Monday, 31 October 2011

Dueling in the Present



Dueling as a word has a very clear definition


"Definition of DUEL
1
: a combat between two persons; specifically : a formal combat with weapons fought between two persons in the presence of witnesses
2
: a conflict between antagonistic persons, ideas, or forces;also : a hard-fought contest between two opponent

Examples of DUEL

They engaged in a duel of wits. 
<a duel for the title of captain of the team> 

Origin of DUEL

Middle English, from Medieval Latin duellum, from Old Latin, war
First Known Use: 15th century"



(Oxford dictionary 2011)

Dueling in the present is a rarity in modern culture other than in fiction due to newer laws against manslaughter and human life. Although the traditional sense of duelling isn't seen very often, more loose terms of the phrase are seen in media all the time such as dueling on games, dueling in movies or as by definition, interpret dueling as one on one sports such as tennis or snooker.










The one-on-one attitude to modern day duelling is a very popular subject amongst games due to peoples competitiveness and natural wanting to be the best. The vast majority of games nowadays almost always feature a form of multiplayer mode or score system, there are a lot of bonuses to games having multiplayer  especially since the ready availability for online gaming in the latest generation of games consoles such as PSN and xbox live. The biggest appeal of multiplayer gaming is the extension of replay value and more value for money let alone the social aspects.






In movies, especially in action films, as well as books dueling plays a big part at a final climax or final battle, by definition duelling is:


 ": a combat between two persons; specifically : a formal combat with weapons fought between two persons in the presence of witnesses" (Oxford dictionary 2011)

And almost every action film features a final one on one battle between the protagonist and the antagonist.








The harry potter franchise of books also feature dueling prominently and their popularity has been astounding (Rowling J,K, 2007)


The popularity of the harry potter franchise has been phenomenal selling movies, plays and even video games based on a book. The combination of magic and dueling has led to a very profitable franchise. This will be very useful to note for my predictions (Simon S, 2011) Harry Potter and the most successful movie franchises of all time


The concept of dueling after looking at it, i realise is actually a very common feature of modern day life, even politicians in their one on one conferences where they almost battle for one and others opinion and views. (The economist 2010) Duel on the box



I assume most toys are focused around being for just one child, due to the bigger market, although there is a wide branch of toys for siblings or toys that can be shared. As with the trend, these toys mainly feature competitive play as there's always a clear winner.





The game Red Dead Redemption featured a duelling mode in which the player could have a one on one duelling battle much like that of the old wild west duels. This game mode was more true to the definition of actual duelling and proved to be very popular, I believe due to its extremes of one on one fighting much like the original duels themselves.




While looking at pistol duelling I noticed that although the sport now is very much illegal, the pistols themselves are still very collectible and sell for hundreds of pounds. War memorabilia has always been a very popular theme for collectors and authentic duelling equipment can be very popular.
 (Gordan 2011) war memorabilia



This replica dueling cap gun sells for almost $500 (ebay 2011)

This will be very relevant to my research as the popularity of "obsolete" technology and themes will help my with my predictions.



The next step of duelling in the modern day is professional boxing, by every definition the sport is indeed duelling. Not only is boxing ever popular as a duelling sport, its also incredibly profitable. Professional boxing is a global sport which brings in thousands and thousands of pounds in bets, media and even in merchandising. This is very interesting considering how simple the concept of boxing actually is.







Duelling oriented sports are a very popular, they give people someone to support and believe in, and the person or team represents them. I believe this could revolve around a power belief, the people who support them feel empowered if the team who represents them wins, as if they themselves have won. The biggest and most prominent example of is football.








Football is a massive sport, with millions of supporters of both cities and nations, the game of football is duelling on a larger scale, rather than a one man on one man duel, it's a community on community battle, but the principles are very much the same. you quite often hear phrases such as "we beat you" or "we won" as if the supporters themselves have won the football match themselves, This feeling of power that the supports get from what is in essence, standing around and watching, shows that the competitive team vs team sports are and always be very popular as its a way for the average man to feel like they're great at something. (Ashish D, 2008) Sports Fan Psychology



a Quicker and less life threatening version of modern dueling is the humble game of rock paper scissors. this two player game is in essence a duel usually used to decide who goes first at something or often trivial matters like who gets the last piece of toast! Although a trivial game, its based on an almost random situation.






My research into the present of dueling shows that the traditional sense of dueling has evolved from aiming to kill or maim your opponent into simply just defeating your opponent at a task, this is especially true in games and sports however traditional duelling is still seen as plot in some movies, books and games. to investigate the past of dueling, i will look more into its original form and its variations such as the Mexican standoff. 
 


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Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Diesel on the horizon

There has always been a series of controversy over diesel and other fossil fuels, especially over the case of global warming. Diesel is an efficient and reliable fuel although weather it will have a future as a main fuel is still up to my research.




"Thanks to high fuel costs, tough-to-meet emissions targets and growing competition for scarce fossil fuel resources, the engine once championed for its efficiency and cost-effectiveness is finished." (Strong, D, 2008)




Diesel as a topic for the horizon is almost set in stone, almost every movie, book, game and other form of media has labelled diesel as an obsolete fossil fuel that leads to global warming with a growing shortage. This trend as a plot point in media is not going away fast and the horizon shows no change from the past to the present and into the horizon. Rather than trying to find information on what will happen to diesel itself as i already have a solid understanding from my previous posts, as the opinion of the subject will not change, i will instead look into the other refined uses of crude oil such as materials, plastics as well as alternative fuels and transports.



A key use of crude oil before it is refined into diesel is nylon for use in clothing due to its high resistance, nylon is often pictured as a futuristic clothing material as its moving away from organics

A lot of new clothing products that are soon to be produced using "smart materials" have a lot of independent features including the ability to pick up on the wearers heat and humidity levels and even heat up using electric wires to keep the wearer warm.



A simple electric sweater which is soon to become more common. (ashokkumar.110mb.com 2011)



Other than what would seem the intended use of clothing to keep warm, a lot of these new design for futuristic clothing feature a more specialised role, such as ones for diabetics which can detect the uses blood sugar level or even for people with heart problems.




These smart materials have been the stuff of science fiction for a long time and have been the centre piece of many films and games such as "the tuxedo" and the nano suit from "crysis" where the futuristic technology enhances the users strength and endurance. although this technology may soon be within reach1 in games and movies, this is taken to the next step in which its usually a characters armour or brain functions which are enhanced with energy shields or heads up displays.
(Various authors 2005-constant updates) Power Armor


An upcoming game that heavily features the use of smart materials in the players clothing (armour) is mass effect 3. This upcoming game features a lot of smart materials such as the ability to go invisible by curving light around the user or even absorbing the impact of projectile weapons by hardening or softening areas of the material. although this isn't reality, the technology is plausible and may be available at some point in the future.


A very popular topic from my previous research was which shows a growing trend on the horizon is dieselpunk. This topic i believe is soon to overtake and replace steampunk as the major "punk" genre and style and on the horizon its growing more and more popular..



Steampunk has been an incredibly popular topic in previous years due to its "cover all bases" style in which its up to interpretation for each person, With dieselpunk the soon to be successor of steampunk, the growing trend and popularity assures it as a popular theme amongst a wide base of people.





The vast majority of upcoming diesel books are like this (Mcdonald B 2012)


When looking for upcoming books on the horizon to see what was popular for diesel I found that the vast majority of the top results were all diesel engine repair and maintenance books. I believe this either shows that diesel engines will still be a viable method of travel in the horizon or that the publishers have nostalgia collectors in mind.

In the literal form of diesel, the diesel engine is changing, shows such as top gear show a growing trend for diesel and show a lot of concept cars for the near future. Lately pressure on diesel as being a large contributor to greenhouse gasses has loosened and more and more concept cars are focusing on diesel power again albeit only as "hybrids". (Leggett D, 2011) Diesel hybrids set for growth in Europe




Concept cars are used a lot in modern media and have always, ALWAYS been a popular trend for car fans as they are the definition of what's on the horizon, they are sneak peaks of small glimpses into the near future. this is a large feature in modern films and games where they feature concept cars and vehicles such as the transformers series. (Unknown author, 2011) Concept Cars

The fact the cars could transform in the film only added to the popularity of the concept cars (tfwiki.net 2011)

Due to the incredible popularity of the concept car designs in the films, the company chevrolet saw this and responded by turning the majority of the concept cars into limited edition car releases due for release in 2012.
(Bima E, author 2011) 2012 Chevrolet Camaro Transformers Special Edition







"2012 Chevrolet Camaro Transformers Special Edition to celebrate the premiere of the third installment of the sci-fi francise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. the limited edition Transformers Camaro Coupe will be available in the US, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, South America and the Middle East." (Bima E, 2010) Luxury car reviews,



After looking through my research, i notice that trains have been heavily influenced by diesel over the years, so I'm going to see how this trend follows into the horizon.





Trains have progressed a lot further than diesel over the years and are converting more and more into becoming fully electric powered. This concept train is developed by Siemens for use with the London underground, however the company has tried to make a it a multiple use system for EU tracks as well.


"Siemens has developed the concept as the basis of a product family adaptable for use on different LU lines. The design includes what Siemens terms an ‘iconic’ front end that it hopes may one day become a London landmark." (Railway gazette 2011) 







My research into the horizon of diesel has given me a good insight into the very finite future of diesel as a fuel but has also given me some good views into smart materials and their uses.
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Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Diesel in the past

I will start by looking at the very start of the word diesel by visiting the Anson engine museum which describes the creation and invention of the first diesel engine


The first diesel engine was designed and made by Rudolf Diesel in 1893 albeit it was very low performance and it didn't really leave the experimental stages for many, many years. 
(Anson engine museum 2011) Rudolph Diesel



A recreation of the first diesel engine at the Anson engine museum. (Photo by Robert Higgins 2011)



This early design of the diesel engine is very reminiscent of the Victorian age and the age of "industry" after seeing it, i am instantly reminded of old locomotives and cotton mills. The large piston wheel design is a very common sight in older movies and other old Victorian designs.






These old locomotive designs are fantastic, even though they don't use diesel as they're main fuel source, they're piston wheel design was Rudolf Diesels major inspiration when creating the diesel engine.



 "He referred to the young Frenchman Sadi Carnot (1796 - 1832), who discovered the Carnot' cyclic process, a physical principle that describes the ideal process of the burn in an engine"




While looking at further pictures of these old style diesel engines I found a blog that has found nostalgic robots made from old engine parts .

This blog is full of really interesting things, the author, has dedicated the blog to the mass sharing of interesting information and pictures with no real guidelines or criteria.




An old style detective story magazine that was found along with several diesel themed photographs.(information2share.wordpress.com 2008)


The art style on this magazine is really effective, its incredibly simplistic but has a very realistic approach.





While browsing the site i searched for a similar topic from earlier for the locomotives and found this incredible picture of a docked cargo container, :



A large cargo container that was found following dockside diesel cranes. (information2share.wordpress.com 2008)


This is a very innovative way of loading cargo containers, rather than using the traditional winch driven loading cranes, they simply drive the train rail cargo containers onto the ship itself. I assume the process is much faster, albeit at the cost of cargo space.


 The container cranes are actually driven solely on (wait for it) Diesel engines. Apparently this method has been around for years, with diesel being the main fuel for these industrial machines.
(Jordan M 1995) Dockside container cranes 




The huge 80mm schwerer gustav (interestingengineering.com 2010) 

Following the topic of trains and rails in the past, i stumbled upon this, the WW2 era Schwerer Gustav railway cannon: reference here: This mighty railway cannon was developed during world war 2 in order to shell large cities from up to 40 kilometres away. still sticking with the themes of diesel, this grungy rail mounted weapon of war has a very unique design and purpose. (Zimmer, G 1998) Self-Propelled 80cm Gun


While looking into the schwerer gustav and the Anson engine museum, I found that both diesel and petrol were immensely popular during WW2 with almost all vehicles, generators, equipment and and transports all being powered by fuel over electricity, this is definitely something of note for the popularity of diesel as WW2 is an incredibly popular theme for games, movies and books. (Anson engine museum 2011) WW2 engines




Another style for diesel that has been interpreted in the past is "dieselpunk" This art style is very reminiscent of 1940's, although with a very surreal twist such as mechs, floating devices and spaceships. its the idea of futuristic technology but made during WW2. (Gan, R, 2011) What is dieselpunk




this style has a very dirty feel to it and very reminiscent of the older designs from Volkswagen using lots of rivets and small panes of glass. Dieselpunk is also the natural follower of steampunk, an artistic style using obsolete technology, as diesel becomes more and more obsolete, so will the popularity of dieselpunk itself.



After visiting the family for the weekend i visited my uncle who worked in the major Bentley production centre in Crewe as well as working for several other car companies over the years. While looking through his garage for textures and reference he showed my how several variants of engines work including the rotary engine as well as an engine of his own design. The rotary engine was created for aircraft in the early 1900's by using several rotating cogs to create a triangle motion that creates its own compression chambers without the use of pistons. (Channon, G, 2011) Bentley worker and mechanic





My uncle also gave me several old books for motoring from the 1960's, including a copy of "young driver" from 1960, priced at 2 shillings and a sixpence. The book has some fantastic insights into the past of motoring, it also includes a section labelled "a look into the future" which is how they imagined the 1990's would look. (Young driver magazine 1960) Young driver




(Young driver magazine 1960)


This sections shows a surprisingly accurate concept of A large city with motorways and large roads going through it. An interesting idea they had was specialised highways that take advantage of cruise control meaning the driver can sit back and relax. There are some amazing predictions that have actually been implemented including the rate of closure radar for parking and the inclusion of no sharp edges on cars.
(Smith M, 1960) Far out in 1990



This will be very relevant to my research as the pasts prediction of the future will give me some gauge on how accurate or believable my predictions will be.



The scarcity of fossil fuels combined with the constant and over exaggerated scare of global warming and the icecaps melting has been a common plot point in games and movies. A good example of this is "Waterworld" the 1995 film staring Kevin Costner based in a world completely covered by water due to the affects of global warming. (Reynolds K, 1995) Waterworld




The affects of global warming in Waterworld are a lot more over dramatic than it actually is. Although this form of "scare" tactic works very well for media supporting low emission cars and other ways of cutting back global warming. It's almost a form of propaganda.



Other films that use world wide problems or current events are usually, and very frequently films based on modern day or past wars. This trend will surely carry on as it works as a form of propaganda with the "Support our troops" attitude as well as the constant and every available layout for protagonists and antagonists. It also plays on the home countries sense of patriotism. (Dinello C 2010) propaganda and patriotism


These films, such as black hawk down and Hurt locker both share the common goal of "America vs the middle east" and I believe that this trend of film will always continue for most major or minor conflicts in the world.






While looking at the movie Black hawk down I started looking at the helicopter from the title of the film, the black hawk. Made as a jack of all trades helicopter, the black hawk can fill the roles of support and gunship but mainly performs the duty of transport. This Research will benefit my looks into diesel as a fuel source for the military. (Eagle 2011) Black hawk helicopter


The black hawk is a "poster boy" helicopter that is used a lot by the us forces and is the generic US army helicopter in modern media, it is crewed by two pilots, can carry 2,640 lb of cargo internally, including 14 troops or 9,000 lb of cargo externally via a cable and winch system.
(Eagle 2011) Black hawk helicopter


While following the path of transport, I'm going to look into the ideal versions of transport as alternatives to fossil fuel as viewed from the past. As diesel has been sought after to be replaces as far back as 1960.(Smith M, 1960) Far out in 1990



The most idealistic mode of transportation that has been very popular in the past and one of the pinnacle views of "the future" is Teleportation, the ideal transition of instantaneous travel between places A, and B.
(Dowling D, 2009) teleportation is real






Featured A lot in old futuristic films and Tv shows such as star trek, teleportation is an ideal and convenient form of travel. Predictably enough its hard to find solid information about teleportation. There are a lot of theories and similar but impractical tests out there but no real solid ones or even one major theory that the others are based off. (Dowling D, 2009) teleportation is real



The teleportation in star trek seems like the ultimate form of travel, even though the show is based around space travel and space ships. even with the prospect of instantaneous travel, the future ships seem to have some form of a "cheat" button, such as warp speed or light speed. These are usually plot hole fillers in films and games to travel between planets,  but there are some game out there that put a lot of thought into a form of science behind it such as mass effect. (Bioware 2007) Mass effect









The mass effect is a fictional reaction based around real ones. (where the game gets its name) that translates energy. The idea is that you can never destroy energy, just translate and convert it, the game uses this with the ability to transfer any amount of energy to any other source. 



"a simple paint chip can impact with the same destructive force as a nuclear weapon. However, mass accelerators produce recoil equal to their impact energy.." 


This is a very clever theory, it enables the use of high speed interstellar travel using theories that are properly thought out rather than just pure science fiction.


Looking back at diesel in the past and old steam trains that inspired diesels design, i remembered the old cliche' for Christmas toys. The model train set under the Christmas tree, this tradition has been around for generations and is a main feature of a lot of Christmas stories, movies and cards.






My research into the past of diesel has left me with a strong pattern of transport and war as its major purpose and representation in media as well as solutions to replace diesel stretching back to as long as 1960. In my research into the horizon, I will look into the future of the fuel source as well as the by products of diesel such as clothing and alternative fuels.

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