Mirror

Mirror (pronounced mir-er)

(1) A reflecting surface, originally of polished metal but now usually of glass with a silvery, metallic, or amalgam backing; used casually, any reflective surface.

(2) Such a surface set into a frame, attached to a handle, etc and used usually for viewing oneself or as an ornament or architectural feature.

(3) In music (of a canon or fugue), capable of being played in retrograde or in inversion, as though read in a mirror placed beside or below the music.

(4) In computing, a disk (often as part of an array), website or other resource containing replicated data.

(5) Historically, a kind of political self-help book, advising kings, princes, etc on how to behave.

(6) In zoology, as mirror carp (known regionally as the Israeli carp) a type of domesticated fish commonly found in Europe but widely introduced or cultivated elsewhere (the name based on the creature’s appearance).

(7) In mathematics & geometry, to create the “mirror image” of a shape across a point, line or plane.

(8) To reflect in or as if in a mirror.

(9) To reflect as a mirror does.

(10) To mimic, replicate or imitate something.

(11) To be or give a faithful representation, image, or idea of something.

1175-1125: From the Middle English mirour, from the Old French mireor (mirror (literally “looker, watcher”)), from mirer (look at), from the Latin mīror (wonder at) & mīrārī (to wonder at), from mīrus (wonderful), from the primitive Indo-European smey- (to laugh, to be glad).  The construct of the Middle English mirour was the Latin Mir(er) + -eo(u)r, from the Latin -ātor, a noun suffix of agency; it displaced the native Old English sċēawere (literally “watcher”), which was also the word for “a spy”.  According to Nancy Mitford's (1904–1973) Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy (1956), "looking glass" is the "U" (upper-class) term while "mirror" is used by the "non-U" (everyone else).  The alternative spelling mirrour is obsolete.  The verb mirror (to reflect) dates from the 1590s and developed from the noun; the related forms mirrored & mirroring soon followed.  The early fifteenth century Middle English verb mirouren meant “to be a model” in the sense of one’s conduct or behavior while the mid-fourteenth century miren (from the Old French mirer) meant literally “to look in a mirror”.  Mirror & mirroring are nouns & verbs, mirrored is a verb, mirrorlike & mirrorless are adjectives and mirrorful is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is mirrors.

In idiomatic use, the phrases “done with mirrors” and “smoke & mirrors” are used to describe things accomplished within the laws of physics but appear in some way the product of “magic”, smoke and mirrors sometimes used by stage magicians in their tricks.  Mirror is used also to refer to a thing that reflects or depicts something else: a website or a political part might claim to “mirror of public opinion” and a student in search of a high grade might do well to “mirror the lecturer’s opinions”.  To “hold up a mirror to” is used to mean: (1) “to represent and by resemblance provide insight into and (2) To elucidate; to make explicit some aspect of.  Historically, a “mirror” was a kind of political self-help book, advising kings, princes etc on how to behave.  Mirrors have appeared in more than a dozen folkloric superstitions, the best-known of which is the seven years bad luck which will accrue to anyone breaking a mirror, the notion first documented in the 1770s and the Queen’s question “Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?” was from the German fairy tale Snow White, first publish in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 as Sneewittchen and subsequently revised for later editions.

1974 BMW 2002 Turbo

The 1973 Frankfurt Motor Show was held in September in an atmosphere of (mostly) untroubled optimism, one indication of which was the debut of the BMW 2002 (E20) Turbo.  In road cars, supercharging had faded from popularity in the post-war years as improvements in technology made it possible to deliver the required output with conventional aspiration and in an era of rising prosperity and low energy costs, increased displacement was an easier path to power and while turbochargers had for decades been widely used in aviation and heavy diesel transports, in cars they were still a rare novelty.  The 2002 Turbo delivered a significant lift in performance so expectations were high, something which seemed justified by the reception the car received at the show and those enchanted by its pace seemed prepared to overlook that as well as enjoying the benefits of turbo-charging, the 2002 suffered also the foibles which afflicted the early implementations of the technology, notably the combination of “lag” (the elapse of time between opening the throttle and the expected response) and the sudden delivery of power (and thus acceleration).

1974 BMW 2002 Turbo (left) and as it would appear in a rear-view mirror (right)

However, within three weeks of the Frankfurt show closing, the first OAPEC (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo was declared, the price of oil increasing four-fold in the wake, something which curbed customer enthusiasm for fast, thirsty machines and while plenty were more affected, between 1973-1975, only 1672 were built but the car is now recognized as a pioneer of the template which European (and later other) manufacturers would adopt and over the decades refine to the point where the dreaded “turbo-lag” became just a memory.  The survival rate was high and although the performance level was later much surpassed (without any need for turbo-charging), they became much sought after by those wanting to enjoy what could be an exciting experience.  They’re now a collector’s item bought more to admire and trade than drive and prices in excess of US$200,000 are not unknown.  When first announced, the cars allocated to the press fleet had “2002” and “turbo” written in reverse lettering on the front spoiler, just to let drivers glancing in their rear-view mirrors was coming up fast although in the six months following the release, a 100 km/h (60 mph) was imposed on the autobahns as a fuel-saving measure so opportunities to overtake were limited.  The message implied in the graphics attracted the interest of the authorities in some German Länder (state governments) which claimed the concept was “aggressive” and cars with the lettering might not be registered.  Aggression has been a sensitive topic in Germany since 1945 and BMW made the graphics and option but apparently nowhere in the country was registration denied and like the originally optional blue strips on Shelby Mustangs, many 2002 Turbos have since had the graphics retrospectively applied.

Selfie expert Lindsay Lohan, well acquainted with the properties of mirrors.

In computing, the concept of “mirroring” exists in several contexts but the best-known and most widely practiced is in data storage and management.  “Disk mirroring” describes the replication of data stored on one volume onto a physically separate volume, sometimes in the one physical array, sometimes onto media far away.  The attraction of mirroring is that in the event of disk failure, data losses are limited (often eliminated) because the system can continue to use one disk until the failed unit is replaced.  One of the most widely used (and simplest) implementations is RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) Level 1 which in which two disks operate in unison although users only ever see one volume.  Various methods of writing data are used, described usually as synchronous, asynchronous and semi-synchronous and the choice is dictated both by cost and what’s technically possible.  The ideal approach is synchronous writing under which, at most, data losses related to disk failure should be measured in minutes or even seconds.  The industry standard for corporations using mirroring has long been the “hot-swap” which means a failed disk can be pulled from a system while running and a replacement inserted, the RAID software re-mirroring (re-building) the new disk.  A less often seen configuration includes a standby disk which sits in a system, remaining unused until notified of failure in which case it assumes the role of the failed media, re-mirroring beginning as soon as it is found to be on-line.