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.
An illustration from an 1884 issue of Puck magazine. The caption reads: "His Christmas Prayer: 'Oh! — — — —!'" This will also be of interest:The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
"Why I believe in telepathy": an illustration from a 1912 issue of Hampton's magazine. The caption reads: "While I was praying, I saw, hovering above my head, some gold circles."
"If you must pray, then pray to your invisible self; it is the only god that answers your prayers, other gods give you stones instead of bread. Unhappy are they who pray to an idol and their prayers are heard: they lose their own selves, since they are no longer capable of believing that it was they themselves that answered their prayers." —Gustav Meyrink, The Green Face