title: Alba Flores

text: In 2017, Netflix bought Global streaming rights for the show. With a strong following, the show run for a total of four seasons and an additional spinoff called "Vis a Vis: Oasis" premiered in 2020. Flores, who played an essential character on the main show had a special guest appearance in the finale to close the series.


title: Alba Flores

text: While working with Álex Pina in Vis a Vis, the producer called her and asked if she was interested in joining his new show "La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)". She didn't go to an audition process. Instead, Pina wrote a role specifically for her as one of the bank robbers on the show nicknamed Nairobi, an expert in counterfeiting and forgery and the team's Quality Control Manager who's in charge in printing the money in Parts One and Two and overseeing the melting of gold in Parts Three and Four.


title: Alba Flores

text: After the series was cancelled after its one-season run, Netflix acquired the show's Global Streaming rights late 2017, the cast was called back for production and since then Money Heist gained worldwide critical recognition, becoming Netflix's most viewed non-English series. Due to the massive popularity of the show worldwide, Netflix, ordered additional seasons prompting the producers, writers and cast members to return to the show. The series received critical acclaim for its sophisticated plot and engaging characters as well as winning several awards including best drama series at the International Emmy Awards. Her role as Nairobi brought her international recognition as well as numerous acting citations. She won a Iris Award for Best Actress as well as several nominations for her work as Nairobi.


title: Alba Flores

text: In between working in television she also performs in theatre plays. Some of her recent notable works are:


title: Alba Flores

text: The "Troyanas", based on the tragedy written by Greek playwright Euripides about the Women of Troy after the end of Trojan War. She played Políxena, the daughter of the King of Troy who was sacrificed after the fall of Troy. It premiered on Mérida International Classical Theatre Festival. Flores was nominated for Best Supporting Actress Award in Spanish Actors Union Awards for her performance.


title: Alba Flores

text: The musical play ""Drac Pack"" written by her Vis a Vis co-star and friend Najwa Nimri and the Spanish version of La excepción y la regla by German Playwright Bertolt Brecht wherein she was nominated for Best Theatre Actress on Fotogramas de Plata.


title: Alba Flores

text: Her father, Antonio Flores composed a song dedicated for her entitled "Alba". She was nine years old when her father died, two weeks after her grandmother, Lola Flores died.


title: Alba Flores

text: Flores is vegetarian and has campaigned on behalf of the Latin division of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, saying that, "You have to leave the animals off the plate".


title: Alba Flores

text: In March 2022 she was amongst 151 international feminists signing "Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto", in solidarity with the Feminist Anti-War Resistance initiated by Russian feminists after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: A Journal for Jordan is a 2021 American drama film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington from a screenplay written by Virgil Williams, based on the memoir "A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor" by Dana Canedy. The film stars Michael B. Jordan (who also co-produced the film) and Chanté Adams in the lead roles, along with Jalon Christian, Robert Wisdom, and Tamara Tunie in supporting roles.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: The film was released by Sony Pictures Releasing, through the Columbia Pictures banner, on December 25, 2021. It received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: Based on a true story, while 1st Sergeant Charles Monroe King is deployed in Iraq, he keeps a journal of love and advice for his infant son. Sharing this journal with her son, his fiancée, Dana Canedy reflects on her unlikely yet powerful romantic relationship with King.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: In January 2018, it was reported that Denzel Washington would direct the film "Journal for Jordan" from a script by Virgil Williams based on Dana Canedy's memoir. In February 2019, it was reported that Michael B. Jordan would play the lead role. In October 2020, Chanté Adams was cast in the film. As of December 2020, production had begun. In February 2021, Robert Wisdom, Johnny M. Wu, and Jalon Christian joined the cast. In March 2021, Tamara Tunie joined the cast.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: "A Journal for Jordan" was originally scheduled by Sony Pictures Releasing for a limited theatrical release on December 10, 2021, before going wide on December 22. In October 2021, the film was pushed to a wide theatrical release on December 25, on Christmas Day, without a limited release. The film had its world premiere at the AMC Lincoln Square Theatre on December 9, 2021. The film was released video-on-demand on January 11, 2022 and will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 8, 2022.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: In the United States, "A Journal for Jordan" was released alongside "American Underdog" and the wide expansion of "Licorice Pizza", and was projected to gross around $5 million from 2,500 theaters over its first two days of release. It made $1.2 million on its first day and $1 million on its second, debuting to $2.2 million and finishing eighth at the box office. In its second weekend, the film finished ninth with $1.2 million. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its third weekend, finishing twelfth with $600,880.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 39% based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads, ""A Journal for Jordan"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s affecting fact-based story stumbles onscreen thanks to Denzel Washington's undistinguished direction and overly sentimental approach." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: A Journal for Jordan

text: The motion picture had three nominations at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture for Jalon Christian's performance.


title: Little Big (band)

text: Little Big are a Russian rave band founded in Saint Petersburg in 2013. The band currently consists of Ilya "Ilich" Prusikin and Sonya Tayurskaya. Their first full-length album, "With Russia from Love", was released on 17 March 2014. The group has released a total of four albums and nine singles. The band is currently based out of Los Angeles, California, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Little Big (band)

text: The band was formed by musician Ilya Prusikin and videomaker Alina Pasok and made their debut on 1 April 2013, releasing their first video "Every Day I'm Drinking". They made their first public appearance on 2 July 2013 at the club A2, opening for Die Antwoord. They have toured in Europe, Russia, and North America. "This music is really in demand. We have not invested a single penny, just shot video, and became known in Europe", Ilya Prusikin said in an interview with UTV. On 19 December 2015, the band released their second album, "Funeral Rave". It was 8th on the Russian iTunes chart for the 52nd week of 2015. On 21 May 2016, videos for the songs "Give Me Your Money" and "Big Dick" received a prize at the Berlin Music Video Awards 2016. "Big Dick" won Most Trashy, and "Give Me Your Money" won third place for Best Performer. "Big Dick", with over 70 million views, is full of sexual imagery and overtones. "We just want to show people that they own their lives. Countries and governments are not as important as they think, a person can deal with what he wants", said frontman Ilya Prusikin on the purpose of the band in an interview with "Noisey". The band has its own label "Little Big Family", which includes Little Big (2016–present), The Hatters (2016–present), Tatarka (2016–present), (2017–present), and (2018–present).


title: Little Big (band)

text: In April 2018, Olympia Ivleva decided to leave the band. Later that year, she stated her "burnout after five years of doing the same job", combined with intention to start her own non-musical businesses (chocolate paste and lingerie), were the reasons behind her exit. Little Big achieved viral success with the release of the video for "Skibidi" on 5 October 2018. The video features a dance that became popular when others tried to imitate it as part of the "Skibidi Challenge". Little Big took the first prize in the Most Trashy category at the Berlin Music Video Awards 2018 for their music video <nowiki>"</nowiki>Lolly Bomb<nowiki>"</nowiki>, and their music video <nowiki>"Skibidi" won the first place in the Best Concept category in the festival'</nowiki>s 2019 edition.


title: Little Big (band)

text: In March 2020, Little Big were announced as Russia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, where they would have performed "Uno". The music video for the song, released at the same time, features Yuri Muzychenko from The Hatters and Florida Chanturia from Leningrad, both of whom were to join the band on stage during the contest. However, on 18 March 2020, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the band won the Most Trashy category with their video <nowiki>"Go Bananas"</nowiki> at the Berlin Music Video Awards. The same year, they also placed third for the Best Music Video. In October 2020, Little Big's cover version of "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was used over both the trailer and the closing credits of "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm".On 30 December 2020, the group performed the song "Mamma Maria" on the "Evening Urgant" New Year's special, "Ciao, 2020!", under the name Piccolo Grandi.


title: Little Big (band)

text: On 1 March 2021, Little Big announced on Instagram that founding member Anna Kast had died. On 8 March 2021, Little Big released a new single, "Sex Machine," along with a video which referenced the video to "Uno" the year prior. However, they subsequently posted on Instagram, "We are not going to Eurovision 2021. We think that Russia has many talented and unique artists, each one of them deserves the chance to be seen out there." Little Big was nominated for Best Art Director with their music video <nowiki>"</nowiki>S*ck My D*ck 2020<nowiki>"</nowiki> at the Berlin Music Video Awards 2021. On 24 November 2021, Little Big released the video "“LITTLE BIG NFT SURPRISEN EGG” episode 1" "(sic)" to announce that the band was making NFTs. On 1 December 2021, people could buy 1 of 1000 unique surprise eggs which would hatch a week later, revealing one of the designs. Ilya Prusikin stated that they were inspired by Kinder Surprise Eggs, which are popular in Russia. On 11 February 2022, the single 'Ebobo' by Glukoza was 'Inspired and Evilized by Little Big'. Members of the group can be seen in the music video and on the cover art for the single.


title: Little Big (band)

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the two leaders of the band, Prusikin and Tayurskaya, relocated to Los Angeles, California on 2 March. They stated that they were on a government blacklist, and aren't allowed to perform any shows in Russia. When asked about a possible return to Russia, they stated that it will be possible "when Putin leaves". On 24 June, the band released the single "Generation Cancellation", which carried a pacifist message that was regarded by Ukrainians as rather anti-American and anti-West rather than anti-Russian or even anti-war. This caused their show in Kraków, that was supposed to take place 12th of November, to be cancelled. The band plans to release a fifth studio album in the year. Prusikin noted that "We are a band that likes to work in so many styles: pop, rave, punk and hardcore. And (now) we embody our ambition and love for different genres in the (new) album. It will be different".


title: Little Big (band)

text: The team calls itself a satirical art collaboration, which relies on the music, visuals, and the show. Little Big mocks various national stereotypes about Russia. All the videos are filmed by co-founder Alina Pasok. The band shoots and produces all of their music videos.


title: Little Big (band)

text: Since the first concert took place as the opening act for Die Antwoord, the band was dubbed "The Russian Die Antwoord", and is often compared with this band. "Vice" also called Little Big "a Russian mental patient's answer to Die Antwoord". Other critics point out that while Little Big has an identity of its own, it also exposes the listener to Russian folk songs and Russian culture.


title: Little Big (band)

text: The band was influenced by a variety of musicians from Cannibal Corpse, NOFX, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rammstein, and The Prodigy to Mozart and Vivaldi.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: A hollow-point bullet is a type of expanding bullet which expands on impact, causing a more lethal hit without penetrating further than necessary.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Hollow-point bullets are used for controlled penetration, where overpenetration could cause collateral damage (such as aboard an aircraft). In target shooting, they are used for greater accuracy due to the larger meplat. They are more accurate and predictable compared to pointed bullets which, despite having a higher ballistic coefficient (BC), are more sensitive to bullet harmonic characteristics and wind deflection.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Plastic-tipped bullets are a type of (rifle) bullet meant to confer the aerodynamic advantage of the Spitzer bullet (for example, see very-low-drag bullet) and the stopping power of hollow-point bullets.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Solid lead bullets, when cast from a soft alloy, will often deform and provide some expansion if they hit the target at a high velocity. This, combined with the limited velocity and penetration attainable with muzzleloading firearms, meant there was little need for extra expansion.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The first hollow-point bullets were marketed in the late 19th century as "express bullets", and were hollowed out to reduce the bullet's mass and provide higher velocities. In addition to providing increased velocities, the hollow also turned out to provide significant expansion, especially when the bullets were cast in a soft lead alloy. Originally intended for rifles, the popular .32-20, .38-40, and .44-40 calibers could also be fired in revolvers.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: With the advent of smokeless powder, velocities increased, and bullets got smaller, faster, and lighter. These new bullets (especially in rifles) needed to be jacketed to handle the conditions of firing. The new full metal jacket bullets tended to penetrate straight through a target causing less internal damage than a bullet that expands and stops in its target. This led to the development of the soft point bullet and later jacketed hollow-point bullets at the British arsenal in Dum Dum, near Calcutta around 1890. Designs included the .303" Mk III, IV & V and the .455" Mk III "Manstopper" cartridges. Although such bullet designs were quickly outlawed for use in warfare (in 1898, the Germans complained they breached the Laws of War), they steadily gained ground among hunters due to the ability to control the expansion of the new high velocity cartridges. In modern ammunition, the use of hollow points is primarily limited to handgun ammunition, which tends to operate at much lower velocities than rifle ammunition (on the order of versus over 2,000 feet per second). At rifle velocities, a hollow point is not needed for reliable expansion and most rifle ammunition makes use of tapered jacket designs to achieve the mushrooming effect. At the lower handgun velocities, hollow point designs are generally the only design which will expand reliably.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Modern hollowpoint bullet designs use many different methods to provide controlled expansion, including:


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: When a hollow-point hunting bullet strikes a soft target, the pressure created in the pit forces the material (usually lead) around the inside edge to expand outwards, increasing the axial diameter of the projectile as it passes through. This process is commonly referred to as "mushrooming", because the resulting shape, a widened, rounded nose on top of a cylindrical base, typically resembles a mushroom.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The greater frontal surface area of the expanded bullet limits its depth of penetration into the target, and causes more extensive tissue damage along the wound path. Many hollow-point bullets, especially those intended for use at high velocity in centerfire rifles, are "jacketed", i.e. a portion of the lead-cored bullet is wrapped in a thin layer of harder metal, such as copper, brass, or mild steel. This jacket provides additional strength to the bullet, increases penetration, and can help prevent it from leaving deposits of lead inside the bore. In "controlled expansion" bullets, the jacket and other internal design characteristics help to prevent the bullet from breaking apart; a fragmented bullet will not penetrate as far.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: For bullets designed for target shooting, some such as the Sierra "Matchking" incorporate a cavity in the nose, called the meplat. This allows the manufacturer to maintain a greater consistency in tip shape and thus aerodynamic properties among bullets of the same design, at the expense of a slightly decreased ballistic coefficient and higher drag. The result is a slightly decreased overall accuracy between bullet trajectory and barrel direction, as well as an increased susceptibility to wind drift, but closer grouping of subsequent shots due to bullet consistency, often increasing the shooter's perceived accuracy.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The manufacturing process of hollow-point bullets also produces a flat, uniformly-shaped base on the bullet which allegedly increases accuracy by providing a more consistent piston surface for the expanding gases of the cartridge.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Terminal ballistics testing of hollow point bullets is generally performed in ballistic gelatin, or some other medium intended to simulate tissue and cause a hollow point bullet to expand. Test results are generally given in terms of expanded diameter, penetration depth, and weight retention. Expanded diameter is an indication of the size of the wound cavity, penetration depth shows if vital organs could be reached by the bullet, and weight retention indicates how much of the bullet mass fragmented and separated from the main body of the bullet. How these factors are interpreted depends on the intended use of the bullet, and there are no universally agreed-upon ideal metrics.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, prohibited the use in "international warfare" of bullets that easily expand or flatten in the body. It is a common misapprehension that hollow-point ammunition is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, as the prohibition significantly predates those conventions. The Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 banned exploding projectiles of less than 400 grams, along with weapons designed to aggravate injured soldiers or make their death inevitable.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Despite the widespread ban on military use, hollow-point bullets are one of the most common types of bullets used by civilians and police, which is due largely to the reduced risk of bystanders being hit by over-penetrating or ricocheted bullets, and the increased speed of incapacitation.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: In many jurisdictions, even ones such as the United Kingdom, where expanding and any other kind of ammunition is only allowed to a Firearms certificate holder, it is illegal to hunt certain types of game with ammunition that does "not" expand.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Most ammunition types, including hollow-point bullets, are only allowed to a section 1 firearms certificate (FAC) holder. The FAC holder must have the calibre in question as a valid allowance on his or her licence. A valid firearms certificate allows the holder to use ball, full metal jacket, hollow point and ballistic-tipped ammunition for range use and vermin control. A firearms certificate will only be issued to any individual who can provide good reason to the police for the possession of firearms and their ammunition. Until recently all expanding ammunition fell under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 and was only allowed when conditions were entered onto an FAC by the police. This condition would allow expanding ammunition to be used for:


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Some ammunition types are still prohibited under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968. Ammunition that explodes on impact or any ammunition that is intended for military use are examples of this.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: .223 Remington, .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .22-250 amongst others, all using hollow-point bullets. Many rimfire calibres also use expanding ammunition such as .22 Long Rifle, .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire and .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The United States is one of few major powers that did not agree to IV-3 of the Hague Convention of 1899, and thus is able to use this kind of ammunition in warfare, but the United States ratified the second (1907) Hague Convention IV-23, which says "To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering", similar to IV-3 of the first Convention. For years the United States military respected this Convention and refrained from the use of expanding ammunition, and even made special FMJ .22LR ammunition for use in High Standard pistols that were issued to the OSS agents and the Savage Model 24 .22/.410 combination guns issued in the E series of air crew survival kits. After announcing consideration of using hollow point ammunition for side arms, with a possible start date of 2018, the United States Army began production of M1153 special purpose ammunition for the 9×19mm Parabellum with a jacketed hollow point bullet at per second for use in situations where limited over-penetration of targets is necessary to reduce collateral damage.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The state of New Jersey bans possession of hollow point bullets by civilians, except for ammunition possessed at one's own dwellings, premises, or other lands owned or possessed, or for, while and traveling to and from hunting with a hunting license if otherwise legal for the particular game. The law also requires all hollow point ammunition to be transported directly from the place of purchase to one's home or premises, or hunting area, or by members of a rifle or pistol club directly to a place of target practice, or directly to an authorized target range from the place of purchase or one's home or premises.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: The United States military uses open-tip ammunition in some sniper rifles due to its exceptional accuracy. W. Hays Parks, Colonel, USMC, Chief of the JAG's International Law Branch, has argued that this ammunition is not prohibited by military convention in that the wounds that it produces are similar to full metal jacket ammunition in practice.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: In early 1992, Winchester introduced the "Black Talon", a newly designed hollow-point handgun bullet which used a specially designed, reverse tapered jacket. The jacket was cut at the hollow to intentionally weaken it, and these cuts allowed the jacket to open into six petals upon impact. The thick jacket material kept the tips of the jacket from bending as easily as a normal thickness jacket. The slits that weakened the jacket left triangular shapes in the tip of the jacket, and these triangular sections of jacket would end up pointing out after expansion, leading to the "Talon" name. The bullets were coated with a black colored, paint-like lubricant called "Lubalox", and loaded into nickel-plated brass cases, which made them visually stand out from other ammunition. While performance of the Black Talon rounds was not significantly better than any other comparable high performance hollow-point ammunition, the reverse taper jacket did provide reliable expansion under a wide range of conditions, and many police departments adopted the round.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Winchester's "Black Talon" product name was eventually used against them. After the high-profile 1993 101 California Street shooting in San Francisco, media response against Winchester was swift. "This bullet kills you better", says one report; "its six razorlike claws unfold on impact, expanding to nearly three times the bullet's diameter". A concern was raised by the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) that the sharp edges of the jacket could cut medical personnel's skin and risk spread of disease. An ACEP spokesman later said he was not aware of any such cases.


title: Hollow-point bullet

text: Winchester responded to the media criticism of the Black Talon line by removing it from the commercial market and only selling it to law enforcement distributors. Winchester has since discontinued the sale of the Black Talon entirely, although Winchester does manufacture very similar ammunition, the Ranger T-Series and the Supreme Elite Bonded PDX1.


title: 13 (number)

text: Strikingly folkloric aspects of the number 13 have been noted in various cultures around the world: one theory is that this is due to the cultures employing lunar-solar calendars (there are approximately 12.41 lunations per solar year, and hence 12 "true months" plus a smaller, and often portentous, thirteenth month). This can be witnessed, for example, in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" of Western European tradition.


title: 13 (number)

text: The number 13 is the sixth prime number. It is a twin prime with 11, as well as a cousin prime with 17. It is the second Wilson prime, of three known (the others being 5 and 563), and the smallest emirp in decimal.


title: 13 (number)

text: In Germany, according to an old tradition, 13 ("dreizehn"), as the first compound number, was the first number written in digits; the numbers 0 ("null") through 12 ("zwölf") were spelled out. The "Duden" (the German standard dictionary) now calls this tradition (which was actually never written down as an official rule) outdated and no longer valid, but many writers still follow it.


title: 13 (number)

text: Thirteen is one of two numbers within the "teen" numerical range (13-19), along with fifteen, not derived by cardinal numeral (three) and the "teen" suffix; instead, it is derived from the ordinal numeral (third).


title: 13 (number)

text: In Shia, 13 signifies the 13th day of the month of Rajab (the Lunar calendar), which is the birth of Imam Ali. 13 also is a total of 1 Prophet and 12 Shia Imams in the Islamic School of Thought.


title: 13 (number)

text: The apparitions of the Virgin of Fátima in 1917 were claimed to occur on the 13th day of six consecutive months.


title: 13 (number)

text: In Catholic devotional practice, the number thirteen is also associated with Saint Anthony of Padua, since his feast day falls on June 13. A traditional devotion called the Thirteen Tuesdays of St. Anthony involves praying to the saint every Tuesday over a period of thirteen weeks. Another devotion, St. Anthony's Chaplet, consists of thirteen decades of three beads each.


title: 13 (number)

text: According to famous Sakhi (Evidence) or story of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, when he was an accountant at a town of Sultanpur Lodhi, he was distributing groceries to people. When he gave groceries to the 13th person, he stopped because in Gurmukhi and Hindi the word 13 is called Terah, which means yours. And Guru Nanak Dev Ji kept saying, "Yours, yours, yours..." remembering God. People reported to the emperor that Guru Nanak Dev Ji was giving out free food to the people. When treasures were checked, there was more money than before.


title: 13 (number)

text: The Vaisakhi, which commemorates the creation of "Khalsa" or pure Sikh was celebrated on April 13 for many years.


title: 13 (number)

text: Since beginning of the Nowruz tradition, the 13th day of each new Iranian year is called Sizdah Be-dar, a festival dedicated to pranks and spending time outdoors.


title: 13 (number)

text: According to Aztec mythology, the Thirteen Heavens were formed by the gods from the head of Cipactli during creation.


title: 13 (number)

text: A common tradition in the religion Wicca holds that the number of members for a coven is ideally thirteen, though this tradition is not universal.


title: 13 (number)

text: The number 13 is considered an unlucky number in some countries. The end of the Mayan calendar's 13th Baktun was superstitiously feared as a harbinger of the apocalyptic 2012 phenomenon. Fear of the number 13 has a specifically recognized phobia, triskaidekaphobia, a word first recorded in 1911. The superstitious sufferers of triskaidekaphobia try to avoid bad luck by keeping away from anything numbered or labelled thirteen. As a result, companies and manufacturers use another way of numbering or labelling to avoid the number, with hotels and tall buildings being conspicuous examples (thirteenth floor). It is also considered unlucky to have thirteen guests at a table. Friday the 13th has been considered an unlucky day.


title: 13 (number)

text: There are a number of theories as to why the number thirteen became associated with bad luck, but none of them have been accepted as likely.


title: 13 (number)

text: In the Mayan Tzolk'in calendar, trecenas mark cycles of 13-day periods. The pyramids are also set up in 9 steps divided into 7 days and 6 nights, 13 days total.


title: 13 (number)

text: A baker's dozen, devil's dozen, long dozen, or long measure is 13, one more than a standard dozen. The thirteenth loaf is called the vantage loaf because it is considered advantageous overall to get 13 loaves for the price of 12.


title: 13 (number)

text: In Arthurian legend, which was recorded in Medieval texts, King Arthur is resting in Avalon with the twelve greatest knights of the Round Table, totalling 13, and will return when his country is in peril.


title: 13 (number)

text: The Thirteen Postures of Tai Chi are thirteen postures (consisting of Eight Gates and Five Steps) which are considered to be of fundamental importance in the practice of Tai Chi.


title: 13 (number)

text: In astronomy there are 13 star constellations in the zodiac (including Ophiuchus); this can be compared with astrology where there are 12 signs of the zodiac.


title: 13 (number)

text: In Judaism, 13 signifies the age at which a boy matures and becomes a Bar Mitzvah, i.e., a full member of the Jewish faith (counts as a member of Minyan). The number of principles of Jewish faith according to Maimonides. According to Rabbinic commentary on the Torah, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy.


title: Bridgestone

text: As of 2021, Bridgestone/Firestone is the largest manufacturer of tires in the world, followed by Michelin in France, Goodyear in the United States, MRF in India, Continental in Germany and Pirelli in Italy.


title: Bridgestone

text: The history of Bridgestone America dates back to the two separate companies that merged to form Bridgestone Tire company. The first one is Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, that was founded in August 1900 by Harvey Firestone and was headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The second one is the "Bridgestone Tire Company, Ltd.", founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in Japan. The first Bridgestone tire was produced on 9 April 1930, by the Japanese "Tabi" Socks Tire Division (actually made jika-tabi). One year later on 1 March 1931, the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, made the "Tabi" Socks Tire Division independent and established the Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. "Bridgestone" was named after the name of the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi ("Ishi" = Stone, "Bashi" = Bridge).


title: Bridgestone

text: Foregoing dependence on European and North American technology, the Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. set its eyes on manufacturing tires based largely on Japanese technology. The fledgling company experienced many difficulties in the areas of technology, production, and sales in the early days. Eventually, improvements were achieved in quality and manufacturing processes which led to the business rapidly expanding in domestic and overseas markets.


title: Bridgestone

text: Wartime regulations were in effect throughout Japan during World War II, and tires also came under the jurisdiction of these regulations. This resulted in nearly all of the company's output being used to satisfy military demand. 1945 saw the end of armed conflict, but the company was devastated by the war. The Tokyo headquarters was destroyed during an aerial bombing raid, and all overseas assets were lost. The plants in Kurume and Yokohama escaped unscathed, and production was able to resume immediately after the war ended. Brushing aside the problems caused by a labour union strike that lasted for forty-six days, the foundations of the company were further reinforced after this.


title: Bridgestone

text: After the war the company started making bicycles, with the Bridgestone Cycle Company being formed in 1949. From 1952 the first complete powered bicycles were produced, with a 26cc engine. In 1958 the first 50cc Bridgestone motorcycles were manufactured, but the company's main income was from supplying tires to its rival motorcycle makers such as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha and it was later decided to cease motorcycle manufacturing.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 1951, Bridgestone was the first company in Japan to begin selling rayon cord tires, and a five-year project to modernize production facilities was started. This year also saw another Bridgestone building opened in Kyōbashi, Tokyo, which contained the Bridgestone Museum. Sales surpassed ten billion yen in 1953, placing Bridgestone at the top of the tire industry in Japan, and celebrations were held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the company's foundation in Kurume.


title: Bridgestone

text: The sale of nylon tires was started in 1959, and work forged ahead with the construction of the new Tokyo plant, which was opened in 1960, in order to cope with the fast-expanding market for motorization.


title: Bridgestone

text: The company issued stock shares and was listed on the stock exchange in 1961. A new system of administration was ushered in by Shojiro Ishibashi as the chairman, and Kanichiro Ishibashi as the president. As part of the transition across to administrative reform, the Deming Plan in honor of W. Edwards Deming, which involves overall quality control activities, was adopted, and the company was awarded the prestigious Deming Prize in 1968. Also, additions were built onto the Tokyo plant in 1962 to house the new Technical Centre, and a progressive system of research and development was established. On the product front, 1967 saw the sale of the company's first ever radial tire, the RD10.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone's first overseas plant since the end of the war was opened in Singapore in 1965, and production was also commenced in Thailand in 1969. The 1960s for Bridgestone was an era of overseas expansion that also included the establishment of Bridgestone America in the United States in 1967 to act as Bridgestone's USA representative sales branch.


title: Bridgestone

text: At the start of the period of Japan's economic stagnation, brought about by the first oil shock, the company was placing even more emphasis on establishing its own technology for the manufacture of radial tires, and it was also at this time that further domestic plants were constructed and fitted out. Its Super Filler Radial was placed on the market in 1978, and in 1979 the company introduced the high-performance POTENZA radial tire, from an Italian word for power.


title: Bridgestone

text: The company was actively engaged in overseas expansion activities at this time. In addition to starting up production in Indonesia and Iran in 1976, it also invested in a Taiwan tire manufacturer and purchased a tire plant and a plant for diversified products in Australia in 1980. The founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, died on 11 September 1976.


title: Bridgestone

text: On 1 March 1981, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. At the same time, the company initiated activities to strengthen its home base that supported overseas expansion strategy with the aim of being ranked as one of the world's top three manufacturers of rubber products. New production facilities were also established in Thailand, India, Poland, China, the United States and other countries. The company changed the name from Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. to Bridgestone Corporation in 1984.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 1988, Bridgestone purchased the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio. Placing considerable financial and personnel resources into rebuilding Firestone after the purchase, Bridgestone achieved surplus annual profits for the year 1992 with BFE ("Bridgestone Firestone Europe") and again in 1993 with BFS ("Bridgestone Firestone USA"). The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd. USA were amalgamated in 1990 and became ""Bridgestone Firestone North American Holdings Ltd"". The North American subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation is now named Bridgestone Americas, Inc. The tire division is Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC. Bridgestone Americas opened a $100 million technical center in Akron in 2012.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone has major manufacturing plants in many countries around the world. As of 1 April 2011, Bridgestone has 47 tire plants, 29 tire-related plants, 19 raw materials plants, 89 diversified product plants, 4 technical centers, and 11 proving grounds globally. Some of the major plants are located in:


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone Australia began as the SA Rubber Mills in 1939. In 1980 Bridgestone took over the Australian plants which were at that time operated by the Uniroyal Tyre Company. Bridgestone Australia had a major manufacturing tire factory in Australia: located in Salisbury, South Australia (this plant was eventually decommissioned in April 2011). Bridgestone has State Offices in all states of Australia, and has a large number of retail outlets across the country.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2000 Bridgestone Australia Ltd. purchased the BANDAG Retreading plant and its operations in Australia. Bandag Manufacturing Pty Limited has 35 franchised dealers across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Nouméa. Bandag Manufacturing Pty Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Australia Limited, and operates under license to Bandag Incorporated. In 2006 Bridgestone purchased Bandag Incorporated, which is now a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation.


title: Bridgestone

text: From the purchase in 1981, the Australian operations of Bridgestone have been run as a publicly listed company on the Australian Stock exchange. Bridgestone Corporation has maintained a majority share holding. As of mid-2007 the Australian operation was delisted from the Australian Stock exchange and became a solely owned Division of Bridgestone Corporation (pending minority shareholder approval as per Australian Corporate Law).


title: Bridgestone

text: Following the cancellation on Friday, 11 May 2007, of all shares held by minority shareholders, Bridgestone Australia Ltd. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation of Japan. The selective capital reduction and subsequent privatisation which cost $49 million was approved and completed. Bridgestone Australia Ltd. was delisted from the ASX on 30 May 2007.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone EU has its head office in Brussels, Belgium, and was set up in 1990 as Bridgestone/Firestone Europe SA. Before that, a representative office in Belgium set up in 1972 and sales subsidiary companies and importers in each countries were selling products imported from Japan. There are 7 production plants in the region and a 32 hectare research and development centre near Rome, Italy. The company distributes more than 25 million tires a year through 17 national sales subsidiaries and 2 distributors. They directly employ over 12,000 people with Mr. Tsuda as the CEO.


title: Bridgestone

text: At present there are national headquarters in the following locations: Vienna, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; Hinnerup, Denmark; Vantaa, Finland; Fresnes, France; Bad Homburg, Germany; Athens, Greece; Budapest, Hungary; Dublin, Ireland; Milan, Italy; Moerdijk, Netherlands; Oslo, Norway; Warsaw, Poland; Alcochete, Portugal; Madrid, Spain; Sundsvall, Sweden; Spreitenbach, Switzerland; Istanbul, Turkey and Warwick, UK; Ulyanovsk, Russia.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone EU runs a continent-wide scheme called Truckpoint wherein fleets can take their vehicles to any Bridgestone approved garage throughout Europe and get Bridgestone specialist work carried out on their tires.


title: Bridgestone

text: There are no Bridgestone factories in the UK but there is a technical bay at which tyres returned by dissatisfied customers are inspected in Coventry.


title: Bridgestone

text: As part of reinforcement plans, the company purchased a plant in Tennessee from the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, its first manufacturing plant in North America, and started the production of radial tires for trucks and buses in 1983. Bridgestone also has a steel cord plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, named Bridgestone Metalpha. Metalpha is currently ranked as the top provider in the global steel cord market.


title: Bridgestone

text: In May 1988, a takeover bid of America's No. 2 tire manufacturer, Akron, Ohio-based Firestone, was successful, and Firestone was placed under the Bridgestone umbrella as a subsidiary company. This purchase brought a large number of Firestone global production sites into the Bridgestone organization. These sites included North America, Central and South America, Europe, New Zealand and other locations. Bridgestone also commenced production in Turkey. In 1992, the company established regional corporate offices in Europe and the Americas.


title: Bridgestone

text: Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSA) is the American subsidiary of the Bridgestone Corporation. BSA and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market Bridgestone, Firestone, and associate brand tires for consumers, automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers, and those in the agricultural, forestry and mining industries. The companies also produce air springs, roofing materials, synthetic rubber and industrial fibers and textiles and operate the world's largest chain of automotive tire and service centers.


title: Bridgestone

text: In November 2010, ASA Automotive Systems Inc. was selected by the Consumer Tire Sales division of Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC (BATO) as the software provider for their North American consumer dealers to supply the industry's leading 'All-in-One' Point-of-Sale, Accounting and Inventory shop management software.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2014, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) unveiled its newly rebranded GCR Tires & Service division. With one of the largest network of commercial stores across the country, GCR's reach extends nationwide. The letters of GCR reflect the last names of the original company founders Balie Griffith, Harold Crawford and Perry Rose.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2015, Bridgestone Americas Inc. signed a deal giving its dealers the option to install digital air calibration machines from Excel Tire Gauge Inc. in their stores. The digital air calibration machines streamline the tire inflation process by automatically inflating or deflating tires.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2017, Bridgestone Americas consolidated many of their business units into a single building in downtown Nashville, Bridgestone Tower. Nearly 2,000 employees work in the new skyscraper, nestled between the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.


title: Bridgestone

text: In April 2020, due to demand by essential service providers during COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee, Bridgestone Americas announced plans to restart its North American commercial tire plants as well as its North American Firestone Industrial Products and Firestone Building Products manufacturing facilities.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone started to invest in motorsport in the 1980s by developing race tires for feeder series like Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford, Formula Opel Lotus and karting.


title: Bridgestone

text: In order to increase the Firestone subsidiary's brand awareness, "Bridgestone Firestone NAH Ltd", re-entered the Firestone brand into CART IndyCar open-wheel racing in 1995 to challenge Goodyear. The tires proved better and Goodyear retired for 2000. Since then, Firestone has been the single tire provider for the renamed and disappeared Champ Car, the IndyCar Series and its feeder series Firestone Indy Lights until 2013.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone has supplied tires in Formula One since , although the company one-off produced Formula One tires at the 1976 and 1977 Japanese Grand Prix for Japanese entrants such as Kazuyoshi Hoshino's Heros Racing and Kojima.


title: Bridgestone

text: The Japanese company decided to supply tires for Formula One in 1995, backed-up by the CEO Yoichiro Kaizaki, aiming to improve Bridgestone's name value in the European market which was greatly inferior compared with their archrivals, Michelin. Though it was scheduled to enter the championship in the 1998 season at first, this was brought forward to because the engineering section led by Hirohide Hamashima had quickly advanced development. Thus, Hiroshi Yasukawa, the general manager of Motorsport Department, also made the best use of the experience and networks in Europe since the Bridgestone's European F2 era (–) and constructed logistics for Formula One at once.


title: Bridgestone

text: The first title was acquired right away in the second year, 1998 by Mika Häkkinen and McLaren-Mercedes. And Bridgestone users took five Drivers' Championship titles and five Constructors' Championship titles (, –) for the period that competed with Goodyear (–) and Michelin (–). Especially, cooperation with Scuderia Ferrari and Michael Schumacher functioned well in this period.


title: Bridgestone

text: From 2008 to 2010 Bridgestone was due to be the sole tire supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship. However, because Michelin chose to conclude its Formula One tire programme at the end of the 2006 season, all teams used Bridgestone tires from the 2007 season to the 2010 Formula One season.


title: Bridgestone

text: On 2 November 2009 Bridgestone announced that they would not be renewing their contract to supply tires to Formula One teams after 2010. The company said it was "addressing the impact of the continuing evolution of the business environment". Pirelli announced in June 2010 that it would serve as sole supplier for tires in the 2011 season.


title: Bridgestone

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, Bridgestone provided tires to the Le Mans sport prototypes of teams Nismo and TOM's, backed by Japanese automobile manufacturers Nissan and Toyota respectively. In the early 1990s, Bridgestone expanded to Mercedes-AMG, which entered the DTM and later Le Mans and the FIA GT Championship. The brand left international sports car racing in 2000, but remains as one of the main suppliers in the Japanese Super GT championship.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2002, Bridgestone entered the Grand Prix motorcycle racing's main class MotoGP. From 2009 to 2015, it was the exclusive tire supplier of the championship and reached the milestone of 100 MotoGP victories in 2012. Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi was 'Bridgestone Tyre Adviser' having won two MotoGP titles on Bridgestone tires in 2008 and 2009.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone is the official tire of the National Football League, National Hockey League and the Olympic Games. In addition, it is the title sponsor of the NHL's flagship event, the Winter Classic outdoor game. In 2010, Bridgestone acquired the naming rights to the home venue of the NHL's Nashville Predators calling it Bridgestone Arena. They are also the title sponsor of the Copa Libertadores, the top competition for South American club football. They were also the title sponsor for Copa Sudamericana from 2011 to 2013.


title: Bridgestone

text: The predecessors of Bridgestone began making diversified products in the 1930s, soon after they started making tires. Today, Bridgestone diversified operations encompass automotive components, industrial products, polyurethane foam products, construction materials, parts and materials for electronic equipment, bicycles and sporting goods. Diversified business generates about one-fourth of total sales in the Bridgestone Group.


title: Bridgestone

text: Automotive parts are an especially large line of business for Bridgestone in diversified operations. Bridgestone supplies automakers with vibration-isolating components, such as engine mounts. Bridgestone also supplies air springs for trucks, automobiles and train carriages. Bridgestone market aluminium wheels and other automotive accessories, too.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone's industrial products span a vast range, including polyurethane foam for automotive seats and interiors, for bedding and furniture and for insulation and sealing in appliances and buildings; water hoses; marine hoses for loading and unloading oil tankers; specialty precision hose products, such as wire-blade hose for construction equipment and machine tools; conveyor belts; and rubber tracks for crawler tractors. Additionally, they make retreaded tires for aircraft. Their corporate headquarters for the Bridgestone Aircraft tire division is located in Miami in the United States.


title: Bridgestone

text: The Bridgestone product line in construction and civil engineering materials is similarly broad. Bridgestone supply Multi-Rubber Bearings for installing in foundations to protect buildings from earthquakes, inflatable rubber dams for managing waterways (no longer manufactured – 2008), marine fenders for protecting wharves, additives for pavement, waterproofing sheet, rubberized ceiling and roofing materials, panel tanks for storing water, bath fixtures and residential flooring, air and water systems.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone's line of products for electronic equipment includes precision rollers for office machines and functional films for solar cells and plasma displays. In sporting goods, Bridgestone market golf balls and clubs and tennis balls and rackets. Bridgestone's line of bicycles is Japan's most extensive – see above information re. Anchor Cycles.


title: Bridgestone

text: On 5 December 2006, Bridgestone Americas and Bandag Inc. announced a merger agreement whereby Bridgestone would acquire Muscatine, Iowa-based Bandag, Inc., a leading truck tire re-treader that was founded in 1957 and had over 900 franchised dealers worldwide at the time. In announcing the merger, Bridgestone's president in Tokyo explained:


title: Bridgestone

text: The transaction was valued at approximately US$1.05 billion. On 31 May 2007, the agreement was consummated and Bridgestone Americas acquired the outstanding shares of Bandag stock for US$50.75 per share. The unit was renamed Bridgestone Bandag, LLC and Saul Solomon was appointed to the position of chairman, CEO and President. Previously, Solomon served as Vice President and General Counsel of BSAH.


title: Bridgestone

text: In the four years following the acquisition, Bandag's headquarters remained in Muscatine, although some processes and functions were consolidated and/or transferred to other facilities. In November 2010, corporate headquarters were moved to Nashville. In May 2011, the unit was renamed Bridgestone Commercial Services Group, eliminating the name "Bandag."


title: Bridgestone

text: The Bridgestone Cycle Co Ltd originated in 1949. It offers bicycles under its own brand and under the Anchor brand.


title: Bridgestone

text: The U.S. marketing director of the Bicycle division, Grant Petersen, developed a reputation for resisting popular trends in the bicycle industry and instead followed his own personal philosophy of building dependable and comfortable bicycles. Peterson applied this approach to Rivendell Bicycle Works after Bridgestone stopped marketing bicycles in the U.S.


title: Bridgestone

text: The company was an innovator in the nascent mountain bike scene, designing mountain bikes with shorter chain-stays and steeper frame angles than then popular. This made it more nimble and a better climber.


title: Bridgestone

text: Until 1986, Bridgestone models were numbered in multiples of 100, with the higher numbers indicating a higher end bike. The entry level road bike in 1986, for example, may have been the Bridgestone 100, while the Bridgestone 700 would have been a competition level race bike. Beginning in 1987 there was a change, with model designations consisting of two letters followed by a numeral. The letters indicated the type of bike, and the number indicated the position in the product lineup. The numbering was also reversed, with the smaller numbers indicating a higher position in the product line. For example, the RB-1 would have been the top-of-the-line road bike, followed by the RB-2, RB-3, etc.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone is currently building frames in Japan for keirin track racing under Nihon Jitensha Shinkokai approved standards. It is currently producing non-NJS frames for the Japanese market as well.


title: Bridgestone

text: In Japan, it is known as a manufacturer of utility, mountain and (under the brand name Anchor) road racing bikes.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone has also collaborated with Dr. Alex Moulton to produce the Bridgestone Moulton Bicycle and marketed its own folding bicycle, the Bridgestone Picnica.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone motorcycles were a division of the company that produced mopeds and motorcycles from 1952 to 1970. Initially producing power assisted bicycles, the division moved on to producing mopeds and then motorcycles. The motorcycles were technologically advanced and powered by two-stroke engines. The high technical specification resulted in the machines being more expensive compared to other manufacturers models. Production was stopped in 1970 to protect the supply of tires to other manufacturers.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone Aircraft Tire (USA) is a manufacturer of aircraft tires as well as retread servicing. Bridgestone America's Holdings announced in May 2006 that it would be moving its Miami, Florida aviation operation to its new facility located in Mayodan, North Carolina, this move is expected to be completed by mid-2007 and will create approximately 95 new jobs. CEO and President of Bridgestone Aircraft Tire (USA) Joe Rayna is quoted as saying; ""This move allows us to continue to prepare for a changing market, both in demand and in product mix, New modern aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A380, arrive fitted with new Bridgestone technology aircraft tires, and this new facility will complement that technology"". Bridgestone Aircraft Tire (USA) has been a major supplier of aircraft tires and retreads to the aircraft industry for over 70 years and has sister aviation facilities in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Belgium.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone Golf is a division of Bridgestone, and is the brand name under which Bridgestone's Golfing Products are marketed. Bridgestone has been producing golf-related products since 1935. The Golf division of Bridgestone currently produces clubs, balls and accessories.


title: Bridgestone

text: Along with technical developments in tire technology came breakthroughs in golf ball technology that have led Bridgestone to be the number one golf ball producer in Japan.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone has global coverage of its golfing products with major divisions in USA (Bridgestone Golf USA), Australia (Bridgestone Golf Australia) and Korea (Sokio Corporation).


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2003, the caudal fin of Fuji, a Bottlenose dolphin bred at the Okichan Theater of Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, was necrotic, necessitating the removal of 75% of the fin which made swimming impossible. The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium started a project to develop the world's first artificial dolphin caudal fin in cooperation with Bridgestone to replace Fuji's fin. In the early days, the artificial caudal fin could not be installed well because it could not withstand the swimming of dolphins, but aquariums made improvements and succeeded in installing the artificial caudal fin of the dolphin.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2010, it was also installed in Pacific white-sided dolphin named Lanan, who was bred in Notojima Aquarium, and succeeded in installing the second artificial caudal fin in the world.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone e-reporter is a pan-European competition for aspiring young sports journalists, open to all students aged 18–30, who are in full-time education.


title: Bridgestone

text: Now in its fifth year, Bridgestone e-reporter continues to provide up-and-coming writers with first hand experience, interviewing GP2 drivers and issuing race reports from a European GP2 race weekend.


title: Bridgestone

text: The 2008 competition was officially launched on 1 February 2008 with the deadline for entries at 12.00 GMT on 31 March 2008. As of 2009, Bridgestone has not held further editions of the eReporter competition. However it may return in a different form in the future.


title: Bridgestone

text: Bridgestone was the sole tire supplier for the GP2 series, an open-wheeled racing championship that is widely regarded as the feeder series for Formula One.


title: Bridgestone

text: In 2008, Bridgestone ran an advert during the Super Bowl XLII showing a car-driver avoiding several hazards while driving at night, including threatening to run down Richard Simmons, who was embodying a homophobic sissy stereotype, with "Ad Age"s critic Bob Garfield describing the advert as "grounded in homophobia".


title: Bridgestone

text: In February 2014 Bridgestone agreed to a $425 million fine imposed by the United States Department of Justice for price fixing and bid rigging in the automotive parts industry. The company said it regretted the actions that led to the plea deal and said it would take disciplinary action against certain employees.


title: Bridgestone

text: In February of 2022, shortly after outsourcing the majority of its IT employees, Bridgestone Americas was hacked. This resulted in the theft of company data, manufacturing plants in North and South America to be closed, and production to be halted.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The Mercedes-Benz W126 is the company's internal designation for its second generation S-Class, manufactured in sedan/saloon (1979–1991) and coupé (1981–1990) models, succeeding the company's W116 range. Mercedes introduced the 2-door C126 coupé model, marketed as the SEC, in September 1981. This generation was the first S-Class to have separate chassis codes for standard and long wheelbases (W126 and V126) and for coupé (C126).


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The long 12-year production (1979–1991) resulted in 818,063 sedans/saloons and 74,060 coupés being built, totalling 892,123. W126 is so far the most successful and the longest in production for S-Class.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: After the debut of W116 S-Class in 1972, Mercedes-Benz began preparing for the next generation S-Class in October 1973. The project, code-named "Project W126", aimed to provide an improved ride, better handling, and improved fuel efficiency. The oil crisis of 1973 and increasingly stringent emission and safety regulations in the United States had an important influence in developing the W126 for reduced emission and increased fuel efficiency.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The W126 design team, led by Mercedes-Benz's chief designer Bruno Sacco, aimed to design a more aerodynamic shape and retain the unmistakable S-Class design elements. The aerodynamic drag was reduced through lengthy wind tunnel testing and reshaping of front end and bumper along with hiding the wipers underneath the hood/bonnet for smoother flow. Reducing the weight was accomplished by extensive use of high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) sheet and polyurethane deformable material for bumpers and side claddings. The lighter alloy material was used for the heavily revised M116/M117 V8 engines for the reduced weight. Both had contributed to the reduction of fuel consumption by 10% as compared to its predecessor.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: After six years of development, the W126 was introduced at the IAA Frankfurt in September 1979. At the introduction, S-Class was available in two wheelbase lengths (standard and long) and three petrol engine options with one six-cylinder inline engine and two V8 engines. The diesel engine option was introduced in September 1981 exclusively for the North American market.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: At the 1981 IAA Frankfurt, a coupé version of S-Class, C126, was introduced with 380 SEC and 500 SEC. It was the first time that a coupé version was derived from S-Class chassis. At the same time, the "Energieskonzept" (Energy Concept) was introduced to improve the fuel efficiency of S-Class through engine revisions.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The W126 was revised in 1985 for 1986 model year. The revised "Second Series" model range was introduced at 1985 IAA Frankfurt with new six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines and the V8 petrol engines enlarged to 4.2 and 5.5 litres. The 5-litre V8 was carried over. The visual changes included the smoother bumpers and side claddings, revised "Gullydeckelfelge" (German for manhole-cover wheel rim) alloy wheels, and deeper front bumper with integrated air dam.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: From 1973 to 1975, Mercedes-Benz designers worked on the successor to the W116. After several design concept were presented, the final design for W126 was approved and frozen in 1976. The design work for coupé began immediately after the approval and was finalised in 1977. Design patents were first filed on 3 March 1977 and later on 6 September 1977 at the United States Patent Office.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: Compared to its predecessor, the W116, the W126 featured improved aerodynamics with a drag coefficient of Cd 0.36 for the sedan/saloon and 0.34 for the coupés.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The "First Series" model range (1979–1985 for sedan/saloon and 1982–1985 for coupé) included the 280 S/SE/SEL, 300 SD (North American market only), 380 SE/SEL/SEC, and 500 SE/SEL/SEC. The revised "Second Series" (1986–1991) with petrol engines included 260 SE, 300 SE/SEL, 420 SE/SEL/SEC, 500 SE/SEL/SEC, and 560 SE/SEL/SEC. The "Second Series" with diesel engines for North American market only included 300 SDL (a first diesel S-Class with long wheelbase) then 350 SD/SDL (a first diesel S-Class to be available in both wheelbase lengths).


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: HPF II, an updated version of the W116 self-leveling suspension, was available from 1981 to 1985 (on the 380 SEL and 500 SEL) and very briefly on the 500 SE in 1985.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: Self-leveling technology responds to changes in weight distribution (passengers, luggage, fuel...) and is less applicable in shorter wheelbase models.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: For the "Second Series" (1986-1991), the hydropneumatic suspension was heavily redesigned and named HPF III. The HPF III automatically lowers the chassis by 24 mm when the vehicle is travelled at least 120 km/h for improved aerodynamic flow and better high speed stability. The system adjusts the damping rate from soft to hard based on speed and road condition for extra comfort and better drivability. Additionally, the driver can select to raise the car by 35 mm if travelling over coarse-surfaced road (only up to 80 km/h). From 1986 to 1990, the HPF III option was available in 420 SEL, 500 SEL, 560 SE, and 560 SEL. For the final year of production, HPF III was available in longer wheelbase only (420 SEL, 500 SEL, and 560 SEL). Due to its complexity and tendency to fail catastrophically, HPF III was very difficult to service and was often, at the owner's request, removed and replaced with coil springs and shock absorbers from models without hydropneumatic suspension system.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: At the introduction in September 1979, the 2.8-litre DOHC six-cylinder inline M110 engine for 280 S/SE/SEL was carried over from W116. The revised M116/M117 V8 engines had a significant innovation: aluminium block without iron sleeves as found in the competitors’ engines. Mercedes-Benz developed a special silicon coating as to harden the cylinder liners against excessive wear and tear. The V8 engines were offered in two sizes: 3.8 litres (M116) and 5 litres (M117). The M116 V8 engine had a single timing chain while the M117 V8 engine had double timing chains. The frequent mechanical failure of single timing chain in M116 V8 engine was addressed in 1982 by switching to double timing chains from M117 V8 engine.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The smaller of the two V8 engines was initially the only one offered in the US market, to help meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements. The 380 SEL earned a poor customer perception in the United States as being severely underpowered and due to mechanical issues with the single timing chain. The 380 SEL for the US market took 11 seconds to reach from standstill and had top speed of . The severe performance shortcoming of W126 with V8 engine was addressed by introducing more powerful 500 SEL/SEC in 1984.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The 3.0-litre five-cylinder inline OM617 diesel engine was carried over from W116 with same performance. The diesel engines were again never offered in the markets outside United States and Canada.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: This discrepancy wasn't addressed until 1994 when W140 S 350 Turbodiesel was introduced in Europe for the first time.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: In 1981, Mercedes-Benz introduced the "Energiekonzepts" ("Energy Concept") programme in reducing the fuel consumption. This programme revised the combustion chambers and piston heads with lower compression ratio in the V8 engines. This revision caused further drop in engine performance.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: For the second series introduced in September 1985, the engine range was extensively revised with new six-cylinder inline engines and enlarged V8 engines. Only 5.0-litre M117 V8 was carried over from the first series, expanding the V8 engine range to three.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The revised engine range focused more on reducing pollution and fuel consumption even further. For the first time, the customers outside US and Canadian markets could choose the models with or without catalysators. The models without catalysators can be retrofitted with catalysators at later date if the customers choose to: this retrofit method is called RÜF (Rückrüstfahrzeug — loosely translated as retrofit vehicle). The RÜF models had a mechanical switch in the engine bay to be operated by owners for running on lead or lead-free fuels, a necessary feature for driving outside Germany or in areas within Germany where the lead-free fuel wasn't widespread yet. In 1990, all engines were fitted with catalysators only and the mechanical switch eliminated.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The new six-cylinder inline M103 engine had a single overhead camshaft and electronic-mechanical fuel injection and was available in two sizes: 2.6 and 3.0 litres. The carburetted engine fitted to 280 S was eliminated, marking the end of carburetted engines for S-Class, and replaced with fuel-injected engines for 260 and 300.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The V8 engines were again bored out to 4.2 litres from 3.8 litres for 420 (M116) and 5.5 litres from 5.0 litres for 560 (M117) while 5.0-litre V8 for 500 (M117) was carried over. The V8 engines were fitted with new electronic ignition system and Bosch KE-Jetronic electronic-mechanical fuel injection system, first appeared in W201 190E. The revised V8 engines except 5.0-litre version had slight performance increase.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The most powerful engine ever fitted to W126 S-Class was 5.5-litre V8, putting out 221 kW (300 PS, 296 bhp). This engine, classified as ECE-Variante (German name), has higher compression ratio of 10:5 and cannot be retrofitted with catalysator at later date. In September 1986, the ECE-Variante was superseded by RÜF-Variante, which retains the same horsepower figure without catalysator and lower figure if retrofitted with catalysator at later date. In 1990, the power of the 560 SEL was reduced to .


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: For the US and Canadian markets, a new 3.0-litre six-cylinder inline OM603 diesel engine was introduced, replacing five-cylinder engine with same displacement. It was a first six-cylinder passenger diesel engine by Mercedes-Benz. This new engine was available in long wheelbase version only, 300 SDL, for the first time. For California, the diesel engines were fitted with diesel particulate filter, a world's first for the passenger car. The new engine had an ill-gotten reputation for higher percentage of aluminium cylinder head failure due to poor placement of diesel particulate filter and due to the erosion of head gasket, allowing cooling fluid to seep in the cylinders. However, they failed to perform as designed and were removed from the engines. For 1988, the engine was revised to correct the issues and move the particulate filter further away from the engine. In 1990, the same engine was bored out to 3.5 litres as to compensate for reduced performance due to stricter emission regulations. The bored out 3.5-litre version did not have any of aforementioned issues other than some units experiencing the unexplained erosion of head gasket. The 3.5-litre version was available in both standard and long wheelbases (350 SD and 350 SDL).


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The automatic transmission had four speeds with direct drive in the fourth gear for the entire run from 1979 to 1991. The 280 S/SE/SEL had 4-speed manual transmission as standard with 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic transmissions as extra-cost options.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: U.S. models, including the 300 SD Turbodiesel, had automatic transmission as sole transmission choice.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: From 1986 onward, the automatic transmission was revised to include the option of selecting S (Standard) and E (Economy) shifting points. The models, 260 SE, 300 SE, and 300 SEL were fitted with standard 5-speed manual and optional extra-cost 4-speed automatic transmissions. For one year from September 1986 to June 1987, extra cost automatic transmission option wasn't offered for 260 SE and 300 SE. The customers ordering 420 SE could choose either 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: When the W126 was introduced in the United States in September 1980, Mercedes-Benz offered the smaller 3.8-litre V8 engine only as to avoid the gas guzzler penalty under Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. However, the American consumers found 380 SEL severely underpowered with slow acceleration (0–60 mph in 11 seconds) and lower top speed of .


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: As the fear of oil crisis waned in 1982, the American consumers demanded the more powerful S-Class models, and the grey importers brought the S-Class with 5-litre V8 engines to the United States and modified them to meet US FMVSS and EPA regulations. The result was about 22,000 W126 imported as grey market imports.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: Consequently, Mercedes-Benz added 500 SEL/500 SEC to the American model range for 1984 model year as to countereffect the grey imports while 3.8-litre V8 engine remained in 380 SE (standard wheelbase only) and 380 SL.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: In 1988, an intense lobbying effort by Mercedes-Benz and other foreign manufacturers led U.S. Congress to eliminate this loophole and revise the rules for registered importers.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: Two AMG-modified 500 SEC cars raced at the 1989 24 Hours of Spa. Both cars failed to finish, with one suffering gearbox issues, while the other had issues with the rear axle.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: The W126 series was the highest volume S-Class on record in terms of production. Three armoured 560 SEL ordered by Saddam Hussein had a series of pipes shooting flames out of the sides.


title: Mercedes-Benz W126

text: A limited number of W126 continued to be produced in South Africa until 1993(?), two years after the introduction of W140 S-Class. No figures were given for South African production. Nelson Mandela was given a commemorative model, a red 1990 500 SE.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LoEG) is a comic book series (inspired by the 1960 British film "The League of Gentlemen") co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The series spans four volumes, an original graphic novel, and a spin-off trilogy of graphic novella. "Volume I" and "Volume II" (released as two six-issue limited series) and the graphic novel "" were published by the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. After leaving the America's Best imprint, the series moved to Top Shelf and Knockabout Comics, which published "" (released as three graphic novella), the "" (a spin-off of three graphic novella centered on the character of Nemo), and "" (originally released as a six-issue limited series). According to Moore, the concept behind the series was initially a "Justice League of Victorian England" but he quickly developed it as an opportunity to merge elements from many works of fiction into one world.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Elements of "Volume I" were used in a loosely adapted feature film of the same name, released in 2003 and starring Sean Connery in his last live-action role.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: The year is 1898, and Mina Murray is recruited by Campion Bond on behalf of British Intelligence and asked to assemble a league of other extraordinary individuals to protect the interests of the Empire: Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jekyll, and Hawley Griffin the Invisible Man. They help stop a gang war between Fu Manchu and Professor Moriarty, nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. Following this they take part in the events of H. G. Wells's "The War of the Worlds". Two members of the League (Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain) achieve immortality, and are next seen in an adventure in 1958. This follows events that take place after the fall of the Big Brother government from "Nineteen Eighty Four".


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Following this, Mina and Allan team up with fellow immortal Orlando and are shown in an adventure which spans a century, from 1910 to 2009, concerning a plot by evil magicians to create a Moonchild that might well turn out to be the Antichrist. During this adventure Captain Nemo's daughter, Janni Dakkar, is introduced, and some of her adventures are chronicled subsequently. The final volume of the series ends with an immortal Mina escaping an earth dominated by magical entities and various alien invasions to live out her immortal life on a space station with Orlando, Jack Nemo (great-grandson of Captain Nemo) and a clone of Mr. Hyde.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: In a 1997 interview with Andy Diggle for the now defunct Comics World website, Alan Moore gave the title of the work as ""The League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk"". Moore changed the name to "Gentlemen" to better reflect the Victorian era. Simon Bisley was originally going to be the artist for the series before being replaced by Kevin O'Neill.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: The Victorian setting allowed Moore and O'Neill to insert "in-jokes" and cameos from many works of Victorian fiction, while also making contemporary references and jibes. The works bear numerous steampunk influences. In the first issue, for example, there is a half-finished bridge to link Britain and France, referencing problems constructing the Channel Tunnel.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Most characters in the series, from the dominatrix schoolmistress Rosa Coote to minor characters such as Inspector Dick Donovan, are either established characters from existing works of fiction or ancestors of the same, to the extent that individuals depicted in crowd scenes in Volume I have been said (both by Moore, and in annotations by Jess Nevins) to be visually designed as the ancestors of the cast of "EastEnders". This has lent the series considerable popularity with fans of esoteric Victoriana, who have delighted in attempting to place every character who makes an appearance.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Moore's longstanding, outspoken criticism of DC Comics (stemming in large part from what he perceives as mistreatment at their hands over the rights to "Watchmen") made his position with DC-owned subsidiary Wildstorm Comics (of which "LoEG" publisher America's Best Comics is an imprint) tenuous from the start. Moore's initial agreement was with WildStorm owner Jim Lee, who sold his studio to DC after dealing with Moore, but before any of the ABC projects were published. Moore agreed to honor his contracts with Lee, but made it clear that he wished to continue to have no dealings with DC directly.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: The fifth issue of the first volume contained an authentic vintage advertisement for a douche with the brand name Marvel Douche. The entire initial print run was destroyed and reprinted because the publisher felt that this could be perceived as an attack on Marvel Comics, DC's main competition.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: After several additional complaints over DC interference, Moore decided to wind up his ABC projects, intending to only continue with "League" (the only title he, with O'Neill, actually owned). He subsequently took offense at inaccurate comments made by the producer of the film version of his "V for Vendetta", which stated that the author—who had distanced himself completely from film adaptations of his work, particularly after "LXG"—had commented favorably on a draft of the script. Moore requested that someone involved with the film's production company—and DC Comics parent company, Warner Bros.—officially retract the comments and apologize. He also claims that his lack of support from DC regarding a minor lawsuit related to the film adaptation of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was instrumental in his departure.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: When no such apology was forthcoming, both Moore and O'Neill decided to withdraw future volumes of the "League" from DC in protest. Since the duo was still working on the "" at the time, it was agreed that it would become the last "League" project published by DC/WildStorm, with subsequent projects published jointly by Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics in the US and UK respectively, who published both "," and the "", as graphic novella trilogies. Top Shelf and Knockabout later released "" first as a six-issue limited series. Reprints of "Volumes I-II" and the "Dossier" were published by Vertigo until its shutdown in January 2020.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Volume II has an extensive appendix, most of which is filled with an imaginary travelers' account of the alternate universe the "League" is set in, called "The New Traveler's Almanac". This Almanac provides background information — much of which is taken from the pre-existing literary works or mythology and may be difficult to fully appreciate without an esoteric knowledge of literature. It shows the plot of the comic to be just a small section of a world inhabited by what appears to be the entirety of fiction.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Moore's work includes references to previous leagues and suggests there will be others subsequently. In much the same way that the "New Traveller's Almanac", an appendix to the trade paperback collection of "The League Vol. 2", detailed much of the geography of the League's world, the third volume, "The Black Dossier", set out an extensive history of the world of the League and each of its various incarnations, threading together hundreds of disparate works of fiction into a cohesive timeline.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" won the 1999 National Comics Award for Best New Comic (International).


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Volume II was nominated for the 2003 award, but lost to "". Volume II received the 2003 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series. "Time Magazine" listed Volume II as the 9th best comic of 2003. It was included in the 2005 edition of "The Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics, & Manga". "Time" also listed "Black Dossier" as the second-best comic of 2007.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: On "75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)" off the "Rising Down" album, Black Thought refers to The Roots as "gentlemen of an extraordinary league".


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: In his 2005 book "The Areas of My Expertise", John Hodgman refers to Nemo as "the Sikh" and "the Science-Pirate", as Nemo was referred to in the "League" comics.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Neil Gaiman cited "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" as one of the influences for his award-winning short story "A Study in Emerald".


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Warren Ellis has cited "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" as an inspiration for his comic "Ignition City".


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: The comic "" by science-fiction writer Serge Lehman has been regarded by critics as the French reply to "The League". It uses proto-superhumans and supervillains from European pulp literature of the early twentieth century, but in a whole different perspective as Lehman is not mainly focused on English literature (as Moore does), mixes those real fictional characters equally with real prominent historical figures and builds a crepuscular alternate history story whose aim is to explain on a historical and psychoanalytical level why all European super-heroes disappeared from popular culture and European collective memory with World War II.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: Jess Nevins has produced a series of annotations for each volume which are available online and have also been expanded into book form:


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: A film adaptation was released in 2003, also by the name "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". The film stars Sean Connery, who plays Allan Quatermain, and features Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, Rodney Skinner aka "An" Invisible Man (the film rights could not be secured to "The" Invisible Man), Dr. Jekyll and Edward Hyde, Dorian Gray, and U.S. Secret Service agent Tom Sawyer. Though Gray and Sawyer were not featured in the comics, a painting of a young man holding a cane with "Dorian Gray" printed under it appears on the cover of Volume I.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: In May 2015, 20th Century Fox announced that a reboot is being developed. John Davis said that the reboot will be a female-centric film. As of May 2022, the film is on track by 20th Century Studios, scheduled to stream on Hulu, with Justin Haythe writing and Don Murphy, who produced the 2003 film, will return as a producer alongside Susan Montford and Erwin Stoff of 3 Arts Entertainment.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: In 2013, Fox was ordering a pilot for the television version of "LoEG" with Michael Green serving as writer and executive producer. Erwin Stoff would also executive produce. Neither Moore nor O'Neill are producers on the series. It had also been reported that the pilot episode would still be broadcast, even if Fox opted not to green-light the series.


title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

text: The DVD of the documentary feature film "The Mindscape of Alan Moore" contains an interview with the artist Kevin O'Neill, elaborately detailing the collaboration with Alan Moore. O'Neill talks about "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century" and his run-ins with censorship.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: The Hawthorne effect is a type of reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. The effect was discovered in the context of research conducted at the Hawthorne Western Electric plant; however, some scholars feel the descriptions are apocryphal.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: The original research involved workers who made electrical relays at the Hawthorne Works, a Western Electric plant in Cicero, Illinois. Between 1924 and 1927, the lighting study was conducted. Workers experienced a series of lighting changes in which productivity was said to increase with almost any change in the lighting. This turned out "not" to be true. In the study that was associated with Elton Mayo, which ran from 1928 to 1932, a series of changes in work structure were implemented (e.g., changes in rest periods) in a group of five women. However, this was a methodologically poor, uncontrolled study that did not permit any firm conclusions to be drawn.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: One of the later interpretations by Landsberger suggested that the novelty of being research subjects and the increased attention from such could lead to temporary increases in workers' productivity. This interpretation was dubbed "the Hawthorne effect".


title: Hawthorne effect

text: The term "Hawthorne effect" was coined in 1958 by Henry A. Landsberger when he was analyzing the Hawthorne studies conducted between 1924 and 1932 at the Hawthorne Works (a Western Electric factory in Cicero, outside Chicago). The Hawthorne Works had commissioned a study to determine if its workers would become more productive in higher or lower levels of light. The workers' productivity seemed to improve when changes were made, and slumped when the study ended. It was suggested that the productivity gain occurred as a result of the motivational effect on the workers of the interest being shown in them.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: This effect was observed for minute increases in illumination. In these lighting studies, light intensity was altered to examine its effect on worker productivity. Most industrial or occupational psychology and organizational behavior textbooks refer to the illumination studies when discussing the Hawthorne effect. Only occasionally are the rest of the studies mentioned.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Although illumination research of workplace lighting formed the basis of the Hawthorne effect, other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of obstacles, and even relocating workstations resulted in increased productivity for short periods. Thus the term is used to identify any type of short-lived increase in productivity.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: In one of the studies, researchers chose two women as test subjects and asked them to choose four other workers to join the test group. Together the women worked in a separate room over the course of five years (1927–1932) assembling telephone relays.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Output was measured mechanically by counting how many finished relays each worker dropped down a chute. This measuring began in secret two weeks before moving the women to an experiment room and continued throughout the study. In the experiment room they had a supervisor who discussed changes with their productivity. Some of the variables were:


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Changing a variable usually increased productivity, even if the variable was just a change back to the original condition. However, it is said that this is the natural process of the human being adapting to the environment, without knowing the objective of the experiment occurring. Researchers concluded that the workers worked harder because they thought that they were being monitored individually.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Researchers hypothesized that choosing one's own coworkers, working as a group, being treated as special (as evidenced by working in a separate room), and having a sympathetic supervisor were the real reasons for the productivity increase. One interpretation, mainly due to Elton Mayo, was that "the six individuals became a team and the team gave itself wholeheartedly and spontaneously to cooperation in the experiment." (There was a second relay assembly test room study whose results were not as significant as the first experiment.)


title: Hawthorne effect

text: The purpose of the next study was to find out how payment incentives would affect productivity. The surprising result was that productivity actually decreased. Workers apparently had become suspicious that their productivity may have been boosted to justify firing some of the workers later on. The study was conducted by Elton Mayo and W. Lloyd Warner between 1931 and 1932 on a group of fourteen men who put together telephone switching equipment. The researchers found that although the workers were paid according to individual productivity, productivity decreased because the men were afraid that the company would lower the base rate. Detailed observation of the men revealed the existence of informal groups or "cliques" within the formal groups. These cliques developed informal rules of behavior as well as mechanisms to enforce them. The cliques served to control group members and to manage bosses; when bosses asked questions, clique members gave the same responses, even if they were untrue. These results show that workers were more responsive to the social force of their peer groups than to the control and incentives of management.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Richard Nisbett has described the Hawthorne effect as "a glorified anecdote," saying that "once you have got the anecdote, you can throw away the data." Other researchers have attempted to explain the effects with various interpretations. J. G. Adair warned of gross factual inaccuracy in most secondary publications on the Hawthorne effect and that many studies failed to find it. He argued that it should be viewed as a variant of Orne's (1973) experimental demand effect. For Adair, the Hawthorne effect depended on the participants' interpretation of the situation. An implication is that manipulation checks are important in social sciences experiments. He advanced the view that awareness of being observed was not the source of the effect, but participants' interpretation of the situation is critical. How did the participants' interpretation of the situation interact with the participants' goals?


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Possible explanations for the Hawthorne effect include the impact of feedback and motivation towards the experimenter. Receiving feedback on their performance may improve their skills when an experiment provides this feedback for the first time. Research on the demand effect also suggests that people may be motivated to please the experimenter, at least if it does not conflict with any other motive. They may also be suspicious of the purpose of the experimenter. Therefore, Hawthorne effect may only occur when there is usable feedback or a change in motivation.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Parsons defined the Hawthorne effect as "the confounding that occurs if experimenters fail to realize how the consequences of subjects' performance affect what subjects do" [i.e. learning effects, both permanent skill improvement and feedback-enabled adjustments to suit current goals]. His key argument was that in the studies where workers dropped their finished goods down chutes, the participants had access to the counters of their work rate.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Mayo contended that the effect was due to the workers reacting to the sympathy and interest of the observers. He did discuss the study as demonstrating an experimenter effect but as a management effect: how management can make workers perform differently because they feel differently. He suggested that much of the Hawthorne effect concerned the workers feeling free and in control as a group rather than as being supervised. The experimental manipulations were important in convincing the workers to feel this way, that conditions in the special five-person work group was really different from the conditions on the shop floor. The study was repeated with similar effects on mica-splitting workers.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Clark and Sugrue in a review of educational research reported that uncontrolled novelty effects cause on average 30% of a standard deviation (SD) rise (i.e. 50–63% score rise), with the rise decaying to a much smaller effect after 8 weeks. In more detail: 50% of a SD for up to 4 weeks; 30% of SD for 5–8 weeks; and 20% of SD for > 8 weeks, (which is < 1% of the variance).


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Harry Braverman pointed out that the Hawthorne tests were based on industrial psychology and the researchers involved were investigating whether workers' performance could be predicted by pre-hire testing. The Hawthorne study showed "that the performance of workers had little relation to their ability and in fact often bore an inverse relation to test scores...". Braverman argued that the studies really showed that the workplace was not "a system of bureaucratic formal organisation on the Weberian model, nor a system of informal group relations, as in the interpretation of Mayo and his followers but rather a system of power, of class antagonisms". This discovery was a blow to those hoping to apply the behavioral sciences to manipulate workers in the interest of management.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: The economists Steven Levitt and John A. List long pursued without success a search for the base data of the original illumination experiments (they were not true experiments but some authors labeled them experiments), before finding it in a microfilm at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in 2011. Re-analysing it, they found slight evidence for the Hawthorne effect over the long-run, but in no way as drastic as suggested initially. This finding supported the analysis of an article by S R G Jones in 1992 examining the relay experiments. Despite the absence of evidence for the Hawthorne effect in the original study, List has said that he remains confident that the effect is genuine.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Gustav Wickström and Tom Bendix (2000) argue that the supposed "Hawthorne effect" is actually ambiguous and disputable, and instead recommend that to evaluate intervention effectiveness, researchers should introduce specific psychological and social variables that may have affected the outcome.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: It is also possible that the illumination experiments can be explained by a longitudinal learning effect. Parsons has declined to analyse the illumination experiments, on the grounds that they have not been properly published and so he cannot get at details, whereas he had extensive personal communication with Roethlisberger and Dickson.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Evaluation of the Hawthorne effect continues in the present day. Despite the criticisms, however, the phenomenon is often taken into account when designing studies and their conclusions. Some have also developed ways to avoid it. For instance, there is the case of holding the observation when conducting a field study from a distance, from behind a barrier such as a two-way mirror or using an unobtrusive measure.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Greenwood, Bolton, and Greenwood (1983) interviewed some of the participants in the experiments and found that the participants were paid significantly better.


title: Hawthorne effect

text: Various medical scientists have studied possible trial effect (clinical trial effect) in clinical trials. Some postulate that, beyond just attention and observation, there may be other factors involved, such as slightly better care; slightly better compliance/adherence; and selection bias. The latter may have several mechanisms: (1) Physicians may tend to recruit patients who seem to have better adherence potential and lesser likelihood of future loss to follow-up. (2) The inclusion/exclusion criteria of trials often exclude at least some comorbidities; although this is often necessary to prevent confounding, it also means that trials may tend to work with healthier patient subpopulations.