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 that lines of longitutde and lattitude are imaginary, but this space photograph suggests otherwise. From the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.
Imagine seeing headlines like these, today. Vestiges of another age. "City eyesore transformed into Greek theater" (Popular Mechanics, 1917). "Sunken-garden beauty spot made from ugly gully" (Popular Mechanics, 1920).
It's been said that "a conjecture is 'rich in content' if it 'sticks its neck out'" (Biometrics, 1982). Here's something rich in content that's sticking its neck out. From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1887.