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.
"But somehow, instead of going decently to ashes, lo, and behold! he baked like a brick, and came out harder than ever. What was to be done? Pile-drivers could not break him up." From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1875
"'He who treats himself has a fool for a doctor.' A man takes his own pulse at the wrist and has a thermometer in his mouth. On the table before him are an open medical book, a fobwatch for taking the pulse, a pillbox and some medicine bottles. On the wall behind him is projected the shadow of a fool (wearing a dunce's cap) sitting on a stool. Bears monogram, possibly "CE" with C reversed, assumed to be initials of artist; could possibly be EC, MU or UM." From 1931.