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, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. 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.
"The bottle is brought out for the first time: The husband induces his wife 'Just to take a drop.'" From Temperance Tales by T. S. Arthur and illustrated by George Cruikshank, 1848.
What looks like a precursor to rollerblades is actually a shoe-shaped carriage with a lantern headlight. From La Carrozza Nella Storia Della Locomozione by Luigi Belloni, 1901.