveal their names.
A
B
C
This third quiz is a real brain-stumper. Colors are totally mixed up: gay, straight, androgynous, and one Teletubby. Can you sort it all out?
The purpose of this admittedly preposterous exercise isn't to moralize. Clearly, even colors aren't free of labels. Perhaps labels are ridiculous. Perhaps they are useful. Perhaps labels tell more about the labeler than they do about the labeled. One thing's for certain: colors are sexy! What do you think?
[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]
Threegreenchameleonsraceoneanotheracrosstheterrace;onepausesatMadame’sfeet,flickingitsforkedtongue,andshecomments:‘Chameleons.Suchexceptionalcreatures.Thewaytheychangecolor.Red.Yellow.Lime.Pink.Lavender.Anddidyouknowtheyareveryfondofmusic?’Sheregardsmewithherfineblackeyes.‘Youdon’tbelieveme?’ —Truman Capote, Music for Chameleons, 1980.
* Though printed in black and white, great literature is bursting with vibrant colour. In this rebus-style puzzle, color words and parts of words have been replaced with colored boxes. Try to guess the exact hue of each. Roll your mouse over the colored boxes to reveal the missing words. Click the colored boxes to learn more about each hue. Special thanks to Paul Dean for his colorful research.
Do you deserve a nostalgic breather? Through the delicate workings of the music box, even the most dramatic compositions seem to play only for you. You’ll hear even a very familiar piece in a whole new way. Courtesy of home recording pioneer Ken Clinger, here’s today’s music box selection. It will sound surprisingly good even through built-in computer speakers, and it will cut through the ambient noise of the office without being distracting.
Featured in Today’s Music Box:
Prelude op.28 #10 (Chopin) performed by Ken Clinger
One's life path is marked by crossroads and signposts. If you are confronted with making a choice today, perhaps the signpost displayed here will help to characterize your situation and guide you to make a decision. If you need more guidance, refresh this page for another symbol. If both signs are the same, perhaps any choice will lead to the same outcome.
The signs are inspired by a system of symbols entitled "Spiritual Diagnosis," developed by Dr. Robert McNary of Montana. Dr. McNary actually creates nine-faceted mandala charts for people and interprets the symbols with uncanny accuracy. If you're interested, you can contact Dr. McNary at theportableschool @ gmail.com.
Whenever I venture into an endless saga about what the West stole from the East and the East from the West, I think this: If this realm of dreams we call the world is but a house we roam like sleepwalkers, then our literary traditions are like wall clocks, there to make us feel at home. So: 1. To say that one of these wall clocks is right and another wrong is utter nonsense. 2. To say that one is five hours ahead of the other is also nonsense; by using the same logic you could just as easily say that it's seven hours behind. 3. For much the same reason, if it is 9:35 according to one clock and it just so happens that another clock also says it's 9:35, anyone who claims that the second clock is imitating the first is spouting nonsense.
Piecing together the secret of the sunflower . . .
* The most profound secrets lie not wholly in knowledge, said the poet. They lurk invisible in that vitalizing spark, intangible, yet as evident as the lightning—the seeker's soul. Solitary digging for facts can reward one with great discoveries, but true secrets are not discovered—they are shared, passed on in confidence from one to another. The genuine seeker listens attentively.
No secret can be transcribed, save in code, lest it—by definition—cease to be. This Book of Whispers collects and encodes more than one hundred of humankind's most cherished secrets. To be privy to the topics alone is a supreme achievement, as each contains and nurtures the seed of its hidden truth. As possessor and thereby guardian of this knowledge, may you summon the courage to honor its secrets and to bequeath it to one worthy.
This collage was inspired by the following quotation:
"Wednesday there was a four-hour wrangle in a conference room crowded with planets and nebulae of cigarette smoke." —F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Thanks to dj misc for sharing the quotation!)
by 
by 
