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.
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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.
Today — July 3, 2009

Did You Hear the One I Just Made Up? (permalink)
From the gem-encrusted quip drawer of Jonathan Caws-Elwitt:

Q. Why isn't that diminutive pastry chef still employed at the corner bakery?

A. Because of the high turnover.
> read more from Did You Hear the One I Just Made Up? . . .
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier (permalink)
Which is funnier in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life: the voluble Frenchman or the flying cow?

Clue:  This is according to a study of Arthurian legends depicted in the cinema

Answer:  the voluble Frenchman.  (The answer is in black text on the black background.  Highlight it to view.)

Citation:  Kevin J. Jarty, Cinema Arthuriana (2002), p. 140.
(Thanks to Jonathan Caws-Elwitt for inspiration!)
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A Fine Line Between... (permalink)
A printed collection of A Fine Line Between... is now available from Amazon.com.
> read more from A Fine Line Between... . . .
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Is Today The Day? (permalink)
3
July 2009

“Today is the day for [y]our victory song!”

—Buell Halvor Quain, The Flight of the Chiefs, 1942
From the outrageous to the inspirational to the hilarious, here’s a daily reminder to break out of the old grind and do something unexpected, for the fun, the challenge, or the heck of it.

If today simply isn’t your day, click here to have a different day.

Music Box Moment (permalink)
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:
Piano Sonata #5 - movement #1 (Beethoven)
performed by Ken Clinger

Today’s Color Palette: Prof. Unevenfellow (more info)
Prof. Unevenfellow is the name of the color palette featured today, created by Deliquescence. The palette consists of the following colors:

• hex #ED6981 — Rose Coloured Glass
• hex #B80120 — Seeing Red
• hex #421C1C — Brownian Motion
• hex #1A090C — Man in Black
• hex #4F6100 — Green Day

The palette name is a play on my avatar Professor Oddfellow.
> learn more about this palette at ColourLovers . . .


There’s a Signpost Up Ahead (permalink)
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.  Dr. McNary's web site is RockyMountainAstrologer.com.
> view a larger version of your signpost . . .
Yesterday — July 2, 2009

Puzzles and Games (permalink)
Do you see the story embedded in this playground Tic Tac Toe game?  Hint: decode it with our X-O Skeleton Story Generator.


> read more from Puzzles and Games . . .
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Annotated Ellipses (permalink)

 
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses.  Far from it!  In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.”  Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
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Ampersands (permalink)


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Jonathan Caws-Elwitt quips:

That lowercase ampersand in the bottom right corner has the patting-itself-on-the-back thing down ... pat.
* A manual for typographers published in 1917 acknowledged that there are many beautiful forms of the ampersand, yet it forbade their use in "ordinary book work."  Extraordinary books are another matter.  Our lavishly illustrated Ampersand opus explores the history and pictography of the most common coordinating conjunction.
> read more from Ampersands . . .
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July 1, 2009

The 40 Most Meaningful Things (permalink)

 
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Original Content Copyright © 2009 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.