Foundations

The International Journal of Crackpot Ideas, or, as it is more affectionately known by professional philosophers, the Nutjob Journal, is one of the leading journals in the field. Founded in 1895 by Heinrich von Pfeffernüsse and her sister 'Bartbedeckt' (photographed below), the Journal has become widely acclaimed for its advancement of esoteric ideas and for defending many unpopular ideas that have later turned out to be very useful, if not true.

From left to right: Heinrich and Margrit 'Bartbedeckt' von Pfeffernüsse on a family holiday in Könnigsberg circa 1894. Heinrich is here demonstrating her powers of hyponotic suggestion, which helped to sell some of Margrit's homemade pegs.

 

Previous editors of the Journal include Helmut Busch, inventor of  the celebrated dogbird, and Pob Crankshaft (seen below) who will be remembered most for his work in Seele-Weigen Theorie (roughly translated as 'soul weighing theory'), for the methods used by most scienticians of the day to weigh the souls of the recently departed were dramatically falling out of favour and becoming increasingly disreputable. It was Crankshaft whose genuis led to the modern indirect 'candle and tracing paper' method with which we are all familiar today.

Pob Crankshaft (1982) employing his revolutionary 'closed breathing' technique for enjoying cigarettes (taken shortly before his death)

 

The Journal's motto has an interesting history. When alchemy was at its height, the motto cum grano salis (an important ingredient in many alchemist's potions) was adopted. But the phrase gradually took on a whole new meaning (due in part to the response the Journal itself induced in incredulous readers) and was dropped. The next important time was the period known as the Dark Days when many felt that it was futile to continue and agreed to use diem perdidi as their motto. But when the Optimist movement, led by Gertrude Bristles (formerly Gertrand Brussells), pointed out that failures were also useful in progress, it was then that exceptio probat regulam was adopted. Scienticians then launched their infamous Skeptic and Infidel attack on the results claimed as valid by the Journal, at which the Journal launched a counterattack with their motto flamma fumo est proxima. (Even some scienticians had difficulty dealing with this retort.) The current motto obscurum per obscurius was adopted by the current editor Prof Rumbunctious Green as, in his words, 'a post-ironical doigt moyen to the "established" scienticians of our age'.