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, and a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly. 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.
My Latest Book
Magic Words: A Dictionary
Search Site
Interactive

•  Breathing Circle
•  Loves Me? Loves Me Not?
•  Wacky Birthday Form
•  Test Your ESP
•  Chess-Calvino Dictionary
•  Amalgamural
•  Is Today the Day?
•  100 Ways I Failed to Boil Water
•  "Follow Your Bliss" Compass
•  "Fortune's Navigator" Compass
•  Inkblot Oracle
•  Luck Transfer Certificate
•  Eternal Life Coupon
•  Honorary Italian Grandmother E-card

Collections

•  A Fine Line Between...
•  Ampersands
•  Annotated Ellipses
•  Book of Whispers
•  Colorful Allusions
•  Did You Hear the One I Just Made Up?
•  Do-Re-Midi
•  Forgotten Wisdom
•  Glued Snippets
•  Go Out in a Blaze of Glory
•  Hindpsych: Erstwhile Conjectures by the Sometime Augur of Yore
•  I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought
•  Images Moving Through Time
•  Inflationary Lyrics
•  Last Dustbunny in the Netherlands
•  Neither Saint- Nor Sophist-Led
•  Not Rocket Science
•  Oldest Tricks in the Book
•  On One Condition
•  One Mitten Manager
•  P I n K S L i P
•  Peace Symbols to Color
•  Pfft!
•  Phosphenes
•  Presumptive Conundrums
•  Puzzles and Games
  
-  Constellations
  
-  D-ictionary
  
-  Film-ictionary
  
-  Letter Grids
  
-  Tic Tac Toe Story Generator
  
-  Which is Funnier
•  Rhetorical Questions, Answered!
•  Semicolon Moons
•  Semicolon's Dream Journal
•  Someone Should Write a Book on ...
•  Something, Defined
•  Staring at the Sun
•  Strange Dreams
•  The 40 Most Meaningful Things
•  The Ghost In The [Scanning] Machine
•  The Only Certainty
•  The Right Word
•  Two Sides / Same Coin
•  Uncharted Territories
•  Your Ship Will Come In

Archives

•  September 2010
•  August 2010
•  July 2010
•  June 2010
•  May 2010
•  April 2010
•  March 2010
•  February 2010
•  January 2010
•  December 2009
•  November 2009
•  October 2009
•  September 2009
•  August 2009
•  July 2009
•  June 2009
•  May 2009
•  April 2009
•  March 2009
•  February 2009
•  January 2009
•  December 2008
•  November 2008
•  October 2008
•  September 2008
•  August 2008
•  July 2008
•  June 2008
•  May 2008
•  April 2008
•  March 2008
•  February 2008
•  January 2008
•  December 2007
•  November 2007
•  October 2007
•  September 2007
•  August 2007
•  July 2007
•  June 2007
•  May 2007
•  April 2007
•  March 2007
•  February 2007
•  January 2007
•  December 2006
•  November 2006
•  October 2006
•  September 2006
•  August 2006
•  July 2006
•  June 2006
•  May 2006
•  April 2006

Links

•  SPOGG
•  Magic Words
•  Monkeys 1, Typewriters 0
•  Dr. Boli
•  Serif of Nottingblog
•  dbqp
•  Tonya Harding Shot JFK.com
•  Lord Whimsy
•  Phantasmaphile
•  Crystalpunk
•  BibliOdyssey
•  April Winchell
•  DJ Misc
•  Grow-a-brain
•  Joe Brainard's Pyjamas
•  J-Walk Blog
•  Ironic Sans
•  Ursi's Blog
•  Brian Sibley's Blog
•  Omegaword
•  World of Wonder
•  Neat-o-Rama
Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.
Today — September 3, 2010

The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine (permalink)

~ Mysterious Beards ~

Portrait from the Martin B. Anderson biography.

“I have come across only four references to the beard of an apparition in the Census collection.” —J. G. Piddington, Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research

> read more from The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine . . .
|  Post a Comment


Your Ship Will Come In (permalink)


“Your ship will come in! We’ll celebrate tonight.” —Edward Michel-Bird

 
* A printed collection is available in Your Ship Will Come In at Amazon.com.
> read more from Your Ship Will Come In . . .
|  Post a Comment


Is Today The Day? (permalink)
3
September 2010

“Today is the day to ask all the questions that are in your mind concerning your idea and how you will express it.”

—Mary Kane Lewis, Acting for Children, 1969
From the outrageous to the inspirational to the hilarious, here’s a daily reminder to break out of the old grind and do something unexpected, for the fun, the challenge, or the heck of it.

If today simply isn’t your day, click here to have a different day.

Music Box Moment (permalink)
Do you deserve a nostalgic breather?  Through the delicate workings of the music box, even the most dramatic compositions seem to play only for you.  You’ll hear even a very familiar piece in a whole new way.  Courtesy of home recording pioneer Ken Clinger, here’s today’s music box selection.  It will sound surprisingly good even through built-in computer speakers, and it will cut through the ambient noise of the office without being distracting.

Featured in Today’s Music Box:
Les collines d'Anacapri (Debussy)
performed by Ken Clinger

Today’s Color Palette: Unicorn Field Guide (more info)
Unicorn Field Guide is the name of the color palette featured today, created by Tamara. The palette consists of the following colors:

• hex #293028 — Forest Shadow
• hex #423E36 — Forest Floor
• hex #249624 — Ancient Oak
• hex #F5F240 — Dappled Sunlight
• hex #FCFCE1 — Resting Unicorn

This palette was created in honor of our Field Guide to Identifying Unicorns by Sound. Thanks Tamara!
> learn more about this palette at Anima Tarot . . .


There’s a Signpost Up Ahead (permalink)
One's life path is marked by crossroads and signposts.  If you are confronted with making a choice today, perhaps the signpost displayed here will help to characterize your situation and guide you to make a decision.  If you need more guidance, refresh this page for another symbol.  If both signs are the same, perhaps any choice will lead to the same outcome.

The signs are inspired by a system of symbols entitled "Spiritual Diagnosis," developed by Dr. Robert McNary of Montana.  Dr. McNary actually creates nine-faceted mandala charts for people and interprets the symbols with uncanny accuracy.  Dr. McNary's web site is RockyMountainAstrologer.com.
> view a larger version of your signpost . . .
Yesterday — September 2, 2010

Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
We're honored to have captured the spirit of Brentwood for DGuides' resource on the greater Los Angeles area.  Our photo shows the hilltop Getty Museum from the Angeleno Hotel.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
|  Post a Comment


Forgotten Wisdom (permalink)


Inspired by William Keckler.
> read more from Forgotten Wisdom . . .
|  Post a Comment


Two Sides / Same Coin (permalink)
* Inspired by Jeff Hawkins.  Parchment texture by pareeerica.
> read more from Two Sides / Same Coin . . .
|  Post a Comment

September 1, 2010

Suddenly, A Shot Rang Out (permalink)
Is it true, as Momus suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"?  Decide for yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . .

GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens

My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. Suddenly, a shot rang out.
> read more from Suddenly, A Shot Rang Out . . .
|  Post a Comment


Semicolon Moons (permalink)

WANING GIBBOUS (PRESENT PERFECT)

"The moonlight punctuating the wave crests."

—Maxine Masterfield, Painting the Spirit of Nature (1996)


 
Inspired by Gary Barwin.
> read more from Semicolon Moons . . .
|  Post a Comment


Read More Entries

>  September • August • July


Original Content Copyright © 2010 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.