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.
Mercury's conversion into sulphur, at the moment of its fixation in the alchemical process, is here symbolized by the magi sheltering in a cave on the way to Bethlehem. A colored 17th century etching.
Before the "photobomb" phenomenon, in which a third party unexpectedly steps in and ruins a photo, there was the "etch-plosion," in which an engraving was spoiled by an attention-hungry figure in the background. Consider, for example, this etched illustration from an 1869 issue of Harper's magazine.