Vehicles from TV serials

KITT from "Knight Rider", the helicopter "Airwolf", "The A-Team's" van... There are TV series in which the vehicles are very important - perhaps even more important than humans.

Knight Rider

In Poland, the show was known as "Nieustraszony" and its main character was Michael Knight (played by David Hasselhoff), who solved criminal riddles. However, he would have had a hard time of it if not for his car KITT - Knight Industries Two Thousand. KITT was a transformed Pontiac Trans Am 1982 (the tv series was filmed in 1982-86). Apparently, six cars were used during the filming, and after they finished, all six were destroyed.

In 2008, NBC returned to the idea of Knight Rider, but this time it was Michael Knight’s son behind the wheel. However, the production did not appeal to the viewers, and the new "Knight Rider" quickly disappeared from TV.

The A-Team

The black van with red motifs could probably be regarded as a full member of the legendary A-Team. The main characters of this cult series - Hannibal, Face, Murdoch, and B.A. Barracus- toured in the van back and forth across the United States on a mission to help those in need of services which can only be provided by a professional team of ex-United States Army officers (they were wrongly accused of bank robbery in Hanoi and are on the run). The van, which takes an active part in all their missions, is a GMC Vandura G-1500. A very similar van was used in the long overdue, full-length film “The A-Team” which was in cinemas this year.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You!

In this famous cartoon, which has recently been made into a film, the talking dog - Scooby Doo and his faithful sidekicks: Fred, Daphne, Velma ( and in a few of the seasons the hyper-active puppy - Scrappy Doo) travel the country in a psychedelic van painted in green, blue, and orange flowers, while solving various mysteries and chasing ghosts. The van is also known as the Mystery Machine van and is one the most recognizable vehicles in cartoon series.




Renegade

This series, starring Lorenzo Lamas as an ex-cop bounty hunter on the run - Rainesie Reno, who was falsely accused of murder and testified against his fellow cops, who tried to kill him. He is forced to flee from the corrupt Dutch Dixon, his main nemesis. Joining forces with Bobby Sixkiller, they are on the run, and they do so in style, on Harley motorcycles.

Do you know any other interesting vehicles from TV serials?

Feel free to discuss.

Drunk drivers

Everyone likes to drink alcohol, but one of the drawbacks of doing so, is that we often find ourselves in a situation where we have to find someone to drive us home.

My friends and I usually order a taxi, but there also are people who go ahead and sit in the driver's seat after one too many drinks.

To help deal with this issue, at the request of the Russian Interior Ministry, the 'alkolaser' has been invented. It is a sensor which detects the presence of alcohol vapors in the cabin of a moving car, and uses a special laser which is safe for the eyes.

Produced by "Laser Systems",a company based in St. Petersburg, it was one of the hits at the recent technology fair in Hanover Messe, where it was presented publically for the first time.

The sensor detects the presence of alcohol vapor in the cabin of the car through the windshield, provided that it has no tint which blocks excessive sunglare.

The device detects blood alcohol content at the lowest concentration of 1 ppm (one particle per million).
This concentration is achieved if the person in the cabin drank a liter of beer or 100 grams of vodka.

However, the alkolaser does not show who in the cabin is under the influence,so after being pulled over, the driver will obviously have to blow into the breathalyzer to make sure that he is sober and the passenger is the one drunk.

Will the alkolaser prove an effective method to reduce the numer of drunk drivers on the roads? We shall see in practice. One thing is for sure,though. It will make people think twice before drunk-driving. However, without tightening sanctions and their reinforcing, drunk drivers will still be a danger on the raods.

What is your opinion on the alkolaser? Is it a good idea? Or maybe you have another, better and more effective proposal to combat drunk drivers? All discussion is welcome!

Professor, send me back in time.

Is time travel theoretically and practically possible? This is one of the unsolved problems in physics. Unsolved doesn't mean that there aren't any theories, science theories.

There are three main concepts that theoretically allow time travel:

Travel faster than the speed of light

According to Albert Einsteins theories it is not possible because it would require infinite amounts of energy. Of course I'm talking about lights speed in vacuum, in other substances light is traveling slower and in fact it is possible to travel faster.

It is yet to be proved whether it is possible but lets take a hypothetical signal that is traveling FTL (faster than light). A sends a signal to B, B responds to A - in this case A would recieve a reply before sending the signal!

Use cosmic strings

Cosmic strings are (hypothetical) one dimensional "things" with great mass. They are supposed to be able to bend matter and light therefore allow time travel.

Use a black hole

Like cosmic strings black holes can bend light and matter. The only problem is that they suck everything in and let nothing out, would be hard to return :)

---

Grandfather paradox

Let us assume we found a way to travel in time. What if "us" from the past die, will we perish aswell? This is one of the arguments that traveling back in time may be impossible, yet there are theories that allow it.

First of them says that all timelines are self-consistent meaning whatever you change in the past it was part of the story all along. You were determined by history to make that change.

Second is used extensively in "Back to the Future" movies. It says that there are multiple parallel timelines. Change in one of them won't affect your timeline.

Final questions:

A young scientist travels into the past one minute with a time machine he just built. With him he took a gun and killed his past self who was loading the gun, instantly killing him. Who fired the shot? (by Stephen Hawking)

Which came first, chicken or the egg?

What would you like to do during your trip in time?

Back to the Future!

Time travel. Who wouldn't want to go back in time to change something or to the future to see how things worked out?

The entertainment sector is at your service! I'll present a handful of titles that involve time travel.

A Christmas Carol - a novel written by Charles Dickens. Ghost takes Scrooge with him into the future and past to show him the consequences of his bad decisions in life.

Most recent adaptation was in year 2009 directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Jim Carrey. Sadly I have never seen this movie nor read that book. Is it worth reading?

Planet of Apes. This is a story of an astronaut crew who crash land on a very strange planet in the distant future. It seems that the planet is populated by intelligent apes that use humans as slaves and pets.

It's very interesting to see humans in such a role, good movie to think about how we treat other races.

Original in 1968, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.

The Terminator - intelligent machines declare war on the human race and try exterminate them.

Great special effects and forces us to think how technology can be dangerous.

First part filmed in 1984, directed by James Cameron, starring Arnold Shwarzenegger the future governor on California!

Back to the Future - A flux capacitor invented by a crazy inventor allows time travel. Marty McFly changes the past causing major damage in the future resulting in him not being born.

1985, directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Michael J. Fox. This year we have a 25year anniversary celebration. This is a series on 3 movies (trilogy).

Deja vu - Travel back in time to save a woman from being murdered and fall in love with her during the process? There you go!

2006, starring Denzel Washington.

Inception - A word created probably out of combining "infection" with "conception". A thief experianced in entering minds and stealing knowlege when his prey is sleeping gets a tough job which he can not decline. Infect a mind with a conception introduced by someone else. Great special effects and multi dimensional action!

2010, directed by Christofer Nola, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Great movie, not connected to time travel but showing how time and matter can be bent and relative depending on your position.

Can you suggest any other good movies that are related to time travel and force our minds to think? I can watch them over and over again and they never get old!

Questions:

Have you seen any of these movies? Did you like them?

Do you know any other movies/books related to time travelling?

Do you think time travels are possible?

Tic tok...

Very often we can hear a statement "time flies". Have you ever wondered what is "time" anyway and how can it fly?

By definition "time is a one-dimensional quantity used to sequence events, to quantify the durations of events and the intervals between them, and (used together with space) to quantify and measure the motions of objects". Time adds a fourth dimension to our 3d world.

Worth noting is that time measurements are one of the biggest achievements done by humanity.

Let us leave our synchronized over the internet clocks and move back in time to the beginning of calendar.

History of the calendar

As with everything it is always easier to start with bigger things and slowly focus on details. With regard to time calendars and the first to be developed. Around 20,000 years ago first lunar calendars are made. They are based on cycles of the moon (lunar phases), have 12 or 13 months and are quite inaccurate. Every few years some extra days or months had to be added to stop seasons drift away.

In 45BC the Roman empire adopted a new calendar, whose dates indicate the position of the Earth on its revolution around the sun. The solar calendar was less faulty but still the error was around 11 minutes per year.

To fix this problem Pope Gregory XIII introduced in 1583 a correction creating, the same creating a new calendar - the Gregorian calendar. The same we are using every day. Each year has exactly 365 days, 5 hours 49 minutes and 12 seconds. Moreover day counts completely repeat every 400 years.

While at the topic of calendars, in religions we can divide them into two groups: linear and cyclical. In Christianity time is linear meaning things are happening one after another and do not repeat.

However Mayan, Incan, Babylonian, Ancient Greek, Buddhism, Hindu cultures introduce a concept of a wheel of time. In short it means that ages repeat for every living being. life > death >life > death. Think of reincarnation. Apocalyptic theories misinterpret Mayan calendar, it is not ending, it is finishing a full cycle.

Below there is a photo of my Mayan calendar carved in obsidian which I bought during my trip to Mexico.

---

Timekeeping devices

Since we know how to count days it is good to divide them even further to be more specific when we are trying to schedule a meeting. Instead of saying "let's meet when the sun is the highest" it is far more specific to say "let's meet at 12.00".

A sundial is one of the most basic devices to keep track on time. Basing on the suns position the shade indicates the hour on the markings. Quite convienient but it doesn't work on a cloudy day. However if you combine a sundial with a hourglass you can maintain time observations.

Chronometers were a true revolution in time measurement devices. Balance wheels and spiral springs made it possible to achieve good precision. Quartz clocks brought it to a next level of accuracy. Based on a known resonance frequency of quartz crystal (32,786Hz) it keeps track of time.

Swiss watches are known to be the best. A Swiss organization - COSC is responsible for certifying the accuracy and precision of wristwatches in Switzerland. According to its standards daily error is -4/+6 seconds for mechanical and +- 0,07 seconds for quartz mechanisms.

Atomic clocks research started in mid 1950s. Chip scaled atomic clock error rate is 1 second in 300 years. Quantum clock which was presented in March 2008 is the most accurate till date. Its error would exceed a second over a billion of years!

You can always check if your watch is showing the right time by visiting http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/european-union/poland/time/ for the most up to date time.

Time zones

Questions

Do you know any other devices to measure time?

Recently we set our clocks one hour backwards, why?

Surveys show that fewer and fewer people wear wrist watches, what is causing this trend?

Hello Again!



I would like to remind you that you can work on the following blogs:



http://pjwstk2ms.blogspot.com/

http://pjwstk3ms.blogspot.com/

http://uwb2m-s.blogspot.com/

If there is no presentation on your blog or you believe you have no opinion on the topic, just go to the other blog and work there. All posts will be read.

If it is the last blog, comment on the presentations that you read there in your group blog giving only the link to what you are commenting.

Something to laugh.

The lighthouse station called Arctowski is probably the most southerly lighthouse in the world. Built at the Polish research station in Antarctica named after Henryk Arctowski, the famous 19th century Polish geographer and Antarctic explorer. Situated on King George Island in the South Shetlands group, its geographical position is 62o10'S, 58o28'W.

The following is the transcript of the radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland:

Canadian: “This is A-853, please change your course 15 degrees South to avoid colliding with us. You are coming straight towards us, distance 25 nautical miles."

American: "We recommend that you change your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision."

Canadian: "Negative. We repeat, change your course 15 degrees South to avoid a collision."

American: "You are talking to the captain of a ship of the United States of America. We insist you turn your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision."

Galician: "We do not consider that feasible or advisable. We suggest that you change your course 15 degrees South to avoid colliding with us."

American (very angry): "You are talking to Captain Richard James Howard, at the bridge of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln of the USA Navy, the second biggest warship of the North American fleet. We are escorted by two battleships, three destroyers, five cruisers, four submarines and numerous amphibious support vessels. We are on our way to the Persian Gulf to prepare military manoeuvres before a possible attack on Iraq. I am not suggesting, I am ordering you to change your course fifteen degrees North! Otherwise we will be forced to take any measures necessary to guarantee both the safety of this ship and the force of this coalition. You belong to an allied country and a member of NATO, so obey immediately and get out of our way!"

Canadian: "You are speaking to Jose Manuel Otero-Rivas. We are two people. We are escorted by our dog, our food, two beers and a canary that is currently asleep. We have the support of Radio Coruňa FM and Channel 16 for marine emergencies. We are not intending to move anywhere as we are speaking to you from the mainland, from lighthouse A-853 on the coast of Newfoundland, and we don’t have a clue what our ranking is of Canadian lighthouses.
You may take whatever measures you consider opportune and bloody well feel like to guarantee the safety of your ship, which is about to shred itself on the rocks, but what we continue to insist and suggest as the best, most sane and more recommendable course of action, is to turn 15 degrees South to avoid colliding with us."

American: "OK. Copy that…"