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.
"Again the moon seemed to have eyes and mouth, as it is depicted in the almanac, and to be entering into conversation with the poor mortal." From Timar's Two Worlds by Maurus Jokai and translated by Hegan Kennard, 1899.
"You thought cats ruled the internet but now they also run the DIY realm. Detailed within these pages is how to channel the energy inherent to the feline nature: the power in sitting, what it means to teach the floor to talk, awareness of direction, how to play with yarn (cat's cradle, get it?) and so on, all with lovely old-timey Dover-clip-art-influenced Victorian illustration. Actual sample quote: 'Indeed, Euclid proved over two millennia ago, the shape of a cat's head mathematically points to the center of a circle.' You didn't know you wanted this until you stumbled on it on your way to the catnip." —L.M., Quimby's Bookstore, on How to Be Your Own Cat.
Reblog if you, too, have ever been accosted by talking rabbits on one side and an assortment of anthropomorphized melting cheeses on the other. From Le Journal Amusant, 1921.