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.
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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 104 posts tagged ‘stranded at sea’

Restoring the Lost Sense – July 3, 2027 (permalink)

From The Beacon Introductory Second Reader, Animal Folk Tales by James Fassett and illustrated by Charles Copeland, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #chicken #duck #illustration #stranded #1910s
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Yearbook Weirdness – May 3, 2027 (permalink)

From Armour Institute of Technology's 1925 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage yearbook #yearbook #1920s #shark #illustration #stranded at sea
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Your Ship Will Come In – April 14, 2027 (permalink)

From St. Nicholas, 1915.
* Our printed collection of vintage nautical postcards is entitled Your Ship Will Come In and is available from Amazon.com.
> read more from Your Ship Will Come In . . .
#vintage illustration #ship #illustration #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – February 15, 2027 (permalink)

From Appletons' School Readers Book 3, by Harris, Rickoff & Bailey, 1886.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #stranded at sea #1880s
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – February 4, 2027 (permalink)

From The Children's Newspaper, 1922.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #political cartoon #shipwreck #war #cannon #illustration #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – December 31, 2026 (permalink)

From Chatterbox, 1903.  
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #dog #illustration #stranded at sea
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 1, 2026 (permalink)

From Ici On Parle Français, Level Three, Teacher's Textbook by Kerr & Nemni, 1968.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #rescue #illustration #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – November 5, 2026 (permalink)

"Kicked into luck."  From Wide Awake Weekly, 1906.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #canoe #vintage magazine #illustration #stranded at sea #magazine
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 30, 2026 (permalink)

"Teaching schools of porpoises to tell the time of day."  From St. Nicholas, 1891.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #bear #illustration #porpoise #stranded at sea
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 23, 2026 (permalink)

"No room for jealousy."  From Chatterbox, 1906.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #rat #illustration #stranded at sea
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Oldest Tricks in the Book – June 21, 2026 (permalink)

"The trick played by the tide."  From St. Nicholas magazine, 1888.
> read more from Oldest Tricks in the Book . . .
#vintage illustration #boat #stranded #low tide
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – May 29, 2026 (permalink)

From Chatterbox, 1883.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #shipwreck #stranded at sea
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Images Moving Through Time – May 22, 2026 (permalink)

INSTRUCTIONS: Click to shift to an alternate depiction from within the book.
From The Wreck of the Red Bird by George Cary Eggleston, 1882.

From The Wreck of the Red Bird by George Cary Eggleston, 1882
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#shipwreck #vintage book #book #animated gif #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – April 18, 2026 (permalink) 

   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #1900s #illustration #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – January 31, 2026 (permalink)

From the Duluth Evening Herald, 1892.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #animal attack #raft #seagull #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – January 26, 2026 (permalink)

From the United States Naval Academy's 1917 yearbook.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #ship #vintage yearbook #yearbook #illustration #stranded at sea #1910s
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 10, 2026 (permalink)

From Peterson's Magazine, 1882.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dog #winter #stranded
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The Right Word – December 8, 2025 (permalink)

Reblog if you take "Seen, eaten, gone" vacations.  From Sharing Experiences by McKee & McCowen and illustrated by Corinne Malvern & Sylvia Haggander, 1947.
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #stranded at sea
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Yearbook Weirdness – November 22, 2025 (permalink)

The endpapers fom Great Lakes Bible Institute's 1947 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #lightning #jesus #boat #storm #endpapers #stranded at sea
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Yearbook Weirdness – July 15, 2025 (permalink)

From Park College's 1914 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #owl #lost at sea #vintage yearbook #book #stranded at sea
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