>4 Perceiving (Objects 31-40)

Sometimes we refer to things calling them names such as thingamajig, doohickey or thingamabob because their actual names or functions escape us. It is a way of saying that there are too many things we interact with and that some of them are completely inconspicuous, not even worth triggering our memory or interest in them enough to remember what they do or what they are called. This fourth batch of objects (31 to 40) contains several thingamajigs, things that are not precisely memorable. It is difficult to find commonalities between, say, a standard surveillance camera (I walked into a store yesterday no bigger than a large living room that had nine surveillance cameras installed in the ceiling) and the Patsari stove, or the Fusoris astrolabe. In many ways, the three objects are about measuring –measuring the power we can exert on others, the minimum amount of resources needed to cook a meal, or the position of heavenly bodies- but they are also things that help us raise our awareness of the environments around us, be them global or local. So does the catadioptric camera or the Cameron aurameter, objects designed to show us that which we cannot see at first sight. One could say that this eclectic batch of objects is about perception or, rather, about measuring perception. This is a rather interesting notion to dwell on, since things are transmitters of emotions and calling something doohickey could be a way of measuring too.