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 21 posts tagged ‘orb’

Yearbook Weirdness – May 20, 2029 (permalink)

We came for the ballons; we stayed for the orbs.  From Stevens Institute of Technology's 1964 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #night photography #yearbook #1960s #balloon #orb #photo
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 20, 2028 (permalink)

From Indiana University's 1973 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#strange light #occult #magician #vintage photo #magic #vintage yearbook #yearbook #1970s #orb #vintage man #man #lightworker #photo
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Images Moving Through Time – December 12, 2028 (permalink)

Memories of college.  From Kent State's 1959 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage illustration #ufo #vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #light and darkness #illustration #orb #1950s #light and darkess #photo
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Images Moving Through Time – September 12, 2026 (permalink)

From Our Environment, How We Adapt Ourselves to It by Carpenter and Wood, 1937.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #night photography #orb #photo
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Strange Dreams – March 4, 2026 (permalink)

Maybe for tonight -- an orb of dream.  From Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna Handbook.
If you have a strange dream to share, send it along!
> read more from Strange Dreams . . .
#vintage illustration #magick #occult #dreams #orb
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Yearbook Weirdness – January 16, 2026 (permalink)

"Yes, we came back, but why?  Why do we keep coming back here, back to this microcosm rat race?"  From Saint Joseph's College's 1974 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#reincarnation #vintage yearbook #yearbook #orb
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Yearbook Weirdness – June 30, 2023 (permalink)

From the University of Minnesota's 1921 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #spirit #goddess #vintage yearbook #yearbook #orb #sphere of light
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Restoring the Lost Sense – November 24, 2021 (permalink)

From Unknown magazine, 1939.
[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 #strange light #orb
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 17, 2021 (permalink)

The nature of this UFO will be obvious to fans of the cult TV show The Prisoner: it's "Rover."
From Lumières Dans la Nuit, 1979.
[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 #ufo #strange light #orb
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 27, 2021 (permalink)

The nature of this UFO will be obvious to fans of the cult TV show The Prisoner: it's "Rover."
From Lumières Dans La Nuit, 1970.
[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 #ufo #strange light #orb
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 26, 2021 (permalink)

The nature of this UFO will be obvious to fans of the cult TV show The Prisoner: it's "Rover."
From Lumières Dans La Nuit, 1970.
[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 #ufo #strange light #orb
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 19, 2021 (permalink)

From Lumières Dans la Nuit, 1982.
[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 #ufo #light and darkness #orb #light and darkess
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Yearbook Weirdness – January 15, 2021 (permalink)

Though mysterious orbs made their debut in the 1990s with the rise of digital cameras, here's one from all the way back in 1933.  From Guilford's 1933 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 #orb
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – April 13, 2020 (permalink)

The nature of this UFO will be obvious to fans of the cult TV show The Prisoner: it's "Rover."
From Lumières Dans la Nuit, 1971.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 #ufo #orb
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 2, 2020 (permalink)

The nature of this UFO will be obvious to fans of the cult TV show The Prisoner: it's "Rover."
From Lumières Dans la Nuit, 1970.
[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 #ufo #strange light #orb
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Images Moving Through Time – July 10, 2019 (permalink)

A giant orb of light by a snowy tree.  To demystify it, as Scott Neustadter has said, would merely disappoint those of us who love not knowing.  From West Virginia Wesleyan's yearbook of 1965.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #snow #winter #vintage yearbook #yearbook #orb #glowing tree #glowing trees
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 26, 2018 (permalink)

A spirit orb hovers over a medium.  From 'Twixt Two Worlds by John Stephen Farmer, 1886.
[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 #spiritualism #seance #spirit medium #illustration #orb
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Yesterday's Weather – December 2, 2016 (permalink)

From c. 1890.
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #winter #snowball #illustration #orb
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Precursors – April 7, 2016 (permalink)

A strange orb in front of a flying machine?  It's a precursor to the cult TV series The Prisoner.  (Airplane photo courtesy of the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive.)
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #the prisoner #orb #rover
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 9, 2015 (permalink)

From Elements of Physical Geography by John Brocklesby, 1870.
[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 #cemetery #folklore #graveyard #churchyard #will-o'-the-wisp #illustration #orb #ghost light #ignis fatuus #will-o'-wisp
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