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.
We wondered whether a ball of twine ever wrote its autobiography. One actually did in 1912. The opening words are, "I am a ball of twine." Our photo is from Susquehanna's 1973 yearbook.
Today's giant-headed skeleton with crossed walking sticks riding a goat, an iPad flying out his bag, is from the 1893 yearbook of the University of Kansas. See How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
The word "gleebus" is very rare, with fewer than 90 Google results. As shown here, a gleebus is the creature that eats telephone receivers. From UNC Chapel Hill's 1963 yearbook.
Actual engines of psionic energy, powering the occult that lies within old yearbooks. How to find them and how to use them: How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook. From Rockingham's 1970 yearbook.