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 23 posts tagged ‘midnight oil’

Restoring the Lost Sense – September 8, 2025 (permalink)

From Northwestern University's 1901 yearbook.
[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 #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil #thinking
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Yearbook Weirdness – July 8, 2025 (permalink)

From Rush Medical College's 1894 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #skull #up all night #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil
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Yearbook Weirdness – May 19, 2024 (permalink)

From Asbury College's 1931 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage yearbook #midnight oil #candle #tiny man
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Yearbook Weirdness – March 8, 2024 (permalink)

From Miami University's 1925 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil
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Yearbook Weirdness – February 8, 2024 (permalink)

From Hampden-Sydney College's 1915 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #reading #yearbook #book #midnight oil #tiny man #oil lamp #1910s
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Yearbook Weirdness – February 26, 2023 (permalink)

From Birmingham-Southern's 1929 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #up all night #vintage yearbook #midnight oil
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Old News – September 3, 2022 (permalink)

From Purple Parrot, 1941.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage illustration #up all night #midnight oil #vintage headline #headline
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 27, 2022 (permalink)

From the 1965 yearbook of Fort Wayne Bible College.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #reading #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil #candle
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 1, 2022 (permalink)

From Le Charivari, 1844.
[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 #skull #up all night #midnight oil #candle
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Yearbook Weirdness – June 20, 2021 (permalink)

From Yeshiva's 1929 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil #ex libris #bookplate #scholar
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 18, 2021 (permalink)

From Ya-Hoo, 1954.  See The Young Wizard's Hexopedia.
[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 #wizard #occult #midnight oil #grimoire #candle #1950s
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Yearbook Weirdness – September 5, 2020 (permalink)

From Kansas State's 1900 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #reading #books #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil #candle #studying
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Yearbook Weirdness – April 24, 2020 (permalink)

Was it worth the candle?  From the University of Chicago's 1912 yearbook.  This is worth the candle: The Pencil Witch.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil #candle #studying
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 10, 2019 (permalink)

From Duke's 1930 yearbook.
[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 #reading #vintage yearbook #yearbook #midnight oil #candlelight #candle #student #studying
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 22, 2019 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 1900.
[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 #reading #insomnia #up all night #midnight oil #candle
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 31, 2018 (permalink)

"He often burns the midnight lamp."  From Over the Hookah by George Frank Lydston, 1896.
[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 #up all night #midnight oil #pipe smoker #vintage man #man #late night
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Restoring the Lost Sense – November 21, 2018 (permalink)

From Le Journal Amusant, 1908.
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[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 #up all night #midnight oil #candle
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 25, 2018 (permalink)

From Ulk, 1919. 
[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 #midnight oil #candle #hot seat #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 19, 2018 (permalink)

From The Comic Magazine, 1832.
[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 #reading #midnight oil #candle #illustration #hair on fire
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 10, 2017 (permalink)

From Le Rire, 1896.
[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 #midnight oil #writer #illustration
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