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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A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.
Go Out in a Blaze of Glory

Today — September 9, 2010 (permalink)

Our 14th great-grandmother, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, has many distinctions, not the least of which is her likelihood of having written the Shakespeare plays and sonnets.  (For compelling evidence, see Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare?)  In this photo, we embrace our literary heritage.  The purple shirt and magic wand are in honor of the Irish branch of the family, which traces back to mytho-historical High Kings and fairy folk.


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August 8, 2010 (permalink)

"The joker-god Maui has the same attitude as Ludwig II—you can't have too much loud color and bright contrast, and to hell with critics who want the 'understated.'" —Robert Anton Wilson, Cosmic Trigger II


Left, a detail of a canvas depicting Ludwig II as the king of castles, sporting an architectural beard.  Right, Maui of Oceanian mythology.
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August 7, 2010 (permalink)



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July 8, 2010 (permalink)



For Geof Huth.
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June 29, 2010 (permalink)



For Geof Huth.
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June 23, 2010 (permalink)



The frontispiece to H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon.
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June 3, 2010 (permalink)

Employing a concave mirror to turn a map into a globe, Prof. Oddfellow makes contact with his inverted homunculus.


Jonathan Caws-Elwitt quips:

The homunculus appears inverted to us because it lives south of the equator.
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May 21, 2010 (permalink)

In honor of Gordon Meyer's "Lost Windows" series, Prof. Oddfellow prepares to transit the back of beyond.


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April 7, 2010 (permalink)


Gary Barwin suggests that death's favorite punctuation mark is the exclamation point: "the jot, a single moment, its long black robe fluttering behind."

We suggest that death's second favorite is the question mark.
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March 9, 2010 (permalink)


Heinrich Füger, "Prometheus Brings Fire to Mankind," c. 1817
"[William Blake's] vision of the infinite in everything is common to East and West; what is distinctly Western, out of the Jews, is the voice of honest indignation against every institution which would deny or demean the infinity within each human soul.  The release of our full human potential—to let the light of Prometheus shine everywhere—is the distinctly Western mystic tradition and does not appear in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, or any Eastern religion."
Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising
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February 11, 2010 (permalink)

A long exposure shot of the twilit Blue Bayou at Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean captured some glyphs created by the erratic movement of animatronic fireflies. (See lower right of photo.)




We made vector clipart of the (un)natural squiggles (click to download EPS):


Firefly Path 4

Firefly Path 1

Firefly Path 2

Firefly Path 3
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January 31, 2010 (permalink)

William Keckler offers "Somewhat Belated Advice for Marie Antoinette."  We would add:

When plastering the walls with jewels, substitute cut glass for diamonds.  You'll get tons of sparkle as you help to ease the deterioration of the financial situation in France.
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January 1, 2010 (permalink)



Here's Prof. Oddfellow's bright wish for a luminous new year.
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December 14, 2009 (permalink)



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December 1, 2009 (permalink)

"No two melted snowflakes are different." —Gerald Creede

(Thanks, Gary!)


Photo by Jenny Downing.
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November 23, 2009 (permalink)

"Nice to know you went out in a blaze of glory, cookie."
—Christie Ridgway, How to Knit a Wild Bikini


Photo by Marcela Faé.
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November 15, 2009 (permalink)


We're honored that poet William Keckler crowns us the "best blogger and net presence. Period."  Take in the extent of his full praise here.  We couldn't be more humbled by this defining moment!  Like Lyndon Johnson, we ask the social network for a mandate—not just to keep things going, but to begin.

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Silesius of Rhodes writes:

I believe it was the Emperor Nero who said, "Eat it up, baby. Lick it up." Amour-propre is, as Martha will remind us, a good thing.  Kudos. I have compiled the largest library on conchology this side of Asia Minor, and has this Keckler creature deigned to acknowledge it? Hell nawl! Thalassic Ignoramus! Anyway, keep up the thaumaturgy and all that, Craig. You know how we philosophers like to be amused when we're not doing SERIOUS work. xo
Silesius
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September 27, 2009 (permalink)

Thanks to The Kenyon Review for linking to our Semicolon's Dream Journal in a lovely piece on semicolon addiction.


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September 11, 2009 (permalink)

Thanks to the Not Lower Case blog for mentioning our Semicolon's Dream Journal and calling it "quite amusing"!

And thanks to Blue Pencil Editing for calling us "perhaps the most creative blog ever"!

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June writes:

"Perhaps"?  What perhaps?
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August 24, 2009 (permalink)


Following your bliss is always a real adventure—a journey into the uncharted center of yourself.  Just click!
Thanks to Joe Monkman for spotlighting our interactive "Follow Your Bliss" compass.
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