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.
You've heard of real photograhers taking photos of ghosts, but here's a real model "posing in his best clothes for imaginary photographs." From Harper's magazine, 1917.
Here's a precursor to the "tinfoil hats" of those shielding against mind control by governmental or paranormal forces. In 1920s England, tinfoil hats were a fashion statement. From Popular Mechanics, 1927.
Here's a dress made of salad, from Punch, 1878. "See, there's endive, and lettuce, and spring onions, and radishes, and beetroot." Nothing wanting, except "perhaps a little more dressing, my dear!"