"What an intriguing, fun, lovely book with Oddfellow's usual quirky, oblique poetic, metaphysic dry humour and bibliophillic joie de livre. " —Gary Barwin, author of Yiddish for Pirates

Here's a connect-the-dots game for those who just can't be bothered, from Vegetable Staticks, 1727.

Can you guess the caption of this illustration from St. Nicholas magazine, 1876?  The answer is in black text on a black background; highlight it to view: "What my little brother thinks."

Q: Which teacup contains the tempest?  (You might wonder if it's the upside down cup, but then you might wonder whether the upside down cup is too obvious.)

A: (Highlight to reveal.)  It's the upside down teacup.

Apparently he only rolls his own.  From Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair by Henry Morley, 1892.

What do we like about this crossword-like design from The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, translated by R. F. Burton, 1894?  Those squares for one-letter words!

How can you tell that these letters are for a newscaster?  Because they spell out ANCHORMAN BILLETS.  (The answer is in black text on a black background.  Highlight to view.)

Here are True and False personified.  But how can you tell them apart?

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

It's a trick question, becuase "True and false are in fact interchangeable depending upon the perspective and context of their affirmation, but such that for every false proposition there is always a possible world for which it is true.  And vice-versa." —Romano Madera and Luigi Vero Tarca, Philosophy As Life Path, 2008

Moon Fish Ocean is our whimsical Zen version of "Rock Paper Scissors."  You can play the game online at the official website.

Here's a fun tip for taking the game on the road:

Use Moon Fish Ocean to navigate the maze of pathways in a formal garden (especially a garden with a koi pond!). You and your companion should throw a hand gesture at each crossroad or forked path. If the person on the left wins, go left. If the person on the right wins, go right. If it's a tie, continue walking straight ahead (or throw another round in the case of only two choices of direction). The game is guaranteed to lead you to all sorts of beautiful areas of the gardens you didn't know about, simply because you would never have gone down certain (less eye-enticing) paths. So Moon Fish Ocean can serve as a form of navigation in which Lady Luck dictates the itinerary.

A visitor asks:

It is not clear to me what makes this conducive to meditation. Is it being so focused on the activity that all else is put aside?

Like "walking meditation," Moon Fish Ocean can be a form of meditation in action, in which the experience of game play is the focus of heightened awareness.

Futility Closet published an old riddle (dating back to the late 1700s) that has remained unsolved to this day.  We suggest that the answer might be hiding in plain sight.  Here's the riddle:

In the morn when I rise, / I open my eyes, / Tho’ I ne’er sleep a wink all night;
If I wake e’er so soon, / I still lie till noon, / And pay no regard to the light.

I have loss, I have gain, / I have pleasure, and pain; / And am punished with many a stripe;
To diminish my woe, / I burn friend and foe, / And my evenings I end with a pipe.

I travel abroad. / And ne’er miss my road, / Unless I am met by a stranger;
If you come in my way, / Which you very well may, / You will always be subject to danger.

I am chaste, I am young, / I am lusty, and strong, / And my habits oft change in a day;
To court I ne’er go, / Am no lady nor beau, / Yet as frail and fantastic as they.

I live a short time, / I die in my prime, / Lamented by all who possess me;
If I add any more, / To what’s said before / I’m afraid you will easily guess me.

Here's our answer, in black text on a black background.  Highlight to view:  A flame "rises" as it is lit, though it doesn't sleep because it is not technically alive.  The eye is a reference to the eye-shaped blue part of the flame, at the wick, that burns the coolest.  It gives pleasure and pain (romantic candlelight and burns to the skin of both friend and foe).  It's punished with many a stripe (uniformed firemen beating down the flames).  It ends its evenings with a pipe (lighting the tobacco, of course).  It never misses its road (the pathway it travels as it consumes fuel) unless met by a stranger (water is a stranger to fire).  It never goes to court because it isn't a person, though it is as refined and dazzling as royalty.  It is lamented by those who possess (hold) it, for it burns.  Its habits change often in a day, as candles, ovens, and hearths are lit for different occasions.  It lives a short time (not really such a thing as an eternal flame).  It has losses and gains — the yields of lost wax.

"Yes, an entire picture comes forth as you connect the dots." —Daveta Brown, Are You Ready for the Frontline?