Everything is Interesting
A Claude glass (or black mirror) is a small mirror, slightly convex in shape, with its surface tinted a dark color. Bound up like a pocket-book or in a carrying case, black mirrors were used by artists, travellers and connoisseurs of landscape and landscape painting.
Black Mirrors have the effect of abstracting the subject reflected in it from its surroundings, reducing and simplifying the colour and tonal range of scenes and scenery to give them a painterly quality.
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A camera lucida [loo-si-duh] (Latin: ‘light room’) is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists. The camera lucida performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist sees both scene and drawing surface simultaneously, as in a photographic double exposure. This allows the artist to duplicate key points of the scene on the drawing surface, thus aiding in the accurate rendering of perspective. At times, the artist can even trace the outlines of objects.
The camera lucida was patented in 1807 by William Hyde Wollaston. There seems to be evidence his idea was actually nothing but a reinvention of a device clearly described 200 years earlier by Johannes Kepler. By the 19th century, Kepler’s description had totally fallen into obscurity.
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Sexual anorexia is a term used to describe a loss of ‘appetite’ for romantic-sexual interaction. However, the term is used broadly and can be better defined as a fear of intimacy to the point that the person has severe anxiety surrounding sex with emotional content i.e. in an intimate relationship. The concept was first mentioned by psychologist Nathan Hare in 1975.
The term also applies to individuals who appear to have a sexual addiction which is expressed through a variety of behaviors such as the compulsive use of strip clubs, prostitutes,internet porn sites, etc. but more accurately fit the definition of sexual anorexic in that they seem to lack the ability to have a relationship of a sexual nature beyond a paid-for or anonymous experience.
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Scribing is a style of graffiti in which a sharp, metal scribe is used to tag a glass surfaces. Tagging refers to the application of a graffiti artist’s pseudonym to a surface, typically somewhere public and not permitted. There are two popular types: the ‘arrowhead scribe,’ held between the thumb and index finger, used for quick connectable-style tags on glass; and the ‘pen scribe,’ usually used for more detailed tagging. Scribing can be loud, especially when doing complicated pieces on glass. Etching is a related technique which uses acidic, caustic, or abrasive substances.
Scribing is also a technique used in the corporate world to visually-document concepts in a graphic format. Companies such as The WildWorks Group and Griot’s Eye take conversations and convert them in real time on whiteboard walls or storyboards surrounding participants. As the brainstorming session flows, ‘scribes’ translate the main ideas of the conversation into keywords and graphics. The exercise is dynamic in helping to capture concepts that are sometimes lost in a flow of words. It also helps to reinforce thoughts for people who are visual learners.
The Daily Omnivore 