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.
Today they are derided, but here's a tin-foil hat as part of a fashion ensemble. From "The Daze of Ancient Rome" by Paul Sillivan, in Duquesne Monthly, 1922.
This is the same model of hat we wear while preparing our posts, to ensure that we remain your favorite blogger on the internet. From UNC Asheville's 1974 yearbook.
A tin-foil hat from 1919 was made from a stovepipe. It promised to shut off the outside world by turning one into a tin-shelled turtle. From Hardware World, 1919.
Here's a precursor to the "tinfoil hats" of those shielding against mind control by governmental or paranormal forces. In 1920s England, tinfoil hats were a fashion statement. From Popular Mechanics, 1927.