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 288 posts tagged ‘sea’

Staring at the Sun – August 3, 2027 (permalink)

"And there was light."  From David Lipscomb College's 1935 yearbook.
> read more from Staring at the Sun . . .
#religion #vintage illustration #sun #christianity #vintage yearbook #yearbook #ocean #biblical #1930s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – August 1, 2027 (permalink)

From The Comic Birthday Book, undated.
[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 #seaside #1900s #illustration #seashore #beach #august
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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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Uncharted Territories – April 30, 2027 (permalink)

Map of the Pacific Ocean.  From The Simple Jography by Oliver Herford, 1908.  An entire atlas of seemingly blanks maps: The Carte Blanche Atlas.
> read more from Uncharted Territories . . .
#vintage illustration #map #blank map #illustration #pacific ocean
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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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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 18, 2027 (permalink)

From The Children's Newspaper, 1940.
[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 #seaside #octopus #illustration
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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.
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`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 – January 14, 2027 (permalink)

Fake news: "The sea has no terrors."  From The Children's Newspaper, 1940.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 . . .
#sea #vintage headline #headline
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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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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 – May 14, 2026 (permalink)

"Drifting at sea for centuries."  From The Children's Newspaper, 1927.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 . . .
#lost at sea #vintage headline #headline
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – May 6, 2026 (permalink)

From The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border by Walter Scott and illustrated by John MacFarlane, 1908.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 #scotland #ocean #lost love #1900s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 23, 2026 (permalink)

From Myself and I by Helen Van Valkenburgh and illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright, 1918.
[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 #swing #ocean #sea #swinging #wave
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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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