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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
The four chambers of the star are similar to the four quadrants of life, but they surround a degenerate helium core. (Inspired by Gary Barwin.)
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 Is it true, as Momus
suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the
addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"? Decide for
yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . . A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles DickensIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—suddenly, a shot rang out.
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| Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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 Which are funnier: monkeys or husbands?
Clue: This is according to a lawyer
Answer: Husbands (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Ralph Bushnell Potts, Come Now the Lawyers (1972), p. 174
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| Last Dustbunny in the Netherlands |
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Some Dust Bunnies Shrugged Their
Shoulders at Me Today
I wasn't even aware dust bunnies had shoulders.
Now I know.
But I should think they could find better use for them than sarcastic
shrugging.
But then...have you ever met an unlackadaisical dust bunny?
— William Keckler
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Is it true, as Momus
suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the
addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"? Decide for
yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . . DADDY-LONG-LEGS by Jean Webster The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day—a day to be awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste. Suddenly, a shot rang out.
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Headlessness ~ 
Portrait from A Memoir of Jacques Cartier.
"Uncertain whether a ghostly hand might not presently draw aside the curtain.” —Leith Adams --- Antipater of Cydonia writes: This suggests the Scanner Model of reality. That reality is a matter of faithful reproduction. Of what? I don't know. Most savvy people consider recreation a misnomer. Or a parlor trick. A museum. A diorama. A dilemmarama. That a copy of a copy of a copy gets less real. That's the Faith. That's the cherished human notion. Because of the lost substrate. But the other argument is that the copy of the copy of the copy is every bit as real as the original (arch-ecriture whatevah). It's memory which is fouling reality. Memory the copier. Memory the bad copyist. The logical conclusion would seem to be that reality has nothing whatsoever to do with memory. Uh oh.
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 “One must be careful when an offshore breeze is blowing or your ship will come off the quay very quickly.” —Ships Monthly
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| Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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True of False: Hash is funnier than croquette.
Clue: This is according to the book The Sense of Humor.
Answer: True. “Hash is immensely humorous, but a croquette is not. Yet, what is a croquette but hash that has come to a head?” (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Max Eastman, The Sense of Humor (1921), p. 150.
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FULL (PROGRESSIVE)"Semicolon, or semi-lunar in shape." —Thomas Wright Moir Cameron, The Parasites of Man in Temperate Climates (1960)
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 Turtles or Hurdles?In each sentence, guess whether the blank traverses a "turtle" or a "hurdle."1. "What a sight [those slow, lumbering snails] had been! Something like a slow ___." — Patricia Highsmith, Eleven, 1989, p. 772. 2. "Interestingly, the animals would occasionally leap over the ___." —Christopher Peterson, et al., Learned Helplessness, 1995, p. 193. 3. "He jumped over the ___. Then he turned and ran across the roof as fast as he could." —Paul Andrew Witty, Reading for Interest, 1955, p .114 Answer: 1. hurdle, 2. hurdle, 3. turtle (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Headlessness ~ 
Portrait from A Memoir of John Deakin Heaton.
“He, without eyes, surveying material and spiritual worlds.” —The Common School Journal
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Is it true, as Momus
suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the
addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"? Decide for
yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . . METAMORPHOSIS by Franz KafkaOne morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. Suddenly, a shot rang out.
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Page 4170 of 4337
Original Content Copyright © 2026 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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