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.
We spotted in the front window of Quimby's NYC none other than our How to Be Your Own Cat, featuring a preface by the acclaimed poet and novelist Gary Barwin. Reader Adam says: "I love this book and am thrilled that it is exactly what I thought it would be. A well thought out slice of human behaviour disguised as a humorous picture of the feline mind. I for one was thrilled to find out I didn't really need the education because I am already my own cat. Although I haven't listened to the floor in a while. I really must take that back up... It really is a great little psychology book for people who still use their brain cells to think. And satire has always been, in my opinion, one of the greatest teaching tools. Entertain people and they don't even realise they are actually learning something."
Here's a precursor to Jerry Lee Lewis playing the piano with his feet. From Le Journal Amusant, 1904. Previously, we saw three other precursors: this one, this one, and this one.