Carburetor

Carburetor (pronounced kahr-buh-rey-ter or kahr-byuh-yey-tor)

(1) A device for mixing vaporized fuel with air to produce a combustible or explosive mixture for use in the cylinder(s) or chambers of an internal-combustion engine.

(2) In the slang of drug users, a water pipe or bong; a device for mixing air with burning cannabis, cocaine or other narcotics (rare since the 1970s and then usually in the form “carb” or “carby”).

1866: From the verb carburate, from the Italian carburate (to mix (air) with hydrocarbons”), an inflection of carburare & the feminine plural of carburato.  As a transitive verb carburet was used mean “to react with carbon”.  Strangely, the exact origin of the word is uncertain but it was likely a portmanteau of carbon (in the sensor of a clipping of hydrocarbon) + burette (a device for dispensing accurately measured quantities of liquid).  The construct was carb (a combined form of carbon) + -uret (an archaic suffix from Modern Latin) (uretum to parallel French words using ure).  The earlier compound carburet (compound of carbon and another substance; now displaced by carbide) was from 1795 and it was used as a verb (to combine with carbon) after 1802.  The use with reference to the fuel systems used in the internal combustion engines of vehicles dates from 1896.  Carburator, carbureter and carburetter were the now obsolete earlier forms and the standard spelling in the UK, Australia & New Zealand is carburettor.  Carb & carby (carbs & carbies the plural) are the the universally used informal terms (gasifer was rare) and although most sources note the shortened forms weren’t recorded until 1942 it’s assumed by most they’d long been in oral use.  Outside of a few (declining) circles, “carb” is probably now more generally recognized as the clipping of carbohydrate.  Carburetor & carburetion are nouns; the noun plural is carburetors.

Some carburetor porn

One carburetor: 1931 Supercharged Duesenberg SJ with 1 x updraft Stromberg (left; the exhaust manifold the rare 8-into-1 monel "sewer-pipe") (left), 1966 Ford GT40 (Mark II, 427) with 1 x downdraft Holly (centre; the exhaust headers were referred to as the "bundle of snakes") and 1960 Austin Seven (later re-named Austin Mini 850) with 1 x sidedraft SU.

Except for some niches in aviation, small engines (lawnmowers, garden equipment etc) and for machines where originality is required (historic competition and restorations), carburetors are now obsolete and have been replaced by fuel-injection.  There is the odd soul who misses the challenge of tinkering with a carburetor, especially those with the rare skill to hand-tune multiple systems like the six downdraft Webers found on some pre-modern Ferraris, but modern fuel injection systems are more precise, more reliable and unaffected by the G-forces which could lead to fuel starvation.  Fuel injection also made possible the tuning of induction systems to produce lower emissions and reduced fuel consumption, the latter something which also extended engine life because all the excess petrol which used to end up contaminating the lubrication system stayed instead in the fuel tank.

Two carburetors: 1970 Triumph Stag with 2 x sidedraft Strombergs (left), 1960 Chrysler 300F with 2 x Carter four-barrel downdrafts on Sonoramic cross-ram (long) manifold (centre) and 1969 Ford Boss 429 with 2 x Holly four-barrel downdrafts on hi-riser manifold.

Until the 1920s, all but a handful of specialized devices were simple, gravity-fed units and that was because the engines they supplied were a far cry from the high-speed, high compression things which would follow.  In the 1920s, influenced by improvements in military aviation pioneered during World War I (1914-1918), the first recognizably “modern” carburetors began to appear, the conjunction of adjustable jet metering and vacuum controls replacing the primitive air valves and pressurized fuel supply mechanisms allowed engineers to use a more efficient “downdraft” design, replacing the “updraft” principle necessitated by the use of the gravity-feed.  Between them, the “downdraft” and “sidedraft” (a favorite of European manufacturers) would constitute the bulk of carburetor production.  The next major advance was the “duplexing” of the carburetor’s internals, doubling the number of barrels (known now variously as chokes, throats or venturi).  Although such designs could (and sometimes were) implemented to double the capacity (analogous with the dual-core CPUs (central processing units) introduced in 2005), the greatest benefit was that they worked in conjunction with what was known as the “180^o intake manifold”, essentially a bifurcation of the internals which allowed each barrel to operate independently through the segregated passages, making the delivery more efficient to the most distant cylinders, something of real significance with straight-eight engines.  Few relatively simple advances have delivered such immediate and dramatic increases in performance: When the system was in 1934 applied to the them relatively new Ford V8 (the “Flathead”), power increased by over 25%.

Three carburetors: 1967 Jaguar E-Type (XKE) 4.2 with 3 x sidedraft SUs (left), 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/C with 3 x downdraft Webers (centre) and 1965 Pontiac GTO with 3 x downdraft Rochesters.

Advances however meant the demand for more fuel continued and the first solution was the most obvious: new manifolds which could accommodate two or even three carburetors depending on the configuration of the engine.  Sometimes, the multiple devices would function always in unison and sometimes a secondary unit would cut-in only on demand as engine speed rose and more fuel was needed, an idea manufacturers would perfect during the 1960s.  World War II (1939-1945) of course saw enormous advances in just about every aspect of the design of internal combustion engines (ICE) and carburetors too were improved but in a sense, the concept had plateaued and it was fuel-injection to which most attention was directed, that being something which offered real advantages in flight given it was unaffected by G-forces, atmospheric pressure or acrobatics, working as well in inverted as level flight, something no carburetor could match.

There is a quirk in the history of the triple carburetor Jaguars, a configuration first offered on the 1957 XKSS after have been used on various versions of the factory's C-Type (XK120-C) & D-Type race cars.  The first general-production Jaguar XK-Six to use the configuration was the XK150S in 1958 but when the last of the six-cylinder E-Types left the line 1971, that was the end of the line for the triple carburettor Jaguar.  It is however misleading to suggest the XK150S, E-Type and Mark X/420G were the only series-production Jaguars with triple carburetors because on some cars during the 1950s & 1960s, the factory fitted a smaller electromagnetically controlled “auxiliary carburetor” which augmented the main pair, making starting easier.  The unusual arrangement acted as a choke but it was a complicated solution to a simple problem and, while performing faultlessly in testing, in the real world with gas (petrol) of varying quality and in different climatic conditions, it sometimes proved troublesome and there were owners who gave up and installed a conventional choke.

Four carburetors: 1973 Jaguar XJ12 (S1) with 4 x sidedraft Zenith-Strombergs (left; the Jaguar V12 was unusual in that the carburetors sat outside the Vee), 1976 Aston Martin V8 with 4 x downdraft Webers (centre; Aston Martin-Lagonda originally fitted the V8 with fuel injection but it proved troublesome) and 1965 Ford GT40 (X1 Roadster 1, 289) with 4 x downdraft Webers (right, again with the "bundle of snakes" exhaust headers).

After the war, like the chip manufacturers with their multi-core CPUs in the early 2000s, the carburetor makers developed four-barrel devices.  In Europe, the preference for multiple single or two barrel (though they tended to call them “chokes”) induction but in the US, by the early-1950s just beginning the power race which would rage for almost two decades, for the Americans the four-barrel was ideal for their increasingly large V8s although sometimes even the largest available wasn’t enough and the most powerful engines demanded with two four-barrels and three two-barrels.  It was in the 1950s too that fuel-injection reached road cars, appearing first in a marvelously intricate mechanical guise on the 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W198) Gullwing.  Others understood the advantages and developed their own fuel-injection systems, both mechanical and electronic but while both worked well, the early electronics were too fragile to be used in such a harsh environment and these attempts were quickly abandoned and not revisited until the revolution in integrated circuits (IC) later in the century.  Mechanical fuel-injection, while it worked well, was expensive and never suitable for the mass-market and even Mercedes-Benz reserved it for their more expensive models, most of the range relying on one or two carburetors.  In the US, Chevrolet persisted with mechanical fuel injection but availability dwindled until only the Corvette offered the option and in 1965 when it was made available with big-block engines which offered more power at half the cost, demand collapsed and the system was discontinued, the big engines fed either by three two barrels or one very large four barrel.

Other four barrel devices

Reggie (Reggie Bannister (b 1945) with Regman Quad-Barrel Dwarfcutter in Phantasm (1979).

Four (and more) barrel weapons have long been common in fixed or mobile structures (warships, gun batteries etc) but are rare in anything hand-held because of the increases imposed in size & weight as well as the heat generated.  In fiction (notably video games and horror films) they’re a popular prop and the four barrel shotgun in Don Coscarelli’s cult classic Phantasm (1979) was among the more memorable.  An ad-hoc creation born of the need for more firepower (very much in the vein of the “…going to need a bigger boat” philosophy in the Film Jaws (1975), a line apparently improvised during filming because it appears neither in Peter Benchley’s (1940-2006) 1974 novel nor the original screenplay), it was made by welding together two double barrel shotguns and named the “Regman Quad-Barrel Dwarfcutter”.  It was that sort of film and freaks attracted to the design (which does seem hard to resist) have created Nerf-guns in the style.  Although rare, hand-carried, multi-barrel firearms have a history dating back centuries and provided the intended application is appropriate, they can be both effective and convenient, a number of manufacturers offering three and four barrel shotguns, all of which presumably include a section in the owner’s manual covering “recoil management”.  Very much in the spirit of those who took advantage of the modular construct of the early (and anyway already sometimes lethal) two-stroke Kawasaki triples (H1, H2, S1, S2 & S3; 1969-1975) to build a 48-cylinder version, nine-barrel(!) shotguns have been made... just in case.

Custom four barrel Vierling longarm by Johann Fanzoj (1790) of Ferlach, Austria.

The four-barrelled longarm was configured with a side-by-side double rifle (calibre: 9,3/9,3x74R), paired with an over-and-under shotgun (gauge 12/12/76).  Built to a customer specification to shoot four (plus two) times in sequence with “hot” barrels, the Vierling used H&H-type sidelocks with automatic ejectors.  An impressive example of the gunsmith's art, this was not a Phantasmesque welding job but an intricate design which had to regulate the rifle barrels two-times-two so they would shoot together to the same point of impact, in sequence.  First, the 9,3 barrels discharge, then by pushing the barrel selector forward, the shooter continues with the 12-gauge barrels with automatic ejection of the shotgun cartridges facilitating quick reloading… just in case.

Bodis Quattro titanium exhaust system MV Agusta F4.

Even before we had Greta Thunberg (b 2003) to show us the errors of our ways, exhaust pipes were rarely admired and associated mostly with noise, smell and filth but for some small sub-sets of humanity (such as owners of C2 (1963-1967) & early (1968-1972) C3 (1968-1982) Chevrolet Corvettes and Shelby American AC Cobras (1962-1967 and the many replica since), they're a fetish but it's on motorcyclists the pipes and their sometimes convoluted paths exert a particular fascination; for them exhaust pipe porn is a real thing.  The manufacturers and after-market suppliers came to understand the attraction and over the years concocted some memorable and occasionally bizarre systems but the Italians in particular have managed sometimes to arrange things in a way which reflects the nation's artistic sensibilities, studious critics acknowledging the contribution.  When the Guggenheim Museum in New York staged The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition (October 2001-January 2003), one featured machine was the MV Agusta F4, and there was a focus on the way its four pipes exited rakishly from the tail section.    

English “Duck’s foot” four-barrelled pistol with walnut slab-sided butt and silver-wire scroll inlay, said to date from the early nineteenth century.  Note the angle of the barrels and thus the wide field of fire.

Collectors also prize bizarre and ambitious designs such as the four-barreled “duck’s foot” pistol.  Historians have questioned whether these weapons really were manufactured in the Georgian or Regency eras and some suggest they were a product of entrepreneurial Victorians creating “relics” which played into prejudices about just how bad were what were then the “olden days”.  The legend is these were early crowd-control devices with which some worthy (squire, mill or mine owner etc) could deter the mob (revolting peasants, disgruntled factory workers, whatever) which would have been inclined to take a chance against someone armed only with a single-shot pistol.  There’s nothing in the historic record to suggest riots and strikes were ever “controlled” with such things but the Victorians of the late nineteenth century were well aware they were the first generations to benefit from a standing, regulated constabulary so the need for such things would have seemed at least plausible.  The legend is they were also carried by naval captains in case of mutiny and while the Admiralty apparently never issued them, it’s not impossible some officers bought their own… just in case.

Five carburetors:  Le Monstre's 331 cubic inch (5.4 litre) Cadillac V8 (left) with its unusual (and possibly unique) five-carburetor induction system; the layout (one in each corner, one in the centre) is a "quincunx", from the Latin quīncunx.  Le Monstre ahead of Petit Pataud, Le Mans, 1950 (right).  At the fall of the checkered flag, the positions were reversed.  

Le Monstre was a much-modified 1950 Cadillac which ran at that year's Le Mans 24 hour endurance classic. one half of a two car team the other being a close to stock 1950 Cadillac coupe.  The idea behind the five carburettors was that by the use of progressive throttle-linkages, when ultimate performance wasn’t required the car would run on a single (central) carburettor, the other four summoned on demand and in endurance racing, improved fuel economy can be more valuable than additional power.  That’s essentially how most four-barrel carburettors worked, two venturi usually providing the feed with all four opened only at full throttle and Detroit would later refine the model by applying “méthode Le Monstre” to the triple carburettor systems many used between 1957-1971.  As far as is known, the only time a manufacturer flirted with the idea of a five carburetor engine was Rover which in the early 1960s was experimenting with a 2.5 (153 cubic inch) litre in-line five cylinder which was an enlargement of their 2.0 litre (122 cubic inch) four.  Fuel-injection was the obvious solution but the systems then were prohibitively expensive (for the market segment Rover was targeting) so the prototypes ended up with two carburettors feeding three cylinders and one the other two, an arrangement as difficult to keep in tune as it sounds.  Rover’s purchase of the aluminium 3.5 litre (214 cubic inch) V8 abandoned by General Motors (GM) meant the project was terminated and whatever the cylinder count, mass-produced fuel injection later made any configuration possible.  Motor racing is an unpredictable business and, despite all the effort lavished on Le Monstre, in the 1950 Le Mans 24 hour, it was the less ambitious Petit Pataud which did better, finishing a creditable tenth, the much modified roadster coming eleventh having lost many laps while being dug from the sand after an unfortunate excursion from the track.  Still, the results proved the power and reliability of Cadillac’s V8 and Europe took note: over the next quarter century a whole ecosystem would emerge, crafting high-priced trans-Atlantic hybrids which combined elegant European coachwork with cheap, powerful, reliable US V8s, the lucrative fun lasting until the first oil crisis began in 1973.

Six carburetors: 1979 Honda CBX with six sidedraft Keihins (left), 1965 Lamborghini P400 Miura (prototype chassis) with 6 x downdraft Webers (centre) and 1970 Ferrari 365GTB/4 (Daytona) with 6 x downdraft Webers (right).

It was the development of these big four barrels which in the US reduced the place of the multiple systems to a niche reserved for some specialist machines and even the engineers admitted that for what most people did, most of the time, the multiple setups offered no advantage.  The research did however indicate they were still a selling point and because people were still prepared to pay, they stayed on the option list.  There were a handful of engines which actually needed the additional equipment to deliver maximum power but they were rare, racing derived units and constituted not even 1% of Detroit’s annual production.  Paradoxically, the main advantage of the multiple setups was economy, a six-barrel (ie 3 x two-barrel) engine running only on its central carburetor unless the throttle was pushed open.  As it was, the last of Detroit’s three-carb setups was sold in 1971, the configuration unable easily to be engineered to meet the increasingly onerous exhaust emission rules.

Eight carburetors: 1955 Moto Guzzi 500cm³ Ottocilindri V8 Grand Prix motorcycle with eight Dell'Orto sidedrafts.  One carburetor per cylinder was long common practice in motorcycle design and the two 1959 Daimler V8s (2.5 & 4.6 litre, 1959-1969 and designed along the lines of a motorcycle power-plant) were intended originally to be air-cooled and run eight carburetors; the production versions were water-cooled and used two sidedraft SUs.  The very thought of keeping eight carburetors synchronized would alarm most but clearly such intricacy doesn't scare the Italians because, in 1967, the Cooper-Maserati Formula One team, seeking that elusive quality of increased power and sustained reliability did ponder bolting a dozen Webers to what was their by then antiquated (pre-historic in F1 terms) 3.0 litre V12.  To the eternal regret of those who value mechanical complication for its own sake, that idea, like the notion of using three spark plugs per cylinder, never left the engineers' sketch pads and the more rational fuel injection was adopted.  

Lindsay Lohan admiring Herbie’s carburetor in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).

Before fuel-injection was late in the century used for some, most Volkswagen Type 1s (Beetles) were fitted with a single Solex carburettor although there were exceptions, some more expensive and higher performance (such things are relative) variants in Europe, Mexico and Brazil using twin Solexes.  Additionally, because it wasn’t difficult to swap in the twin carburettor units used in the Karmann Ghia (Types 14 & 34) and Type 3 cars, many were upgraded and over the years there were literally dozens of kits to create multi-carburetor induction systems using equipment from a variety of manufacturers including Solex, Weber, Dell'Orto and Kadron (Solex-Brosol).

Sherpa

Sherpa (pronounced sher-puh or shur-puh)

(1) A member of a people of Tibetan stock (thought ultimately of Mongolian origin) living on the southern slopes of the Nepalese Himalayas, noted as mountaineers and well-known for their frequent service as porters on mountain-climbing expeditions.

(2) The Southern Tibetan language of the Sherpa people.

(3) An official (chosen by or allocated to a government representative or delegate at a summit meeting or conference) who assists with preparation and related matters.

(5) A native inhabitant of a region, employed by visiting journalists, NGO (non-government organization) employees etc to assist  in resolving local administrative and other difficulties (also sometimes called "fixers").

(5) A synthetic fabric with a long, thick pile, in the style of faux fur, lambs wool or fleece and often used in cold climates to line coats or jackets.

1847: An adoption of colonial English, under the Raj, from the Tibetan Sherpa, literally "dweller in an eastern country".  Sherpa is a verb, noun & proper noun; the two noun plural forms are being Sherpas, (especially collectively) & Sherpa,  all forms capitalized or not depending on context.  When used in the context of summit meetings and such, sherpa is sometimes used as a verb but some insist this remains irregular.

Lunch at the G7 Summit hosted in 1982 by François Mitterrand (1916–1996; President of France 1981-1995) at the Palace of Versailles.

The origin of the use of sherpa in international diplomacy dates from the mid 1970s.  Not alone in his feelings, French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1926–2020; President of France 1974-1981) was finding international meetings increasingly too formal and bureaucratic and decided what was needed was a smaller aggregation consisting essentially of those who mattered.  From this idea emerged the G5, seen originally as a kind of informal fireside chat among the leaders of France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, the membership mirroring that of the Group of Five (finance ministers) which had coalesced in the aftermath of the disruptions caused by the first oil shock in 1973-1974.  Italy was quickly added to the formation to create a group of six and, a couple of years later, Canada joined, this formation enduring to this day as the Group of Seven (G7).  Russia was added in 1997 (creating the G8) but expelled in 2014 when Moscow began it's military adventures in the Crimea.  In many of the early meetings at Versailles the heads of government were often accompanied by only a single advisor and they came to be called "sherpas", an allusion to the idea of mountain guides marking the way through strange surroundings.   

Lindsay Lohan in sherpa-lined jacket, Falling for Christmas (Netflix, 2022).

Counter-intuitively, the attraction of the gathering was that it was vested with no formal powers which, paradoxically appears to have made it work rather better as a decision-making apparatus.  Being informal and thus smaller, without the usual array of advisors and experts, it was also more nimble, the original vision being a single high-level official from each country preparing the summit by negotiating on behalf of the head of government.  This was the birth of the sherpa, the metaphor well-borrowed because just as Sherpas of the Himalayas use their familiarity with the technically difficult terrain of the mountains to assist the better-known climbers on their summit ascents, so their G7 counterparts carry the discussions to just short of the summit so their heads of government can plant the flags on the peak.  Historically, the sherpa was meant to be so low-profile as to be almost unknown by most in the general public except the real political junkies.

In recent years, there have been changes, the entourages have grown and the awareness of the sherpa process has risen, especially as the G7 focused increasingly on issues of international development, thus becoming a target for the professional lobbyists attached to the NGOs which feed of the processes.  Nevertheless, the sherpas continue to try to resolve as much contentious material ahead of time, reputedly even drafting the final communiqués well in advance of the meetings beginning.  Despite the changes, more than one Sherpa has noted the G7 in many ways still reflect the original ideal of an intimate conversation whereas the G20 meetings with the phalanxes of aides and representatives of many institutions is by comparison a huge structure of stage-management.

Tony Blair (b 1953; UK prime-minister 1997-2007) & Alastair Campbell (b 1957; variously spokesman, campaign director, press secretary and director of communications for Labour Party (1994-2005) & Tony Blair 

It’s an unusual role in that many more are qualified for the job than are suitable to fulfill it given it simultaneously demands both the skills and knowledge of a politician yet needs someone who prefers not to be in the spotlight.  Inevitably some sherpas do become well-known, sometimes by design and sometimes not.  Alastair Campbell often acted as sherpa for Tony Blair and he noted in his diary that the nature of the sherpa’s role was to “…get all of the shit, none of the glory, and you spend a lot of the time taking seriously people you despise.  You would not be human if that did not make you angry.”

Logo

Logo (pronounced loh-goh)

(1) A graphic representation (a visual symbol) of a institutional name or trademark (occasionally called a logotype).

(2) In computing (as Logo), a high-level programming language widely used to teach children the foundation of coding.

(3) In printing, a logotype.

(4) An ensign, a badge of office, rank, or power (now mostly archaic except in formal use in some branches of the military.

(5) In scientific documents, a single graphic which contains one or more separate elements.

(6) As “sonic logo”, a sound or short melody associated with a brand and used in its advertising; a specific use of a jingle (the audio equivalent of a visually expressed logo).

(7) As Logo TV (spoken usually as “Logo”), a cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks and originally focused on certain segments within the LGBTQQIAAOP community but now less specific.

1937: A clipping of logotype or logogram.  Logo was from the Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) (translated usually as “word” but used (sometimes loosely) also in the sense of “speech, oration, discourse, quote, story, study, ratio, calculation, reason”).  As the prefix logo-, it operated as a combining form appearing in loanwords from Greek relating to “words, speech” (which produced forms such as logography) and the formation of new compound words (such as logotype).  A logogram is a character or symbol (usually non-alphanumeric but this is a practice rather than a definitional rule) which represents a word or phrase.  When used in the context of a word-game or puzzle, it should be styled as a logogriph.  In typography, a logotype is a single type combining two or more letters (the synonym being ligature (from the Middle English ligature, from the Middle French ligature, from the Late Latin ligātura, from the Classical Latin ligātus, past participle of ligāre (to tie, bind))) while in symbolism (usually but not necessarily commercial) it’s a symbol or emblem used as a trademark or a means of identification of an institution or other entity (the clipped form logo is almost universal in this context (and technically a synonym).  Logo is a noun; the noun plural is logos.

Lohanic logo: Lindsay Lohan’s corporate logo.

The IBM Logo

Good: The IBM logo in approved positive & reversed color schemes.

Known internally as the “8-bar”, the design of the IBM logo dates from 1972 and remains in its original form.  Despite the visual perception, the stripes alternate in height (the ratio being 11/10 or 10/11), something done to ensure they appear to be the same and whether the solid or the unfilled space is rendered larger depends on whether a light or dark background is used.  The other adjustment which is not immediately obvious is the variation in the points used in the counter shapes; the positive a sharp, the reversed more blunt.  The difference is too subtle to be noticed at a glance and again, is a designer’s technique to ensure optical integrity is maintained on both light & dark backgrounds.

Bad: Ways the IBM logo should not be deployed.

It’s apparently not an apocryphal tale there was a time when the only acceptable dress for men working for IBM was a blue suit and a white shirt.  That was relaxed but the rules regarding the use of the logo remain as stringent as ever and the preferred “core colors” come exclusively from the blue and gray families, the cautionary note added that while dark or light background colors both work well with the core colors, there must always be a minimum of five “steps” (the graduation of shades) between foreground and background colors to ensure an appropriate contrast and legibility. Any background color from the IDL color palette with sufficient contrast may be used with a core color 8-bar logo. Here are a few examples of possible color combinations.  Unapproved color combinations are banned as is the use of more than one color or any progression of gradients in the stripes.  Alignment is also specifically defined.  The 8-bar logo has both horizontal and vertical relationships with other objects (brand logotypes) which appear in the same image and the IBM logo is based on the cap height of the logotype or can scale larger by a defined ratio and must not be placed in containers of any shape.

Although the company traces it lineage to 1888 (by virtue of M&A activity), it was in 1924 the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) changed its name to International Business Machines (IBM) and the first logo used the whole name, stylized in the shape of a globe.  The present logo is an evolution of two earlier (1947 & 1956) designs which used solid text although the aspect ratios were essentially the same.

The logo you have when you’re not having a logo: McLaren MP4/4 (top) and Jordan EJ13 (bottom).  Around the turn of the century when Western governments began to extend the bans of print and television advertising for cigarettes to sporting sponsorship, the Formula One constructors found a loophole, removing the text while keeping the color schemes.  Semiotically, it worked well because Marlboro’s white chevron on a red background was so distinctive the message was conveyed even without the name.  Jordan, which ran with Benson & Hedges livery, changed the text to Be on Edge (BE(ns)ON (& H)EDGE(s) which was a nice touch.  The regulators amended their rules so outfits like fossil fuel companies took over the role.  They’ll be the next to be cancelled.

All publicity is good publicity: The Westinghouse logo on the hood of Caryl Chessman (1921–1960), gas chamber at San Quentin Prison, California, 2 May 1960.  The hoods were used to prevent the accumulation of cyanide particles in the hair.

Greenline

Greenline (pronounced green-lahyn)

(1) In Lebanon, a demarcation line which divided predominantly Christian East Beirut and the predominantly Muslim West Beirut, described during the civil war (1975-1990).

(2) In Cyprus, a demarcation line which divides the island between the Greek (south) and Turkish Cypriots (north), passing through the capital, Nicosia and described in 1974.

(3) In France, a demarcation line which divided the nation between the Nazi-occupied north (Zone nord) and the nominally independent (Vichy) south (Zone libre) and operative between 1940-1942 when the south was occupied and renamed Zone sud (Zone south) until the liberation of France in 1944.

(4) In Israel, the Armistice border, described in 1949 and following essentially the line of demarcation between the military forces of Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon & Syria at the conclusion of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.  It served as the de facto borders of the State of Israel between 1949 and the Six-Day War (1967).

(5) Any similar demarcation line between two hostile communities.

(6) To ease access to services to residents in specific areas, particularly by designating such areas as suitable for real-estate lending and property insurance.

1942 (the first generally acknowledged use in this context): The construct was green +‎ line (and also used commonly as green-line & green line and often with an initial capital).  The noun green was from the Middle English adjective grene, from the Northumbrian groene (green in the sense of the color of healthy, living plants which were growing & vigorous and used figuratively also to convey the meaning "freshly cut" or (of wood) “unseasoned”), from the earlier groeni, from the Old English grēne, from the Proto-West Germanic grōnī, from the Proto-Germanic grōniz, from the primitive Indo-European ghre- (to grow) and was related to the North Frisian green, the West Frisian grien, the Dutch groen, the Low German grön, green & greun, the German grün, the Danish & Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, the Swedish grön, the Norwegian Bokmål grønn and the Icelandic grænn.  The Proto -Germanic grōni- was the source also of the Old Saxon grani, the Old Frisian grene, the Old Norse grænn and the Old High German gruoni.  Line was from the Middle English line & lyne, from the Old English līne (line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction), from the Proto-West Germanic līnā, from the Proto-Germanic līnǭ (line, rope, flaxen cord, thread), from the Proto-Germanic līną (flax, linen), from the primitive Indo-European līno- (flax).  It was influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (line), from the Latin linea.  Greenline & greenlining are nouns & verbs, greenliner is a noun, greenlined is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is greenlines.

Green lines: Lindsay Lohan in Inhabit striped tie-back tube-top with Linea Pelle braided belt.

Around the planet, there have been many “Greenlines”, “Green Lines” and “Green-Lines”, the term often applied to rail-transport corridors, shipping companies and the boundary lines of spaces designated as “green”, usually in the context of environmental protection.  However, the best recognized use is now probably that from geopolitics where a “greenline” is a line described on a map to draw a demarcation between two hostile communities.  Such lines have existed for centuries, formally and informally but the first use of the term is generally thought to be the line drawn in 1940 which divided France between the Nazi-occupied north (Zone nord) and the nominally independent (Vichy) south (Zone libre).  It was operative between 1940-1942 when the south was occupied and renamed Zone sud (Zone south) and that arrangement lasted until the liberation of France in 1944.  It’s not known what the color was on the line originally drawn but the one which reached the Foreign Ministry in Berlin for approval was green and still exists in the US national archives.

The Cyprus Greenline.

In the troubled decades since, there have been many green lines and one of the best known is also illustrative of some of the phenomena associated with the concept.  Since 1974, after a conflict which was the culmination of years of disputes, the island of Cyprus has been divided by a Greenline, the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (the TRNC, recognized only by Republic of Türkiye) to the north and the Greek dominated Republic of Cyprus to the south.  The Greenline extends from east to west for 180 km (120 miles) and is a United Nations (UN) controlled buffer zone separating the two and constitutes almost 3% of the land mass.  The 1974 Greenline was actually an outgrowth, dictated by necessity, of a line drawn some ten years earlier in the capital, Nicosia, in response to communal violence and at certain places in the densely populated ancient city of Nicosia, the it’s now just a few metres across while at its widest point, it stretches 7.4 km (4.6 miles).  In most aspects of public administration the northern and southern zones function as separate states although during periods there is a remarkable degree of cooperation and a pragmatic sense of what it’s possible profitably to do without disturbing the status quo.  However, even at times of high stress, both sides continue to administer shared essential services, notably Nicosia’s sewerage system, the rationale being “you just can’t separate shit”.

A section of the Greenline which bisects Nicosia.

One thing the buffer zone has achieved is the creation of a significant wildlife refuge for many species and, like the exclusion zone declared after the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power-plant in 1986, it has provided a habitat almost unique in Europe, its residents including the threatened Egyptian fruit bat, the endangered Mouflon sheep, the bee orchid, the Cyprus spiny mouse and the Eurasian thick-knee, a dwindling species of shorebird also known as a stone-curlew; all have multiplied in their new home.  Surveys have revealed the space has also become an important stopover and staging area for the migratory birds which use Cyprus during their spring and fall flights, buzzards, ospreys, harriers and the Northern lapwing (long in decline in Europe) all regular visitors.  Being a buffer zone, humans are excluded from the area but there are moves to extend environmental protection to the fragile areas directly beyond the borders as part of a plan to develop ecotourism and agritourism, producing and marketing “green” food from the area.  However, environmental awareness among Cypriots remains patchy and illegal dumping and poaching within the buffer zone remains prevalent.

The Museum of Barbarism, 2 Sehit Murruvet Ilhan Sok. Kumsal, Nicosia, Cyprus.

The Museum of Barbarism lies on the Turkish side of Nicosia just across a border crossing on the Greenline.  Essentially a static installation, frozen in both time and place, it's said to remain in almost exactly the same state as it was was found on Christmas Day, 1974.  The provided narrative states that on 24 December, Greek Cypriot irregulars forcibly entered the house of Dr Ilhan, a Major in the Turkish army who was that night on duty and in another place.  It's claimed the Doctor's wife, three children and a neighbor were killed by machine gun fire, six others seriously injured.

Telex

Telex (pronounced tel-eks)

(1) A two-way teletypewriter service channeled through a public telecommunications system for instantaneous, direct communication between subscribers at remote locations (sometimes with initial capital letter).

(2) A physical teletypewriter machine used to send or receive on such a service.

(3) A message transmitted by telex.

(4) To transmit such a message.

1932:  A compound coined word to describe "a communication system of teletypewriters", the construct being tel(eprinter) + ex(change).

The Telex

Although most associated with the clunky looking teleprinters used to type and send/receive messages, telex actually refers to the network over which the message traffic passed.  Point-to-point messaging like the telegraph long pre-dated the telex network and, being based on physical wires and cables, introduced into English the verbal shorthand for such messages: the wire and the cable.  Teleprinters evolved from the telegraph, both using binary signals, best understood by reference to Morse-code in that symbols were represented by the on/off of an electrical current.  Because this is so different from the variable voltage model of analog telephone systems, the telex network was wholly separate.

Slovenian news site, telex.si. 

The first telex network was built in Germany as a university research project in the later years of the Weimar Republic, the first commercial services being offered by the Reichspost (German post office) in 1932.  Adoption was slow until the post-war years but telex become widely popular after 1945 and by the 1960s was the de-facto standard for long-distance corporate communications.  It was a robust and high-security network with both error-checking for the message and a machine-2-machine answerback protocol under which the sending machine sent a WRU (WhoaReyoU) code to which the recipient machine would respond with the transmission of an unambiguous identifying code.  It meant it was difficult to send a message to an incorrect address; something a few eMail and Twitter users might wish existed on their systems.

Still a niche market.  

Telex is used now only by those prepared to pay the cost for very high security.  Although still available from swisstelex in some western European countries, telex is now almost entirely a relic except for niches like underground military installations or TvHF (telex via HF radio) which remains a required element of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.  Telex generally went into decline as services like fax, eMail and SMS because ubiquitous.  These innovations, although technically much different for telex, were, to the users, lineal descendants, inheriting particularly the stylistic techniques of abbreviated English such as CUL8R or FYEO which the Nokia generation of the 1990s claimed as their invention.  Except for the swisstelex service, vendors offering telex emulation across various platforms do so without dedicated lines. 

Mass

Mass (pronounced mas)

(1) A body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size.

(2) A collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body.

(3) Aggregate; whole (usually preceded by in the).

(4) A considerable assemblage, number, or quantity.

(5) Bulk, size, expanse, or massiveness.

(6) In painting, an expanse of color or tone defining form or shape in general outline rather than in detail.

(7) A shape or three-dimensional volume that has or gives the illusion of having weight, density, and bulk.

(8) The main body, bulk, or greater part of anything.

(9) In physics, a physical quantity expressing the amount of matter in a body. It is a measure of a body's resistance to changes in velocity (inertial mass) and also of the force experienced in a gravitational field (gravitational mass); according to the theory of relativity, inertial and gravitational masses are equal.

(10) In pharmacology, a preparation of thick, pasty consistency, from which pills are made.

(11) In the Roman Catholic Church and certain Protestant Churches, the celebration of the Eucharist.

(12) In some religious rituals, the musical setting of certain parts of this service, as the Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei (sometimes with initial lowercase).

(13) In extractive mining, an irregular deposit of ore not occurring in veins.

Pre-900: From the Middle English masse, from the Old English mæsse from the Vulgar Latin messa & massa (mass; that which forms a lump) from the Church Latin missa, past participle of mittere (to send, dismiss), perhaps derived from the concluding dismissal in the Roman Mass, Ite, missa est, (Go, it is the dismissal).  Ultimate root was the Ancient Greek mâza (barley cake, lump, mass, ball), akin to mássein (to knead).  Mass is a noun, verb & adjective, massing is a noun & verb and massed is a verb; the noun plural is masses. 

The meaning "lump, quantity, size" is from the late fourteenth century, the sense a direct borrowing from the Old French masse (lump, heap, pile; crowd, large amount; ingot, bar") which had enjoyed the meaning since the eleventh century, under the influence of the Latine massa (kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough), probably from Greek mâza related to mássein from the primitive Indo-European root mag- (to knead); related was the Lithuanian minkyti (to knead), root of macerate.  The sense extended in English in the 1580s to "a large quantity, amount, or number" and the strict sense in physics is from 1704.  It was first used as an adjective in 1733 and was used thus in biology in the nineteenth century.  Mass-culture was first used (in sociology) in 1916; mass hysteria from 1914; mass media from 1923; mass movement from 1897; mass production from 1920; mass grave from 1918 and mass murder from 1880.

Increasing mass: Lindsay Lohan posts pregnancy progress pictures on Instagram.

Increasing Mass and the Higgs Field

In physics, mass is locked up energy; as an object accelerates, its mass will increase, mass here called “inertial mass”.  Inertial mass is the amount of resistance a physical object has to any change in its motion, this including the resistance a body has to acceleration or to directional changes.  According to the theory of relativity, gravitational mass is always the same as inertial mass; however, when describing an object’s mass increasing due to acceleration, it’s the inertial mass which increases.  So, as an object increases in speed, so does the amount of energy it has, this energy is what is referred to as “the increase in mass”.  It’s this relationship between mass and energy which explains why nothing can exceed the speed of light.  The energy of a particle diverges to infinity as it approaches the speed of light and because there cannot be infinite energy in a particle, the speed of light cannot be reached although particle physicists are divided about whether this was always true.  In the first fraction of a second after the big bang, almost all particles were massless, travelling at or beyond the speed of light until, sometime in that first second, the Higgs field came into existence, permeating the whole universe, giving mass to particles.

The now famous Higgs boson (known also as the Higgs particle) is a subatomic particle which was first described theoretically (as part of a mechanism which was initially referred to as the Higgs Mechanism and is now called the Higgs Field) in the 1960s by English theoretical physicist Peter Higgs (b 1929) and (independently) by a number of others.  The Higgs Field was “invented” because without its operation there was no way to account for the mass of bosons (one of two types of particles) and while bolting it onto the models physicists use for their calculations, it’s existence wasn’t proved until experiments conducted using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, a very big particle accelerator) at the Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire (CERN; the European Organization for Nuclear Research).  The formal announcement of the verification of the existence of the Higgs boson (and by implication the field) was made in July 2012, the Nobel Prize in Physic awarded the following year to Higgs and Belgian theoretical physicist François, Baron Englert (born 1932) (technically the field is properly known as the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism, noting the contribution of US theoretical physicist Robert Brout (1928-2011).

Inside the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a high-energy particle collider mounted in a 17 mile (27 km) long tunnel in a loop deep under the Swiss-French border near Geneva.

The boson is associated with the Higgs field, a form of energy which permeates the entire universe and can be conceptualized as part of the universe’s “fabric” although it’s not helpful to visually that literally but particles acquire their mass by interacting with this field, the Higgs boson the quantum excitation of the field.  Electrically neutral, the Higgs boson is very short-lived, decaying almost at the point of creation and its very existence can be detected only indirectly by an observation of the particles into which it decays.  It took decades to detect because until the LHC was fully operational, a machine capable of sustaining the experiment didn’t exist.  However, while the work at CERN is thought proof of the existence of the field but nothing beyond; how or why the field exists and why some particles interact more than others remains unknown.

Vice

Vice (pronounced vahys)

(1) An immoral or evil habit or practice.

(2) Immoral conduct; depraved or degrading behavior.

(3) A particular form of depravity.

(4) A fault, defect, bad habit or shortcoming.

(5) A character in the English morality plays, a personification of a general or particular vice, serving as the buffoon (with initial capital letter).

(6) In clinical pathology, a physical defect, flaw or infirmity (archaic).

(7) Instead of; in the place of.

(8) A combining form meaning “deputy,” used in the formation of compound words, usually titles of officials who serve in the absence of the official denoted by the base word.  Can be (1) pre-nominal (eg vice-president) if serving in the place of or as a deputy for or (2) in combination (eg viceroy).

(9) Any of various devices, usually having two jaws that may be brought together or separated by means of a screw, lever, or the like, used to hold an object firmly to permit things to be done to it.

Meanings (1– 6); 1250-1300: Middle English, borrowed from the Anglo-French & Old French from the Latin vitium (a fault or defect) which charmingly persists in Modern Italian as vezzo (usage, entertainment).  In the English-speaking world, police vice-squads attested from 1905.  The French construction vice anglais (corporal punishment; literally "the English vice") dates from 1942.

Meanings (7-8): 1760–1770; From the Latin vice (instead of) ablative of vicis (genitive; not attested in nominative) (interchange, alternation).

Meaning (9): 1300–1350; From the Middle English vis, borrowed from the Old French vis (a screw), from the Latin vītis (vine, plant with spiralling tendrils).  From the early fourteenth century, the meaning "device like a screw or winch for bending a crossbow or catapult" was widely applied to any tool or appliance which winds.  Root was the Latin viere (to bind, twist) and was used to describe the modern vice meaning “clamping tool with two jaws closed by a screw”.

Vice Magazine, 13 December 2017.

Los Angeles based Vice Media on 15 May 2023 formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a mechanism in US corporate law which protects insolvent companies from immediate action by their creditors, enabling them to continue trading while undergoing a restructure or as a prelude to sale as a going concern.  It was one of the better known (along with BuzzFeed) of the media creations of the internet age which have recently struggled in the unforgiving environment which has emerged as the post-pandemic, high inflation economy has unfolded while institutions like Instagram and TikTok have proved more attuned to the demographic once presumed to be their audience, thus the precipitous shrinking of a revenue base so reliant on advertising.  The magazine was founded in 1994 and, edgy before the term was in general use, was successful and it adapted well to the then embryonic digital world and in addition to a website, soon branched into film production, music distribution and publishing.  Audaciously (or so it at the time seemed to some), Vice took on news gathering and distribution, this at a time when people still read, paid for and were advertised to in printed newspapers.  Among what came to be called the “legacy media” however, the threat was thought real and News Corporation invested tens of millions of dollars in Vice; others took notice and a recently as 2017 Vice Media Group was valued at US $5.7 billion.  In a statement issued shortly after the Chapter 11 filing, Vice said it expected “…to emerge as a financially healthy and stronger company in two to three months”. In the circumstances that seemed optimistic but if an ongoing entity emerges it will be have to be very different to what Vice was, its high-cost model never adaptable to a business model in which free on-line content was sustained by advertising, even when such revenue was considerably higher than now.  Vice's lenders have agreed to provide US$20m to maintain the operation during “an orderly sale process”, during which other corporations or investors can submit bids.  If no sale is achieved, Vice Media's lenders will acquire all assets for US$225 million, the process is expected to take about two-three months.

Vice in the UK and US

In the sense of “deputy”, the use of vice in the UK (and the Commonwealth including Australia) can differ from that in US.  In the UK and Australia for example, a university vice-chancellor is really the CEO and the chancellor a ceremonial figurehead.  In the US a university president is in charge and their vice-president either an assistant or deputy.  It’s because these structures follow their respective country’s constitutional arrangements for government.  The UK has many such appointments, some of which became mere sinecures, others being active positions.  Vice-Admirals of the United Kingdom (and the earlier VAs of England and GB) have existed almost continuously since their creation in 1545 by Henry VIII and was the second most powerful office of the Admiralty, indeed until 1801, styled as Lieutenant of the Admiralty and the VA was deputy to the Lord High Admiral.  It’s another of those honorary offices now used as baubles; they litter the British establishment.

Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton (circa 1782), oil on canvas by George Romney (1734-1802).  Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) was the mistress of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson (1758-1805) and muse of the society portraitist, George Romney.

In the West, the law evolved to distinguish between what was vice (which might be subject variously to parental, societal or ecclesiastical disapprobation) and what was deemed unlawful (which the state could in some way punish).  Once though there was overlap and one amusing footnote in the history of matters LGBTQQIAAOP is the persistent urban myth Queen Victoria (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901) prevailed on the government not to include women under the provisions of “Gross Indecency contrary to Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885” because she didn’t believe there was anyone lesbionic in the world (or at least the British world).  The 1885 act (the so-called Labouchere Amendment) criminalised “gross indecency” between men, whether in public or private and replaced an earlier statute which since 1533 explicitly had criminalized “the detestable and abominable vice of buggery”; that evocative phrase (usually as “the abominable crime of buggery”) in some parts of the old British Empire remaining on the books for many decades and in England & Wales, as late as 1861, a conviction could attract the death penalty although this was thought so onerous a punishment for what was often a consensual act that prosecutions became rare.  For the state, the problem was the old law had been so specific and if the prosecution could not beyond reasonable doubt prove anal sex had happened between at least two “male persons”, a conviction couldn’t be secured.  Thus the attraction of the phrase “Gross Indecency” which covered the whole vista of “unnatural caresses” and it was under the new law Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was tried and convicted, receiving a sentence of two years.  At law, the concept of replacing something specific with something more general is called "fuzzy law" and the purpose is to make it more difficult for lawyers to thread their clients through loopholes created by "excessive exactitude" in wording.  Despite that, lawyers remain committed to rising to any linguistic challenge.