title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Whereas in 2006 only 1% of Americans listed Russia as "America's worst enemy" by 2019 32% of Americans, including a plurality of 44% of Democrats, shared this view, with a partisan split having emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign. The sharper distaste among the Democrat population stands in contrast to the prior history of American public opinion on Russia, as Republicans were formerly more likely to view Russia as a greater threat. Commentators criticized media coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections that continued for years and presented unverified allegations of collusion between a Republican Donald Trump and Russia as credible. According to journalist Vladimir Pozner the coverage of the events in major media was politically motivated and "not a journalism", creating "the fear, the dislike and the distrust".


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In May 2017, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that Russians were "almost genetically driven" to act deviously. Freelance journalist Michael Sainato criticized the remark as xenophobic. In June 2017 Clapper said that "[t]he Russians are not our friends", because it is in their "genes to be opposed, diametrically opposed, to the United States and western democracies."


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Yuliya Komska in "The Washington Post" took note of a Russiagate-awareness media project featuring Morgan Freeman and James Clapper and wrote that its "hawkish tenor stokes blanket Russophobia that is as questionable as the Russian state media's all-out anti-Americanism."


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In June 2020, Russian American professor Nina L. Khrushcheva wrote: "Normally, I would not side with the Kremlin. But I cannot help wondering whether the Russophobia found in some segments of America's political class and media has become pathological."


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In July 2020, academic and former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul spoke about "combatting Russophobia", appealing to US officials and journalists to cease "demonizing" Russian people, and criticizing propagation of stereotypes about Russians, Russian culture and Russian national proclivities.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: He, and some other commentators, have argued that the US media doesn't make enough distinction between Putin's government and Russia and the Russians, thus effectively vilifying the whole nation.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: On 2 July 2020, the Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, released "Fellow Traveler," an ad saying in Russian with English subtitles that "Comrade Trump" had been "chosen" by Vladimir Putin and had "accepted the help of Mother Russia." The ad featured communist imagery such as the hammer and sickle, as well as photographs of Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and Soviet leaders from Stalin to Mikhail Gorbachev. Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at NYU, has criticized the Lincoln Project's "Russophobic" ad, saying: "How would we feel about a two-minute video filled with Stars of David, men in Orthodox garb, sinister snapshots of Bibi, and soldiers in tanks, all to the tune of “Hava Nagila”? If that doesn't make you uncomfortable, I'm not sure what to tell you."


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: The Wall Street Journal argued in an editorial that the White House blamed Russia for the 2021–2022 inflation surge to deflect criticism of the domestic economic policies.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Russians and Russian Americans are usually portrayed as ruthless agents, brutal mobsters, psychopaths, and villains in Hollywood movies and video games. In a 2014 news story, "Fox News" reported, "Russians may also be unimpressed with Hollywood's apparent negative stereotyping of Russians in movies. "The Avengers" featured a ruthless former KGB agent, "Iron Man 2" centers on a rogue Russian scientist with a vendetta, and action thriller "" saw Kenneth Branagh play an archetypal Russian bad guy, just to name a few." Some games in the critically-acclaimed "Grand Theft Auto" series depict Russians and the Russian Mafia as ruthless and heavily-armed enemies in which the player has to fight against as part of the storyline, particularly "Grand Theft Auto IV" which features a Russian mobster named Dimitri Rascalov as its primary antagonist.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: The video game "" portrays Russian soldiers as over-the-top villains and contains a controversial mission titled "No Russian", which involves the player engaging in a mass shooting in a Russian airport. In Russia, the game sparked calls for boycotts and prompted live streamers to pull out of deals with publisher Activision, with online Russians also flooding Metacritic to vote down the game's user score.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Russophobia in New Zealand dates back to the colonial era; early anti-Russian sentiment among New Zealanders was influenced by "the general Victorian dislike of Tsarist autocracy" and British immigrants to the colony who brought "with them the high level of anti-Russian sentiment at home." Polish, Hungarian and Jewish refugees fleeing Russia's suppression of various rebellions and outbreaks of anti-Jewish pogroms also influenced Russophobia in New Zealand. In the aftermath of the Crimean War, suspicion of a possible Russian invasion of New Zealand led the colonial government to construct a series of "Russian-scare" coastal fortifications along the coastline. However, during the First World War, anti-Russian sentiment subsided as New Zealand and Russia found themselves fighting on the same side against Imperial Germany and anti-German sentiment grew in its place. By late 1920s pragmatism moderated anti-Russian sentiment in official circles, especially during the Great Depression. Influential visitors to the Soviet Union, such as George Bernard Shaw, provided a sympathetic view of what they experienced. The history of Russophobia in New Zealand was analyzed in Glynn Barratt's book "Russophobia in New Zealand, 1838-1908", expanded to cover the period up to 1939 in an article by Tony Wilson.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Rudi Matthee (Munroe Chaired Professor of History at the University of Delaware) noted in his book "The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730", dealing with the Safavid period (1501–1736), that the Iranians "had long despised Russians for their uncouthness". In the first half of the 19th century, Russia annexed large parts of Iranian territory in the Caucasus; With the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) and Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), Iran was forced to cede what is present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, eastern Georgia and southern Dagestan to Russia. This fuelled anti-Russian sentiment which led to an angry mob storming the Russian embassy in Tehran and killing everyone in 1829. Among those killed in the massacre was the newly appointed Russian ambassador to Iran, Alexander Griboyedov, a celebrated playwright. Griboyedov had previously played an active role in negotiating the terms of the treaty of 1828. Soviet involvement in the Azerbaijani and Kurdish separatist movements also fueled negative attitudes.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In 2009, negative attitudes to Russia among the Iranian opposition was also observed due to Russian support of the Iranian government. A September 2021 poll done by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland had 42% of Iranian respondents holding an unfavourable view of Russia compared to 56% holding a favourable view.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Russian visitors to Goa make up one of the largest groups in the state and according to Indian media, there has been tension between them and the locals due to violence and other illegal activities committed by some visitors. In February 2012, Indian politician Shantaram Naik accused Russians (as well as Israelis) of occupying certain coastal villages in Goa. In August 2012, Indian politician Eduardo Faleiro rejected the Russian consul general's claim that there was no existence of the Russian mafia there, alleging "a virtual cultural invasion" was occurring in Morjim. According to the "Indian Express" in 2013, Goan resentment of foreigners had been building, with anger particularly directed towards Russians and Nigerians.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In 2014, after Goan taxi drivers protested against Russian tour operators allegedly snatching tourist transport services from them, Goa's ministry of tourism cancelled an Indo-Russian music festival, sparking criticism from a few Russian diplomats. In 2015, the Russian information centre reportedly said India and Goa "were not considered as good destinations for Russian travellers".


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Many Japanese interactions with Russians as of 2009 occurred with seamen and fishermen of the Russian fishing fleet, therefore some Japanese carried negative stereotypes associated with sailors over to Russians.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: According to a 2012 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 72% of Japanese people view Russia unfavorably, compared with 22% who viewed it favorably, making Japan the most anti-Russian country surveyed. A 2017 poll from the Japanese government found that 78.1% of Japanese said they felt little or no affinity to Russia, which was the second highest percentage out of 8 regions polled (behind China at 78.5%).


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In December 2016, protesters gathered in Tokyo demanding the return of islands in the Kuril Islands dispute.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Instances of harassment, hate speech and discrimination targeting Russians living in Japan were reported after 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi condemned human rights abuses against Russians that took place.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: According to the Jamestown Foundation, while previously not known for being anti-Russian, Kazakhstan since independence has grown increasingly hostile to both Russia and China. Russian commentator Yaroslav Razumov alleges that "anti-Russian articles are a staple of the Kazakh media". Recently, Kazakh nationalists have criticized people who prefer speaking in Russian than Kazakh despite being one of the two official languages in the country. In 2014, ethnic Kazakhs were enraged with the statement of Russian president Vladimir Putin that "Kazakhs never had any statehood" before independence.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Tensions between Russia and China began with the Sino-Russian border conflicts, which began in 1652 and lasted until 1689. During the 19th century, when the Qing dynasty of China was distracted suppressing the Taiping Rebellion and fighting the Second Opium War, the Russian government annexed the region of Outer Manchuria through a series of unequal treaties. Russia would continue to sponsor various groups, both pro and anti-Chinese, helping to destabilize China with the Dungan rebellion and Russian occupation of Ili. Towards the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Russia invaded Manchuria and was among a major participant that crushed the Boxer Rebellion against European powers.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: With the collapse of the Tsarist Empire in Russia, the Soviet Union was founded. Nonetheless, tensions between the USSR and China remained high. The Soviet Union waged the 1929 war against China, which ended in Soviet victory. The Soviet Union would continue following Imperial Russia's expansion of influence by sponsoring a number of various militia groups destabilizing China, especially in Xinjiang which resulted in the Kumul Rebellion, Soviet invasion of Xinjiang and followed by the Islamic rebellion and Ili Rebellion in 1937 and 1944. The Soviet invasion and occupation of Manchuria in 1945 following Japanese control increased anti-Russian and anti-Soviet sentiment as a result of war crimes committed by Soviet troops, including rape and looting.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Nowadays however, anti-Russian sentiment in China has greatly downgraded, due to perceived common anti-Western sentiment among Russian and Chinese nationalists.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: A 2020 Gallup International poll had 75% of South Koreans viewing Russia's foreign policy as destabilizing to the world, which was the third highest percentage out of 44 countries surveyed. A Morning Consult poll finished on February 6, 2022, had South Korean respondents holding a more unfavorable than favorable impression of Russia by a difference of 25% (the second highest percentage in the Far East). Anti-Russia protests against the country's invasion of Ukraine were held in Seoul and Gwangju, with one also planned in Busan.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: According to a 2013 survey, 73% of Turks viewed Russia unfavorably against 16% with favorable views. A 2011 SETA poll had 51.7% of Turks expressing a negative opinion of Russians compared to 20.7% expressing a positive opinion. According to a 2012 report, hoteliers in Antalya viewed Russian tourists more negatively than tourists from the West.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Historically, Russia and Turkey fought several wars and had caused great devastation for each nation. During the old Tsardom of Russia, the Ottomans often raided and attacked Russian villagers. With the transformation into Russian Empire, Russia started to expand and clashed heavily with the Turks; which Russia often won more than lost, and reduced the Ottoman Empire heavily. The series of wars had manifested the ideas among the Turks that Russia wanted to turn Turkey into a vassal state, leading to a high level of Russophobia in Turkey. In the 20th century, anti-Russian sentiment in Turkey was so great that the Russians refused to allow a Turkish military attache to accompany their armies. After the World War I, both Ottoman and Russian Empires collapsed, and two nations went on plagued by their civil wars; during that time Soviet Russia (who would later become Soviet Union) supported Turkish Independence Movement led by Mustafa Kemal, leading to a warmer relations between two states, as newly established Turkish Republic maintained a formal tie with the Soviet Union. But their warm relations didn't last long; after the World War II, the Bosphorus crisis occurred at 1946 due to Joseph Stalin's demand for a complete Soviet control of the straits led to resurgence of Russophobia in Turkey.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: Anti-Russian sentiment started to increase again since 2011, following the event of the Syrian Civil War. Russia supports the Government of Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supports the Free Syrian Army and had many times announced their intentions to overthrow Assad, once again strained the relations. Relations between two further went downhill after Russian jet shootdown by Turkish jet, flaring that Russia wanted to invade Turkey over Assad's demand; and different interests in Syria. Turkish media have promoted Russophobic news about Russian ambitions in Syria, and this has been the turning point of remaining poor relations although two nations have tried to re-approach their differences. Turkish military operations in Syria against Russia and Assad-backed forces also damage the relations deeply.


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In May and June 2006, Russian media cited discrimination against Russian companies as one possible reason why the contemplated merger between the Luxembourg-based steelmaker "Arcelor" and Russia's "Severstal" did not finalize. According to the Russian daily Izvestiya, those opposing the merger ""exploited the 'Russian threat' myth during negotiations with shareholders and, apparently, found common ground with the Europeans"", while Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma observed that ""recent events show that someone does not want to allow us to enter their markets."" On 27 July 2006, "The New York Times" quoted the analysts as saying that many Western investors still think that anything to do with Russia is ""a little bit doubtful and dubious"" while others look at Russia in ""comic book terms, as mysterious and mafia-run.""


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In April 2007, David Johnson, founder of the Johnson's Russia List, said in interview to the Moscow News: "I am sympathetic to the view that these days Putin and Russia are perhaps getting too dark a portrayal in most Western media. Or at least that critical views need to be supplemented with other kinds of information and analysis. An openness to different views is still warranted."


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: California-based international relations scholar Andrei Tsygankov has remarked that anti-Russian political rhetoric coming from Washington circles has received wide echo in American mainstream media, asserting that "Russophobia's revival is indicative of the fear shared by some U.S. and European politicians that their grand plans to control the world's most precious resources and geostrategic sites may not succeed if Russia's economic and political recovery continues."


title: Anti-Russian sentiment

text: In practice, anti-Russian political rhetoric usually puts emphasis on highlighting policies and practices of the Russian government that are criticised internally – corruption, abuse of law, censorship, violence and intervention in Ukraine. In defence of this rhetoric, some sources critical of the Russian government claim that it is Russian state-owned media and administration who attempt to discredit the "neutral" criticism by generalizing it into indiscriminate accusations of the whole Russian population – or Russophobia.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: A Cannonball Run is an unsanctioned speed record for driving across the United States, typically accepted to run from New York City's Red Ball Garage to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach near Los Angeles, covering a distance of about . , the overall record is 25 hours 39 minutes, with an average speed of , driven by Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt along with spotter Dunadel Daryoush.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: The cannonball run began as an unofficial, unsanctioned automobile race run five times in the 1970s from New York City and Darien, Connecticut, on the East Coast of the United States to the Portofino Inn in the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach, California. These races were called the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: Conceived by car magazine writer and auto racer Brock Yates and fellow "Car and Driver" editor Steve Smith, the first run was not a competitive race as only one team was running. The run was intended both as a celebration of the United States Interstate Highway System and as a protest against strict traffic laws coming into effect at the time. Another motivation was the fun involved, which showed in the tongue-in-cheek reports in "Car and Driver" and other auto publications worldwide. The initial cross-country run was made by Yates; his son, Brock Yates, Jr.; Steve Smith; and friend Jim Williams beginning on May 3, 1971, in a 1971 Dodge Custom Sportsman van called the "Moon Trash II."


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: The race was run four more times: November 15, 1971; November 13, 1972; April 23, 1975; and April 1, 1979.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: The traditional start point is the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street, Manhattan, and its finish is at the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California, a distance of just over , depending on the route. A second starting point emerged for the 1979 running at the Goodwives Shopping Center in Darien, Connecticut. The route from this point is said to be approximately 48 miles farther than the Red Ball Garage starting point. Since the record is unsanctioned, there are no official limits imposed on cars, routes, technologies, or strategies used in record runs. Record-setting runs are typically self-verified by record-setters through witnesses, toll receipts, continuous video of the run, and GPS tracking. Contemporary record-setting runs are typically driven by a team of drivers and copilots in a high-performance, but inconspicuous car. Cars are commonly modified with auxiliary fuel tanks to extend range, and are frequently modified to increase performance and durability. Cars are also commonly modified to help evade police, using equipment such as police radio, radar and laser detectors and/or jamming, and cosmetic alterations that obscure the car's identity. Several attempts have also implemented police-spotting teams traveling ahead of the record-run in cars or even general-aviation aircraft.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: On October 7–9, 2006, Alex Roy, Dave Maher and filmmaker Cory Welles set a transcontinental record of 31 hours 4 minutes from the Classic Car Club NYC to Santa Monica Pier using a modified 2000 BMW M5, averaging with a top speed of . A spotter plane was deployed for the daytime sections. This and the U.S. Express are depicted in the 2019 documentary APEX: The Secret Race Across America.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In May 2007, Richard Rawlings and co-pilot Dennis Collins allegedly broke the 1979 Cannonball Run time during the 2007 Bullrun entry, driving a black Ferrari 550, modified with extra fuel tanks. Their final time was 31 hours and 59 minutes.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In October 2013, a team led by Ed Bolian with Dave Black and Dan Huang set a transcontinental record of 28 hours 50 minutes in a modified 2004 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG, averaging with top speed of . Bolian and Black shared driving with Bolian serving as the primary driver while Huang served as spotter watching for police and obstructions such as deer or construction using image stabilized binoculars.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In November 2019, the driving team of Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt, with spotter Berkeley Chadwick, set a transcontinental record of 27 hours 25 minutes. The team averaged and reached a top speed of on the trip covering 13 states. The 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG was modified to provide 800 horsepower and fitted with an additional fuel cell in the trunk providing  enabling the team to stop just four times for fuel for a total of just over 22 minutes. The car was also equipped with police scanner, CB radio, a thermal camera to help the team spot police on the ground and in the air as well as a laser jammer. The team left early November ahead of Thanksgiving travel traffic and chose a route based on weather forecasts which provided dry weather through the entire trip.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: The record was broken multiple times during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking advantage of a reduction in both road users and law enforcement presence.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In April 2020, an anonymous crew traveled from the Red Ball Garage on the east side of Manhattan to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California—a total of —in 26 hours 38 minutes. The team averaged . The record was completed in a 2019 Audi A8L with additional fuel tanks in the rear storage.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In May 2020, Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and spotter Dunadel Daryoush set the new cannonball record of 25 hours and 39 minutes in a modified 2016 Audi S6 disguised to look like a Ford Taurus police interceptor. Police-evasion modifications included brake light kill-switches, radar detectors, laser diffusers, CB-radio, and a roof-mounted thermal camera. Performance modifications included a trunk-mounted 67-gallon auxiliary fuel cell sourced from the car used in Toman and Tabbutt's 2019 cannonball run, modified turbochargers, an upgraded heat-exchanger, and custom ECU tuning that allowed for engine-mapping to be changed on-demand to suit either 91 or 93-octane fuel; allowing the car to generate an estimated 600 horsepower. The run achieved an overall average speed of for the entire run, with average speeds upwards of across some states, and which at no time exceeded .


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In early June 2020, as reported by "Road & Track", Fred Ashmore allegedly completed a solo run in 25 hours and 55 minutes. The claim has now been cast into doubt by Road & Track after further investigation revealed that the evidence to support the claim had been doctored.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: Also in May 2020, the team of Chris Clemens and Mark Spence in a highly modified Mercedes SL500 followed the Toman/Tabbutt team out of New York, drove from the Red Ball Garage in New York to the Portofino Inn in LA and then turned around and went back to the Red Ball Garage in 74 hours and 5 mins.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In April 2022, the team of Nik Krueger, Mark Spence and Wesley Vigh drove from the Red Ball Garage in New York to the Portofino Hotel and Marina in LA, then back to the Red Ball Garage in 65 hours and 28 minutes, shattering the prior record by nearly eight and a half hours. The team used a modified 2008 Saab 9-5. Mark Spence remains the only person in Cannonball Run history since Brock Yates to challenge their own record and beat it.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: On April 4, 2020 the 3 man team consisting of Sean G. Petr, Jason Adkins, and Mark Spence piloted a 2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SE from Goodwives Shopping Center in Darien, Connecticut to the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, California in 28 hours and 30 minutes beating both the previous diesel record and Darien-Redondo time by more than 3 hours. The team averaged both 25.5mpg and 100.07mph over the 2,852-mile journey.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In 1968, the Great Transcontinental Electric Car Race was held between student groups at Caltech and MIT. The Caltech team, led by EV pioneer Wally Rippel, converted a 1958 VW Microbus powered by lead cobalt batteries from Electric Fuel Propulsion Corporation of Detroit. The MIT team converted a 1968 Chevrolet Corvair powered by NiCad batteries. The MIT team raced from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Pasadena, California, while the Caltech team raced the opposite direction. A network of 54 charging locations was set up along the 3,311-mile route, spaced 21 to 95 miles apart. The race began on August 26, 1968, and ended on September 4. Although the MIT team reached Pasadena first, they were towed part of the way. After assessing penalty points, Caltech was declared the winner with a corrected time of 210 hours 3 minutes.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: With the introduction of long-range EVs, such as the Tesla Roadster (2008) and, in particular, the Tesla Model S, coast-to-coast travel became more feasible. In January 2014, Tesla Motors completed the first coast-to-coast corridor in their supercharging network for the Model S. A team from Tesla Motors completed a 3,427-mile route from Los Angeles to New York City run in 76 hours, 5 minutes. (Time included 60 hours, 8 minutes driving, and 15 hours, 57 minutes charging.) In July 2014, a team from Edmunds completed a slightly shorter 3,331.9-mile route in 67 hours, 21 minutes. (Time included 52 hours, 41 minutes driving, and 14 hours, 40 minutes charging.)


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: Carl J. Reese and co-drivers Rodney Hawk and Deena Mastracci took advantage of a newly opened corridor on Interstate 70 to drive the 3,011-mile route from the City Hall in Los Angeles to the City Hall in New York City in 58 hours and 55 minutes during April 16–19, 2015, a new record for EVs in a 2015 Tesla Model S P85D. The drivers stopped 24 times for electric charging, with a total charge time of 12 hours 48 minutes. As proof, Reese presented 16 documents notarized on both ends, identifying drivers and three eyewitnesses: Matt Nordenstrom, Johnnie Oberg Jr., and Anthony Alvarado. Complete GPS logs recorded by GPSInsight (a fleet tracking company) were sent to Jalopnik, Guinness Book of World Records. GPSInsight provided GPS tracking equipment to the team to verify the event. Reese's team of three drivers broke Tesla Motors' (team of 15 drivers) previous record of 76 hours 5 minutes and Edmunds.com's (team of two drivers) previous record of 67 hours 21 minutes.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: On October 18–21, 2015, Deena Mastracci and Reese were joined by Alex Roy. They beat Mastracci and Reese's prior record of 58 hours, 48 minutes for an LA–NYC run in an electric vehicle with a total time of 57 hours, 48 minutes.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: On August 24–27, 2016, the LA–NYC record was broken again by a team comprising Alex Roy, Righthook CEO Warren Ahner, and StreetWars founder Franz Aliquo, who completed the run in 55 hours flat in a 2016 Tesla Model S 90D. GPS logs were recorded by US Fleet Tracking, and Comma.AI's Chffr data logger, and data was shared with The Drive.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In December 2017, with an early-production Tesla Model 3, which are delivered to California-based customers only, Alex Roy and co-driver Dan Zorrilla broke the eastbound Electric Cannonball Run record again, driving 2,860 miles from the Portofino Inn to the Red Ball Garage in 50 hours and 16 minutes. Their drive took place December 28–31 of 2017. GPS data was captured using the GPS Tracks application, and video evidence was shared on YouTube.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In July 2019 a family team of Robin Jedi Thomsen, and her parents Lars Thomsen and Betty Legler set a record of 48 hours 10 minutes driving westbound for in a Long-Range Rear-Wheel-Drive Tesla Model 3 between 12 and 14 July 2019.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In August 2019, Kyle Conner and Matthew Davis set a record of 45 hours and 16 minutes driving westbound from New York City to Los Angeles in a Long-Range Rear-Wheel-Drive Tesla Model 3 which had been modified, including lowering the car for better aerodynamics.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: At the end of 2020, Kyle Conner, Drew Peterson and Tijmen Schreur lowered the EV record to 44:26 despite winter conditions in an "Out of Spec Motoring" Porsche Taycan with the large battery, aerodynamic wheels, and massaging seats, using Electrify America CCS chargers with up to 350 kW.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In October 2021, the EV record was broken twice in the same rented 2021 Tesla Model S Long Range. The first drive, from Los Angeles to New York City, by Ryan Levenson and Will Wood, lowered the EV record to 42:52. The second drive occurred on October 22, 2021, leaving from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan at 11:00am and arriving at the Portifino Inn in Redondo Beach, CA 42 hours, 17 minutes later. The second drive was piloted by a driver team of Ryan Levenson and Josh Allan. The only modification made to the stock Tesla was to replace the factory 21-inch wheels with the more efficient Tesla 19-inch wheels and to over-inflate the tire pressure to for the second drive.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In April 2015, the first coast-to-coast autonomous record was set by employees of Delphi. Delphi engineers covered 3,400 miles, San Francisco to New York City, over a span of nine days.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: In October 2015, Carl J. Reese, Deena Mastracci, and Alex Roy set a new coast-to-coast record using Tesla's new Autopilot function. The trio made the 2,995-mile journey in 57 hours, 48 minutes after departing from Redondo Beach, California on October 18 at 9:15 p.m. PST, and arriving at Red Ball Garage in New York on October 21 at 10:03 a.m. EST. The trip was completed with fewer than 14 hours of charging and 96 percent of the driving done by Tesla's Autopilot system. This record was a first outside of manufacture testing, proving that automated systems can deliver people coast to coast safely in record time.


title: Cannonball Run challenge

text: As of August 27, 2016, the semi-autonomous (Level 2) driving record stands at 55 hours, set during the electric cross-country record run by Franz Aliquo, Warren Ahner, and Alex Roy in a Tesla Model S 90D, whose "Autopilot" function was engaged 97.7% of the way.


title: Brick

text: A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term "brick" denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking them. Bricks are usually produced at brickworks in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities.


title: Brick

text: "Block" is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials, but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks (also called lightweight blocks) are made from expanded clay aggregate.


title: Brick

text: Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since circa 4000 BC. Air-dried bricks, also known as mud-bricks, have a history older than fired bricks, and have an additional ingredient of a mechanical binder such as straw.


title: Brick

text: Bricks are laid in "courses" and numerous patterns known as "bonds", collectively known as brickwork, and may be laid in various kinds of mortar to hold the bricks together to make a durable structure.


title: Brick

text: The earliest bricks were dried mud-bricks, meaning that they were formed from clay-bearing earth or mud and dried (usually in the sun) until they were strong enough for use. The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating before 7500 BC, were found at Tell Aswad, in the upper Tigris region and in southeast Anatolia close to Diyarbakir.


title: Brick

text: Mud-brick structures, dating to c. 7,200 BC have been located in Jericho, Jordan Valley. These structures were made up of the first bricks with dimension 400x150x100 mm.


title: Brick

text: Between 5000 and 4500 BC, Mesopotamia had discovered fired brick. The standard brick sizes in Mesopotamia followed a general rule: the width of the dried or burned brick would be twice its thickness, and its length would be double its width.


title: Brick

text: The South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh also constructed, air-dried mud-brick structures, between 7000 and 3300 BC. and later the ancient Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Mehrgarh. Ceramic, or "fired brick" was used as early as 3000 BC in early Indus Valley cities like Kalibangan.


title: Brick

text: In the middle of the third millennium BC, there was a rise in monumental baked brick architecture in Indus cities. Examples included the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, the fire altars of Kaalibangan, and the granary of Harappa. There was a uniformity to the brick sizes throughout the Indus Valley region, conforming to the 1:2:4, thickness, width, and length ratio. As the Indus civilization began its decline at the start of the second millennium BC, Harappans migrated east, spreading their knowledge of brickmaking technology. This led to the rise of cities like Pataliputra, Kausambi, and Ujjain, where there was an enormous demand for kiln-made bricks.


title: Brick

text: By 604 BC, bricks were the construction materials for architectural wonders such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, where glazed fired bricks were put into practice.


title: Brick

text: The earliest fired bricks appeared in Neolithic China around 4400 BC at Chengtoushan, a walled settlement of the Daxi culture. These bricks were made of red clay, fired on all sides to above 600 °C, and used as flooring for houses. By the Qujialing period (3300 BC), fired bricks were being used to pave roads and as building foundations at Chengtoushan.


title: Brick

text: According to Lukas Nickel, the use of ceramic pieces for protecting and decorating floors and walls dates back at various cultural sites to 3000-2000 BC and perhaps even before, but these elements should be rather qualified as tiles. For the longest time builders relied on wood, mud and rammed earth, while fired brick and mud-brick played no structural role in architecture. Proper brick construction, for erecting walls and vaults, finally emerges in the 3rd century BC, when baked bricks of regular shape began to be employed for vaulting underground tombs. Hollow brick tomb chambers rose in popularity as builders were forced to adapt due to a lack of readily available wood or stone. The oldest extant brick building above ground is possibly Songyue Pagoda, dated to 523 AD.


title: Brick

text: By the end of the 3rd century BCE in China, both hollow and small bricks were available for use in building walls and ceilings. Small fired bricks were first mass-produced during the construction of the tomb of China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. The floors of the three pits of the terracotta army were paved with an estimated 230,000 small bricks, with the majority measuring 28x14x7 cm, following a 4:2:1 ratio. Up until the Middle Ages, buildings in Central Asia were typically built with unbaked bricks. It was only starting in the 9th century CE when buildings were entirely constructed using fired bricks.


title: Brick

text: The carpenter's manual "Yingzao Fashi", published in 1103 at the time of the Song dynasty described the brick making process and glazing techniques then in use. Using the 17th-century encyclopaedic text "Tiangong Kaiwu", historian Timothy Brook outlined the brick production process of Ming Dynasty China:


title: Brick

text: Early civilisations around the Mediterranean, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans, adopted the use of fired bricks. By the early first century CE, standardised fired bricks were being heavily produced in Rome. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns, and built large brick structures throughout the Roman Empire, stamping the bricks with the seal of the legion. The Romans used brick for walls, arches, forts, aqueducts, etc. Notable mentions of Roman brick structures are the Herculaneum gate of Pompeii and the baths of Caracalla.


title: Brick

text: During the Early Middle Ages the use of bricks in construction became popular in Northern Europe, after being introduced there from Northwestern Italy. An independent style of brick architecture, known as brick Gothic (similar to Gothic architecture) flourished in places that lacked indigenous sources of rocks. Examples of this architectural style can be found in modern-day Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Kaliningrad (former East Prussia).


title: Brick

text: This style evolved into the Brick Renaissance as the stylistic changes associated with the Italian Renaissance spread to northern Europe, leading to the adoption of Renaissance elements into brick building. Identifiable attributes included a low-pitched hipped or flat roof, symmetrical facade, round arch entrances and windows, columns and pilasters, and more.


title: Brick

text: A clear distinction between the two styles only developed at the transition to Baroque architecture. In Lübeck, for example, Brick Renaissance is clearly recognisable in buildings equipped with terracotta reliefs by the artist Statius von Düren, who was also active at Schwerin (Schwerin Castle) and Wismar (Fürstenhof).


title: Brick

text: Long-distance bulk transport of bricks and other construction equipment remained prohibitively expensive until the development of modern transportation infrastructure, with the construction of canal, roads, and railways.


title: Brick

text: Production of bricks increased massively with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the rise in factory building in England. For reasons of speed and economy, bricks were increasingly preferred as building material to stone, even in areas where the stone was readily available. It was at this time in London that bright red brick was chosen for construction to make the buildings more visible in the heavy fog and to help prevent traffic accidents.


title: Brick

text: The transition from the traditional method of production known as hand-moulding to a mechanised form of mass-production slowly took place during the first half of the nineteenth century. Possibly the first successful brick-making machine was patented by Henry Clayton, employed at the Atlas Works in Middlesex, England, in 1855, and was capable of producing up to 25,000 bricks daily with minimal supervision. His mechanical apparatus soon achieved widespread attention after it was adopted for use by the South Eastern Railway Company for brick-making at their factory near Folkestone. The Bradley & Craven Ltd 'Stiff-Plastic Brickmaking Machine' was patented in 1853, apparently predating Clayton. Bradley & Craven went on to be a dominant manufacturer of brickmaking machinery. Predating both Clayton and Bradley & Craven Ltd. however was the brick making machine patented by Richard A. Ver Valen of Haverstraw, New York, in 1852.


title: Brick

text: At the end of the 19th century, the Hudson River region of New York State would become the world's largest brick manufacturing region, with 130 brickyards lining the shores of the Hudson River from Mechanicsville to Haverstraw and employing 8,000 people. At its peak, about 1 billion bricks were produced a year, with many being sent to New York City for use in its construction industry.


title: Brick

text: The demand for high office building construction at the turn of the 20th century led to a much greater use of cast and wrought iron, and later, steel and concrete. The use of brick for skyscraper construction severely limited the size of the building – the Monadnock Building, built in 1896 in Chicago, required exceptionally thick walls to maintain the structural integrity of its 17 storeys.


title: Brick

text: Following pioneering work in the 1950s at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Building Research Establishment in Watford, UK, the use of improved masonry for the construction of tall structures up to 18 storeys high was made viable. However, the use of brick has largely remained restricted to small to medium-sized buildings, as steel and concrete remain superior materials for high-rise construction.


title: Brick

text: Four basic types of brick are un-fired, fired, chemically set bricks, and compressed earth blocks. Each type is manufactured differently for various purposes.


title: Brick

text: Unfired bricks, also known as mud-bricks, are made from a mixture of silt, clay, sand and other earth materials like gravel and stone, combined with tempers and binding agents such as chopped straw, grasses, tree bark, or dung. Since these bricks are made up of natural materials and only require heat from the Sun to bake, mud-bricks have a relatively low embodied energy and carbon footprint.


title: Brick

text: The ingredients are first harvested and added together, with clay content ranging from 30% to 70%. The mixture is broken up with hoes or adzes, and stirred with water to form a homogenous blend. Next, the tempers and binding agents are added in a ratio, roughly one part straw to five parts earth to reduce weight and reinforce the brick by helping reduce shrinkage. However, additional clay could be added to reduce the need for straw, which would prevent the likelihood of insects deteriorating the organic material of the bricks, subsequently weakening the structure. These ingredients are thoroughly mixed together by hand or by treading and are then left to ferment for about a day.


title: Brick

text: The mix is then kneaded with water and molded into rectangular prisms of a desired size. Bricks are lined up and left to sundry for three days on both sides. After the six days, the bricks continue drying until required for use. Typically, longer drying times are preferred, but the average is eight to nine days spanning from initial stages to its application in structures. Unfired bricks could be made in the spring months and left to dry over the summer for use in the fall. Mud-bricks are commonly employed in arid environments to allow for adequate air drying.


title: Brick

text: Fired bricks are burned in a kiln which makes them durable. Modern, fired, clay bricks are formed in one of three processes – soft mud, dry press, or extruded. Depending on the country, either the extruded or soft mud method is the most common, since they are the most economical.


title: Brick

text: Clay and shale are the raw ingredients in the recipe for a fired brick. They are the product of thousands of years of decomposition and erosion of rocks, such as pegmatite and granite, leading to a material that has properties of being highly chemically stable and inert. Within the clays and shales are the materials of aluminosilicate (pure clay), free silica (quartz), and decomposed rock.


title: Brick

text: In many modern brickworks, bricks are usually fired in a continuously fired tunnel kiln, in which the bricks are fired as they move slowly through the kiln on conveyors, rails, or kiln cars, which achieves a more consistent brick product. The bricks often have lime, ash, and organic matter added, which accelerates the burning process.


title: Brick

text: The other major kiln type is the Bull's Trench Kiln (BTK), based on a design developed by British engineer W. Bull in the late 19th century.


title: Brick

text: An oval or circular trench is dug, wide, deep, and in circumference. A tall exhaust chimney is constructed in the centre. Half or more of the trench is filled with "green" (unfired) bricks which are stacked in an open lattice pattern to allow airflow. The lattice is capped with a roofing layer of finished brick.


title: Brick

text: In operation, new green bricks, along with roofing bricks, are stacked at one end of the brick pile. Historically, a stack of unfired bricks covered for protection from the weather was called a "hack". Cooled finished bricks are removed from the other end for transport to their destinations. In the middle, the brick workers create a firing zone by dropping fuel (coal, wood, oil, debris, etc.) through access holes in the roof above the trench. The constant source of fuel maybe grown on the woodlots.


title: Brick

text: The advantage of the BTK design is a much greater energy efficiency compared with clamp or scove kilns. Sheet metal or boards are used to route the airflow through the brick lattice so that fresh air flows first through the recently burned bricks, heating the air, then through the active burning zone. The air continues through the green brick zone (pre-heating and drying the bricks), and finally out the chimney, where the rising gases create suction that pulls air through the system. The reuse of heated air yields savings in fuel cost.


title: Brick

text: As with the rail process, the BTK process is continuous. A half-dozen labourers working around the clock can fire approximately 15,000–25,000 bricks a day. Unlike the rail process, in the BTK process the bricks do not move. Instead, the locations at which the bricks are loaded, fired, and unloaded gradually rotate through the trench.


title: Brick

text: The colour of fired clay bricks is influenced by the chemical and mineral content of the raw materials, the firing temperature, and the atmosphere in the kiln. For example, pink bricks are the result of a high iron content, white or yellow bricks have a higher lime content. Most bricks burn to various red hues; as the temperature is increased the colour moves through dark red, purple, and then to brown or grey at around . The names of bricks may reflect their origin and colour, such as London stock brick and Cambridgeshire White. "Brick tinting" may be performed to change the colour of bricks to blend-in areas of brickwork with the surrounding masonry.


title: Brick

text: An impervious and ornamental surface may be laid on brick either by salt glazing, in which salt is added during the burning process, or by the use of a slip, which is a glaze material into which the bricks are dipped. Subsequent reheating in the kiln fuses the slip into a glazed surface integral with the brick base.


title: Brick

text: Chemically set bricks are not fired but may have the curing process accelerated by the application of heat and pressure in an autoclave.


title: Brick

text: Calcium-silicate bricks are also called sandlime or flintlime bricks, depending on their ingredients. Rather than being made with clay they are made with lime binding the silicate material. The raw materials for calcium-silicate bricks include lime mixed in a proportion of about 1 to 10 with sand, quartz, crushed flint, or crushed siliceous rock together with mineral colourants. The materials are mixed and left until the lime is completely hydrated; the mixture is then pressed into moulds and cured in an autoclave for three to fourteen hours to speed the chemical hardening. The finished bricks are very accurate and uniform, although the sharp arrises need careful handling to avoid damage to brick and bricklayer. The bricks can be made in a variety of colours; white, black, buff, and grey-blues are common, and pastel shades can be achieved. This type of brick is common in Sweden as well as Russia and other post-Soviet countries, especially in houses built or renovated in the 1970s. A version known as fly ash bricks, manufactured using fly ash, lime, and gypsum (known as the FaL-G process) are common in South Asia. Calcium-silicate bricks are also manufactured in Canada and the United States, and meet the criteria set forth in ASTM C73 – 10 Standard Specification for Calcium Silicate Brick (Sand-Lime Brick).


title: Brick

text: Bricks formed from concrete are usually termed as blocks or concrete masonry unit, and are typically pale grey. They are made from a dry, small aggregate concrete which is formed in steel moulds by vibration and compaction in either an "egglayer" or static machine. The finished blocks are cured, rather than fired, using low-pressure steam. Concrete bricks and blocks are manufactured in a wide range of shapes, sizes and face treatments – a number of which simulate the appearance of clay bricks.


title: Brick

text: Concrete bricks are available in many colours and as an engineering brick made with sulfate-resisting Portland cement or equivalent. When made with adequate amount of cement they are suitable for harsh environments such as wet conditions and retaining walls. They are made to standards BS 6073, EN 771-3 or ASTM C55. Concrete bricks contract or shrink so they need movement joints every 5 to 6 metres, but are similar to other bricks of similar density in thermal and sound resistance and fire resistance.


title: Brick

text: Compressed earth blocks are made mostly from slightly moistened local soils compressed with a mechanical hydraulic press or manual lever press. A small amount of a cement binder may be added, resulting in a "stabilised compressed earth block".


title: Brick

text: There are thousands of types of bricks that are named for their use, size, forming method, origin, quality, texture, and/or materials.


title: Brick

text: For efficient handling and laying, bricks must be small enough and light enough to be picked up by the bricklayer using one hand (leaving the other hand free for the trowel). Bricks are usually laid flat, and as a result, the effective limit on the width of a brick is set by the distance which can conveniently be spanned between the thumb and fingers of one hand, normally about . In most cases, the length of a brick is twice its width plus the width of a mortar joint, about or slightly more. This allows bricks to be laid "bonded" in a structure which increases stability and strength (for an example, see the illustration of bricks laid in "English bond", at the head of this article). The wall is built using alternating courses of "stretchers", bricks laid longways, and "headers", bricks laid crossways. The headers tie the wall together over its width. In fact, this wall is built in a variation of "English bond" called "English cross bond" where the successive layers of stretchers are displaced horizontally from each other by half a brick length. In true "English bond", the perpendicular lines of the stretcher courses are in line with each other.


title: Brick

text: A bigger brick makes for a thicker (and thus more insulating) wall. Historically, this meant that bigger bricks were necessary in colder climates (see for instance the slightly larger size of the Russian brick in table below), while a smaller brick was adequate, and more economical, in warmer regions. A notable illustration of this correlation is the Green Gate in Gdansk; built in 1571 of imported Dutch brick, too small for the colder climate of Gdansk, it was notorious for being a chilly and drafty residence. Nowadays this is no longer an issue, as modern walls typically incorporate specialised insulation materials.


title: Brick

text: The correct brick for a job can be selected from a choice of colour, surface texture, density, weight, absorption, and pore structure, thermal characteristics, thermal and moisture movement, and fire resistance.


title: Brick

text: In England, the length and width of the common brick remained fairly constant from 1625 when the size was regulated by statute at 9 x x 3 inches (but see brick tax), but the depth has varied from about or smaller in earlier times to about more recently. In the United Kingdom, the usual size of a modern brick (from 1965) is , which, with a nominal mortar joint, forms a "unit size" of , for a ratio of 6:3:2.


title: Brick

text: In the United States, modern standard bricks are specified for various uses; The most commonly used is the modular brick has the "actual dimensions" of   ×   ×  inches (194 × 92 × 57 mm). With the standard inch mortar joint, this gives the "nominal dimensions" of 8 x 4 x inches which eases the calculation of the number of bricks in a given wall. The 2:1 ratio of modular bricks means that when they turn corners, a 1/2 running bond is formed without needing to cut the brick down or fill the gap with a cut brick; and the height of modular bricks means that a soldier course matches the height of three modular running courses, or one standard CMU course.


title: Brick

text: Some brickmakers create innovative sizes and shapes for bricks used for plastering (and therefore not visible on the inside of the building) where their inherent mechanical properties are more important than their visual ones. These bricks are usually slightly larger, but not as large as blocks and offer the following advantages:


title: Brick

text: Blocks have a much greater range of sizes. Standard co-ordinating sizes in length and height (in mm) include 400×200, 450×150, 450×200, 450×225, 450×300, 600×150, 600×200, and 600×225; depths (work size, mm) include 60, 75, 90, 100, 115, 140, 150, 190, 200, 225, and 250. They are usable across this range as they are lighter than clay bricks. The density of solid clay bricks is around 2000 kg/m: this is reduced by frogging, hollow bricks, and so on, but aerated autoclaved concrete, even as a solid brick, can have densities in the range of 450–850 kg/m.


title: Brick

text: Bricks may also be classified as "solid" (less than 25% perforations by volume, although the brick may be "frogged," having indentations on one of the longer faces), "perforated" (containing a pattern of small holes through the brick, removing no more than 25% of the volume), "cellular" (containing a pattern of holes removing more than 20% of the volume, but closed on one face), or "hollow" (containing a pattern of large holes removing more than 25% of the brick's volume). Blocks may be solid, cellular or hollow.


title: Brick

text: The term "frog" can refer to the indentation or the implement used to make it. Modern brickmakers usually use plastic frogs but in the past they were made of wood.


title: Brick

text: The compressive strength of bricks produced in the United States ranges from about , varying according to the use to which the brick are to be put. In England clay bricks can have strengths of up to 100 MPa, although a common house brick is likely to show a range of 20–40 MPa.


title: Brick

text: Bricks are a versatile building material, able to participate in a wide variety of applications, including:


title: Brick

text: In the United States, bricks have been used for both buildings and pavement. Examples of brick use in buildings can be seen in colonial era buildings and other notable structures around the country. Bricks have been used in paving roads and sidewalks especially during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The introduction of asphalt and concrete reduced the use of brick for paving, but they are still sometimes installed as a method of traffic calming or as a decorative surface in pedestrian precincts. For example, in the early 1900s, most of the streets in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, were paved with bricks. Today, there are only about 20 blocks of brick-paved streets remaining (totalling less than 0.5 percent of all the streets in the city limits). Much like in Grand Rapids, municipalities across the United States began replacing brick streets with inexpensive asphalt concrete by the mid-20th century.


title: Brick

text: In Northwest Europe, bricks have been used in construction for centuries. Until recently, almost all houses were built almost entirely from bricks. Although many houses are now built using a mixture of concrete blocks and other materials, many houses are skinned with a layer of bricks on the outside for aesthetic appeal.


title: Brick

text: Bricks in the metallurgy and glass industries are often used for lining furnaces, in particular refractory bricks such as silica, magnesia, chamotte and neutral (chromomagnesite) refractory bricks. This type of brick must have good thermal shock resistance, refractoriness under load, high melting point, and satisfactory porosity. There is a large refractory brick industry, especially in the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands.


title: Brick

text: Engineering bricks are used where strength, low water porosity or acid (flue gas) resistance are needed.


title: Brick

text: In the UK a red brick university is one founded in the late 19th or early 20th century. The term is used to refer to such institutions collectively to distinguish them from the older Oxbridge institutions, and refers to the use of bricks, as opposed to stone, in their buildings.


title: Brick

text: Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona was noted for his extensive use of red bricks in his buildings and for using natural shapes like spirals, radial geometry and curves in his designs.


title: Brick

text: Starting in the 20th century, the use of brickwork declined in some areas due to concerns about earthquakes. Earthquakes such as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the 1933 Long Beach earthquake revealed the weaknesses of unreinforced brick masonry in earthquake-prone areas. During seismic events, the mortar cracks and crumbles, so that the bricks are no longer held together. Brick masonry with steel reinforcement, which helps hold the masonry together during earthquakes, has been used to replace unreinforced bricks in many buildings. Retrofitting older unreinforced masonry structures has been mandated in many jurisdictions. However, similar to steel corrosion in reinforced concrete, rebar rusting will compromise the structural integrity of reinforced brick and ultimately limit the expected lifetime, so there is a trade-off between earthquake safety and longevity to a certain extent.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an open-world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, and published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games. It is the fourth installment in the "Elder Scrolls" series, following 2002's "", and was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in 2006, followed by PlayStation 3 in 2007. Taking place within the fictional province of Cyrodiil, the game's main story focuses on the player character's efforts to thwart a fanatical cult known as the Mythic Dawn that plans to open portal gates to a demonic realm known as Oblivion.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The game continues the open-world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of certain abilities. Early in the game, seven skills are selected by the player as major skills for their character, with those remaining termed as minor skills.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: Upon release, "Oblivion" was a critical and commercial success, winning a number of industry and publication awards. It was praised for its impressive graphics, expansive game world, and schedule-driven NPCs, and is considered one of the greatest games ever made. Following a number of smaller content releases, Bethesda released two expansion packs for the game–"Knights of the Nine" and "Shivering Isles"–which were bundled with "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition" in 2007, and later re-released as a fifth-anniversary edition in 2011. "Oblivion" was followed by "" in 2011.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion" is an open world role-playing game (RPG) that incorporates open-ended gameplay. The player can follow side-quests, interact with NPCs, dispatch monsters, develop their character, and travel anywhere in the province of Cyrodiil at any time while playing the game, provided that the areas are not quest-specific and otherwise inaccessible when not questing. The game never ends, and the player can continue playing after completing the main quest. The gameplay includes a fast-travel system, in which an icon appears on the game world map every time the player visits a new location. This excludes the game world's main cities which are already unlocked for fast travel from the start of the game. The player can arrive at the desired location instantaneously by selecting the icon on the map.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: Character development is a primary element of "Oblivion". At the beginning of the game, players select one of ten humanoid or anthropomorphic races, each of which has different natural abilities, and customize their character's appearance. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas. Seven skills are selected early in the game as major skills, with the remainder termed minor. The players level up each time they improve their major skills by a total of ten points; this provides the opportunity to improve their attributes. Attributes are more broad character qualities, such as speed and endurance, while skills are more specific, such as armorer or athletics. Afflictions such as disease and poison can reduce the player's attributes. When players reach 25, 50, 75, or 100 points in a single skill, they unlock new abilities related to the skill.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The game's 21 skills fall evenly under the categories of combat, magic, and stealth, and many skills complement more than one area. Combat skills are used primarily for battle and incorporate armor and heavy weapons like blades, axes, maces, and hammers. Magic skills rely on the use of spells to alter the physical world, to affect the minds of others, to injure and debilitate enemies, to summon monsters to help fight, and to heal wounds. Stealth skills allow the player to crack locks, haggle for goods, use speech to manipulate people, and apply cunning in combat through the use of a bow or with a sneak attack. The spells, weapons, and other tools such that a player needs to employ and enhance these skills, such as lockpicks, can be purchased in shops, stolen from NPCs, or found as loot on the bodies of foes or in dungeons.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion" can be played in either a first- or third-person view, except in the mobile phone version, in which the game can only be played in isometric projection. The player may change the level of difficulty at any time, thereby weakening opponents and increasing the chance of success for particular actions. The screen constantly presents a heads-up display, which provides information about the character's health, magicka, and fatigue, all of which can be increased by leveling up. Health can be restored by spells, potions, or resting; the loss of all health results in death. Magicka enables and is depleted by the use of spells; it is rejuvenated naturally over time, but it can be restored similarly to health. Fatigue affects the character's effectiveness in combat and general efficiency, and can be alleviated by resting, potions, and spells.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: Throughout the world are a variety of enemies, including standard fantasy monsters such as imps and goblins, and animals such as bears and wolves. Enemies become stronger, and weapons and armor more effective as the player levels up. This game mechanic of level-scaling was incorporated to maintain a constant and moderate aspect of difficulty. However, level-scaling combined with the leveling system has received criticism, as it has the potential to unbalance the game; characters with major skills that increase on an involuntary basis, such as athletics or armor, can find that they level too quickly, making the enemies proportionately harder than intended.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion" is set during the Third Era, six years after the events of "", although it is not a direct sequel to it or any other game. The game is set in Cyrodiil—a province of Tamriel, the continent on which all the games in the series have so far taken place.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The story begins with the player imprisoned in a cell for an unknown crime. Emperor Uriel Septim VII (Patrick Stewart), accompanied by Imperial bodyguards known as the Blades, arrives in the prison, fleeing from assassins who have murdered the emperor's three sons and are now targeting him. The emperor and the Blades reveal that the player's jail cell contains a secret entrance to a part of the city's sewer that functions as an escape route. Pardoned by the emperor, the player follows the group into the sewer, where they come under attack by assassins. The Blades' captain is cut down during the fighting that ensues. Knowing he is destined to die by the hands of the assassins, Uriel Septim entrusts the player with the Amulet of Kings, worn by the Septim emperors of Tamriel, and orders the player to take it to a man named Jauffre (Ralph Cosham), the grandmaster of the Blades, at Weynon Priory. Immediately afterward, one of the assassins kills the emperor. The player escapes the sewer and heads out into the open world of Cyrodiil.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The lack of an heir for Uriel Septim has broken an old covenant—the barrier to Oblivion: a dangerous realm that is in another dimension. Multiple gates to Oblivion open, and an invasion of Tamriel begins by magical creatures known as Daedra, killing and destroying anything in their path. Jauffre tells the player that the only way to close the gates permanently is to find someone of the royal bloodline to retake the throne and relight the Dragonfires—with the Amulet of Kings—in the Imperial City. However, there is an illegitimate son named Martin (Sean Bean), who is a priest in the city of Kvatch. Upon arriving at Kvatch, the player finds that the Daedra have destroyed the city and very few survivors remain. A massive Oblivion Gate is obstructing the main city entrance, and the player must venture through the gate into the Deadlands—one of the planes of Oblivion—in order to close it from the inside and allow access to the city. After closing the gate, the player enters Kvatch and takes it back from the Daedra with the assistance of surviving guardsmen. Martin has survived, and the player persuades him to come to Weynon Priory.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The player, now recognized as the Hero of Kvatch, returns to Weynon Priory with Martin, finding that it has come under attack by assassins and that the Amulet of Kings has been stolen. The player escorts Jauffre and Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple, the stronghold of the Blades. There, Martin is recognized as the emperor and is given command of the Blades. The player is optionally entered into their ranks and sets off in search of the amulet. After gathering information, the player learns that the group responsible for Uriel Septim's assassination and the theft of the amulet are the Mythic Dawn, a cult dedicated to the worshiping of Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction. The cult believes Dagon is the true creator of the world and wish for him to "cleanse" it of all impurities. Killing the emperor and thus removing the barriers to Oblivion was the first step in realizing this idea. The player attempts to infiltrate the secret meeting place of the cult in the hopes of retrieving the amulet. When the player does so, the cult's leader, Mankar Camoran (Terence Stamp), escapes through a portal, taking the amulet with him. The player takes the book that had opened the portal to Martin, who deduces a way to reopen the portal. The player seeks out three key artifacts necessary to recreate the portal: a Daedric artifact, The Blood of the Divines (in this case, the armor of the first Septim emperor serves as a substitute), and a Great Welkynd Stone. With all three retrieved, Martin reveals that a final ingredient is needed: a Great Sigil Stone from inside a Great Gate similar to the one that devastated Kvatch. Martin and Jauffre decide to allow the city of Bruma to be attacked by Daedra so that a Great Gate will be opened. Once it is, the player obtains the Stone and closes the Gate, also saving Bruma.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: A portal is created at Cloud Ruler Temple, and the player is sent through to Mankar Camoran's created realm of Paradise. After bypassing Daedra, Mythic Dawn members and obstacles, the player confronts Camoran and kills him. The player returns the Amulet of Kings to Martin, and they subsequently travel to the Imperial City with the Blades to relight the Dragonfires and end the Daedric invasion. They find the city under attack by Daedra and an enormous avatar of Mehrunes Dagon himself. The player and Martin fight their way to the Temple of the One. There, Martin laments that they are powerless against Dagon's avatar and explains that they can only defeat him one way. He bids farewell to the player and shatters the Amulet of Kings, merging himself with the spirit of Akatosh, the Dragon-God of Time, thus becoming Akatosh's avatar. After a battle, Akatosh casts Dagon back into Oblivion and lets out a mighty roar before turning to stone. Martin, whose soul was consumed by the amulet, enters the afterlife to join his forebears. In a telepathic monologue to the player, he sheds an optimistic light, explaining that while the Amulet of Kings is destroyed and the throne again lies empty, the gates of Oblivion are now shut forever, and the future of Tamriel now lies in the player's hands. The Empire's high chancellor sincerely thanks the player for their service during the crisis and proclaims them as the seventh Champion of Cyrodiil.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The game was developed by the United States software company Bethesda Softworks. Ken Rolston, who was "Morrowind"s lead designer, oversaw the development team. The PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game were co-published by 2K Games and Bethesda. Work on "Oblivion" began shortly after the release of "Morrowind" in 2002. By mid-September 2004, "Oblivion" had been officially announced, and its title revealed.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: During "Oblivion"s development, Bethesda concentrated on creating a system with a more realistic storyline, believable characters, and meaningful quests than had been done in the past. In comparison with previous titles in the series, the game features improved artificial intelligence thanks to the use of Bethesda proprietary Radiant AI software, and enhanced physics facilitated by the Havok physics engine. The graphics take advantage of advanced lighting and shader routines such as high-dynamic-range rendering (HDR) and specular mapping. Bethesda developed and implemented procedural content creation tools in the building of "Oblivion"s terrain, leading to the expedited creation of landscapes that are more complex and realistic than in past titles.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: While designing "Oblivion"s landscape and architecture, developers worked from personal travel photographs, nature books, texture images, and reference photographs. Procedural content generation tools used in production allowed for the creation of realistic environments at much faster rates than was the case with "Morrowind". Erosion algorithms incorporated in the landscape generation tools allowed for the creation of craggy terrain quickly and easily, replacing "Morrowind"s artificially smoothed-over terrain.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion"s view distance is far greater than its predecessor's, extending player sightlines to the horizon and giving views of distant towns and mountain ranges. According to a Microsoft press release, "Oblivion"s game world is approximately 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in size. Wilderness quests, ruins, and dungeons were added to fill surplus space. Content in the dungeons is more densely packed than in dungeons in "Morrowind", with an increase in the frequency of creature encounters, quest-related NPCs, and puzzles. However, the populations represented in "Oblivion" do not match the "thousands upon thousands" described in previous in-game literature. The development team decided to set the NPC populations at a level that would play well, rather than one that would match game lore, since the presence of a large number of NPCs on screen would have caused the game to slow down.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: In response to the criticism that NPC behavior had been too simplistic in "Morrowind", Bethesda developed the Radiant AI system for "Oblivion". NPCs were designed to make choices, rather than complete scripted routines, to achieve predetermined goals. The manner in which goals such as eating, sleeping, reading, and speaking to others are fulfilled is dependent upon the environment, the choices of other NPCs, and programmed personality values. For example, an NPC whose goal is to find food may eventually resort to stealing from others, if they are given the opportunity and if it is in their character. These development mechanics allowed Bethesda to create NPCs who could engage in complex activities.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion" features the voices of Patrick Stewart, Lynda Carter, Sean Bean, Terence Stamp, with celebrity acquisition and voice production being handled by Blindlight. The voice acting received mixed reviews in the gaming press. While many publications praised it as excellent, others found fault with its repetitiveness. The issue has been blamed on the small number of voice actors and the blandness of the dialogue itself. Lead designer Ken Rolston found the plan to fully voice the game "less flexible, less apt for user projection of his own tone, more constrained for branching, and more trouble for production and disk real estate" than "Morrowind"s partially recorded dialogue. Rolston tempered his criticism with the suggestion that voice acting "can be a powerful expressive tool" and can contribute significantly to the charm and ambiance of the game. He stated, "I prefer "Morrowind"s partially recorded dialogue, for many reasons. But I'm told that voiced dialogue is what the kids want."


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion"s score was composed by series mainstay Jeremy Soule, a video game composer whose past scores had earned him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award in the "Game Music Category" and two nominations for an Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) award for "Original Music Composition". The official soundtrack to "Oblivion", featuring 26 tracks spanning 58 minutes, was released in March 2006, via Soule's digital distributor DirectSong. Soule had worked with Bethesda and Todd Howard during the creation of "Morrowind", and, in a press release announcing his return for "Oblivion", Soule repeated the words he had said during "Morrowind"s press release: "The stunning, epic quality of "The Elder Scrolls" series is particularly compatible with the grand, orchestral style of music I enjoy composing the most." As in his compositions for "Morrowind", Soule chose to create a soft and minimalist score so as not to wear out users' ears. Soule stated that while composing the music, he did not imagine any specific characters or events; rather, he wanted it "to comment on the human condition and the beauty of life." In a 2006 interview, he related that this desire came as a result of a car accident that occurred during his composition of the score. He said, "I ended up rolling in my car several times on an interstate while flying headlong into oncoming traffic ... I felt no fear ... I simply just acknowledged to myself that I've had a good life and I would soon have to say goodbye to all of it in a matter of seconds." Soule sustained only minor injuries, but commented that his feeling during the crash—"that life is indeed precious"—remained with him throughout the rest of the composition.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion"s public debut occurred on May 18, 2005, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. The version shown at E3 was substantially finished; most of the content was already in the game, lacking only the polish that the final months of development would bring. Most viewers were impressed by Oblivion's showing, and the game won a number of "best of" awards from a variety of game journalists, among them GameSpy's "RPG Game of Show", GameSpot's "Best Role-Playing Game", IGN's "Best PC RPG", RPGFan's "Overall Game of E3 2005", and the prestigious "Best Role Playing Game" in the 2005 E3 Game Critics Awards. A near-final build of "Oblivion" was shown at Microsoft's Consumer Electronics Show press tent in January 2006, showcasing the game's exteriors. In the months prior to release, anticipation for the game ran high, with critics describing "Oblivion" as "the first next-gen game" only heightening attention. Pete Hines, Vice President of Public Relations and Marketing for Bethesda, said: "People were expecting the game to cure blindness and heal the sick."


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: 2K Games had aimed for a late 2005 publication so that the game could be an Xbox 360 launch title. The official release date for the PC and Xbox 360 versions was originally November 22, 2005, but developmental delays pushed it back to March 20, 2006. A mobile phone version of the game, developed by Superscape and published by Vir2L Studios, was released on May 2, 2006. The PlayStation 3 version of the game (ported by 4J Studios) was released on March 20, 2007, in North America and on April 27, 2007, in Europe. This version includes graphical improvements that had been made since the PC and Xbox 360 release, and was subsequently praised for its enhanced visual appeal. A PlayStation Portable version of the game was also in development before being canceled.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: At the 2007 E3, the "Game of the Year" edition for "Oblivion" was announced. In North America and Europe, the game was released in September 2007, for the Xbox 360 and PC, and in October 2007, for the PS3; in Australia, it was released in September 2007, for the Xbox 360 and PC, and in December 2007, for the PS3. It was also released on Steam on June 16, 2009. A 5th-anniversary edition of "Oblivion" was announced and released in North America in July 2011 and in Europe two months later. An Xbox 360 version of "Fallout 3" and "Oblivion" double pack was announced for release in North America on April 3; however, it was not mentioned whether the bundled games include any of the downloadable content released for either game.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: On May 3, 2006, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in North America changed "Oblivion"s rating from T (Teen 13+) to M (Mature 17+), citing game content not considered in the ESRB review, i.e., "the presence in the PC version of the game of a locked-out art file that, if accessed by using an apparently unauthorized third party tool, allows the user to play the game with topless versions of female characters." In response to the new content, the ESRB conducted a review of "Oblivion", showing to its reviewers the content originally submitted by Bethesda along with the newly disclosed content.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: The ESRB reported that Bethesda Softworks would promptly notify all retailers of the change, issue stickers for retailers and distributors to affix on the product, display the new rating in all following product shipments and marketing, and create a downloadable patch rendering the topless skin inaccessible. Bethesda complied with the request but disagreed with the ESRB's rationale. Some retailers began to check for ID before selling "Oblivion" as a result, and one California Assemblyman used the event to criticize the ESRB's inefficiency.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: Starting in April 2006, Bethesda released small packages of additional downloadable content (DLC) for the game from their website and over the Xbox Live Marketplace. The first update came as a set of specialized armor for "Oblivion"s ridable horses; released on April 3, 2006. Although gamers generally displayed enthusiasm for the concept of micropayments for downloadable in-game content, many expressed their dissatisfaction at the price they had to pay for the relatively minor horse-armor package on the Internet and elsewhere. Hines assured the press that Bethesda was not going to respond rashly to customer criticism. New releases continued into late 2006, at lower prices with more substantial content, leading to a better reception in the gaming press. Other small DLC packs include a set of houses themed after the game's factions, a new dungeon, and new spells that were absent in the initial release. "Oblivion"s final content pack was released on October 15, 2007.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "" is an official expansion for "Oblivion" released on November 21, 2006. Downloadable on the Xbox Live marketplace for the Xbox 360 and available for retail purchase for PC users, the expansion content was included in the original version of the PlayStation 3 release. The expansion was developed, published, and released by Bethesda Softworks. The plot of "Knights of the Nine" centers on the rise of the sorcerer-king Umaril and the player's quest to defeat him with the aid of the lost crusader's relics. Although it made little change to the basic mechanics of "Oblivion", it was judged by reviewers to be a brief but polished addition to the game's main plot.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "" was released on March 27, 2007, for Windows and Xbox 360, and December 8, 2007, for PlayStation 3. The expansion offers more than 30 hours of new adventuring, and features new quests, voice acting, monsters, spells, armor, and expanded freeform gameplay. It features a new land "that [players] can watch change according to [their] vital life-or-death decisions." "Shivering Isles" takes place in the realm of madness ruled over by the Daedric prince Sheogorath. The player is tasked by Sheogorath with saving the realm from an approaching cataclysm known as the Greymarch.


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion" received universal acclaim from critics, and became a commercial success. The game had shipped 1.7 million copies by April 10, 2006, sold over 3 million copies by January 2007, and over 3.5 million by November 2011. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, a market research firm, estimates that the game has sold 9.5 million copies worldwide. Reviewers praised the game for its impressive graphics, expansive game world, and schedule-driven NPCs. Eurogamer editor Kristan Reed stated that the game "successfully unites some of the best elements of RPG, adventure and action games and fuses them into a relentlessly immersive and intoxicating whole." GameSpot's Greg Kasavin wrote that compared to "Morrowind", which was one of the best role-playing games he has seen in years, ""Oblivion" is hands-down better, so much so that even those who'd normally have no interest in a role-playing game should find it hard to resist getting swept up in this big, beautiful, meticulously crafted world." "X-Play"s Jason D'Aprile stated, "All the games in this series have been known for their sheer vastness and freedom of choice, but the "Elder Scrolls IV" takes that concept and runs with it."


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "GamesTM" editors noted that the game is "heavily steeped in RPG tradition, however, its appeal stretches far beyond the hardcore RPG demographic thanks to its ease of play, boundless ambition and focused attention to detail." Scott Tobias of "The A.V. Club" wrote that the game is "worth playing for the sense of discovery—each environment looks different from the last and requires a nuanced reaction—makes the action addictive." GameZone staff commented on how one can spend a lot of the gameplay time by leveling up his or her character, doing various quests, and customizing the character before even starting the main quest. "IGN" editor Charles Onyett praised the game's storytelling and "easy to navigate menus".


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: Despite the praise, Patrick Joynt of 1UP.com criticized the conversations between in-game NPCs and the player: "When an NPC greets you with a custom piece of dialogue (such as a guard's warning) and then reverts to the standard options (like a guard's cheerful directions just after that warning) it's more jarring than the canned dialogue by itself." Game Revolution's Duke Ferris noted that "the voices occasionally repeat" but was impressed that the developers managed to fit a lot of voiced dialog into the game, where most is "high-quality work". GameSpy's Justin Speer criticized the "disruptive loading stutters while moving across the game world" and long loading times. Speer noted several miscellaneous bugs, such as unintended floating objects and unsynchronized lip-synching and speech. Onyett of IGN criticized the disjunction between enemies that scaled up according to the player's level and not their combat abilities or NPC allies, the loading times and the imprecision in the combat system, but stated that "none of those minor criticisms hold back "Oblivion" from being a thoroughly enjoyable, user-friendly, gorgeous experience with enough content to keep you returning time and time again."


title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

text: "Oblivion" won a number of industry and publication awards. In 2006, the game was awarded the title "Game of the Year" at the G-Phoria Video Game Awards and at the Spike TV Video Game Awards. At the 24th annual Golden Joystick Awards, "Oblivion" was awarded "PLAY.com Ultimate Game of the Year", "Xbox Game of the Year", and "ebuyer.com PC Game of the Year". The game was titled the best role-playing game of 2006 by 1UP.com, G4, IGN, GameSpy, GameSpot, Game Revolution, "PC Gamer US", and the Interactive Achievement Awards. The editors of "Computer Games Magazine" presented "Oblivion" with their 2006 "Best Technology" and "Best Role-Playing Game" awards, and named it the second-best computer game of the year. They summarized it as "an unforgettable masterpiece". In 2007, "PC Gamer" magazine rated "Oblivion" number one on their list of the top 100 games of all time. In addition to the awards won by the game itself, Patrick Stewart's voicework as Uriel Septim won a Spike TV award, and the musical score by composer Jeremy Soule won the inaugural MTV Video Music Award for "Best Original Score" through an international popular vote.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Jordi Alba Ramos (born 21 March 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Barcelona and captains the Spain national team. He is often regarded as one of the best left-backs of his generation.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba started his career at Barcelona, but was released after being deemed too small. After joining Cornellà, he moved to Valencia. In 2012 he returned to Barcelona, with whom he has won sixteen major honours, including five La Liga titles, five Copas del Rey and one UEFA Champions League.


title: Jordi Alba

text: After winning 23 caps and scoring one goal at youth level, Alba made his senior debut for Spain in 2011. He was an integral member of the team that won UEFA Euro 2012, and was also part of the squads at the FIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018, and 2022, and the European Championship in 2016 and 2020.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba was born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia. He started his career in the youth ranks of Barcelona as a left winger, but was released by the club in 2005 for being too small. He then joined neighbouring club Cornellà and, after almost two years, departed in a €6,000 transfer to Valencia where he finished his football education.


title: Jordi Alba

text: After helping the reserves earn promotion from Tercera División in 2007–08, Alba played on loan at Segunda División club Gimnàstic Tarragona the following season, where he made 22 starts.


title: Jordi Alba

text: After returning to "Los Che", Alba made his La Liga debut on 13 September 2009, in a 4–2 win at Real Valladolid. He then started in two consecutive UEFA Europa League group stage matches, against Lille and Slavia Prague (both 1–1 draws, respectively away and home). Due to continuing injuries in Valencia's defence, he played much of 2009–10 as a left-back, posting overall good performances. In that position, on 11 April 2010, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 2–3 away loss to Mallorca.


title: Jordi Alba

text: In 2010–11, still with Unai Emery in charge, Alba was used almost always as a defender, battling for first-choice status with Jérémy Mathieu. He made 27 league appearances as the team again finished third, subsequently qualifying for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League.


title: Jordi Alba

text: In the following campaign, Emery began using both players on Valencia's left side, a strategy he had tested the previous season. This proved an effective tactic as Alba and Mathieu frequently interchanged position and offered support for one another in both attacking and defensive areas; ultimately, the player credited the manager as a "key man" in his successful transition to a more defensive role.


title: Jordi Alba

text: On 28 June 2012, Alba signed a five-year contract with Barcelona for a transfer fee of €14 million. He made his official debut on 19 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 5–1 home win against Real Sociedad.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba scored his first goal for the "Blaugrana" on 20 October 2012, the opener in a 5–4 win at Deportivo La Coruña, and scoring an own goal. In the following game, at home against Celtic in the Champions League group stage, he found the net in the 93rd minute of a 2–1 win.


title: Jordi Alba

text: On 12 March 2013, Alba scored his fifth goal of the campaign, scoring in the last minute to complete Barcelona's 4–0 home win over A.C. Milan in the Champions League round of 16 after a 0–2 first leg defeat at the San Siro, when his team became the first in the competition's history to overturn such a deficit. He ended his first season at Barcelona as league champion, as Tito Vilanova's side regained the title from Real Madrid.


title: Jordi Alba

text: On 2 June 2015, Alba agreed to a new five-year contract with a new buyout clause of €150 million. Four days later, he started in the Champions League final, helping the club to its fifth win in the competition by beating Juventus 3–1 at Berlin's Olympiastadion. He made 38 appearances in all competitions, with one goal, as Barça won a treble.


title: Jordi Alba

text: On 22 May 2016, Alba won the second Copa del Rey of his career, scoring in the 97th minute of the final against Sevilla after a through pass from Lionel Messi, in an eventual 2–0 extra-time win at the Vicente Calderón in Madrid.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba missed out on 50% of the games in the 2019–20 season, missing 12 out of 24 games, due to a hamstring injury and a muscle injury.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba had his best performance in the 2020–21 season where he scored 5 goals and 13 assists in all competitions as he won the Copa del Rey with his club.


title: Jordi Alba

text: On 9 August 2021, Jordi Alba was announced as the fourth captain of Barcelona after captain Lionel Messi left the club ahead of the 2021–22 season.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba represented Spain at the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, as well as appearing in all four games as the country won the gold medal at the 2009 Mediterranenan Games. He was also part of the squad at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba received his first call-up to the full national team on 30 September 2011, for the last two UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Scotland. He made his debut against Scotland on 11 October, a 3–1 win in Alicante in which his cut back from the left wing provided the assist for the opening goal, scored by former Valencia teammate David Silva. His impressive debut confirmed his status as a strong candidate to be the long-term successor of Joan Capdevila as the regular left-back for "La Roja", and he was also included in the under-23 squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba was included in Vicente del Bosque's squad for the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine, and played in every match, as Spain won the tournament. He supplied the cross for Xabi Alonso to open the scoring in the 2–0 quarter-final victory over France. In the final against Italy, after running onto a pass from Xavi during a counter-attack, he scored the second goal in a 4–0 win.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba was also selected for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. He played four complete matches during the tournament, scoring twice in the 3–0 group stage win over Nigeria.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba made Del Bosque's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, making three appearances as the defending champions were knocked out in the group stage. He was also named in Julen Lopetegui's squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and Luis Enrique's 24-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2020.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Following the absence of captain Sergio Busquets due to coronavirus, Alba was given the captaincy until further notice. Alba was picked for the Spain squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.


title: Jordi Alba

text: Alba is a diminutive, technically gifted, mobile, and rapid attacking left-back, who can also be used as a left winger; he is known for his pace, link-up play, ball control, positioning, vision, movement, and his ability to time his attacking runs into space and get up the flank, as well as his ability to deliver crosses into the box, which allows him to provide assists for teammates. Moreover, he is also a tenacious tackler; however, his defending has been cited as a weakness by certain pundits, such as Enrique Ortego of "Marca", although he was able to improve upon this aspect of his game as his career progressed. His speed and stamina allow him to be very involved in both his team's offensive and defensive plays, as he can get from one end of the pitch to the other very quickly, often pushing forward to get past players and score goals, or falling back when his team have lost possession.


title: Jordi Alba

text: In his prime, his connection and combination play with Lionel Messi rendered them one of the most effective attacking duos in world football and one of the most lethal in Barcelona's history. Regarded as a standard for left-backs in Europe by the media, Alba has earned plaudits from former left-backs Joan Capdevila and Roberto Carlos over his playing style and ability. He is also considered to be among the quickest players of his generation, and one of the fastest full-backs of all time.


title: Boiling point

text: The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor.


title: Boiling point

text: The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding environmental pressure. A liquid in a partial vacuum has a lower boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. A liquid at low pressure has a lower boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. Because of this, water boils at under standard pressure at sea level, but at at altitude. For a given pressure, different liquids will boil at different temperatures.


title: Boiling point

text: The normal boiling point (also called the atmospheric boiling point or the atmospheric pressure boiling point) of a liquid is the special case in which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the defined atmospheric pressure at sea level, one atmosphere. At that temperature, the vapor pressure of the liquid becomes sufficient to overcome atmospheric pressure and allow bubbles of vapor to form inside the bulk of the liquid. The standard boiling point has been defined by IUPAC since 1982 as the temperature at which boiling occurs under a pressure of one bar.


title: Boiling point

text: The heat of vaporization is the energy required to transform a given quantity (a mol, kg, pound, etc.) of a substance from a liquid into a gas at a given pressure (often atmospheric pressure).


title: Boiling point

text: Liquids may change to a vapor at temperatures below their boiling points through the process of evaporation. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon in which molecules located near the liquid's edge, not contained by enough liquid pressure on that side, escape into the surroundings as vapor. On the other hand, boiling is a process in which molecules anywhere in the liquid escape, resulting in the formation of vapor bubbles within the liquid.