Racialism

Racialism (pronounced rey-shuh-liz-uhm)

(1) The belief that humans can be categorized as belonging to distinct races, each race being characterized by fixed and heritable traits (obsolete).

(2) In technical use, any system of categorization which uses race (however defined); in technical use, what used to be called scientific racialism (and later race realism) is still practiced but the term is no longer applied except as a critique.

1882: The construct was racial + -ism (the adjective racial dating from 1862).  Race (in this context) was from the French racisme, dating from 1902, from the mid sixteenth century Middle French race from the early fourteenth century Italian razza of uncertain origin.  The word gained the various senses of (1) a group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or physical characteristics (most notably skin color or tone), (2) an identifiably distinct group of people distinguished from others on some basis (which could be cultural or religious).  Noted first in 1928, use of the word racism became common by the mid-1930s and was widely applied to the legal and social systems in some countries by at least 1940.  The –ial suffix from the Middle English, from the Old French, from the Latin -ālis (the third-declension two-termination suffix (neuter -āle) used to form adjectives of relationship from nouns or numerals) and was used to form adjectives from nouns.  The –ism suffix was from the Ancient Greek ισμός (ismós) & -isma noun suffixes, often directly, sometimes through the Latin –ismus & isma (from where English picked up ize) and sometimes through the French –isme or the German –ismus, all ultimately from the Ancient Greek (where it tended more specifically to express a finished act or thing done).  It appeared in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form abstract nouns of action, state, condition or doctrine from verbs and on this model, was used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism etc).  Racialism & racialist are nouns & adjectives and racialistic is an adjective; the noun plural is racialisms.  Racism & racist are nouns and adjectives; the noun plural is racisms.

The word was coined in 1882, based on the existing use of "race" as a synonym of "nation, tribe, ethnic group"; the later senses emerged from circa 1890 from the use of "race" for racial categories.  The use in 1882 was essentially neutral and descriptive and referred to “tribalism” but in less than a decade it assumed the meaning “political system advocating superiority and exclusive rights based on race” but that would come later to be replaced by the more overt “racism” & “racist”.  The later attempt to repurpose the word for (allegedly) scientific purpose with a meaning closer to the 1882 original (including as race-realism) was unsuccessful.  In the West, expressions of racism became first unfashionable in polite society and later unacceptable.  This change in attitude unfolded over decades in the twentieth century and progress was socially and geographically varied, the clustering of populations by class, education and ethnic diversity (the formalization as DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) came early in the 2000s) probably the most significant factors accounting for the difference.  Racism does seem to be endemic in the human condition and while it can be suppressed by collective social disapprobation or rendered unlawful, apparently everywhere when people with recognizably different features or characteristics (in appearance, linguistically, culturally etc) degrees of conflict ensue.  This can be something so low-level it’s usually imperceptible such as the interactions between the Italian, French, German & Romansh speakers in Switzerland or more violent, as recent events in Sudan and Tunisia demonstrate.  It’s not going to go away and the management of it varies from place to place between the multi-cultural policies in the West and the “ethnic cleansing” (something of a euphemism in that it included mass-murder) associated with the wars in the Balkans in the early 1990s.  The most obvious modern manifestation of racialism is “racial profiling” which ranges from filtering processes which exclude certain applicants from the employment selection process to police selecting for “stop & search” only those perceived to be of a certain ethnicity to persons of middle-eastern appearance receiving heightened levels of attention from airport security staff.

Winsor Newton Black Indian Ink.

Racialism and racism are not unrelated concepts, but have different meanings and implications.  Racialism is practiced as a spectrum and explores the existence of differences between racial groups (as defined) and this can be in genetics, specific capabilities, traits, or characteristics.  It can be merely descriptive (even down to the cellular level) bit inevitably comes often to be used to suggest there might be races which are superior or inferior to others based on these differences.  Racism however, takes a belief system (usually of racial superiority) and imposes systemic oppression, discrimination, prejudice, and unequal treatment of individuals or groups based on their race, ethnicity, or nationality.  The most obvious examples involve the exercise of power and privilege by one racial group over others, leading to social, economic, and political disparities.  So seriously corrosive has race come to be seen in the West that some guides now recommend race never be mentioned by white people although there is a convention words & phrases using proscribed terms can be used the those in the group referenced, hence the ongoing popularity of the infamous N-words among the African American community.  That doesn’t however mean it’s now permissible for white people to use the phrase “white trash”, even as a self-descriptor because of its origins which essentially equated whites of the lowest socio-economic status with that of blacks although it does continue to be used both as a term of disparagement and one of group identity.  Helpfully, the guides suggest “Chinese whispers” should become “telephone whispers” and “Indian Ink” is best called “carbon-based ink” although under the original name it remains widely available.  In cricket, the “chinaman” delivery is no longer mention and if one is sent down, it’s correct to call it “left-arm unorthodox spin” or “left-arm wrist spin”, both of which are by comparison a bit of a mouthful but the sport seems to cope with the fielding position known as “deep backward square leg” so most should adapt.  The “French cut” seems to have survived.

Racialism can however still, with caution, be used.  Geneticists for example have determined the only “pure” human beings left are the black Africans while the rest of the planet’s population is a result of human Neanderthal interbreeding and that’s an example of racialism (the once current terms “race realism” and “scientific racism” have long been proscribed because they became tainted by a number of pseudo-sciences which (unsurprisingly) all supported notions of white superiority).  Also racialist is another discovery from the DNA labs: a genetic mutation found in Africans, the possession of which offers some degree of protection from malaria and that would have been a product of natural selection among those who live in places where the disease was endemic.

Beaufort

Beaufort (pronounced boh-fert) (U) or boh-fort (non-U))

(1) A standardized measure of wind speed.

(2) An Anglo-French Family name (of late, re-purposed as a forename).

(3) A World War II era torpedo bomber built by the Bristol company.

1805: The Beaufort wind force scale was devised by Anglo-Irish Royal Navy hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857).  The pronunciation boh-fert is the accepted correct use for the scale, family name and most other purposes but in the US, where it’s used as a locality name, south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the common form is sometimes byoo-fert.  The family name Beaufort exists in both French and English (and was of Norman and French Huguenot origin), a habitational name from (Le) Beaufort, the name of several places in various parts of France notably in Nord Somme and Pas-de-Calais, the construct being the Old French beau (beautiful) + fort (literally “strong” but used also of forts & fortified castles).  In France, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly consistent rules and during the late medieval period, names that derived from localities became increasingly widespread.  In the late twentieth century, Beaufort came to be used when naming a child, one attraction being the possibility of nicknames like Bee, Beau & Fort.

Variations in the coats of arms of the Dukes of Beaufort.

One of the concepts which permits the modern, trans-nationally connected world economy to function as efficiently as it does is standardization.  Modern implementations include things like shipping containers which, with standardized features such as size, mounting & lifting points and methods of construction mean goods can be transported internationally with the assurance all ships, as well as road & rail transport can handle the thing in the same manner.  Additionally, it makes more efficient the construction for facilities like sea-ports and rail-heads because they’re essentially the same, anywhere in the world.  That’s an example of change which could implemented because it could be phased in over decades as ships were replaced & railway rolling-stock upgraded while existing port infrastructure could be modified although, as the container ships increased in size, the trend increasingly was for fewer and larger ports.  Road transport was less affected, the prime-movers unchanged and a substantial part of the trailer fleet easily modified and trucks never increased in size to the extent engineering made possible because local authorities imposed restrictions in deference to roads which were built to withstand only certain weight-loadings.

Some things however are difficult to standardize, however desirable a change might be.  The fact that there’s so much diversity in whether road vehicles drive on the left or right of the road is due to many factors, some of which date from antiquity, reflected even today in the need for many manufacturers to maintain separate production lines to accommodate the need to built vehicles with steering wheels on either side.  That of course sounds silly it’s how historical inertia operates, local practices becoming set traditions hundreds or even thousands of years ago.  Other traditions came more recently.  Long before they brought cars and trucks, the European colonial powers also often built the first major networks of roads and they imposed the rules with which they were familiar, the British keeping their horses to the left, the French to the right.  Italian colonialists in Libya and Ethiopia would have had a choice because it wasn’t until after World War II (1939-1945) that Italy finally standardized, ending the era of localities setting their own rules.  Some countries have made the swap (mostly from left to right) but it’s difficult (apparently a decade-long increase in the accident rate is factored in by the planners) and in some cases it proved impossible.  When India conducted a post-Raj trial they found the drivers of cars & trucks adapted well but the beasts which pulled the carts then a significant proportion of traffic volumes just couldn’t be persuaded to change.

Domestic electricity is another patchwork.  Most of the planet is supplied with 220-240 volt feeds (there was once the odd outlier with 250v and while their light globes burned brighter, they didn’t last as long) while other run at 110-120v.  Electricity networks of course started locally and just spread so the reason for the differences are understandable and the costs & disruption which would be caused by converting one to another means it’ll probably never happen anywhere although there is a move, undertaken in many (220-240) jurisdictions to standardize on 230v.  What is a bit of a nuisance though is the proliferation of connection types in the 220-240v world, forcing travellers either to travel with the relevant adaptor or rely on being able to buy one when they arrive.  For those who go many places, there are some thoughtfully designed, multi-prong adaptors, the most intriguing of which use slides so the correct metal can be chosen to extend.  Again, because the installed base of wall-plugs decades ago reached the point where a change-over would be prohibitively expensive, it something the world is stuck with.

Standardized wind: The Beaufort wind force scale.

The Beaufort wind force scale was devised because the British Admiralty was accumulating much data about prevailing weather conditions at spots around the planet where the Royal Navy sailed and it was noticed there was some variation in way different observers would describe the wind conditions.  In the age of sail, wind strength frequency and direction was critical to commerce and warfare and indeed survival so the navy needed to information to be as accurate an consistent as possible but in the pre-electronic age the data came from human observation, even mechanical devices not usually in use.  What Captain Beaufort noticed was that a sailor brought up in a blustery place like the Scottish highlands was apt to understate the strength of winds while those from calmer places were more impressed by even a moderate breeze.  Accordingly, he developed a scale which was refined until formally adopted by the Admiralty after he’d been appointed Hydrographer of the Navy.  The initial draft reflected the functional purpose, the lowest rating describing the sort of gentle zephyr which was just enough to enable a captain to manoeuvre while the highest was of the gale-force winds which would shred the sails.  As sails gave way to steam, the scale was further refined by referencing the effect of wind upon the sea rather than sails and it was adopted also by those working in shore-based meteorological stations.  In recent years, categories up to 17 have been added to describe the phenomena described variously as hurricanes, typhoons & cyclones.

Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) in a breeze estimated at 4-5 on the Beaufort wind force scale (left).  There is product which substantially can withstand winds of such force but they do produce an unnatural look.  Lindsay Lohan (right) illustrates the "wind-blown" look which is popular in fashion photography although it's not always done with wind machines (big fans), strategically-placed tape and cardboard often used to get the effect.  This one would be around 6 on the scale. 

Although remembered for the scale which bears his name, Beaufort also made a great contribution to the Admiralty’s charts, quite a task given that the only way to determine depth was laboriously to take soundings which were then mapped onto charts compiled from observations of the shoreline and astronomical observations determining longitude and latitude.  Sir Francis retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral after also developing the Beaufort Cipher for coded communication which he used for some of his private correspondence and he had a sister name Frances which must have sometimes been confusing but after his death when his letters were decoded, the scandalous nature of his relationship with his sister Henrietta (1778-1865) was revealed.  In 1819, Henrietta published Dialogues on Botany for the Use of Young Persons, an introductory text for young readers interested in plant biology.

Bristol Beaufort of RAF 217 Squadron out of Malta, 1942.

The Bristol Beaufort was a twin-engined, four-seat torpedo and general reconnaissance bomber which entered service late in 1939, allocated initially to Royal Air Force (RAF) Costal Command to replace the Blackburn Botha which had proved unsatisfactory although the original specification had suggested it would be used as a torpedo bomber in the Far East.  Developed from the smaller, lighter and less powerful Blenheim the Beaufort was a solid rather than an outstanding performer and but it served as the RAF’s primary torpedo bomber until 1943 and was also deployed as a ground bomber to plug the UK’s technology gap until newer, more capable designs entered production.  More successful was the use in the Pacific theatre, some 700 Beauforts produced in Australian factories which proved adaptable in sea and land operations, some even converted as high-speed, light transport freighters.  The Beaufort’s greatest legacy however was when its wings, tail and rear fuselage were combined with more powerful engines and a revised forward section to produce the two seat Beaufighter, one of the war’s outstanding heavy strike-fighters.  Heavily armed with various combinations of cannons, machine guns and later rockets, it was one of the most effective anti-shipping weapons; offering reliability, high speed and the relative quiet of its sleeve valve radial engines, it proved lethal against U-boats (the German submarines).  Robust and easy to maintain even in adverse environments, in a variety of roles, examples remained in RAF service until 1960.

Faction

Faction (pronounced fak-shun)

(1) A group or clique forming a minority within a larger body, especially a dissentious group within a political party, government or organization.  The terms “splinter group”, “breakaway”, “reform group”, “ginger group” et al are sometimes used as factional descriptors depending on the circumstances but the more familiar (and sometimes formally institutionalized) are forms like “right”, “left”, “wet”, “dry” “moderate”, “conservative” et al.

(2) Internal organizational strife and intrigue; discord or dissension (applied mostly to political parties but used also to describe the internal workings of many institutions).

(3) As a portmanteau word, the construct being fact + (fict)on), in literature, film etc, a form of writing which blends fact and fiction (though distinct from the literary form “magic realism); in journalism, elements of faction are seen in variations of the technique sometimes called “new” or “gonzo” journalism.  In reportage, it should not be confused with “making stuff up” and it’s distinct from the “alternative facts” model associated with some staff employed in the Trump White House.

1500-1510: From the fourteenth century Middle French faction, from the Latin factionem (nominative factiō) (a group of people acting together, a political grouping (literally “a making or doing”)), a noun of process from the perfect passive participle factus, from faciō (do, make), from facere (to make, to do), from the primitive Indo-European root dhe- (to set; put; to place or adjust).  The adjective factious (given to faction, turbulently partisan, dissentious) dates from the 1530s and was from either the French factieux or the Latin factiosus (partisan, seditious, inclined to form parties) again from factionem; the related forms were the noun factiousness and the adverb factiously.  In ancient Rome, the factions were the four teams which contested the chariot racing events in the circus, the members distinguished by the colors used for their clothing and to adorn their horses and equipment.  Because politics and the sport soon intertwined the meaning of faction shifted to include “an oligarchy, usurping faction, party seeking by irregular means to bring about a change in government”.  Even after the fall of Rome, the traditional Roman factions remained prominent in the Byzantine Empire and chariot racing went into decline only after the factions fought during the Nika riots in 532 which saw some thirty-thousand dead and half of Constantinople razed.  Faction, factioneer, factionist & factionalism are nouns, factionalize is a verb, factional & factionless are adjectives, factionally is an adverb, factionary is a noun & adjective, factionate is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is factions.

The use of the word to describe the literary device which blends facts with fiction faction is said to date from the late 1960s although some sources suggest it had earlier been used in discussions held in conferences and meetings but the most usual descriptor of such works was the earlier “non-fiction novel” which by the mid century (especially in the US) had become a popular (and in literary circles a fashionable) form although, as such, it was not originally directly related to post-modernism.  Critics trace the origins of the form to the years immediately after World War I (1914-1918) and distinguish the works produced then from earlier texts where there was some use of dubious material presented as “fact” in that in the twentieth century the author’s made their intent deliberate.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was well acquainted with the earthly lusts and frailties of men and in Coriolanus (1605-1608) act 5, scene 2, at the Volscian camp when Menenius is halted by sentries who refuse to allow him to see their generals he knew what to say though it did him little good.

First sentry: Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you should not pass here; no, though it were as virtuous to lie as to live chastely. Therefore, go back.

Menenius: Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the party of your general.

Second sentry: Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you have, I am one that, telling true under him, must say, you cannot pass.  Therefore, go back.

Menenius: Hath he dined, canst thou tell? for I would not speak with him till after dinner.

The Baader-Meinhof faction

Founded in 1970, the Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction (RAF)) was a left-wing, armed militant revolutionary group based in the Federal Republic of Germany (The FRG or West Germany (1949-1990)) which, for almost thirty years, undertook assassinations, kidnappings, robberies and bombings and although actually less active than some other terrorist cells, the RAF was better known and most influential in the early-mid 1970s.  The RAF was dissolved in 1998 although, in the nature of such things, some members continued to use their skills in criminal ventures including drug-trafficing as a form of revenue generation.  The RAF always used the word Fraktion, translated into English as faction.  The linguistic implications never pleased RAF members who thought themselves the embedded, military wing of the wider communist workers' movement, not a faction or splinter-group.  In this context the German doesn’t lend well to translation but closest single-word reflecting the RAF’s view is probably “section” or “squad”.  German journalist Stefan Aust (b 1946) also avoided the word, choosing Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (the  Baader-Meinhof Complex) as the title of his 2008 book because it better described how the organization operated.

Andreas Baader & Ulrike Meinhof

In the era they were active, a common descriptor in the English-speaking word was the Baader-Meinhof Group or Gang, named after two of its members Andreas Baader (1943–1977) and Ulrike Meinhof (1934-1976) and the media’s choice of “gang” or “group” may have reflected the desire of governments for the RAF to be depicted more as violent criminals and less as revolutionaries.  The popular press however certainly preferred Baader-Meinhof to RAF because of the drama of the story, Meinhof having been part of the gang which freed Baader from prison.  Both later killed themselves and, although they were never the star-cross'd lovers some journalists liked to suggest, it added to the romance and the Baader-Meinhof name survived their deaths and although the media, politicians and security agencies adopted the eponymous title, it was never used by the RAF.  In the tradition of Marxist collectives, the members regarded the RAF as a co-founded group of many members and not one either defined by or identified with two figureheads, apart from which, the dominant female of the group was actually Gudrun Ensslin (1940-1977).

Factionalism

Factionalism is probably inherent to the nature of organizations and it really needs only for a structure to have two members for a faction to form.  Factions can be based on ideology, geography, theology, personalities (and factions have been formed purely as vehicles of hatred for another) or just about basis and the names they adopt can be designed to denigrate (redneck faction), operate euphemistically (centre-left (just right wingers who didn’t want to admit it)) or indicate a place on the spectrum (left vs right, liberal vs conservative et al).  They can also be modified by those wishing to demonize (lunar-right, hard-right, religious right etc).  The labelling can also be linguistically productive  In the UK during the 1980s, “the wets” was an epithet applied within the Conservative Party to those who opposed the government’s hard line policies, on the model of the slang “a bit wet” to describe those though effete or lacking resolve.  The wets responded by labelling their detractors “the dries” to which they responded with “warm and dry”, words with positive associations in a cold and damp country.  The names constantly evolve because fissiparousness is in the nature of organizations.

Of human nature

Cady's Map by Janis Ian.

The human race does seem inherently fissiparousness and wherever cultures have formed, history suggests divisions will form and folk will tend to coalesce (or be allocated or otherwise forced) into factions.  Usually, this is attributed to some defined or discernible difference (ethnicity, skin color, language, tribal affiliation, religion et al) but even among homogeneous groups, it's rare to identify one without sub-groups.  It does seem human nature and has long since become institutionalized and labelling theory practitioners can probably now build minor academic careers just by tracking the segregation as it evolves (boomers, gen-X, millennials etc).  The faction names of the cliques at North Shore High School (Mean Girls, Paramount Pictures 2004)) were Actual Human Beings, Anti-Plastics, The Art Freaks, Asexual Band Geeks, Asian Nerds, Burnouts, Cheerleaders, Cool Asians, Desperate Wannabes, Freshmen, Girls Who Eat Their Feelings, J.V. Cheerleaders, J.V. Jocks, Junior Plastics, Preps, ROTC Guys, Sexually Active Band Geeks, The Plastics, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Unnamed Girls Who Don't Eat Anything, and Varsity Jocks.  Given the way sensitivities have evolved, it’s predictable some of those names wouldn’t today be used; the factions' membership rosters would be much the same but some terms are now proscribed in this context, the threshold test for racism now its mere mention, racialism banished to places like epidemiological research papers tracking the distribution of morbidity. 

The factions of the Anglican Church

Fissiparousness is much associated with the modern Church of England, factions of which some time ago mostly abandoned any interest in God or the message of Christ for the more important matters of championing or decrying gay clergy, getting women into or keeping them out of the priesthood, and talking to or ignoring Rome.  Among those resistant to anything beyond the medieval, there's even an institutional forum, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which holds meetings at which there is much intrigue and plotting; it's sort of an anti-Lambeth Conference though the cucumber sandwiches are said to be much the same.  Under the stresses inherent in the late twentieth-century, fissiparousness saw the Anglicans coalesce into three factions, the low & lazy, the broad & hazy and the high & crazy.

Overlaps in the Anglican Church factions

The Low & Lazy

Like the high churchers, the low lot still believe in God but, their time not absorbed plotting and scheming or running campaigns to stamp out gay clergy and opposing the ordination of women, they actually have time to pray, which they do, often.  The evangelical types come from among the low and don’t approve of fancy rituals, Romish ways or anything smelling of popery.  Instead, they like services where there’s clapping, dancing and what sounds like country & western music with sermons telling them it’s Godly to buy things like big TVs and surf-skis.

The Broad & Hazy

The broad church is more a club than a church, something like the Tory Party at prayer.  The parishioners will choose the church they (occasionally) attend on the same basis as their golf club, driving miles if need be to find a congregation acceptably free of racial and cultural DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).  They’re interested not at all in theology or anything too abstract so sermons need to be brief and sufficiently vague to please the bourgeoisie.  The broad church stands for most things in general and nothing in particular; finding most disputes in Anglicanism baffling, they just can't see what all the fuss is about.

The High & Crazy

The high church has clergy who love dressing up like the Spice Girls, burning incense and chanting the medieval liturgy in Latin.  They disapprove of about everything that’s happened since the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer and believe there’d be less sin were there still burnings at the stake.  Most high church clergy wish Pius IX (1792–1878; pope 1846-1878) still sat on the throne of Saint Peter and some act as though he does.

Mach

Mach (pronounced mak, mahk or moch)

A number indicating the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the medium through which the object is moving.  Also known as the Mach number; standard abbreviation is M.

1937: Named after Austrian physicist and philosopher Dr Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach (1838–1916) who devised the system of speed measurement based on the Mach number. He’s remembered also as the founder of logical positivism, asserting the validity of a scientific law is proved only after empirical testing.  The Mach number is important in the understanding of fluid dynamics and represents the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound (Mach 1.0).  It’s most applied to aircraft which are classified:

Subsonic      Mach <1.0
Transonic     Mach =1.0
Supersonic   Mach >1.0
Hypersonic   Mach >5.0

The speed of sound varies, reducing at higher altitudes and if aircraft exceed about 250 mph (400 km/h), air near the aircraft is disturbed, locally changing the density.  This compression, increasing with speed, alters the force on the aircraft and is of great importance to aerodynamicists and structural engineers.  The Mach number is within the science of fluid dynamics because air is fluid and, at hypersonic speeds, the energy of the airframe affects the chemical bonds which hold together the nitrogen and oxygen molecules of air, the heated atmosphere becoming an ionized plasma of gas.  That’s why spacecraft re-entering earth’s atmosphere need to be insulated from high temperatures.  Mach 1 was first exceeded by an aircraft in level flight in 1947 but man-made objects travelling at that speed had long-existed, even before modern ballistics.  The crack of a whip is actually the sonic boom caused by the tip exceeding Mach 1.

The 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1

Unlike Ford’s later Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustangs, both powered by genuine racing engines, 1969’s outwardly similar Mustang Mach 1 was a less ambitious machine for street and strip and available with a variety of engines, one of which, thanks to a little Dearborn mendacity, was very competitive in the then highly popular sport of pro-stock drag-racing.  A moniker like Mach 1 is known in contract law as mere puffery, the notion being that in advertising it's possible to assert things which (1) can be neither proven nor disproven or (2), are so absurd no reasonable person would take them seriously.  In 1969 nobody took literally the idea a Mustang could break the speed of sound which was just as well because, at ground level, Mach 1 is 767 mph (1235 km/h) while the top speed of the most powerful Mustang Mach 1 was about 130 mph (210 km/h) or Mach 0.171.  Actually, most were built for drag-racing and geared for acceleration rather than top-end speed so few were capable of more than 115 mph (185 km/h) or Mach 0.151.

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with 428 (FE Series) CobraJet V8.

Hankering for a seven litre (427 cubic inch) version, Ford had added their 427 V8 (FE Series) to the Mustang’s option list for 1968 but none were built (although Shelby did one (or two depending on how such things are counted) and an uncertain number were fitted by dealers pursuant to customer request.  Probably now most remembered from service in the Ford GT40 and the AC Shelby Cobra, the 427 was a famously powerful and robust unit, a trophy winner on circuits from Daytona to Le Mans but was also cantankerous, noisy, an oil-burner and, perhaps most importantly for Ford, expensive to build because of its complex lubrication and cylinder width at the extreme limit of the block’s capacity.  It had also reached the end of its development so, until their new Boss 429 V8 (385 series) became available, Ford hotted-up the previously unremarkable 428 V8 (FE), used until then smoothly to propel big luxury cars like the Thunderbird and LTD.  Pleasingly for Ford, the 428 developed for the Mach 1 gained its increased output from bolt-on bits and pieces and was cheap to produce.

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with 351 (Windsor Series) V8.

Belying its dramatic appearance, the nose-heavy 428 Mach 1 was actually pretty bad at just about everything except the straight-line, quarter-mile sprints at which it excelled though Ford cheated to achieve even these 400 metre-long successes.  Upon its debut in 1968, the National Hot Rod Association (drag-racing’s sanctioning body) allocated vehicles to competition classes on the basis of manufacturers’ declared power-outputs.  Ford claimed the new 428 CobraJet generated 335 horsepower which was quite an understatement, something which allowed it to dominate that year’s national championships.  After that, the authorities cracked down and used their own assessments but by then the 428 CobraJet had done its job and such was the glow of the reflected glory that Ford sold over 70,000 Mach 1 Mustangs in 1969.  Not all were equipped with the big block 428 (a 390 cubic inch (6.5 litre) FE was also available which was about as heavy as the 428 but less powerful) and as road cars, those fitted with the small block (Windsor) 351 cubic inch (5.8 litre) V8 were probably more suited to what most people did most of the time.  Ford produced the Mustang Mach 1 between 1969 and 1978 although the 1974-1978 models are not well regarded, the name revived in 2003-2004 for a small production run and in 2021 the Mach 1 returned to the Mustang range.

Thrust SST, Nevada, 1997.

Almost fifty years to the day after US Air Force (USAF) pilot Chuck Yeager (1923-2020), flying a rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft, broke the sound barrier in Earth's atmosphere, RAF Pilot Andy Green (b 1962) set the absolute land speed record (LSR) driving the Thrust SST to a speed of 763.035 mph (1,227.985 km/h) over the stipulated flying mile (1.6 km).  It was the first time a land vehicle officially broke the sound barrier.  Powered by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines (the same type used by the British version of the F-4 Phantom II jet fighter) developing a net thrust of some 50,000 lb/f (223 kN) which equates to something in excess of 100,000 bhp (76 MW), the Thrust SST's record still stands.  Weighing a impressive 10 tons, at full throttle the fuel burn-rate was some 4.0 gallons (4.8 US gallons; 18 litres) per second or a tiny fraction of a mile per gallon.  Under the LSR rules mandated by the World Motor Sport Council, for a record officially to be sanctioned, there must be two runs in opposite directions within a certain elapsed time and the council confirmed the speed of sound was exceeded on both runs on 15 October 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada (USA).

The only known photograph of the Anglo-French Concorde flying at Mach 2 (at 25,000 feet (7600 m) Mach 2 is 1,356 mph; 2,186 km/h; 1,185 knots), taken from a Royal Air Force (RAF) Panavia Tornado fighter while over the Irish Sea, April 1985.

Machboos

Lindsay Lohan in an interview published in the November 2022 edition of Cosmopolitan magazine revealed her favorite Middle-Eastern dish to cook was machboos, part of Arab cuisine throughout the region and prepared almost always with chicken with rice and vegetables.  A kind of blend of biryani and risotto, the rice is cooked in the spiced broth of the meat or chicken, melding the spices and ingredients.  Rice is a core component of Arabic cooking and interestingly, in Arabic it’s known as ruz but in the Khaleeji dialect it is aish (life) while in Egyptian Arabic, aish refers to bread, an indication of its centrality to the diet.  Like hummus, between nations (and even families) in the Middle East, there’s often disagreement about how machboos should be prepared, most of the arguments revolving around the bzar (the spice mix) but it’s certainly adaptable, able to be served with achaar (mango or lime pickle), daqoos (a spicy tomato sauce), or yoghurt with chopped cucumber and mint.

Ingredients (for serving 4-6) (from Table Tales: Exploring Culinary Diversity in Abu Dhabi (Rizzoli)).

6 tablespoons plain yogurt, divided
2 tablespoons Emirati bzar spice mix, divided
1½ kg chicken, cut into pieces
500 g basmati rice
80 mls vegetable oil
5 cardamom pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
10 black peppercorns
2 whole lumi, cracked
450 grams onions, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, crushed
1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
4 small green chilies, halved
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander powder
285 grams canned tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Cooking oil as required
450 grams potatoes, peeled and cubed
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Garnish

3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
85 grams raw cashews
55 grams raisins
Fresh coriander, chopped

Instructions

(1) Combine 4 tablespoons of yoghurt with 1 tablespoon of the bzar in a large bowl.  Coat the chicken and then marinade for 1 hour or longer.  Rinse the rice and soak in enough water to cover for 1 hour; drain.

(2) Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and lumi and stir for 2 minutes.  Add the onions and sauté until golden.  Add ginger, garlic, and green chilies and stir for 2 minutes.

(3) Add the chicken and marinade and then cook for a few minutes on each side.  Sprinkle in the turmeric, the remaining bzar, cumin, and the coriander powder.

(4) Add the tomatoes, salt, and 2 cups of water; bring to a boil.  Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, until the chicken is done.  Transfer the chicken to a roasting pan.

(5) Remove the cinnamon stick and lumi from the stock and discard.  Add the potatoes and fresh coriander and boil until the potatoes are just tender.  Adjust the stock to get a one-to-one ratio with the rice.  Stir in the remaining yoghurt until dissolved and then add the rice.  Seal the Dutch oven with aluminum foil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 minutes until the rice is done.

(6) Turn on the oven broiler.  Brush the chicken with some oil and broil until golden.  Serve the rice on a platter with the chicken pieces on top.  Garnish with sautéed onions, cashews, raisins, and fresh coriander.

Garnish Instructions

(7) Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil and onions; sauté until they are dark brown, but not burnt.  Remove the onions with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Sauté the cashews in the same oil until golden brown.  Finally, add the raisins during the last few minutes to complete.

Parabola

Parabola (pronounced puh-rab-uh-luh)

(1) In geometry, a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone with a plane parallel to a generator of the cone; the set of points in a plane that are equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point in the same plane or in a parallel plane. Equation: y2 = 2px or x2 = 2py.

(2) In rhetoric, the explicit drawing of a parallel between two essentially dissimilar things, especially with a moral or didactic purpose; a parable.

1570s: From the Modern Latin parabola, from the Late Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ) (a comparison; a setting alongside; parable (literally "a throwing beside" hence "a juxtaposition") so called by Apollonius of Perga circa 210 BC because it is produced by "application" of a given area to a given straight line.  The Greek parabolḗ was derived from παραβάλλω (parabállō) (I set side by side”), from παρά (pará) (beside) + βάλλω (bállō) (I throw); a doublet of parable, parole, and palaver.  It had a different sense in Pythagorean geometry.  The adjectival form parabolic (figurative, allegorical, of or pertaining to a parable) from the Medieval Latin parabolicus from the Late Greek parabolikos (figurative) from parabolē (comparison) is now probably the most widely used.  In geometry, in the sense of “pertaining to a parabola”, it’s been in use since 1702.  A parabola is a curve formed by the set of points in a plane that are all equally distant from both a given line (called the directrix) and a given point (called the focus) that is not on the line.  It’s best visualised as a shape consisting of a single bend and two lines going off to an infinite distance.

Monza

On the Monza banking: Maserati 250F (left), Ferrari F555 Supersqualo (centre) & Vanwall VW2 (right).

The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is now the fastest circuit still used in Formula One, the highest recorded speed the 231.5 mph (372.6 km/h) attained during qualifying for the 2005 Italian Grand Prix by a McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20 (in qualifying trim) on the long straight between the Lesmo corners and the Variante del Rettifilo.  Built in 1922, the Italian Grand Prix has been held there every year since 1949 except in 1980 when the track was being modernised and it’s a wonder the track has survived the attention of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (the FIA; the International Automobile Federation).  Once an admirable body, the FIA has in recent decades degenerated into international sport’s dopiest regulatory body and has for some yers attempted to make motorsport as slow, quiet and processional as possible, issues like DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) now apparently more important than quality of racing.  Set in the Royal Villa of Monza park and surrounded by forest, the complex is configured as three tracks: the 3.6 mile (5.8 kilometre) Grand Prix track, the 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometre) short circuit and the 2.6 mile (4.3 kilometre) high speed oval track with its famous steep bankings which was unused for decades left to fall into disrepair before it was restored in the 2010s.  The major features of the main Grand Prix track include the Curva Grande, the Curva di Lesmo, the Variante Ascari and the famous Curva Parabolica.

On the parabolica: 1966 Italian Grand Prix.

The Curva Parabolica (universally known as “the parabolica”) is the circuit’s signature corner, an increasing radius, long right-hand turn and the final corner before the main straight so the speed one can attain on the straight is determined essentially by the exit speed from the the parabolica; a perfect execution is thus essential for a quick lap.  Although in motorsport it’s common to discuss the lengths of straights, one notable statistic is that even at close to 150 mph (200 km/h) speed with with the fastest cars take the curve, to transit the the parabolica takes just over 7.6 seconds.  Improvements to both the cars and the circuit means it’s now a less dangerous place but many drivers have died in accidents at Monza, some on or approaching the parabolica including Wolfgang (Taffy) von Trips (1928–1961) and Jochen Rindt (1942-1970).  In 2021, the Monza authorities announced the parabolica officially would be renamed “Curva in honor of former Ferrari factory driver Michele Alboreto (1956-2001) who to date remains the last Italian driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari.  It’s likely most will still refer to the curve as “the parabolica”.

The Monza circuit in its configuration for the 1955 Italian Grand Prix (left) and a Mercedes-Benz W196R (streamliner) exiting the parabolica ahead of two W196Rs in conventional open-wheel configuration.  The 1955 Italian Grand Prix was the seventh and final round of the World Championship of Drivers, the French, German, Swiss and Spanish events all cancelled in the aftermath of the disaster at Le Mans.  It was the fourth and last appearance of the Mercedes-Benz W196R streamliners which, after some bad experiences on the relatively tight Silverstone circuit, were restricted to the fast, open tracks.  Mercedes-Benz also withdrew from top-level competition after 1955 and, as a constructor, it would be half a century before they returned to Grand Prix racing.

The parabolic arc: A wheel drops off a Boeing Dreamlifter on take-off, describing a a classic parabolic arc.  The Boeing 747-400 Large Cargo Freighters (LCF) were created using a modified 747-400 airline frame and were most associated with their use carrying Boeing 787 Dreamliner parts between the US, Italy & Japan.  It was an unusual configuration in that it was required to carry components which while large, weren't particularly heavy.

Esurient

Esurient (pronounced ih-soo-r-ee-uhnt)

(1) The state of being hungry; greedy; voracious.

(2) One who is hungry.

1665–1675: A borrowing from the Latin ēsurient & ēsurientem, stem of ēsuriēns (hungering), present participle of ēsurīre (to be hungry; to hunger for something), from edere (to eat), the construct being ēsur- (hunger) + -ens (the Latin adjectival suffix which appeared in English as –ent (and –ant, –aunt etc) and in Old French as –ent).  The form ēsuriō was a desiderative verb from edō (to eat), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European hédti (to eat and from the root ed-) + -turiō (the suffix indicating a desire for an action).  English offers a goodly grab of alternatives including rapacious, ravenous, gluttonous, hoggish, insatiable, unappeasable, ravening, avaricious, avid and covetous.  Esurient is a noun & adjective, esurience & esuriency are nouns and esuriently is an adverb; the noun plural is esurients.

A noted Instagram influencer assuaging her esurience.

For word-nerds to note, a long vowel in the Proto-Italic edō from the primitive Indo-European hédti is illustrative of the application of Lachmann's law (a long-disputed phonological sound rule for Latin named after German philologist and critic Karl Lachmann (1793–1851)).  According to Lachmann, vowels in Latin lengthen before primitive (and the later proto-) Indo-European voiced stops which are followed by another (unvoiced) stop.  Given the paucity of documentary evidence, much work in this field is essentially educated guesswork and Lachmann’s conclusions were derived from analogy and the selective application of theory.  Not all in this highly specialized area of structural linguistics agreed and arguments percolated until an incendiary paper in 1965 assaulted analogy as an explanatory tool in historical linguistics, triggering a decade-long squabble.  This polemical episode appeared to suggest Lachmann had constructed a framework onto which extreme positions could be mapped, one wishing to attribute almost everything to analogy, the other, nothing.  With that, debate seemed to end and Lachmann’s law seems now noted less for what it was than for what it was not.

In memory of Tenuate Dospan

A seemingly permanent condition of late modernity is weight gain; the companion permanent desire being weight loss.  The human propensity to store fat was a product of natural selection, those who possessed the genes which passed on the traits more likely to achieve sexual maturity and thus be able to procreate.  Storing fat meant that in times of plenty, weight was gained which could be used as a source of energy in times of scarcity and for thousands of generations this was how almost all humans lived.  However, in so much of the world people now live in a permanent state of plenty and one in which that plenty (fats, salt & sugars) doesn’t have to be hunted, gathered or harvested.  Now, with only a minimal expenditure of energy, we take what we want from the shelf or, barely having to move from our chair, it’s delivered to our door.  In our sedentary lives we thus expend much less energy but our brains remain hard-wired to seek out the fats, salt & sugars which best enable the body to accumulate fat for the lean times.  Some call this the "curse of plenty".

For all but a few genetically unlucky souls, the theory of weight loss is simple: reduce energy intake and increase the energy burn.  For many reasons however the practices required to execute the theory can be difficult although much evidence does suggest that once started, exercise does become easier because (1) the brain rewards the body for doing it with what’s effectively a true “recreational drug”, (2) it becomes literally easier because weight-loss in itself reduces the energy required and (3) the psychological encouragement of success (some dieticians actually recommend scales with a digital read-out so progress can be measured in 100 gram (3½ oz) increments).  Still, even starting is clearly an obstacle which is why the pharmaceutical industry saw such potential in finding the means to reduce supply (food intake) if increasing demand (exercise) was just too hard.

Lindsay Lohan about to assuage her esurience.

For centuries physicians and apothecaries had been aware of the appetite suppressing qualities of various herbs and other preparations but these were usually seen as something undesirable and were often a side effect of the early medicines, many of which were of dubious benefit, some little short of poison.  Although the noun anorectic (a back formation from the adjective anorectic (anorectous an archaic form) appeared in the medical literature in the early nineteenth century, it was used to describe a patient suffering a loss of appetite; only later would it come to be applied to drugs, firstly those which induced the condition as a side-effect and later, those designed for purpose.  The adjective anorectic (characterized by want of appetite) appeared first in 1832 and was a coining of medical Latin, from the Ancient Greek ἀνόρεκτος (anórektos) (without appetite), the construct being ἀν- (an-) (not, without) + ὀρέγω (orégō) (a verbal adjective of oregein (to long for, desire) which was later to influence the word anorexia)).  The noun was first used in 1913.

Tenuate Dospan.  As an industry leader in promoting DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), Merrell was years ahead in the use of plus-size models.

In the twentieth century, as modern chemistry emerged, anorectic drugs became available by accident as medical amphetamines reached the black market as stimulants, the side effects quickly noted.  Those side effects however were of little interest to the various military authorities which during World War II (1939-1945) made them available to troops by the million, their stimulant properties and the ability to keep soldiers alert and awake for days at a time functioning as an extraordinary force-multiplier.  Not for years was fully it understood just how significant was the supply of the amphetamine Pervitin in the Wehrmacht’s (the German armed forces (1935-1945)) extraordinary military successes in 1939-1941.  In the post-war years, various types of amphetamine were made commercially available as appetite suppressants and while effective, the side effects were of concern although many products remained available in the West well into the twenty-first century.  Probably the best known class of these was amfepramone (or diethylpropion) marketed most famously as Tenuate Dospan which was popular with (1) those who wanted to be thin and (2) those who wanted to stay awake longer than is usually recommended.  Tenuate Dospan usually achieved both.

The regulatory authorities however moved to ensure the supply of Tenuate Dospan and related preparations was restricted, the concern said to be about the side effects although in these matters the true motivations can sometimes be obscure.  In their place, the industry responded with appetite suppressants which essentially didn’t work (compared with the efficient Tennuate Dospan) but sold for two or three times the price which must have pleased some.  The interest in restricting esurience however continued and one of the latest generation is Liraglutide (sold under various the brand names including Victoza & Saxenda) which started life as an anti-diabetic medication, the appetite suppressing properties noted during clinical trials, rather as the side-effects of Viagra (sildenafil) came as a pleasing surprise to the manufacturer.  Being a injection, Liraglutide is harder to use than Tenuate Dospan (which was a daily pill) and users report there are both similarities and differences between the two.

Liraglutide (Saxenda).  The dose increases month by month.

On Tenuate Dospan, one’s appetite diminished rapidly but food still tasted much the same, only the desire for it declined and being an amphetamine, energy levels were elevated and there were the usual difficulties (sleeping, dryness in the mouth, mood swings).  Dieticians recommended combining Tenuate Dospan with a high quality diet (the usual fruit, vegetables, clear fluids etc).  By contrast, although Liraglutide users reported much the same loss of interest in food, they noted also some distaste for the foods they had once so enjoyed and a distinct lack of energy.  It’s still early in the life of Liraglutide but it certainly seems to work as an appetite suppressant although in the trials, the persistent problem of all such drugs was noted: as soon as the treatment ceased, the food cravings returned.  Liraglutide does what the manufacturer’s explanatory notes suggest it does: it is a drug which can be used to treat chronic obesity by achieving weight-loss over several months, during which a patient should seek to achieve a permanent lifestyle change (diet and exercise).  It does not undo thousands of generations of evolution.  The early literature at least hinted Liraglutide was intended for obese adolescents for whom no other weight loss programmes had proved effective but anecdotal evidence suggests adults are numerous among the early adopters.