Charles 4's Comments

An interesting read on the subject of pigment is "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" by Victoria Findlay. I read it ten years ago when it was first published and I, being a color junkie, found it very entertaining.

My copy of Ralph Mayer's "The Artist's Handbook" briefly describes Mummy Brown this way: "Bone ash and asphaltum [tar], obtained by grinding up Egyptian mummies. Not permanent [meaning the color changes over time]. It's use was suddenly discontinued in the nineteenth century when it's composition became generally known to artists."

I hope Mayer's account is closer to the truth than Time's and that my predecessors would not have been so callous.
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“... because real thoughts come from outside and travel with us like the noodle soup we take to work; in other words, inquisitors burn books in vain. If a book has anything to say, it burns with a quiet laugh, because any book worth its salt points up and out of itself.”

Bohumil Hrabal, "Too Loud a Solitude"
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Yes, containment was the primary goal, but the fire might also be deprived of oxygen if the seals held.

As for getting trapped in a burning room...I don't know. One would hope his fellow archivists would spare his life for a shelf or two of precious documents. Perhaps not. :p
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Interesting! Here in Charleston, SC we have our historic documents kept in the "Fireproof Building," built in the 1820s in the Palladian style. It's a masonry building with vaulted ceilings and metal doors and shutters, allowing rooms to be sealed off from one another in the event of a fire.
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From the outside it looks like a mausoleum, from the inside it resembles a cathedral, with the marble "stained glass windows," and the books are like a reliquary or perhaps the objects of worship.

I'm not a fan of modern architecture but this example seems to be holding up rather well to the test of time.
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"There are thousands of captive tigers and lions in the United States, in private homes..."

Yikes! I'll stick with the diminutive kitties; the ones too small to EAT me.

Also, imagine what the litter box must look like.

or the living room furniture.
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Profile for Charles 4

  • Member Since 2012/08/04


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