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 19 posts tagged ‘penny’

Old News – September 25, 2027 (permalink)

"The little things that count are pennies."  From The Duluth Evening Herald, 1909.
> read more from Old News . . .
#money #penny #vintage headline #headline
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Yearbook Weirdness – October 21, 2026 (permalink)

From Armour Institute of Technology's 1905 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #money #october #vintage yearbook #yearbook #saw #penny #1900s #illustration #oct. 21 #october 21
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 5, 2026 (permalink)

[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 . . .
#money #abraham lincoln #vintage book #book #penny #coin
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought – May 23, 2025 (permalink)

"A penny will hide the biggest star in the universe if you hold it close to your eyes."  From Improvement Era, 1959.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#vintage illustration #money #eye #penny #1950s
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Old News – October 18, 2024 (permalink)

"Pennises too heavy for robbers."  From The Duluth Herald, 1904.
> read more from Old News . . .
#money #penny #vintage headline #headline
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Old News – August 9, 2024 (permalink)

"The penny that blots out the sun."  From The Aberree, 1959.
> read more from Old News . . .
#sun #penny #vintage headline #headline
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Yearbook Weirdness – November 16, 2023 (permalink)

"Put a penny in the slot and hear me talk."  From Lebanon Valley College's 1902 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 #automaton #penny #coin operated
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 24, 2023 (permalink)

From The Pixie in the House by Laura Rountree Smith and illustrated by Clara Powers Wilson, 1915.
[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 #elf #money #penny #pixie
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Old News – January 7, 2023 (permalink)

From Lighted Pathway, 1974.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage illustration #money #coins #penny #vintage headline #two cents #headline
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought – November 14, 2022 (permalink)

From Purple Parrot, 1928.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#vintage illustration #money #penny #nickel
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Restoring the Lost Sense – May 20, 2022 (permalink)

From Chatterbox, 1920.
[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 #money #penny
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Neither Saint- Nor Sophist-Led – September 17, 2019 (permalink)

Rare -- a haloed coin, the patron saint of "a penny saved."  From The Kingdom of Coins by Bradley Gilman, 1894.
Who is your favorite imaginary saint?  Do share!
> read more from Neither Saint- Nor Sophist-Led . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #halo #penny
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 14, 2017 (permalink)

From Jugend, 1912
[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 #money #coins #penny #illustration #pennies from heaven #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 11, 2017 (permalink)

"A penny for your thoughts," from 1907.
[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 . . .
#penny #vintage postcard #penny for your thoughts #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 22, 2016 (permalink)

Here is revealed why we find so many pennies lying in the street.  They're sloshed.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1880.
[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 #money #penny #one cent #illustration
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Precursors – February 19, 2016 (permalink)

Here's a precursor to a head with a coin slot in Kamen Rider OOO (2010), from The New Hyperion, 1875.

> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #skull #penny #penny bank #illustration
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Two Sides / Same Coin – September 5, 2015 (permalink)

The phrase "the moon is a penny" is a Googlewhack.  From Ladies' Home Journal, 1947.
> read more from Two Sides / Same Coin . . .
#money #moon #penny
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Always Remember – November 15, 2012 (permalink)

"Always remember that there is a time to retaliate using your red magnet and there is a time to relax and go with the flow." —Ivan Bell, The Great Supernatural Secret

(The red magnet is one of the many tools we use to "monetize" Abecedarian [with apologies to Teresa Burritt for the paraphrase].)

Photo by Mario's Planet.
> read more from Always Remember . . .
#penny #magnet
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought – May 5, 2008 (permalink)

Who's driving the world's smallest car (1/1000th the size of the actual car, the size of a grain of rice)?  Our guess: a "copper."

---

J writes:

I've heard of a "subcompact," but this is ridiculous!

See enlarged photo here.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#penny
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Original Content Copyright © 2026 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.