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.
"Presence of Mind": an illustration from a 1900 issue of Punch magazine. The caption reads, "Little girl (who has been disturbed by a mouse, in a stage-whisper to her sleeping sister). 'Wake up! Oh, wake up and mew, Amy, mew for your life!!'" For some extraordinary tips on mewing, see How to Be Your Own Cat.
This is as good an example as any of why vintage Popular Mechanics horrifies us. The story isn't about how this glass-blowing maniac seals kittens into prison globes. Rather, it glorifies his so-called "expertise." Utterly disgusting, as per usual. From 1932.
From the Technique yearbook of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1895. (For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.)This should also be of interest:How to Be Your Own Cat.