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 14 posts tagged ‘pirate ship’

Restoring the Lost Sense – July 11, 2028 (permalink)

From My Do and Learn Book to Accompany Trails to Treasure, 1961.
[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 #pirate ship #map #1960s #illustration #treasure map #footprints #island #pirate map
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 18, 2025 (permalink)

From Youth's Companion, 1927.
[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 #gnome #pirate ship #1920s #illustration
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Yearbook Weirdness – September 7, 2023 (permalink)

From West Virginia Wesleyan College's 1929 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #pirate ship #vintage yearbook #yearbook #pirate #walking the plank
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 14, 2023 (permalink)

From West Virginia Wesleyan College's 1929 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #pirate ship #shipwreck #vintage yearbook #yearbook #pirate #stranded at sea
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – November 5, 2021 (permalink)

From Piedmont's 1933 yearbook.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 #pirate ship #skull and crossbones #vintage yearbook #yearbook #pirates #jolly roger
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Yearbook Weirdness – March 15, 2021 (permalink)

From Interlachen's 1928 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #pirate ship #vintage yearbook #yearbook #imagination #daydream #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea – October 18, 2020 (permalink)

From Piedmont's 1933 yearbook.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `-'  `
"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 #pirate ship #vintage yearbook #yearbook #pirate
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Yearbook Weirdness – July 25, 2020 (permalink)

From East Carolina's 1934 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #pirate ship #vintage yearbook #yearbook #pirate #spyglass #illustration #crow's nest
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Yearbook Weirdness – June 1, 2019 (permalink)

From East Carolina's 1934 yearbook.  See Your Ship Will Come In.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #tall ship #ship #pirate ship #vintage yearbook #yearbook
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought – April 6, 2016 (permalink)

On the very same day, Yiddish for Pirates and El Galeón arrived in town.  This feels like what Carl Jung called "meaningful coincidence."
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#tall ship #gary barwin #pirate ship #yiddish #el galeón #el galeón
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This May Surprise You – March 11, 2016 (permalink)

Once upon a time (or was it in a parallel universe?) real estate offices were highly themed and casinos were drab.  To those who seek proof that the earth's poles have shifted, we send these vintage postcards.  
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#pirate ship #vintage postcards #pole shift #casino #new jersey #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 1, 2016 (permalink)

"The Ghostly Carrack," from The Jolly Roger by Hume Nisbet, 1892.

[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 #tall ship #ghost ship #carrack #pirate ship #haunted ship #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – October 2, 2015 (permalink)

From The Blue Poetry Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by Lancelot Speed, 1891.

[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 #macabre #death #skeleton #grim reaper #tall ship #pirate ship #pirates #1890s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 29, 2014 (permalink)

An illustration from Gentlemen All and Merry Companions by Ralph Wilhelm Bergengren (1922).  The caption reads: "There was a long, white flash in the moonlight."

[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 #falling #diving #pirate ship #illustration
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Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.