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You'll recall that in January of 2011 we presented an Internet first: an actual lime bathed in limelight. We're now prepared to reveal the word that made it all possible: pentadecylparatolylketone. It's the chemical makeup of limelight, and it's "the better part of valour," no less! This we learn in Punch, May 9, 1896. |
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We discovered a precursor to the Oompa-Loompas of Chocolate Factory fame, dating all the way back to 1896 in Punch. |
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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We were honored to share with Kindred Spirit Magazine insights into our favorite mystical village, Portmeirion. In particular, we expand on how Portmeirion's sunken gardens, sunken forests, and sunken boats constitute a shamanic otherworld, but one so-well marked and so well-lit that seekers can wander safely entranced. Author Simon Wells, of The Rolling Stones: 365 Days and The Beatles: 365 Days fame, said of our travel guide, " Puzzling Portmeirion has detected a labyrinth of wonder and discovery that exists within the village’s many layers." |
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An illustration from a 1903 issue of Pall Mall magazine. The caption reads: "Imagine studying your Plato . . ."
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 We love this unspoken rainbow in Bananarama's song "Waterfall": It's like a waterfall coming down
Your love it just shines through me like the sun
Similarly: "You’ve painted time with an unspoken rainbow of gold." —T. Rue In an amazing coincidence (or was it a coincidence?) our tech wizard friend Gordon (of Smart Home Hacks fame) sent us, without explanation, magic beads that turn color in sunlight -- an unspoken rainbow if we ever heard/saw one! (See photo below.) Meanwhile, did you know that "colored stripes of some description" is a Googlewhack? For that matter, so is "mysterious colors in the air."
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Whimsical electrical poles then and now: the first image is from Punch, 1849, and the second is by Choi+Shine Architects (see photos of their stunning "The Land of Giants" electrical pylons on the Iceland landscape). Truly, "electricity dances in the air here" (Timothy Brown, Temple of the Troll God, 2001).
© 2011 Choi+Shine Architects. This image appears here for historical commentary.
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An illustration from an 1870 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "Do you see it? The amulet? There, there!"
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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Our work on Platonic solids tumbling through time is entitled Astragalomancy. It's all about how to divine the meanings of 21 discrete dice throws. Knowledge of ancient Greek divination rituals is unnecessary. The simple interpretations are clear-cut, based upon specific, indisputable references to history, mathematics, literature, mythology, and arcane sciences from around the world. Read more about about this work over at Amazon.com. This illustration of Lady Luck appears in Punch, 1877.
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Pecksniffery is the quality of being a pecksniffian (who who affects high moral principles). The word comes to us via the gift of Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit, which features a character named Seth Pecksniff. Yet while Merriam-Webster traces the first known use of pecksniffery to 1849, we can prove better. We encountered the word (whimsically illustrated, no less!) in Punch, Vol. X, 1846, p. 149. (We do what we can!)
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An illustration from a 1914 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "I had left Europe for no reason except to discover the sun, and there were rumors that he was to be found in Egypt."
Dedicated to Christopher Knowles.
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An illustration from an 1870 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "The doppelganger."
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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We were honored to consult on the Story Forge card deck for novelists, screenwriters, playwrights, and game masters. The deck is a marvelous accomplishment -- intriguing, inspiring, and as useful as it is fun. Every card is a steppingstone that illuminates and guides the writer toward the heart of his or her work. Indeed, the deck could be likened to a treasure map torn into bits. Each card offers clues, even as it invites us to detour to our heart's desire. The deck is the perfect diversion for anyone with writer's block, since it offers an alternate route to bypass the blockage. Pictured below, we drew "The Hidden" card: "Forces are reaching out from beyond the normal realm, attempting to intervene in mortal affairs for good or ill." But check out the reversed meaning — we like it even better: "The Threshold: Someone is being drawn into other realms, beginning a voyage that largely takes place outside the normal world." One neat thing about this card deck is that you're invited to cheat! If you don't like a card, you get to draw another one.
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"Iceland is indubitably one of the most interesting spots on the face of the globe."*
—The St. James's Magazine and United Empire Review (1862)
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An illustration from a 1913 issue of Scribner's magazine.
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Page 4076 of 4336
Original Content Copyright © 2026 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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