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.
You've seen lost pet and lost child notices, but here's a lost home from Popular Mechanics, 1927. For all we know, this home may still be lost. If your ancestors lost a home and you think this might be your inheritance, please do get in touch.
This "home with or without a dining room" is a precursor to repurposing unused rooms in your house. As Bob Vila said in "Why 7 Families Ditched the Dining Room," "Formal dining rooms are starting to go the way of the formal living room—out of service. While many homes have dining rooms, the square footage devoted to them often isn't justified by the little use most families get out of them." Our illustration is from Popular Mechanics, 1931.