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.
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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 15 posts tagged ‘lost at sea’

This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – May 14, 2026 (permalink)

"Drifting at sea for centuries."  From The Children's Newspaper, 1927.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#lost at sea #vintage headline #headline
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Yearbook Weirdness – July 15, 2025 (permalink)

From Park College's 1914 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #owl #lost at sea #vintage yearbook #book #stranded at sea
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Your Ship Will Come In – September 17, 2024 (permalink)

From Cabarrus County Hospital School of Nursing's 1952 yearbook.
* Our printed collection of vintage nautical postcards is entitled Your Ship Will Come In and is available from Amazon.com.
> read more from Your Ship Will Come In . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #vintage yearbook #yearbook #sailboat #nurse #illustration #1950s
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Your Ship Will Come In – June 14, 2023 (permalink)

From Cabarrus County Hospital School of Nursing's 1952 yearbook.
* Our printed collection of vintage nautical postcards is entitled Your Ship Will Come In and is available from Amazon.com.
> read more from Your Ship Will Come In . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #vintage yearbook #yearbook #boat #seeing stars #sailboat #illustration
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought – January 29, 2023 (permalink)

If you think this sounds like a mixed metaphor, losing your course in the darkest forest while adrift in a leaking boat far from shore, then you're not familiar with the cypress swamps of Louisiana.  From Lighted Pathway, 1958. 
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#lost at sea #metaphor #sinking ship #sinking feeling #adrift #feeling lost
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – August 5, 2022 (permalink)

From Kladderadatsch, 1922.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #stranded #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 24, 2021 (permalink)

From Der Bärenspiegel, 1946.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #boat #musician #stranded at sea #musical boat #bass #bass player
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – March 13, 2021 (permalink)

From Nebelspalter, 1924.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – May 29, 2019 (permalink)

From The Judge, 1913.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #prayer #lightning #stranded #adrift
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – November 8, 2018 (permalink)

From Jugend, 1911.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #reading #lost at sea #out to sea #stranded at sea #lifeboat #sea rescue #art
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – August 2, 2018 (permalink)

From Der Orchideengarten, 1920.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #illustration #stranded
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – March 30, 2018 (permalink)

From Kladderadatsch, 1943.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #mermaid #lost at sea #illustration #plane crash
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – November 2, 2017 (permalink) 

   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #lost at sea #arabian nights #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – May 10, 2015 (permalink)

From The Tragedy of the Seas; or Sorrow on the Ocean, Lake and River, from Shipwreck, Plague, Fire and Famine by Charles Ellms, 1841. 

   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #drowning #lost at sea #mother and child #rescue #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – October 26, 2011 (permalink)

An illustration from an 1860 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "I told you so."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt. 

   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #ship #lost at sea #goddess #told you so #sky spirit #illustration
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