Review: Blade Runner

Based on Philip K. Dick's sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner is a dark film set in the not-too-distant future that asks the question: What does is mean to be alive?

Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a Blade Runner whose job it is to "retire" Replicants - robots built to look exactly like humans and perform less-than-desirable functions in society. The problem is, however, that sometimes the Replicants get a little too attached to existence and aren't willing to go without a fight. Rutger Hauer plays Roy Batty, a soldier Replicant who leads a mutiny that results in some human casualties prompting the Corporation to task Deckard with "retiring" Batty and his gang of rogue Replicants. In the course of the job Deckard must not only confront this formidable force but also his own self.

The film is beautifully shot and set in Los Angeles in 2019, a city whose street language is a combination of English, Spanish, and Japanese, and whose architecture is a nightmarish blend of Neo-Gothic, Bauhaus, and Modernism. It is not only an excellent adaptation of Dick's novel but also a masterpiece of film.

"Jonathan! Jonathan!"

"The point of the game is to show the futility of individual effort."

-Bartholomew, Rollerball

Bushido: the Way of the Warrior

Bushido, the famous “Code of the Samurai” is often entirely misunderstood. It is commonly believed that it is a morbid, Existentialist, death-obsessed philosophy when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. This post will attempt to not only correct the understanding of this invaluable way of life but also show how it is as necessary and relevant to all of us today as it was to 15th century samurai.

Bushido literally translates as “the Way of the Warrior” and for those who embrace its philosophy its application extends to the entirety of one's life. In short, it is a way of living in which awareness is maintained at every moment, every situation is assessed strategically and every action is executed with absolute commitment – reflecting the mindset and decisiveness that is essential for victory in combat. It's primary application, however, is in one's life and can be applied to every aspect of it.

The starting point for shifting one's point of view to mirror that of a warrior's begins with recognizing and accepting one's own impending death. Recognition and acceptance of that fact not only focuses the mind on the value of every moment but also frees one from all illusions of permanence and the fear and attachment that naturally follows. Don Juan sums this idea up nicely when he remarks, “In a world where death is a hunter, my friend, there is not time for doubts or regrets. There is only time for decisions.”

Marcus Aurelius, too, echoed these thoughts when he wrote,"Since it is possible that you may be quitting life this very moment, govern every act and thought accordingly."

The tendency, however, is to attempt to prolong life as much as possible because of the assumption that a longer life is, implicitly, better. To change our perspective on this idea we again turn to Marcus Aurelius:

"If any god told you that you should die tomorrow, or certainly the day after tomorrow, you would not care much whether it was the third day or the morrow, unless you were completely mean-spirited - for the difference is too small to consider. So think no great matter to die after as many years as you can name rather than the morrow."

And if that were not enough to persuade one of the futility of trying to hold on to life, perhaps the directness of one of Marcus Aurelius' other statements will put things in perspective: "Soon you will have forgotten all things; and soon all things will have forgotten you."

With the acceptance of his own death, then, and the conclusion of the play already determined, the warrior is now free to act in the most impeccable manner, without fear of failure or an ounce of hesitation. That freedom actually results in the flawless execution of every act and, ironically, creates the greatest possibility of success in any endeavor. Ultimately, however, the victory or defeat is irrelevant for it is only one battle in an already-lost war. The victory lies is in the impeccable execution of the act and not in whether or not it is “successful”.

Miyamoto Musashi, the infamous Japanese swordsman and 17th century samurai, in his masterpiece The Book of Five Rings, admits that “I dueled more than sixty times...never once did I lose...When I had passed the age of thirty and reflected on my experiences I realized that I had not been victorious because of consummate attainment of martial arts. Perhaps it was because I had an inherent skill for the science and had not deviated from natural principles. It may also have been due to shortcomings in the martial arts of other schools. In any case, I subsequently practiced day and night in order to attain an ever deeper principle, and spontaneously came upon the science of martial arts. I was about fifty years old at that time.”

There is an old kendo saying that sums up the spirit of Bushido and how the warrior faces his opponent:

Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with escaping safely – lay your life before him!

Don Juan gives the same advice to Castaneda when he says to him, “Let each of your acts be your last battle on earth. Only under those conditions will your acts have their rightful power. Otherwise they will be, for as long as you live, the acts of a timid man.”

The warrior has to maintain awareness and clarity regardless of the chaos that may envelope him so that he may have the presence of mind to recognize the smallest sliver of chance that presents itself and be able to seize it. Don Juan refers to this opportunity as the “cubic centimeter of chance.” “All of us,” he says, “whether or not we are warriors, have a cubic centimeter of chance that pops out in front of our eyes from time to time. The difference between an average man and a warrior is that the warrior is aware of this, and one of his tasks is to be alert, deliberately waiting, so that when this cubic centimeter of chance pops out he has the necessary speed...the gumption necessary to grab it.”

With cool-headed clarity the warrior quickly assesses the battlefield, considers his possible courses of action, and makes the best decision he can at the moment. Once the decision is made, however, he never looks back. Again, don Juan: “A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. But once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon.”

Don Juan's statement should not be taken to mean that one should act with reckless abandon once a decision is made, though. Responsibility is the cornerstone of the life of a warrior and the reason that he is of any use to those around him for without it he is potentially a destructive force. With consciousness of his power and, consequentially, his responsibility, he acts with full awareness of his actions. In the words of the don, “When a man decides to do something he must go all the way but he must take responsibility for what he does.”

The life of a warrior is not an easy one. If it were, it would have no value. It results in a state of near-constant tension and alertness and the discipline required to walk the line is difficult to maintain. Despite the difficulty of the Way, however, the impeccability that one strives for is perhaps the most essential attitude that one must have in life. Marcus Aurelius summed it up beautifully when he wrote, "You shall not live to read your own memoirs, or the acts of the ancient Roman and Greeks, or the selections from books which you were reserving for old age. Hasten then to the goal which you have before you. Throw away vain hopes and come to your own aid, while yet you may, if you care at all for yourself." Later on in Meditations he writes, "Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it." We would be wise to listen to his words.

In the end “a warrior is only a man. A humble man,” as don Juan says. And all that remains is to act as impeccably as possible up until that final moment in which, as don Juan describes “his impeccable spirit, which has stored power after stupendous hardships, can hold his death for a moment, a moment long enough to let him rejoice for the last time in recalling his power.”

In concluding this post on Bushido, I leave you with the words of Marcus Aurelius:

"Soon, very soon, you will be ashes or a skeleton, a name or not even a name; and what is a name but sound and echo? And the things much valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling, like little dogs biting one another, and like children quarreling, laughing, and then straightaway weeping. But fidelity and modesty and justice and truth are fled

Up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth."

Breaking News: The Third Reich made the Castro look like Mayberry

Yes, I know it's hard to believe but it's true: the Third Reich was actually a gay-pride parade that got a little out of hand. In a brilliant piece of reporting The Daily Show has revealed what the scholars at Defend the Family have known for so long: that the Nazi's widespread homosexuality led to their barbaric violence and how by discriminating against gays in the US Military we can prevent our own forces from becoming blood-thirsty killers. When you think about it, they did have some really snazzy uniforms...very suspicious!

Click here to see The Daily Show's impressive piece of investigative journalism that uncovered this previously-hidden historical fact.

剣  一  乱
を  人  の
抜  で  中
く  立  に
    っ
    て
 

In the midst of chaos
I stand alone,
Sword drawn

The Scroll of Emptiness

"In emptiness there is good but no evil. Wisdom exists, logic exists, the Way exists, mind is empty."

-Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Photo Essay: Life on an Iraqi Road

Breaking News: Girl Raised From Birth By Wolf Blitzer Taken Into Protective Custody

In fortunate turn of events for a young girl named Molly, what would have been a life of rambling, drab analysis and sensational schlock-reporting was averted today when she was taken into protective custody from Wolf Blitzer who had raised her from birth.

Scientists now face the daunting task of re-educating this child with the hopes that she may one day be able to rejoin society. Fortunately for these brave scientists, young Molly was not first found by the "ravenous Rick Sanchez" under whom a deeper conditioning in meaningless reporting, stupidity, and faulty analysis would have been perhaps impossible to undue, although not nearly as unachievable as attempting to salvage any of the poor children unfortunate enough to have been raised by Geraldo Rivera, Glenn Beck, or Sean Hannity of which none, as of yet, have been de-programmed and remain in quarantine for the good of society.

See the full story here courtesy of our sister publication, The Onion News Network.

Video of fighter jet crashing

Watch this incredible video of a Canadian fighter jet stalling and the pilot ejecting right before the plane slams into the ground!

Journey to Ixtlan: Dreams and their Meaning

We spend almost a third of our lives asleep. Given an average life expectancy in the United States of 78.2 years that works out to be 26 years of our lives in which, for most of us, we are essentially completely unconscious, unaware, and only superficially interacting with our environment. Surely an activity which consumes one-third of our lives has an important role far beyond simply resting us up so that we can dazzle everyone in the board meeting tomorrow morning with our PowerPoint presentation? Upon closer reflection I believe that it will become exceedingly clear that this is not, in fact, the function of sleep and that its real importance is in what it allows our psyche to do - an activity that is profound and directly relates to the entire purpose of our existence.

At first glance it appears that the purpose of sleep lies in the activity itself: in the slowing down of the circadian rhythms, the lowered heart-rate, deeper breathing, and physical regeneration which takes place during those 8 hours or so. But those functions are purely physiological and, I believe, not the primary purpose of the activity for the real objective lies in what happens to the psyche as a result of that state, namely: dreaming.

Dreams are the medium through which our Unconscious is able to communicate with our Waking Consciousness in the manner that our Mind understands: through imagery and emotion. Oftentimes our dreams will be vivid or disturbing enough that we remember them after waking and the jarring that occurs as a result of the dream may stay with us long afterwards. In those cases, the Unconscious has managed to bridge the gap between it and it our Waking Consciousness and convey its message in its own language: through symbolism and imagery.

The Unconscious, the living consciousness that exists below our Waking Consciousness and which possesses an intelligence and awareness of staggering implications, directs our lives in a manner and to a degree that we are oftentimes completely unaware of, for our Waking Consciousness is but a small piece of the puzzle that is our Psyche. Wired into the Collective Consciousness that we all share, it has access to information and a level of understanding that our Waking Consciousness is not only not privy to, but oftentimes incapable of processing because of its own shortcomings and biases. Our Mind is capable of processing and analyzing data, generating conclusions based on pattern analysis, and attempting to make some sense of the phenomenon we experience. But its tools are limited in their scope and its only source of information is our sensory perception - useful but hardly a lot to go on.

Our Unconscious, however, operates at a level far deeper than our Mind and has access to information through the network of the Collective Consciousness that, when presented to the Mind, oftentimes seems so insightful that it borders on prophetic. The boundary between our Unconscious and Conscious Mind, which has only been widened and solidified by centuries of Rationalism and Industrialization, however, makes it difficult to tap into that source of wisdom. It is the function of dreams, therefore, to bridge that gap and allow the Waking Consciousness to connect to the brilliance of the Unconscious so that it may receive that wisdom that it truly needs to make good choices and further the individual's development.

In order to communicate with the our Consciousness, the Unconscious generates dreamscapes, dream characters, and story lines that have an individualized, personal meaning for the dreamer. There are, certainly, common themes and symbols that appear in dreams across cultures and throughout time, and they are discussed at length by Jung in Man and his Symbols and his other works, should the reader be interested in further study in dream symbolism. For most dream analysis, however, the imagery is highly personal and intended to mean something to the dreamer - the target audience.

Through dreams, the Unconscious is able to show the dreamer his fears, his insecurities, issues that he's facing that he has been avoiding, and, at the same time, the wisdom of how to overcome those obstacles and move towards the goal of a better balanced, healthy, self-actualized individual. In a sense, the dreams contains the problem and the solution although oftentimes deciphering what those are can be quite challenging and can take serious self-analysis and reflection.

Most of us may often wonder if what we dreamt was 'real' in an objective sense or if all the characters and the dream itself were simply a product of our 'imagination' and, in due course, simply subjective. Modern man would answer that all dreams are simply imagination and do not 'exist' in the sense that we understand anything to exist. I disagree with this view. Dream-reality is, I believe, another layer of reality in this unbelievably profound Universe, and may not be any less 'real' than the reality you experience reading the morning paper. That's not to say, however, that all the characters that appear in dreams are the actual people, or that the things that happen in the dream actually took place, rather that dream-reality is a mixture of those two possibilities and one must have the awareness and presence of mind to distinguish which is which. In most cases, I believe that the dream characters are not the 'real people' they appear to be but rather representations of something in our lives or in our psyche that manifest in that manner because of the symbolism that they hold for us. In the end, however, the symbols and the meanings they hold for us are what is important and whether or not they are 'real' is largely irrelevant.

As an interesting note there is an old Taoist story about Chuang-tzu who dreamt that he was a butterfly. When he awoke he wondered if he were a man who had dreamt that he was a butterfly or, rather, if he was a butterfly dreaming he was a man.

The other question oftentimes raised is whether dreams emerge from the individual's Unconscious or from the Collective Unconscious. The answer, I believe, lies in the proposition that the two are not separate entities and that an individual's Unconscious is similar to a single wave in an ocean - somewhat separate and yet composed of and inextricably tied to the whole. As such, the wisdom of our Unconscious emerges from that Sea of Consciousness and is, therefore, truly powerful.

Interestingly enough, in "primitive" societies where Man's psyche is not as fractured and out of touch with the Unconscious and whose internal boundaries and more permeable and less rigid, the attention they give their dreams greatly exceeds our own and, as a result, they are far less psychologically imbalanced. They listen to their dreams and live their lives accordingly with the end result being far fewer Prozac and Ambien prescriptions. Perhaps "primitive" Man knows something we've forgotten.

Remembering dreams can be challenging, however, even for the avid dreamer, and in most cases our interaction in dream-reality is reactionary and largely unconscious, at best. As a result, we spend 26 years of our lives relatively unconscious, even if we do listen to our Unconscious and apply the lessons in our life - which is more than most people ever do. And yet it still seems that those 26 years are wasted, to a certain degree, because our Consciousness is in something of a coma for the entirety of it. Herein lies the benefit and power of lucid dreaming: the act of gaining Waking Consciousness in the dream-state and interacting directly with dream characters in dream-reality in the same manner as one interacts in daily life. A difficult feat to accomplish, however, if one succeeds in learning the art of dreaming as don Juan referred to it, the potential for accelerated self-discovery and enhanced experience is impossible to overstate.

For an excellent introduction in the techniques of lucid dreaming I recommend Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self. It's a fascinating read and will outline practical steps to learn the art of dreaming.

In closing, dreams are perhaps our most powerful tool for self-discovery and for tapping into the wisdom of the Collective Unconscious. To ignore their meaning and power in our lives only serves to keep us stuck in our old patterns and devoid of the wisdom that we need to understand ourselves and our the circumstances of our lives. And in the process we may find ourselves exploring the boundaries of a world beyond our imagination.

Good night. Sweet dreams.

A planet and an epoch

"In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie."

-Carl Sagan

The Eagle's Gift

Even if you know the song well, read the lyrics to Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill:

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
I just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
"Son," he said "Grab your things,
I've come to take you home."

To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Tho' my life was in a rut
"Till I thought of what I'd say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey" he said "Grab your things
I've come to take you home."

When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me
Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey" I said "You can keep my things,
They've come to take me home."

Through a Glass, Darkly proposes that this classic song is about none other than contact with a power that propels one into higher consciousness. In the song, the Eagle approaches and offers him true freedom, true liberation - the ability to return to his original nature and perception. Out of fear, however, he declines the opportunity and remains in his original state - "in a rut," as he says - unable to let go of his carefully constructed world. When he can no longer sustain his own Illusions he returns, looking back at the people he will be leaving behind trapped in their owns Minds and, without fear or attachment, standing in front of the Abyss, jumps...

The Destroyer of Worlds

"Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."

-Robert Oppenheimer, Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project, quoting the Baghavad Gita, upon witnessing the Trinity test - the first detonation of an atomic bomb

You and Me & The Cottage of Lost Play

You and me - we know this land
And often have been there
In the long old days, old nursery days,
A dark child and a fair.
Was it down the paths of firelight dreams
In winter cold and white,
Or in the blue-spun twilit hours
Of little early tucked-up beds
In drowsy summer night,
That You and I got lost in Sleep
And met each other there -
Your dark hair on your white nightgown,
And mine was tangled fair?

We wandered shyly hand in hand,
Or rollicked in the fairy sand
And gathered pearls and shells in pails,
While all about the nightingales
Were singing in the trees.
We dug for silver with our spades
By little inland sparkling seas,
Then ran ashore through sleepy glades
And down a warm and winding lane
We never never found again
Between high whispering trees.

The air was neither night or day,
But faintly dark with softest light,
When first there glimmered into sight
The Cottage of Lost Play.
'Twas builded very very old
White, and thatched with straws of gold,
And pierced with peeping lattices
That looked toward the sea;
And our own children's garden-plots
Were there - our own forgetmenots,
Red daisies, cress and mustard,
And blue nemophile.
O! all the borders trimmed with box
Were full of favorite flowers - of phlox,
Of larkspur, pinks, and hollyhocks
Beneath a red may-tree:
And all the paths were full of shapes,
Of tumbling happy white-clad shapes,
And with them You and Me.
And some had silver watering-cans
And watered all their gowns,
Or sprayed each other; some laid plans
To build them houses, fairy towns,
Or dwellings in the trees;
And some were clambering on the roof;
Some crooning lonely and aloof;
And some were dancing fairy-rings
And weaving pearly daisy-strings,
Or chasing golden bees;
But here and there a little pair
With rosy cheeks and tangled hair
Debated quaint old childish things -
And we were one of these.

And why it was Tomorrow came
And with his grey hand led us back;
And why we never found the same
Old cottage, or the magic track
That leads between a silver sea
And those old shores and gardens fair
Where all things are, that ever were -
We know not, You and Me.

-J.R.R. Tolkien, April 1915

See ya later, Alligator

This is a picture of a 28-foot gator that was captured in Lakeland, Florida. The man walking by the monster is a 6'5" tall game warden.

For the record, Chuck Norris killed the alligator. Actually, to be perfectly accurate, when it saw Chuck Norris it killed itself in the manner that you see in the picture. It reckoned it would be less painful than the fate it would suffer at the hands of Chuck Norris.

Be water, my friend

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

-Bruce Lee

(for a video of Bruce himself saying this click here)

Welcome to the Future!

Today is the date Marty McFly arrived in the future on in Back to the Future! Keep your eyes open for a kid in an orange vest running around in a DeLorean. Lucky for him if his car breaks down he can always get a new one.

*Correction: an astute reader determined this report to be inaccurate. See 'comments' below for details.

Sherwood in Gotham

DUS Architects in Amsterdam have created a project called Unlimited Urban Woods. It's a box that uses one tree and strategically-placed mirrors to create the illusion that one is standing in an infinite forest. For photos and a better description of the project click here.

Look at that dot

If you look carefully at the NASA photo below, you will see a little white dot. This minute speck is Earth seen from the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it exits in the solar system, nearly 4 billion miles away. The photo was taken back in 1990.



Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

-Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

Rambo has a soft side

Review: Restrepo

This documentary, just released, chronicles the experience of B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne during their 15-month tour in Afghanistan's Koregal Valley in 2007.

The footage, shot by journalists embedded with the company's 2nd Platoon operating out of a hilltop OP named after one of their medics who was killed, tells their story and doesn't pull any punches. This is the best movie I've seen about what it's like for soldiers fighting in today's wars in the Middle East.

This movie is what The Hurt Locker was supposed to have been and at which it failed miserably.

For a list of theaters and showtimes click here.

No Ordinary Moments

"There are no ordinary moments."

-Socrates, Way of the Peaceful Warrior

There's a bit of the Beast in all of us

In each of us there is a Beast lying just below the surface of our consciousness that rarely emerges in civilized society but who is well-known to those who have directly participated in extreme violence. Before the Industrial Revolution ripped us apart from our psyche he had a face and a name and we all routinely interacted with him. The Aztecs called him Mixcoatl, to the Greeks he was Ares, and the Norsemen hailed him as Odin. Warriors heading off to battle would pray to the god to summon his power and, ultimately, channel that psychic energy in order to maximize their abilities in combat. In some “primitive” societies this even included ritual dances where masks of certain gods and spirits were donned to summon the Beast from his usual slumber and harness his power.

We can no more ignore his presence in our modern psyche than we can ignore our own selves. Unfortunately, as a result of the increased mechanization of our global society and its indentured servitude to Rationalism, we have forgotten about the Beast and told ourselves that he has gone away, along with the superstition that we discarded in the Enlightenment. But we are fools if we believe that.

He is here. He always has been. And he always will be. The question is: What do we do with him?

Colonel Kurtz, in his conversation's with Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now says to him, “Horror has a face … and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies.”

Kurtz recognized that the mechanical manner in which we go about fighting wars today fails to tap the power of the Beast and, as a consequence, condemns us to failure because unlike us, the enemies we engage have submitted to its will and harnessed its power. And as long as our society collectively refuses to recognize the existence of the Beast then we are doomed to a never-ending series of defeats at the hands of those who have not overlooked what truly determines victory or defeat: fighting spirit.

Captain Jack Ilfrey, formerly with the 20th Fighter Group, 8 USAAF, had this to say about it:

"Every mind has its share of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When you are in combat the Beast comes out. It's kill or be killed. But when removed from this pressure, the minds heals its innermost scars by helping, by giving, until, once again, you are a human being."

Bruce Lee became an international superstar because of his incredible martial arts ability but the secret to his prowess was not just in the fact that he could throw a faster punch or a harder kick. Bruce Lee had perfected the use of what he called “emotional content” which allowed his Unconscious, then, to fully utilize the techniques that his body had learned through deliberate, conscious training. For a better understanding of what he meant watch this.

The danger lies, however, in being consumed by the Beast and becoming a slave to its will. Yoda warns Luke Skywalker of this exact danger when he says to him, "Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice." Obi-Wan's apprentice is, of course, Darth Vader, the embodiment of the Dark Side and an example of its tremendous power. This is the danger that all warriors face and what our society has entirely failed to address. What more can be expected, though, when we do not even acknowledge it's existence?

And therein lies the purpose of martial arts: to create a forum in which one can interact with an opponent and, in the process of that interaction, come to understand one's own self. Lee himself said, "To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person." The work of self-mastery can then begin as one creates a relationship with the Beast and then comes face-to-face with the demons of fear, pride, self-doubt, and anger. Over time the warrior learns to banish those demons and tame the Beast in the same manner that Paul Atreides in Dune must ride a sandworm and harness a power that otherwise he would always have to hide from. Instead, once he's ridden the sandworm he has the ability to summon it at will and use its incredible power. Yoda imparts the same advice to young Skywalker when he says to him, "Control. You must learn control." Ultimately, once the Beast has been tamed he is then one step closer to the highest ideal for warrior: the complete, whole psyche.

If that last post was a little to dry for you...

I've realized that this blog has been missing something that every reputable publication must have: B-Roll! So from now on, I'll be inter-splicing B-Roll into the posts to ensure the highest standards of publishing are maintained.

Don't know what B-Roll is? No problem! For a limited time only click here!

Torque and Horsepower: A Symbiotic Relationship

Today's post will attempt to answer the question 'What is the difference between torque and horsepower?'

This question, while commonly asked, is rarely answered in a coherent and understandable manner. The answer usually comes in the form of equations and descriptions of different acceleration experiences while rarely reconciling the two or explaining what those equations mean or how they work. This post will attempt to bridge that gap.

Everyone is always trying to increase the power produced by the engine and most people have some understanding of the terms “torque” and “horsepower.” But few people actually understand how the two differ, how they’re related, and why understanding the particular specs of your engine affect how you ride or drive.

Let's take a look at a torque/horsepower graph for a 2003 GSX-R 1000 motor (the red lines):




The question arises – how is it that the torque an engine puts out will drop but the horsepower (the absolute power coming out the engine) can still increase? And then, why too does horsepower eventually drop off?

I will not attempt to give a complicated explanation of what torque is or how it’s measured or how the measurement was first standardized. This is as far as I will go: torque is the twisting, wrenching power coming out of the engine - similar to the force exerted by someone turning a wrench - while horsepower is a broader measurement of the power coming out of the engine because it factors in the latent power or momentum in the engine generated by the spinning itself - similar to the momentum generated by turning a crank and watching the built up momentum spin it even after you’ve stopped turning it yourself.

In order to go any further the equation which represents the relationship between torque and horsepower must be introduced. It is important to note that when engines are dyno’ed the instruments always measure torque and then calculate horsepower using the equation below.

                  Torque x RPM
Horsepower =    -------------------
                      5252

This equation can be restated as:

                    (Wrenching power of engine) compounded by (momentum) 
Power generated by engine =    --------------------------------
                                           5252

5252 is a constant used for internal combustion engines. Someone more intelligent than you or I determined it to be correct years ago. Don’t argue with it.

Let’s look at this example engine, then, and see how the numbers play out.

To begin with, notice that the torque curve and horsepower curve are, not surprisingly, relatively similar in shape. That’s because horsepower is related to torque. As torque increases, so does horsepower. Conversely, if torque drops severely, so does horsepower.

Torque increases up to a certain point because as the engine spins faster it pushes with more force. The forces of friction eventually catch up and the amount of torque produced drops even though the engine is spinning faster. The point at which torque no longer increases with higher RPMs is the Torque Peak, which in this case is at 8,250 RPM.

But something happens which many people find confusing: despite the continued decrease in torque, horsepower continues to increase. So why does the power produced by the engine continue to increase despite the fact that the wrenching power coming out of the engine is increasingly weak? The answer lies in another principle of physics: momentum.

The bottom line is that the spinning of the engine overcompensates for the decreased torque and the engine still produces more power in absolute terms.

That is why on this engine, despite the fact that torque being produced starts to drop off after 8,250 RPM, the engine produces more horsepower until it reaches its peak at 11,000 RPM. At a certain point, however, even horsepower starts to slip. The reason for this is very simple and will be demonstrated mathematically shortly: the increase in RPMs can no longer overcompensate for the decrease in torque and the overall power output (hp) drops.

Let’s re-look at the engine from before and see how this plays out mathematically.

When the RPMs increase from 2,000 to 8,000, torque increases accordingly. Torque then hits its peak at 8,250 RPM and starts to drop slowly. Between 8,000 RPM and 9,500 RPM it drops by about 4 lbs. But at the same time RPMs have increased 1,500 RPM. So the product of torque x RPM, which will become the dividend in the equation, in this case 74 lbs x 9,500 RPM (703,000) is still a larger value than it was when the product was 78 lbs x 8,250 RPM (643,500). Of course, the larger the dividend, the larger the overall quotient of the equation. So horsepower is still increasing despite that fact that torque is dropping. A simple mathematical rule illustrates this principle:

If the percentage drop in torque is less than the percentage increase in RPM the engine produces more horsepower.

The reason behind this principle is simple: the rotation of the engine makes up for drop in wrenching power because of sheer momentum.

So that’s why horsepower continues to climb even past the torque peak.

Eventually horsepower drops because the spinning of the engine cannot overcompensate for the loss in torque. At 11,000 RPM the torque produced is about 70 lbs. The torque then drops substantially when RPMs increase and overall horsepower starts to drop. This is because even though RPMs have increased by a factor of 1,000 torque has dropped by about 10 lbs yielding a lower dividend and, ultimately, a lower quotient when divided by 5252. That lower quotient is the horsepower output. This principle can be expressed by this mathematical principle:

If the percentage drop in torque is greater than the percentage increase in RPM, horsepower drops. The reason is simple: the rotation of the engine cannot make up for the drop in wrenching power and overall power output (hp) decreases. That’s why horsepower peaks and then tapers off past a certain RPM.

Not long after that the engine just peaks because of friction and the structural capacity of the components. That limit is the redline.

An interesting note: at 5,252 RPMs this engine's torque and horsepower numbers are equal numerically although they are different measurements. The torque scale may go from 50 to 90 lbs while the horsepower scale may go from 50 to 200 hp. The reason is that the RPM value at 5,252 RPM cancels itself out in the equation leaving horsepower = torque.

                Torque x 5252
Horsepower =   -------------------
                      5252

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'Sea Monster' fossil found in Peruvian desert

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This is, yet another reason why swimming in pre-historic times would've been a bad idea. And if that wouldn't have been enough of a deterrent to keep you out of the water then maybe this would've been: Behold Megalodon - Jaws' great-grandfather.