title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: There were two competing bids for the commercial use of the launch complex. SpaceX submitted a bid for exclusive use of the launch complex, while Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin submitted a bid for shared non-exclusive use of the complex, so that the launchpad would handle multiple vehicles, and costs could be shared over the long-term. One potential shared user in the Blue Origin plan was United Launch Alliance. Prior to the end of the bid period, and prior to any public announcement by NASA of the results of the process, Blue Origin filed a protest with the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) "over what it says is a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease to SpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch pad 39A." NASA had planned to complete the bid award and have the pad transferred by October 1, 2013, but the protest "will delay any decision until the GAO reaches a decision, expected by mid-December." On December 12, 2013, the GAO denied the protest and sided with NASA, which argued that the solicitation contained no preference on the use of the facility as multi-use or single-use. "The [solicitation] document merely asks bidders to explain their reasons for selecting one approach instead of the other and how they would manage the facility."


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: On April 14, 2014, the privately owned launch service provider SpaceX signed a 20-year lease for Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). The pad was modified to support launches of both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, modifications that included the construction of a large Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) similar to that used at existing SpaceX-leased facilities at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base, horizontal integration being markedly difference from the vertical integration process used to assemble NASA's Apollo and Space Shuttle vehicles at the launch complex. Additionally, new instrumentation and control systems were installed, and substantial new plumbing was added for a variety of rocket liquids and gases.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: In 2015, SpaceX built the Horizontal Integration Facility just outside the perimeter of the existing launch pad in order to house both the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy rockets, and their associated hardware and payloads, during preparation for flight. Both types of launch vehicles will be transported from the HIF to the launch pad aboard a Transporter Erector (TE) which will ride on rails up the former crawlerway path. Also in 2015, the launch mount for the Falcon Heavy was constructed on Pad 39A over the existing infrastructure. The work on both the HIF building and the pad was substantially complete by late 2015. A rollout test of the new Transporter Erector was conducted in November 2015.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: In February 2016, SpaceX indicated that they had "completed and activated Launch Complex 39A", but still had more work yet to do to support crewed flights. SpaceX originally planned to be ready to accomplish the first launch at pad 39A—of a Falcon Heavy—as early as 2015, as they had had architects and engineers working on the new design and modifications since 2013. By late 2014, a preliminary date for a wet dress rehearsal of the Falcon Heavy was set for no earlier than July 1, 2015. Due to a failure in a June 2015 Falcon 9 launch, SpaceX had to delay launching the Falcon Heavy in order to focus on the Falcon 9's failure investigation and its return to flight. In early 2016, considering the busy Falcon 9 launch manifest, it became unclear if the Falcon Heavy would be the first vehicle to launch from Pad 39A, or if one or more Falcon 9 missions would precede a Falcon Heavy launch. In the following months, the Falcon Heavy launch was delayed multiple times and eventually pushed back to February 2018.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: In 2018, SpaceX made further modifications to LC 39A to prepare it to accommodate the crewed Dragon 2. These modifications included installing a new crew access arm, refurbishing the emergency egress slidewire system, and raising it up to the level of the new arm. The LC 39A fixed service structure was also repainted during this work.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: In 2019, SpaceX began substantial modification to LC 39A in order to begin work on phase 1 of the construction to prepare the facility to launch prototypes of the large -diameter methalox reusable rocket—Starship—from a launch stand, which will fly from 39A on suborbital test flight trajectories with six or fewer Raptor engines. A second phase of the construction is planned for 2020 to build a much more capable launch mount capable of launching the entire Starship launch vehicle, powered by 43 Raptor engines and producing a total of liftoff thrust when departing 39A.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: The first SpaceX launch from pad 39A was SpaceX CRS-10 on February 19, 2017, using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle; it was the company's 10th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, and the first uncrewed launch from 39A since Skylab.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: While Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) was undergoing reconstruction after the loss of the AMOS-6 satellite on September 1, 2016, all SpaceX's east coast launches were from Pad 39A until SLC-40 became operational again in December 2017. These included the May 1, 2017, launch of NROL-76, the first SpaceX mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, with a classified payload.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: On February 6, 2018, Pad 39A hosted the successful liftoff of the Falcon Heavy on its maiden launch, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster car to space; and the first flight of the human-rated spacecraft Crew Dragon (Dragon 2) took place there on March 2, 2019.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: The second Falcon Heavy flight, carrying the Arabsat-6A communications satellite for Arabsat of Saudi Arabia, successfully launched on April 11, 2019. The satellite is to provide K band and K band communication services for the Middle East and northern Africa, as well as for South Africa. The launch was notable as it marked the first time that SpaceX was able to successfully soft-land all three of the reusable booster stages, which will be refurbished for future launches.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: The SpaceX Demo-2 − the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon "Endeavour" spacecraft, with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board launched from Complex 39A on May 30, 2020 and docked to Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 on the Harmony module of the ISS on May 31, 2020.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System(SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: SpaceX assembles its launch vehicles horizontally in a hangar near the pad, and transports them horizontally to the pad before erecting the vehicle to vertical for the launch. For military missions from Pad 39A, payloads will be vertically integrated, as that is required per launch contract with the U.S. Space Force.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: Pad 39A is used to host launches of astronauts on the Crew Dragon capsule in a public–private partnership with NASA. In August 2018, SpaceX's Crew Access Arm (CAA) was installed on a new level, which was built at the necessary height to enter the Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: Since the Artemis 1 in 2022, Launch Complex 39B is used by NASA's Space Launch System rocket, a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle which is used in the Artemis program and subsequent Moon to Mars campaigns. The pad was also been leased for use by NASA to aerospace company Northrop Grumman, for use as a launch site for their Shuttle-derived OmegA launch vehicle, for National Security Space Launch flights and commercial launches, but the plans were cancelled.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: Launch Complex 39C is a new facility for small-lift launch vehicles. It was built in 2015 within the Launch Complex 39B perimeter. It was to serve as a multi-purpose site that allowed companies to test the vehicles and capabilities of the smaller class of rockets, making it more affordable for smaller companies to break into the commercial spaceflight market. However, its primary customer Rocket Lab opted to launch their Electron rocket from Wallops Island, instead. Several small-lift launch-vehicle companies also wanted to launch their rockets from a dedicated site at Cape Canaveral instead of 39C.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: Construction of the pad began in January 2015 and was completed in June 2015. Kennedy Space Center director Robert D. Cabana and representatives from the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program and the Center Planning and Development (CPD) and Engineering directorates marked the completion of the new pad during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 17, 2015. "As America's premier spaceport, we're always looking for new and innovative ways to meet America's launch needs, and one area that was missing was small class payloads", Cabana said.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: The concrete pad measures about wide by about long and could support the combined weight of a fueled launch vehicle, payload, and customer-provided launch mount up to about , and an umbilical tower structure, fluid lines, cables, and umbilical arms weighing up to about . There is a universal propellant servicing system to provide liquid oxygen and liquid methane fueling capabilities for a variety of small-class rockets.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: With the addition of Launch Complex 39C, KSC offered the following processing and launching features for companies working with small-class vehicles (maximum thrust up to ):


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: Previous Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Master Plan recommendations—in 1966, 1972, and 1977—noted that an expansion of KSC's vertical launch capacity could occur when the market demand existed. The 2007 Site Evaluation Study recommended an additional vertical launch pad, Launch Complex 49 (LC-49), to be sited north of existing LC-39B.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: As part of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) process, this proposed launch complex was consolidated from two pads (designated in the 1963 plans as 39C and 39D) to one that would provide greater separation from LC-39B. The area was expanded to accommodate a wider variety of launch azimuths, helping to protect against potential overflight concerns of LC-39B. This LC-49 launch facility could accommodate medium to large launch vehicles.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: The 2007 Vertical Launch Site Evaluation Study concluded that a vertical launch pad could also be sited to the south of 39A, and to the north of pad 41, to accommodate small to medium launch vehicles. Designated as Launch Complex 48 (LC-48), this area is best suited to accommodate small to medium class launch vehicles, due to its closer proximity to LC-39A and LC-41. Due to the nature of these activities, required quantity-distance arcs, launch hazard impact limit lines, other safety setbacks, and exposure limits will be specified for safe operations. Details of the proposed launch pads were published in the Kennedy Space Center Master Plan in 2012.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: The Master Plan also notes a proposed New Vertical Launchpad northwest of LC-39B and a Horizontal Launch Area north of the LC-49 and converting the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and its apron areas into a second Horizontal Launch Area.


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: Space Florida has proposed that Launch Complex 48 be developed for use by Boeing's Phantom Express and that three landing pads be built for reusable booster systems, to provide more landing options for SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and other potential reusable vehicles. The pads would be located east of the Horizontal Launch Area and north of LC-39B


title: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

text: In August 2019, SpaceX submitted an Environmental Assessment for Starship launch system at Kennedy Space Center. This document included plans for the construction of additional structures at LC-39A to support Starship launches, including a dedicated pad, liquid methane tanks, and a Landing Zone. These are separate from the existing structures that support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps ( or ) are sturdy coverings for the legs consisting of leggings and a belt. They are buckled on over trousers with the chaps' integrated belt, but unlike trousers, they have no seat (the term "assless chaps" is a tautology) and are not joined at the crotch. They are designed to provide protection for the legs and are usually made of leather or a leather-like material. Their name is a shortened version of the Spanish word "chaparajos". "Chaparajos" were named after the chaparral (thick, thorny, low brush) from which they were designed to protect the legs while riding on horseback. Like much of western American horse culture, the origin of "chaparajos" was in the south of Spain, from which it then passed on to the part of New Spain that later became Mexico, and has been assimilated into cowboy culture of the American west. They are a protective garment to be used when riding a horse through brushy terrain. In the modern world, they are worn for both practical work purposes and for exhibition or show use. Chaps have also been adopted for use on motorcycles, particularly by cruiser-style motorcycle riders.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps derive from "zahones", used in southern Spain by hunters and "vaqueros" to protect the trousers from scratches produced by brushing with plants or branches. They were most likely adopted in Spanish America along with the cowboy culture, and from there they passed into the American Wild West. The earliest form of protective leather garment used by mounted riders who herded cattle in Spain and Mexico were called "armas", meaning "weapons". They were essentially two large pieces of cowhide that were used as a protective apron of sorts. They attached to the horn of the rider's stock saddle, and were spread across both the horse's chest and the rider's legs. From this early and rather cumbersome design came modifications that placed the garment entirely on the rider, and then style variations adapted as "vaqueros", and later cowboys, moved north from Mexico into the Pacific coast and northern Rockies regions of what today are the United States and Canada. There is also evidence that certain design features may derive from the mountain men, who copied them from the leggings worn by Native Americans. Different styles developed to fit local climate, terrain and hazards. Designs were also modified for purely stylistic and decorative purposes. The time of actual appearance of the garment on American cowboys is uncertain. By the late 1870s, however, most Texas cowboys wore them as the cattle industry moved north. By 1884, the Dictionary of American Regional English notes use of the word in Wyoming, spelled "schaps".


title: Chaps

text: The word "chaps" is a clip of "chaparajos" or "chaparreras", which are Mexican Spanish words for this garment, ultimately derived from Spanish "chaparro", one sense of which is a low growing thicket—difficult to ride through without damage to clothing. In English, the word has two common pronunciations: and . Since at least the end of the 19th century, in the western United States and Canada, English-speaking riders have tended to pronounce the word . This pronunciation is also used among rodeo riders in New Zealand. English-speaking riders in the eastern United States and Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom have tended to pronounce the word .


title: Chaps

text: Shotgun chaps, sometimes called "stovepipes", were so named because the legs are straight and narrow. They were the earliest design used by Texas cowboys, in wide use by the late 1870s. Each leg is cut from a single piece of leather. Their fit is snug, wrapping completely around the leg. They have full-length zippers running along the outside of the leg from the thigh to just above the ankle. The edge of each legging is usually fringed and the bottom is sometimes cut with an arch or flare that allows a smooth fit over the arch of a boot. Shotguns do not flap around the way the batwing design can, and they are also better at trapping body heat, an advantage in windy, snowy or cold conditions, though unpleasant in very hot or humid weather. Shotgun chaps are more common on ranches in the northwest, Rocky Mountains and northern plains states, as well as Canada, and are the design most commonly seen in horse show competition for western riders, especially western equitation. English riders who wear full-length chaps also usually wear a shotgun style, sometimes without fringe.


title: Chaps

text: Batwing chaps are cut wide with a flare at the bottom. Generally made of smooth leather, they have only two or three fasteners around the thigh, thus allowing great freedom of movement for the lower leg. This is helpful when riding very actively, and makes it easier to mount the horse. This design also provides more air circulation and is thus somewhat cooler for hot-weather wear. Batwing chaps are often seen on rodeo contestants, particularly those who ride bucking stock. They are also seen on working ranches, particularly in Texas. They were a later design, developed after the end of the open range. Although by definition the chaps that rodeo contestants wear are considered batwing chaps, contestants do not refer to them as batwings. They are simply called rodeo chaps. There are a few differences in design between working ranch batwing chaps and rodeo chaps. Rodeo chaps are usually more colorful and decorated, whereas ranch cowboys need toughness over style. Rodeo chaps have long flowing fringe which can be the same or a different color as the main body.


title: Chaps

text: Chinks are half-length chaps that stop two to four inches (5 to 10 cm) below the knee, with very long fringe at the bottom and along the sides. They are usually fringed along the outside edge and bottom, making their apparent length appear about 4 inches (10 cm) longer. The leg shape is cut somewhere between batwings and shotguns, and each leg usually has only two fasteners, high on the thigh. They are cooler to wear and hence a design that is suitable for very warm climates. They are occasionally called "half-chaps" (not to be confused with gaiters-style half chaps described "below"). The original etymon may have been "chincaderos" or "chigaderos." and may have originally referred to "armitas." Chinks are most often seen on cowboys in the Southwestern and Pacific states, most notably on those who follow the California "vaquero" or "buckaroo" tradition.


title: Chaps

text: Armitas are an early style of chaps, developed by the Spanish in colonial Mexico and became associated with the "buckaroos" or vaqueros of the Great Basin area of what is now the United States. They are a short legging with completely closed legs that have to be put on in a manner similar to pants. They are sometimes a bit longer than chinks, but still stopping above the top of the boot, fringed on the sides and on the bottom to reach the boot tops, attached by a fringed belt.


title: Chaps

text: A farrier's apron is a specialized style of chinks without fringe, also known as horse shoeing chaps. They protect the upper legs of farriers from getting scratched or cut up in the process of shoeing or otherwise treating the hooves of horses. Some designs have a breakaway front for safety while working. Farrier's aprons are also sometimes used by ranch hands when stacking hay to reduce wear on clothing.


title: Chaps

text: Woolies are a variation on shotgun chaps, made with a fleece or with hair-on cowhide, often angora, lined with canvas on the inside. They are the warmest chaps, associated with the northern plains and Rocky Mountains. They appeared on the Great Plains somewhere around 1887.


title: Chaps

text: Zamorros somewhat resemble batwing chaps, in that the leggings are closely fitted at the thigh and flare out below the knee, but unlike batwings, the leggings extend far below the boot with a distinctive triangular flare. Zamorros are commonly made of cowhide, either plain tanned leather or hides with the hair on. They are popular with Paso Fino aficionados, and are derived from styles seen in Colombia. Historically, the word "zamorros" simply referred to a basic shotgun-like style of either smooth or hair-on chaps worn by Colombian riders.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps worn by campinos in Portugal during the 1950s were sheepskin or goatskin with the wool or hair on and of a "drainpipe" style, while in Spain, chaps were without hair and feature intricately worked designs called "poker-work." In Spain today, rejoneadores wear smooth chaps attached with a single strap behind the knee. They are also worn in monterías, either in their leather or Grazalema variations.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps are intended to protect the legs of cowboys from contact with daily environmental hazards seen in working with cattle, horses and other livestock. They help to protect riders' legs from scraping on brush, injury from thorns of cacti, sagebrush, mesquite and other thorny vegetation.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps are also useful for other types of riding. Leather chaps stick to a leather saddle or a bareback horse better than do fabric trousers and thus help the rider stay on. They are worn by rodeo competitors in "rough stock" events, including bull riding, saddle bronc and bareback riding. Riders in other disciplines, including various styles of English riding, sometimes wear chaps while schooling horses.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps are commonly worn by western riders at horse shows, where contestants are required to adhere to traditional forms of clothing, albeit with more decorative touches than seen in working designs. Currently chaps are also worn as a fashion choice for equestrian training and clinics. Chaps may now include contrast seams, elastic for better fit and crystal detailing. Chaps are often required by show rules, and even when optional under the rules are often worn to give a "finished" look to an outfit. Fashions change periodically and styles vary between the assorted sub-disciplines within western-style riding.


title: Chaps

text: Chainsaw chaps are a component of chainsaw safety clothing. They are made of strong materials like kevlar and protect the legs from injury. A similar style, though of different materials, is sold to hunters and other outdoor sportsmen for protection from rattlesnake bites. Outside of snake country, bird hunters often wear "upland chaps" made of waxed cotton or nylon to protect their legs from briars and thorns. Use of upland chaps allows any type of pants to be worn in the field and they are also used to protect rain suits.


title: Chaps

text: Motorcycle chaps are a type of motorcycle safety clothing and are an example of the shotgun style. They are usually made of leather with the smooth side out, and generally provide all-around protection for the leg and have side zippers to allow them to be put on easily. They are popular in the biker subculture, providing protection from the wind and cold as well as partial protection from cuts and scrapes in the event of a fall to the roadway.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps are also popular in fetish fashion and the leather subculture, where they often are tightly fitted and worn without jeans or other garments layered beneath them other than a codpiece. They can be made of leather, patent leather, rubber, or vinyl and are worn for decoration serving no protective purpose. Worn in this manner, they are colloquially referred to as "assless" chaps, despite the redundancy of the term (all chaps are "assless"; chaps with a seat would be called trousers). More often, this style of chaps are referred to as "bar" chaps.


title: Chaps

text: Equestrian chaps, with the exception of woolies, are traditionally made of cowhide. Woolies, some Zamorros, and a few other historic or ethnic styles may be made with the hair or wool still on the hide, usually cowhide, sheepskin, or Angora goat skin. Historically, they also included seal, bear, and buffalo.


title: Chaps

text: Leather for chaps is tanned and dyed, and the hide is usually "split" so that the leather is supple and can be made into a garment that allows easy movement. There is a rough side, what is today called suede or "roughout", and a smooth side. Chaps are made in both "roughout" and "smooth out" (smooth side out) designs. Most batwings and chinks are made smooth side out, most shotguns are suede, or roughout. For horse shows, where fashions may change from year to year and durability is not as great a concern, lighter, synthetic materials such as ultrasuede and vinyl may be used, though leather suede or a smooth split predominates due to durability and proper fit. In Australia, chaps may be made of oilskin rather than leather.


title: Chaps

text: Most chaps, with the exception of Armitas (which have no metal parts), usually have a small metal buckle in front to attach around the waist, and have lacing on the back of the belt area to allow adjustment in size. A few designs lace in the front and buckle in the back, but they are not often seen. The sides of some designs, particularly the batwing style, either have straps and relatively small metal buckles or snaps to attach the legging around the rider's leg. Other styles, particularly shotguns, usually use full-length heavy-duty metal zippers. Some historic styles of riding chaps used a single break-away leather string or lace instead of a front buckle. The original purpose was to break away if a rider's chaps' belt somehow became hooked over the saddle horn.


title: Chaps

text: Except for the batwing design, most chaps are fringed along the edge of the leg, usually a fringe of the same leather as the legging, though occasionally a contrasting color of leather may be added. Chinks and Armitas have fringe on the bottom of the leg as well. The belt that holds on a pair of the chaps may be the same color of leather or of a contrasting color, sometimes is fringed in the back for show, but usually not on a working outfit. Decorative leather designs or fancy stitching may be added along the edge of bottom of the leg or to the belt, and even sterling silver pieces may be used for buckles, and on round decorative metal conchos placed to cover the lacing on the back of the belt, or occasionally even at the bottom of the legging, by the heel.


title: Chaps

text: Half chaps, also known as chapettes, are a popular style of equestrian gaiters that extend from the ankle to just below the knee. When worn over a short paddock boot they give the protection and some of the appearance of a tall riding boot, but at lower cost. They are widely worn by children in horse shows and by trail riders. Half chaps usually are made of leather, and have a zipper or hook and loop closure on the outside. They provide grip for the rider, and protection from sweat and the stirrup leather. They are commonly used over the paddock boots of English-style riders in place of tall boots. While not true chaps, some Western-style riders use half chaps, particularly in hot weather, but gaiter-style half chaps are not traditional cowboy gear.


title: Chaps

text: Chaps are usually worn over denim jeans or other trousers of heavy material. They have their own belt, and usually are fitted around the hips, resting below the belt loops of the trousers. Except for chinks and armitas, which are designed to fit above the boot, most chaps are long, fitting over the boot and draping slightly over the vamp of the boot (see shoe). Some designs are cut to hang long at the heel and nearly cover the entire boot except for the toe. Batwings, chinks, and shotgun chaps fit firmly but comfortably around the thigh, with shotguns continuing to fit closely all the way down the calf, though not so snug as to limit free knee movement. The shotgun design is a bit flared at the ankle to allow for the rider's boot. Batwings and chinks are not attached around the leg below the knee.


title: Windscribe

text: Windscribe is a commercial VPN service provider with applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS with support for routers and other platforms via custom configurations. Windscribe is based in Canada.


title: Windscribe

text: Windscribe was founded by Yegor Sak and Alex Paguis in 2016. Windscribe's goal is to "aim to develop easy to use yet powerful tools that allow anyone to circumvent censorship", giving help to those in need of jurisdictions with high levels of Internet censorship and to increase online privacy.


title: Windscribe

text: On October 15, 2018, Windscribe released a transparency report which detailed the number of requests they receive from copyright and law enforcement agencies.


title: Windscribe

text: In January 2021, Windscribe began beta testing ControlD, a new standalone DNS-based ad and tracker service, a direct competitor to services such as NextDNS.


title: Windscribe

text: On November 10, 2021, Windscribe open-sourced its desktop applications, with plans to open-source its remaining applications by the end of 2021.


title: Windscribe

text: Windscribe uses industry-standard virtual private network protocols to encrypt and route a user's connection to one of their servers. Windscribe uses the OpenVPN, Internet Key Exchange v2/IPsec, and WireGuard protocols in its applications and manual configurations. Windscribe servers support P2P file sharing and is promoted as a no-log VPN service from their privacy policy.


title: Windscribe

text: Windscribe has desktop applications for Windows and macOS, with a command-line utility for Linux, and mobile applications for iOS, Android, and Android TV. Windscribe also offers encrypted proxy support via browser extensions on Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers. Windscribe users can connect unlimited simultaneous devices.


title: Windscribe

text: In November 2018, Windscribe introduced R.O.B.E.R.T, a customizable DNS-based tracker and ad blocker.


title: Windscribe

text: On April 16, 2021, Windscribe released new versions of the desktop application which included split tunneling, WireGuard support, and native support for custom configurations to support other VPN providers with the Windscribe client.


title: Windscribe

text: On July 8, 2021, Windscribe disclosed that two VPN servers hosted in Ukraine were seized by local authorities on June 24, 2021. On the disk of the VPN servers contained an OpenVPN private key, which could have been used to impersonate a Windscribe VPN server and capture traffic running through it. Windscribe had failed to encrypt the servers in question, allowing for the retrieval of the private key. In addition, Windscribe ran servers with an OpenVPN feature that was deprecated since 2018, leaving the servers unencrypted and its users vulnerable.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: On August 10, 2006, Christopher Porco was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder in connection with the murder of his father, Peter Porco, and the severe wounding and disfigurement of his mother, Joan Porco. The crimes were committed on November 15, 2004 at the home of Peter and Joan Porco in Delmar, New York.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: On November 15, 2004, Peter Porco, a 52-year-old state Appellate Division court clerk, was found dead of massive head injuries in his home in Delmar, New York. His wife Joan Porco (née Balzano), a children's speech pathologist, was discovered lying in the couple's blood-drenched bed with severe head trauma; she survived the attack, but lost one eye and part of her skull and suffered severe facial disfigurement.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: An axe belonging to the family, which was used in the attack, was found in the couple's bedroom. Bethlehem Police soon focused their investigation on Christopher Porco, the younger of the couple's two sons, who was a student at the University of Rochester 230 miles away. Christopher Porco was at the University of Rochester when his parents were discovered. He later said he learned of the attack from a reporter. He returned to Delmar that evening.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: In late November 2004, outgoing Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne convened a grand jury to hear testimony implicating Christopher Porco in the murder. Those who were reported to have testified in the closed-session hearing included Porco's friends from college, a university campus safety officer, and a former girlfriend. The grand jury would field more testimony before handing up an indictment against Christopher in November 2005, one year after the attacks.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: During the course of their investigation, authorities determined that Porco had a history of anti-social behavior that included burglarizing his parents' home. In 2005, Bethlehem Police detectives traveled to San Diego, California, to retrieve a laptop computer that Christopher Porco had stolen from his parents in a break-in on July 21, 2003. Porco had sold the laptop on eBay. Police contended that eight months earlier, on November 28, 2002, Christopher staged a burglary at his parents' home in which he stole a Macintosh laptop computer and a Dell laptop computer. A camera reported missing from the burglary was recovered from the couple's front yard. One month before the attack, both Christopher and Johnathan Porco had their eBay accounts frozen because they shared the same Delmar address. Christopher had not sent several customers the items they had paid for from his account. During their investigation, prosecutors discovered that Christopher had posed as his own brother, sending emails to the customers falsely stating that his brother had died and was unable to deliver the items.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Trial testimony showed that on November 15, 2004, the Porco family's secret code was used to disable the security system at their home. Hours later, a telephone line outside the Porco home was cut. Prosecutors asserted that Christopher Porco disabled the alarm and later cut the phone line to make the invasion of his parents' home appear to be a burglary.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: While away on a trip to England in March 2004, Christopher received an email from Joan Porco's account admonishing him for failing classes at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. In the message, Joan and Peter complained to their son, "You just left and (we) can't believe (our) eyes as I look at your interim grade report. You know what they say, 'Three strikes and you're out.' Explain yourself." The email's subject header was "Failing Grades-You did it again!" Several days later, Christopher replied in a message to his father. Blaming the community college's registrar, he wrote, "[B]ut obviously they are incorrect...My lowest grade that I got on anything was a B on a physics test...Don't jump to conclusions, I'm fine." Porco earned readmission to the University of Rochester with a forged transcript from Hudson Valley Community College. Judge Berry refused to allow prosecutors to use the forged transcripts as evidence in their criminal case against Christopher Porco.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Prior to the attack, there had been tension between Christopher Porco and his parents about money, including over loans Christopher had taken out to pay his tuition and to finance a new Jeep Wrangler. Following the fall 2003 semester, University of Rochester officials had forced Christopher Porco to withdraw because of poor grades. When he was readmitted the following year, he took out a loan for $31,000 to pay his expenses, forging his father's name as a cosignatory. Unbeknownst to his parents, Christopher was attempting to pay his fall 2004 tuition with the loan money. Earlier in the fall, he falsely told his parents that the University of Rochester was covering his tuition because a professor had misplaced his final exam from the previous fall semester.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Two weeks before his murder, Peter Porco had confronted his son about his dishonesty in an email: "Did you forge my signature as a co-signer?... What the hell are you doing? You should have called me to discuss it... I'm calling Citibank this morning to find out what you have done and am going to tell them I'm not to be on it as a co-signer."


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: The following day, Peter Porco was notified that Christopher had also obtained a line of credit from Citibank to finance the Jeep Wrangler, again using his father's name as a cosignatory. Peter once again wrote to his son, who had not answered his parents' phone calls in weeks: "I want you to know that if you abuse my credit again, I will be forced to file forgery affidavits in order to disclaim liability and that applies to the Citibank college loan if you attempt to reactivate it or use my credit to obtain any other loan." The email concluded: "We may be disappointed with you, but your mother and I still love you and care about your future."


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Porco's brother, Johnathan, testified at his trial. According to the Albany "Times Union", Johnathan's testimony influenced the jury; his demeanor toward his brother was "icy", and he described their relationship as "strained".


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Police contended that Christopher Porco's behavior was consistent with a diagnosis of psychopathy or sociopathy, two similar though not identical disorders characterized by pathological deception, scamming and defrauding others, and lack of conscience or remorse. For example, Porco lied to obtain both a car and tuition payments. He also lied to fellow students to make it appear that he came from a wealthy family with oceanfront homes.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Professor Frank Perri has argued that police interviews with Christopher Porco were seriously flawed because police questioning procedures seemingly failed to account for Porco's probable psychopathy.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Christopher Porco told investigators that on the night of November 14, he retired to a dormitory lounge to sleep and awoke the following morning. The police theory was that he drove more than three hours to Albany in early hours of November 15 to attack his parents. A New York State Thruway toll collector outside Rochester said a yellow Jeep Wrangler with large tires passed through his station at about 10:45 p.m. on November 14, and a collector in Albany recalled the "excessive speed" of a yellow Jeep Wrangler approaching the toll plaza shortly before 2 a.m. on November 15.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Four security cameras at the University of Rochester recorded a yellow Jeep Wrangler like Porco's leaving the campus at 10:30 p.m. on November 14 and returning at 8:30 a.m. on November 15, this being the period during which prosecutors claim the Porcos were attacked.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: A neighbor of the Porco family later testified at trial that he saw Porco's yellow Jeep in the family's driveway on the evening of the attack. Also, University of Rochester students testified that they did not see Porco sleeping in a dormitory lounge on the night of the attack.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Porco's employer, veterinarian John Kearney, testified at trial that Porco had been trained in cleaning up after animal surgeries. After the trial, jurors commented that this testimony helped to explain the fact that police did not find blood in Porco's vehicle after the attack.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Christopher Bowdish, a Bethlehem Police detective, stated that, as medical personnel attended to Joan Porco at her home, he took a moment to ask her whether she could identify her attacker. Bowdish said that when he asked Joan if a family member had committed the crime, Joan used her head to indicate "yes". Bowdish has maintained that when he asked her whether it had been her older son Johnathan, a Naval officer stationed in South Carolina, she shook her head to indicate "no". However, when Officer Bowdish asked if her son Christopher was responsible, she was said to have nodded her head up and down, indicating "yes". She also answered in similar ways to other separate questions.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: After Joan Porco emerged from a medically induced coma, she stated that she was unable to remember the attack and asserted that she believed her son Christopher to be innocent. During videotaped testimony submitted to the grand jury in December 2004, Joan testified about her family, but did not identify her son as an attacker. Nine months later, she wrote a letter for publication in the Albany "Times Union" in which she urged authorities to leave Christopher alone and "to search for Peter's real killer or killers, so that he can rest in peace and my sons and I can live in safety."


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Defense attorney Terence Kindlon emphasized that the Bethlehem Police Department had no physical evidence linking Christopher Porco to the attack on his parents. No fingerprints were recovered from the fire ax found at the scene of the crime.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: In statements to the press and criminal proceedings, Kindlon suggested that the Bethlehem Police Department had made Christopher Porco's guilt a foregone conclusion. During his opening remarks to jurors on June 27, 2006, Kindlon described the Bethlehem Police as unfamiliar with a serious crime investigation, describing them as a department "that chases skateboarders away from the 7-11 ...This is not the FBI."


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Kindlon's co-counsel and wife Laurie Shanks maintained that police had overlooked the possibility that Peter Porco's death was the result of retaliation against his uncle Frank Porco, a captain in the Bonanno crime family in New York City. Frank Porco had served two years in prison for loansharking and extortion, although Shanks incorrectly told jurors that he had been indicted for his involvement in a murder. Shanks noted that Frank Porco's nickname with the mob was "The Fireman", which could have had something to do with the type of murder weapon found, a fire ax. He had served in the New York City Fire Department.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: The Porco trial began on June 27, 2006. The trial was held in Orange County because of intense media coverage in the Albany area.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: On August 2, 2006, the prosecution completed its case against Porco, and the defense's case, which was much briefer, began.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: On the morning of August 10, 2006, the jury began deliberations. Later that day, Porco was found guilty of second degree murder and attempted murder.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: On December 12, 2006, Judge Jeffrey Berry sentenced Porco to 50 years to life on each count, totaling a minimum of 50 years in prison. Judge Berry was quoted as saying, "I fear very much what happened in the early morning hours of November 15 is something that could happen again."


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: Christopher Porco is incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility. He appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division, Third Department and to the New York Court of Appeals, but both courts rejected his appeals. He also appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear his case without opinion.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: The case was shown in an episode of "Forensic Files". In 2011 the reboot series of "Great Crimes and Trials" made an episode about the case.


title: Murder of Peter Porco

text: In 2006, the Porco case was the subject of an hourlong episode of CBS's "48 Hours". In 2013, Lifetime aired a movie entitled "Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story"; Porco sued in an attempt to block the release of the movie.


title: The Unicorn (TV series)

text: The Unicorn is an American sitcom created by Bill Martin, Mike Schiff and Grady Cooper for CBS which premiered on September 26, 2019 and concluded on March 18, 2021. It stars Walton Goggins along with Rob Corddry, Omar Miller, Maya Lynne Robinson, Ruby Jay, MaKenzie Moss, Devin Bright, and Michaela Watkins in supporting roles. In May 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on November 12, 2020. In May 2021, the series was canceled after two seasons.


title: The Unicorn (TV series)

text: A recently widowed father with two daughters is encouraged by his friends to re-enter the dating scene. To his surprise he becomes highly sought after due to his status as both an eligible widower and as a devoted father. The show is set in Raleigh, North Carolina.


title: The Unicorn (TV series)

text: On February 6, 2019, it was announced that CBS had given the production a pilot order. On May 9, 2019, it was announced that the production had been given a series order. The series was created by Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, who were also expected to executive produce, alongside Aaron Kaplan, Dana Honor, Wendi Trilling, and Peyton Reed. The production companies involved with the series are Trill TV, Kapital Entertainment and CBS Television Studios. On May 15, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2019 and air on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. The series debuted on September 26, 2019. On October 22, 2019, the series received a back order of five episodes. On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed the series for a second season which premiered on November 12, 2020. On May 15, 2021, CBS canceled the series after two seasons.


title: The Unicorn (TV series)

text: In March 2019, it was announced that Walton Goggins, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Omar Benson Miller and Maya Lynne Robinson had been cast in the pilot's starring roles. Along with the announcement of the series order, it was reported that Ruby Jay and Makenzie Moss had joined the main cast. On October 7, 2020, it was announced that Natalie Zea was set to reprise her role as Shannon, the woman with whom Wade had a connection in the first season finale.


title: The Unicorn (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 85% with an average rating of 6.87/10, based on 27 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "Warm and funny, "The Unicorn" finds humor in unexpected places and shows off a whole new side of the talented Walton Goggins." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The MGM Grand fire occurred on Friday, November 21, 1980 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (now Horseshoe Las Vegas), located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The fire killed 85 people, most through smoke inhalation. The fire began from a refrigerated pastry display case in one of the restaurants, located on the first floor. Fire engulfed the resort's casino, and smoke travelled into the hotel tower.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The tragedy remains the deadliest disaster in Nevada history, and the third-deadliest hotel fire in modern U.S. history, after the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta that killed 119 people and the 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico that killed 97. The incident led to the reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes in the state.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: At the time of the fire, about 5,000 people were in the MGM Grand, a casino and 26-story hotel with more than 2,000 hotel rooms that had opened in 1973. At approximately 7:07 a.m. on Friday, November 21, 1980, a fire began in a restaurant known as The Deli. The fire was discovered during an inspection of the restaurant by a tile crew. A crew supervisor noticed a flickering light, which turned out to be a wall of flames. An employee of the hotel's bakery recounted how just after 7 a.m. he saw smoke coming from the ceiling vents just before the lights went out. MGM security was immediately advised of the situation, and alerted the Clark County Fire Department (CCFD) which was the first agency to respond. CCFD received a call reporting the fire at 7:17 am, with the first engine arriving on site from across the street at 7:19 am. A third alarm was called at 7:22 am, and a Metro Police helicopter pilot requested all available helicopters at 7:30 am.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Other agencies included the North Las Vegas Fire Department, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, and the Henderson Fire Department. A massive helicopter rescue effort from Nellis Air Force Base pulled 1,000 people from the roof of the MGM Grand, involving both U.S. Air Force UH-1N (Hueys) from the 57th Wing based in Indian Springs and CH-3E (Jolly Green Giants) from the 1st Special Operations Wing based in Hurlburt Field, Florida (which were in Nevada to participate in Red Flag '80).


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The fire spread to the lobby, fed by wallpaper, PVC piping, glue, and plastic mirrors, racing west through the casino floor at a speed of until a massive fireball blew out the main entrance, facing the Las Vegas Strip. From the time the fire was noticed, it took six minutes for the entire casino floor to be fully engulfed. It spread across the areas of the casino in which no fire sprinklers were installed. Eighteen people died in the casino level of the hotel.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The fire was limited to the first floor, but the burning material created toxic fumes and smoke, which ascended throughout the hotel tower via vertical shafts (elevators and stairwells) and seismic joints, causing the majority of the deaths. More than 200 firefighters responded to the fire, and some reported having to crawl through the dark and over "mounds of stuff" trying to extinguish the fire. It was later determined that the "mounds" were deceased guests and staff near an elevator bank. The Las Vegas fire department operated separately from the county fire department; the latter served the Las Vegas Strip, so city firefighters were unfamiliar with the MGM's layout, including fire escape routes. This hindered the rescue effort.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Proper evacuation of the hotel guests was also hindered as there was no automatic means of returning elevators to the main floor during a fire, causing 10 deceased victims to be found in an elevator. Some hotel guests tied bedsheets together and hung them on balconies to alert first responders. Some tried using the bedsheets to descend the hotel's exterior. Fire ladders were only able to reach the ninth-floor exterior. One man escaped the hotel tower by lowering himself down a rope.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Some people, trapped in their hotel rooms, broke open their windows to get fresh air, although this allowed thicker smoke from outside to come into the rooms. People below had to dodge shards of glass falling from the broken hotel windows. An expansion of the MGM was underway at the time of the fire, and a construction worker used a scaffolding platform to lower guests to the ground, after they had escaped through their hotel room windows. The Barbary Coast casino across the street was set up as an evacuation center for MGM guests.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: A total of 85 people were killed (including seven employees) and 650 injured, including guests, employees, and 14 firefighters. While the fire primarily damaged the second-floor casino and adjacent restaurants, 61 deaths were on the upper floors of the hotel (19th - 24th floors), mostly in the stairwells, where all doors except on the roof and ground floor were locked and the smoke concentration was the highest. One young couple died in their sleep.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Seventy-five people died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning; four from smoke inhalation alone; three from burns and smoke inhalation; one from burns alone; one of myocarditis; and one from massive skull trauma caused by a fall while attempting to escape the fire.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Two refrigerated semi-trailers were set up as temporary morgues to hold the bodies of victims until they could be identified.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The fire was confined to the casino and restaurant areas. The hotel was equipped with a fire sprinkler system that performed properly by keeping the fire out of other sections of the building. The area with the most fire prevention was in the money counting area, not in individual rooms or on the casino floor. The county's fire chief had been concerned that such a fire could occur, as older hotels built prior to 1979 were not required to have certain fire safety features. Nevada governor Robert List said, "You can't force people to bring hotels up to codes that didn't exist when they were built." For years after its opening, the resort had declined orders to install a second fire hose in one of its showrooms. As of June 1980, only 20 percent of fire safety violations – discovered two months earlier by inspectors – had been corrected.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: A refrigerated pastry display case was added, after original construction of the hotel, to one of its restaurants (known as The Deli). Unlike a modern display case, which would be totally self-contained (compressor installed in bottom of display case), this unit functioned like a walk-in cooler or central air conditioning system, with a pair of copper refrigerant lines connecting its evaporator to a condensing unit located outside the building. When this set-up was installed, the copper lineset was run through the same wall soffit as a pre-existing electrical conduit and in physical contact with the conduit.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The fan-forced evaporator unit in the display case was not properly secured, and thus was able to vibrate constantly while in operation; these vibrations were carried along the copper refrigerant lines, causing the pipes to rub against the electrical conduit in the wall soffit and make them vibrate as well. Galvanic corrosion occurred, in which the copper refrigerant pipes were in physical contact with the aluminum electrical conduit, causing the conduit to erode over time. Galvanic corrosion and vibration – as well as jagged edges and stretched wires resulting from poor workmanship during the installation – eventually resulted in the electrical wires inside the conduit missing chunks of their plastic insulation. The conduit was rendered un-grounded (there was no separate ground wire; the metal conduit itself was designed to function as the ground, so the disintegration of the conduit rendered the system un-grounded).


title: MGM Grand fire

text: These now-bare electrical conductors inside the un-grounded metal conduit glowed red-hot and began arcing, which ignited the fire. The fire reportedly smoldered for hours until it found fresh oxygen and burst into a fireball that spread into the casino, and was fed by other combustibles.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Due to faulty smoke dampers within the ventilation duct network, the toxic fumes circulated throughout the hotel's air conditioning system, accelerating the spread of the poisonous gases. The continued operation of the resort's ventilation system contributed to the fire's harmful effect. On the casino floor, there was no outlet for the smoke, which was spread into the hotel tower by the ventilation system. Smoke rapidly filled the resort's telephone switchboard room, and operators there only had enough time to warn people on the casino floor. Hotel guests were not notified of the fire, as the switchboard operators had to evacuate. The elevator shafts were located above the restaurant and casino, which also helped the smoke to spread. Guests, who earlier had found that the fire doors in some stairwells locked automatically, had propped them open for convenience. However, this allowed more smoke to spread.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Sprinklers were located on the first two floors and the top floor of the resort. The casino and restaurants were not protected by a fire sprinkler system because they were exempt from rules requiring sprinklers in areas occupied 24 hours a day. A Clark County building inspector granted the exemption—despite the opposition of fire marshals—reasoning that a fire would be quickly noticed by occupants and contained with portable fire extinguishers. When the fire started in The Deli restaurant, it was no longer open 24 hours per day; it was closed at the time of the fire. Although some sprinklers were in the resort, they were not located anywhere near the fire. A full sprinkler system would have cost $192,000. Because of the cost, MGM only installed the minimum number of sprinklers as required, during the resort's construction.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The resort was temporarily closed because of the fire. Much of the damage occurred in the casino, which was charred by the fire. The hotel hallways and stairwells were stained by soot and smoke. Shortly after the fire, some people looted jewelry and blackened money from the resort. State gaming revenues were hurt by the MGM's closure, as the resort was one of the largest tax contributors to the local gaming industry. The county lost an estimated $1.7 million because of the closure, and it was estimated that MGM Grand Hotels could face a $1 billion loss because of the fire.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: After the fire, the MGM Grand was rebuilt over the next eight months, at a cost of $50 million. It reopened in July 1981, with numerous fire safety features now in place, including the addition of fire sprinklers and an automatic fire alarm system throughout the property. A two-unit computer – one of them a backup – was provided by Johnson Controls to monitor hundreds of locations throughout the MGM, helping to prevent another fire. A similar computer had also been installed at another MGM Grand hotel in Reno, Nevada. The Las Vegas MGM now had more than 30,000 sprinklers, including four in most hotel rooms. The hotel also had 8,000 speakers, including one in each room, allowing for fire safety instructions to be provided to guests in the event of a fire.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The air-conditioning system was heavily modified to prevent smoke from entering hotel rooms, and large exhaust fans were installed, with the capability to rid the hotel of fumes in 10 minutes. Plastic pipes and wires, which contributed to the fire, were removed. A five-minute fire safety program, hosted by Gene Kelly in both English and Spanish, was played on televisions in hotel rooms. Resort officials believed that the MGM was now the safest hotel in the world. A minor incident occurred two weeks after the reopening, and the new safety features worked as planned. Insulation material had begun to smolder because of a welder's torch, and this set off automatic alarms.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: The original hotel tower, where most of the deaths occurred, continues to operate. A second tower opened in 1981. The MGM Grand was sold in 1986 to Bally Manufacturing, which changed the name to Bally's Las Vegas. A new MGM Grand was opened in Las Vegas in 1993, at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, south of the original MGM. Bally's was again renamed in 2022, as Horseshoe Las Vegas.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: Within a week of the fire, Governor List formed a commission to determine whether older hotels in the state should be required to adopt newer fire safety rules. On February 10, 1981, just 81 days after the MGM fire, another fire broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton, killing eight people. Due to the two incidents, there was a major reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes. All buildings open to the public in Nevada were required to have fire sprinklers, smoke detectors in rooms and elevators, and exit maps in all hotel rooms. This law went into effect in 1981 and made Nevada a leader in fire safety regulation. It took several years for all buildings to be in compliance.


title: MGM Grand fire

text: More than 1,350 legal claims were filed as a result of the fire, and most law firms in the Las Vegas Valley were occupied with these cases. Hundreds of lawsuits were filed against MGM, seeking more than $2 billion in damages. One attorney, representing three local couples against MGM, expressed concern about the reopening, saying that the resort still had defects which could prove harmful in the event of another fire. MGM made numerous settlement deals with the victims in 1983, and a $76 million settlement between MGM and insurance companies was made in 1985. In 1998, there was $440,000 left over in the MGM victim settlement. The remaining money was donated to Clark County victims of fires and burns.


title: Kirin Company

text: Its major operating units include Kirin Brewery Company, Limited, Mercian Corporation and Kirin Beverages Company, Limited. Kirin is a member of the Mitsubishi Group.


title: Kirin Company

text: The Japan Brewery Company, Limited, the forerunner of Kirin Brewery, was established in 1885, taking over the assets of the Spring Valley Brewery, first founded in Yokohama in 1869 by Norwegian-American brewer, William Copeland. In a deal brokered by Thomas Blake Glover, the Japan Brewery was incorporated in Hong Kong in the name of W.H. Talbot and E.H. Abbott with financial backing provided by a group of Japanese investors including Iwasaki Yanosuke, then-president of Mitsubishi.


title: Kirin Company

text: The Japan Brewery first began marketing Kirin Beer in 1888. The Kirin Brewery Company was established as a separate legal entity in February 1907, purchasing the assets of the Japan Brewery and expanding the business in an era of growing consumer demand. Kirin Brewery built on the traditions of the Japan Brewery retaining the use of malted grains and hops imported from Germany and employing German brewers to oversee production. An exclusive partnership with Meidi-ya proved highly successful in the marketing of Kirin's beers both in Japan and overseas.


title: Kirin Company

text: Kirin Brewery sells two of the most popular beers in Japan: Kirin Lager, one of the country's oldest beer brands, brewed since 1888; and Ichiban Shibori. Within the happoshu (low-malt) category, Kirin Tanrei is the top seller. Kirin handles domestic distribution for several foreign brands, including Budweiser and Heineken.


title: Kirin Company

text: Kirin's brewery operations also extend overseas, through strategic alliances, subsidiaries, and affiliates, to China, Taiwan, Australia, the Philippines, Europe, New Zealand and the United States. The company holds a 100% stake in Lion Nathan Limited, a consolidated subsidiary that is based in Australia but has particularly important operations in China. Kirin has a 48% stake in San Miguel Brewery, the dominant brewer in the Philippines. Kirin now applies its fermentation technology to areas such as plant genetics, pharmaceuticals, and bioengineering. Although brewing and related businesses remain the core of Kirin's activities, the company is also involved in several other sectors: hard liquor, wine, soft drinks, and food products.


title: Kirin Company

text: In Japanese, "Kirin" can refer to giraffes, or to Qilin (麒麟), the mythical hooved Chinese chimerical creatures in East Asian culture. Kirin Brewery is named after the latter.


title: Kirin Company

text: In December 2006, the Kirin Brewery Company of Japan purchased a 25% stake in Hangzhou Qiandaohu Beer Co., Ltd. for US$38 million.


title: Kirin Company

text: On 14 July 2009, Kirin announced that it was in negotiations with Suntory on a merger. On 8 February 2010, it was announced that negotiations between the two had been terminated.


title: Kirin Company

text: In early 2010 Kirin's Agribio business was sold to Dutch H2 Equity Partners; now it's part of Dümmen Orange.


title: Kirin Company

text: In 2010, 23.4 percent of Kirin's sales were made overseas, the highest overseas revenue among all Japanese breweries.


title: Kirin Company

text: In October 2011, the court decided that Kirin could buy a majority stake in family-run Brazilian beer Schincariol. Kirin bought a 50.45 percent stake in 2011, valued at $2.6 billion.


title: Kirin Company

text: In November 2011, Kirin Holdings Company agreed to buy out the remaining shareholders in Brazilian beermaker Schincariol Participacoes e Representacoes, completing its biggest acquisition as it sees growth in emerging markets ($1.35 billion was paid for the 49.54 percent stake, giving it control of all outstanding shares).


title: Kirin Company

text: In 2013 Kirin joined leading alcohol producers as part of a producers' commitments to reducing harmful drinking.


title: Kirin Company

text: In February 2013, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi bought the 15% stake of Singapore's Fraser & Neave (F&N), a property-to-drinks conglomerate, from Kirin for US$1.6 billion.


title: Kirin Company

text: In July 2014, Kirin announced its intention to revive the Spring Valley Brewery brand as a wholly owned subsidiary company to focus on producing and retailing microbrewery style beers produced using traditional ingredients and brewing methods.


title: Kirin Company

text: On January 20, 2017, Heineken NV and Kirin Holdings confirmed they were in negotiations for Heineken to acquire Brasil Kirin.


title: Kirin Company

text: On February 5, 2018, Kirin Holdings announced the acquisition of 95% outstanding shares in Kyowa Hakko Bio Co. Ltd, from Kyowa Hakko Kirin to expand to wellness and bio-chemical products.


title: Kirin Company

text: On August 6, 2019, Kirin Holdings announced it would take a 33% stake in cosmetics and dietary supplements company Fancl Corp for US$1.21 billion.


title: Kirin Company

text: On June 30, 2022, Kirin Holdings announced sell its 51% stake in Myanmar Brewery Limited, its Myanmar joint venture to its military-linked local partner.


title: Double pendulum

text: In physics and mathematics, in the area of dynamical systems, a double pendulum also known as a chaos pendulum is a pendulum with another pendulum attached to its end, forming a simple physical system that exhibits rich dynamic behavior with a strong sensitivity to initial conditions. The motion of a double pendulum is governed by a set of coupled ordinary differential equations and is chaotic.


title: Double pendulum

text: Several variants of the double pendulum may be considered; the two limbs may be of equal or unequal lengths and masses, they may be simple pendulums or compound pendulums (also called complex pendulums) and the motion may be in three dimensions or restricted to the vertical plane. In the following analysis, the limbs are taken to be identical compound pendulums of length and mass , and the motion is restricted to two dimensions.


title: Double pendulum

text: In a compound pendulum, the mass is distributed along its length. If the mass is evenly distributed, then the center of mass of each limb is at its midpoint, and the limb has a moment of inertia of about that point.


title: Double pendulum

text: It is convenient to use the angles between each limb and the vertical as the generalized coordinates defining the configuration of the system. These angles are denoted and . The position of the center of mass of each rod may be written in terms of these two coordinates. If the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system is taken to be at the point of suspension of the first pendulum, then the center of mass of this pendulum is at:


title: Double pendulum

text: The first term is the "linear" kinetic energy of the center of mass of the bodies and the second term is the "rotational" kinetic energy around the center of mass of each rod. The last term is the potential energy of the bodies in a uniform gravitational field. The dot-notation indicates the time derivative of the variable in question.


title: Double pendulum

text: There is only one conserved quantity (the energy), and no conserved momenta. The two generalized momenta may be written as


title: Double pendulum

text: These last four equations are explicit formulas for the time evolution of the system given its current state. It is not possible to go further and integrate these equations to an expression in closed form, to get formulas for and as functions of time. It is, however, possible to perform this integration numerically using the Runge Kutta method or similar techniques.


title: Double pendulum

text: The double pendulum undergoes chaotic motion, and shows a sensitive dependence on initial conditions. The image to the right shows the amount of elapsed time before the pendulum flips over, as a function of initial position when released at rest. Here, the initial value of ranges along the -direction from −3.14 to 3.14. The initial value ranges along the -direction, from −3.14 to 3.14. The colour of each pixel indicates whether either pendulum flips within:


title: Double pendulum

text: The boundary of the central white region is defined in part by energy conservation with the following curve:


title: Double pendulum

text: then it is energetically impossible for either pendulum to flip. Outside this region, the pendulum can flip, but it is a complex question to determine when it will flip. Similar behavior is observed for a double pendulum composed of two point masses rather than two rods with distributed mass.


title: Double pendulum

text: The lack of a natural excitation frequency has led to the use of double pendulum systems in seismic resistance designs in buildings, where the building itself is the primary inverted pendulum, and a secondary mass is connected to complete the double pendulum.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication, and abolished the Soviet system of government. The current Constitution is the second most long-lived in the history of Russia, behind the Constitution of 1936.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The text was drafted by the 1993 Constitutional Conference, which was attended by over 800 participants. Sergei Alexeyev, Sergey Shakhray, and sometimes Anatoly Sobchak are considered as the primary co-authors of the constitution. The text was inspired by Mikhail Speransky's constitutional project and the current French constitution. The USAID-funded lawyers also contributed to the development of the draft.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: It replaced the previous Soviet-era Constitution of 12 April 1978, of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (which had already been amended in April 1992 to reflect the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the sovereignty of the Russian Federation), following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The constitution is divided into two sections. Overall it creates a system of crown-presidentialism (see reference below for details), which affords vast power to the office of the president to dominate executive, legislative, and judicial power.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: Especially on human rights and fundamental freedoms, the Constitution provides for human rights and freedoms of citizens according to the universally recognised principles and norms of international law as well as to their listing in the Constitution. (It affirms that the listing in the Constitution of the Russian Federation of the fundamental rights and freedoms shall not be interpreted as a rejection and derogation of other universally recognised human rights and freedoms.)


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The Constitution of the Russian Federation specifies that the President is the Russian head of state, setting domestic and foreign policy and representing Russia both within the country and internationally [Article 80]. While the original constitution stipulated a four-year term and a maximum of two terms in succession, the current constitution decrees a six-year term. The four-year term was in effect while Vladimir Putin served his first and second terms; with the two-term limit, he was barred from the presidency in 2008. Instead, he served as Prime Minister while Dmitry Medvedev served as president for four years. Putin was re-elected to his third term in 2012; with the six-year term, he was elected to his fourth term in 2018. Article 81 specifies the method of election, including a secret ballot; Articles 82–93 detail powers, responsibilities, and limitations of the presidency. The constitution provides for a "strong presidency"; not only is the president the "Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation", the president also has the power to dissolve the State Duma.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The legislature is the Federal Assembly of Russia, which consists of two chambers: the State Duma (the lower house) and the Federation Council (the upper house). The two chambers possess different powers and responsibilities: the State Duma is of more significance, as it carries the main responsibility for passing federal laws. Although a bill may originate in either legislative chamber (or be submitted by the President, government, local legislatures, Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, or High Arbitration Court), it must be first considered by the State Duma and be adopted by a majority vote before being turned over to the Federation Council, which has 14 days to take a vote on it. If the bill is adopted by the Federation Council, it must be signed by the President to become law. If rejected by the Federation Council, the bill will be returned to the State Duma, which can then override the council's rejection by passing it again with a two-thirds vote in the same form. The President has a final veto, but the State Duma and Federation Council also have an overriding power by passing with a two-thirds vote.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: While the Russian Federation Constitution enumerates a strong and independent judicial branch, the reality is a question of debate. The constitution provides for judicial immunity, lifetime appointments/"irremovable" justices, the supremacy of the courts to administer justice, and affirms that judges need only submit to the constitution and the federal law. Additionally, Article 123 provides for open and fair trials, as well as equal application of the law. Three courts are delineated: Constitution Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and the Higher Arbitration Court; each court is "appointed by the Council of the Federation upon the proposals by the President." The Constitution requires 19 judges for the Constitution Court, but does not specify the number of justices for the other courts. As of 2002, the Supreme Court has 115 members; due to the expansion of duties in 2014, the number of seats was increased to 170. In September 2014, the Institute of Modern Russia reported that the Russian Federation's Supreme Arbitration Court had been dissolved and that judicial matters previously under its authority had been transferred to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The procedure for amending the Constitution is outlined in Chapter Nine. Proposals on amendments to and revision of the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation may be submitted by the President of the Russian Federation, the Council of Federation, the State Duma, the Government of the Russian Federation, legislative (representative) bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and by groups consisting of not less than one fifth of the members of the Council of Federation or of the deputies of the State Duma.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: Article 137 covers updating the provisions of Article 65 of the Constitution of Russia. An update regarding the change of the name of the subject of the Russian Federation is carried out by a decree of the President of Russia on bringing the name of the subject of the Russian Federation in the text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in accordance with the decision of the subject of the Russian Federation. An update regarding changes in the subject composition of the Russian Federation is carried out in accordance with the federal constitutional law on the admission to the Russian Federation and the formation of a new constituent entity of the Russian Federation, on changes in the constitutional and legal status of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which should contain an indication of the inclusion of relevant changes or additions to Article 65 of the Constitution of Russia.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: Article 136 covers updating the provisions of chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the Constitution of Russia. An update is carried out in the form of a special act: a law of the Russian Federation on amendments to the Constitution, which is adopted by the parliament similarly to the federal constitutional law, but then also requires ratification by the legislative bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation. Moreover, one law of the Russian Federation on the amendment to the Constitution covers interrelated changes to the constitutional text; the law itself receives a name reflecting the essence of this amendment.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: Article 135 covers updating the provisions of chapters 1, 2, and 9 of the Constitution of Russia. An update to any of these chapters is considered a revision of the Constitution's fundamental provisions, which is possible only through the adoption of the new Constitution of the Russian Federation by the Russian Constitutional Assembly or by popular vote.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The amendments of 2008, which were proposed in November 2008 and came into force on 31 December 2008, are the first substantial amendments to the Constitution of Russia of 1993 and extended the terms of the President of Russia and the State Duma from four to six and five years, respectively. Earlier only minor adjustments concerning the naming of the federal subjects or their merging were made, which require a much simpler procedure.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: On 21 March 2014, Federal Constitutional Law No. 6 «On the Adoption of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation and the Formation of New Subjects within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol» was adopted.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: The amendments of 2020 remove the "in a row" clause from the article regulating the maximum number of presidential terms, discounting previous presidential terms before the amendment enters into force. Other changes are recognition of Russia as a successor to the Soviet Union in relation to international organizations, treaties, and assets of the USSR stipulated by international treaties outside the territory Russian Federation, banning ceding Russian territory, diminishing the accomplishments by the "defenders of the fatherland" and their role in World War II is no longer allowed, and enshrining God and heterosexual marriage in the constitution. Other amendments would enshrine the role of the Russian language as that of "state forming people", a constitutional reference to God and giving statutory backing to the State Council.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: From 25 June to 1 July 2020, a nationwide vote took place, with 78% of voters voting in favor of the amendments with a turnout of 65%, according to official results.


title: Constitution of Russia

text: Putin signed an executive order on 3 July 2020 to officially insert the amendments into the Russian Constitution; they took effect on 4 July 2020.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: The first lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom, and is by convention also the prime minister. This office is not equivalent to the usual position of the "treasurer" in other governments; the closer equivalent of a treasurer in the United Kingdom is Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is the second lord of the Treasury.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: As of the beginning of the 17th century, the running of the Treasury was frequently entrusted to a commission, rather than to a single individual. Since 1714, it has permanently been in commission. The commissioners have always since that date been referred to as Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and adopted ordinal numbers to describe their seniority. Eventually in the middle of the same century, the first lord of the Treasury came to be seen as the natural head of the overall ministry running the country, and, as of the time of Robert Walpole (Whig), began to be known, unofficially, as the prime minister.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: The term prime minister was initially, but decreasingly, used as a term of derogation; it was first used officially in a royal warrant only in 1905. William Pitt the Younger said the prime minister "ought to be the person at the head of the finances"—though Pitt also served as chancellor of the exchequer for the entirety of his time as prime minister, so his linkage of the finance portfolio to the premiership was wider than merely proposing the occupation of the first lordship by the prime minister.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: Prior to 1841 the first lord of the Treasury also held the office of chancellor of the exchequer unless he was a peer and thus barred from that office; in this case, the second lord of the Treasury usually served as chancellor. As of 1841, the chancellor has always been second lord of the Treasury when he was not also prime minister. By convention, the other Lords Commissioners of the Treasury are also Government Whips in the House of Commons.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the first lord of the Treasury, not the office of prime minister. Chequers, a country house in Buckinghamshire, is the official country residence of the prime minister, used as a weekend and holiday home, although the residence has also been used by other senior members of government.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: Much of this list overlaps with the list of prime ministers of the United Kingdom, but there are some notable differences, principally concerning Lord Salisbury, who was prime minister but not first lord in 1885–86, 1887–92 and 1895–1902. Those first lords who were simultaneously prime minister are indicated in bold; those who were considered prime minister only during part of their term are indicated in bold italic.


title: First Lord of the Treasury

text: Thereafter the posts of first lord and prime minister have continually been held by the same person .


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on February 23, 2017 when National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted the last remaining protesters. The pipeline runs from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Many members of the Standing Rock tribe and surrounding communities consider the pipeline to be a serious threat to the region's water. The construction also directly threatens ancient burial grounds and cultural sites of historic importance.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: In April 2016, youth from Standing Rock and surrounding Native American communities organized a campaign to stop the pipeline, calling themselves "ReZpect Our Water". Inspired by the youth, several adults, including Joye Braun of the Indigenous Environmental Network and tribal historian LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, established a water protectors' camp as a center for direct action, demonstrating spiritual resistance to the pipeline in both a defence of Indigenous sovereignty and cultural preservation. The #NoDAPL hashtag began to trend on social media, and the camps at Standing Rock gradually grew to thousands of people.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Conflict between water protectors and law enforcement escalated through the summer and fall. In September 2016, construction workers bulldozed a section of privately owned land which the tribe had claimed as sacred ground. When protesters trespassed into the area, security workers used attack dogs which bit at least six of the demonstrators and one horse. In October 2016, militarized police cleared an encampment which was situated on the proposed path of the pipeline. In November 2016, police used water cannons on protesters in freezing weather, consequently drawing significant media attention.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Continued conflicts and resulting attention on social media led to increasing national and global support for the protests. High profile activists, celebrities, and politicians spoke out in support of the tribe, including senator Bernie Sanders, and presidential candidate Jill Stein. Standing Rock Chairman David Archambault II addressed the tribe's positions at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. In December 2016, under President Barack Obama's administration, the Corps of Engineers denied an easement for construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River, though this decision was reversed the following month by the incoming administration of President Donald Trump. The pipeline was completed by April 2017, and its first oil was delivered on May 14.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: In March 2020, a United States District Judge ruled that the government had not adequately studied the pipeline's "effects on the quality of the human environment", and ordered the United States Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a new environmental impact review. In July 2020, a District Court judge issued a ruling for the pipeline to be shut down and emptied of oil pending a new environmental review. The temporary shutdown order was overturned by a U.S. appeals court on August 5, though the environmental review was ordered to continue. The pipeline continues to operate.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: The Dakota Access Pipeline, a part of the Bakken pipeline project, is a underground oil pipeline in the United States. The pipeline was planned by Dakota Access, LLC, a subsidiary of a Dallas, Texas corporation named Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. It begins in the Bakken oil fields in Northwest North Dakota and travels in a relatively straight line southeast, through South Dakota and Iowa, ending at the oil terminal near Patoka, Illinois. According to court records, the pipeline was due for delivery on January 1, 2017.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Routing the pipeline across the Missouri River near Bismarck was rejected because of the route's proximity to municipal water sources; residential areas; roads, wetland, and waterway crossings. The Bismarck route would also have been 11 miles (18 km) longer. The alternative selected by the Corps of Engineers crosses underneath the Missouri River, half a mile (800 m) from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and parallels the existing Northern Border Pipeline. A spill could have major adverse effects on the waters that the Standing Rock Reserve relies upon. Using a permit process that treated the pipeline as a series of small construction sites, the pipeline was granted an exemption from the environmental review required by the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: However, citing potential adverse effects on indigenous tribes, most notably the Standing Rock Sioux, in March and April 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Interior (DOI), and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a formal Environmental Impact Assessment and issue an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Noting that the water system serving Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation was only 10 miles (16 km) downstream of where the pipeline would cross Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, the EPA recommended that the Army Corps revise its Environmental Assessment and open up a second public comment period. The DOI also expressed concerns about the pipeline's proximity to the tribe's water source. Waters of a sufficient quantity and quality are legally obligated to be held in reserve for the Standing Rock Community. However, more than 800,000 acres of Standing Rock's entrusted land risked being impacted by a leak or spill, which could severely impact the waters which the community relies upon for both drinking and spiritual purposes.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: By late 2016, the United States Department of Justice had received more than 33,000 petitions to review all permits and order a full review of the project's environmental effects.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Despite the mass opposition to the Pipeline, as of August 2021, expansion construction continues; the line can now transport 750,000 barrels of oil daily, which is 180,000 more than previous limits. The company Energy Transfer plans to add pump stations to boost the pipeline’s efficiency and speed. Once the full expansion is up and running, as much as 1.1 million barrels of oil will flow through the pipeline each day. The attorney of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe noted that the court ordered Corps review of the pipeline impact was intended "to study the impact of things before they occur, not after.”


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Sacred Stone Camp was founded by Standing Rock's Historic Preservation Officer, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, on April 1, 2016, as a center for cultural preservation and spiritual resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline. In the spring and early summer of 2016, Allard and other Indigenous leaders focused on media outreach, resulting in tribal delegations and individuals coming to stand with them from all over the country and—eventually—the world. As the numbers grew beyond what the land could support, an overflow camp was also established nearby, which came to be known as the "Očhéthi Šakówiŋ" camp (the Lakȟótiyapi name for the Great Sioux Nation or Seven Fires Council). In September, Allard said that 26 of the 380 archaeological sites that face desecration along the pipeline route are held sacred to the Sioux Nations, the Arikara, the Mandan, and the Northern Cheyenne, comparing the pipeline's construction through said sites to genocide.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: By late September, NBC News reported that members of more than 300 federally recognized Native American tribes were residing in the three main camps, alongside an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 additional pipeline resistance demonstrators. Several thousand more gathered at the camps on weekends. As winter approached, numbers grew lower, but the protesters winterized and prepared for an indefinite stay. In October, another camp called "Winter Camp" was established on Energy Transfer Partners private property—directly in the pipeline's proposed path. Citing eminent domain, Native American protesters declared that the land rightly belongs to them under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. Though the initial territory agreed to in the treaty was later broken up into smaller reservations, the treaty was never nullified and was thus being invoked as law. Morton County Sheriff, Kyle Kirchmeier, claimed that the Winter Camp was a threat to public safety, stating that "we can not have protesters blocking county roads, blocking state highways, or trespassing on private property." Following, on October 27, police in riot gear with crowd control equipment and supported by National Guard members removed the protesters from the new encampment. They used methods such as pepper spray, bean-bag shot guns, concussion grenades and mace. Law enforcement further used Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD), which are used to make noises as at piercing frequency and volume. Protestors remained on site nonetheless, setting blockades, bridges and tires on the highway afire.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: During September 2014, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal (SRST) council met with Energy Transfer representatives for an initial consultation, which was more than a month before the pipeline's first formal submission to the Army Corps. At the beginning of the meeting, Councilman David Archambault II indicated the tribe's opposition to the project within treaty boundaries. Additional SRST representatives voiced opposition and concerns about the pipeline.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: Pipeline protests were reported as early as October 2014, when Iowa community and environmental activists presented 2,300 petitions to Iowa Governor Terry Branstad asking him to sign a state executive order to stop it. Voicing concerns for damage to wildlife habitat and sacred sites, the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa (Meskwaki Nation) also objected to the route and formally lodged their opposition in early 2015. Tribal members were also among those who opposed the Keystone XL pipeline. In a letter to the Iowa Utilities Board, Tribal chairwoman Judith Bender wrote that there were "environmental concerns about the land and drinking water...it will only take one mistake and life in Iowa will change for the next thousands of years."


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: The tribe sued for an injunction on the grounds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had failed to conduct a proper environmental and cultural impact study. Protests had escalated at the pipeline site in North Dakota, with numbers swelling from just a bare handful of people to hundreds and then thousands over the summer.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: The Standing Rock Sioux tribe believes that the pipeline would put the Missouri River, the water source for the reservation, at risk. They pointed out two recent spills on other pipeline systems, a 2010 pipeline spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, which cost over a billion to clean up with significant contamination remaining, and a 2015 Bakken crude oil spill into the Yellowstone River in Montana. The Tribe was also concerned that the pipeline route may run through sacred Sioux sites. In August 2016 protests were held, halting a portion of the pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Protests continued and drew indigenous peoples from throughout North America, as well as other supporters. A number of planned arrests occurred when people locked themselves to heavy machinery.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: On August 23, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe released a list of 87 tribal governments who wrote resolutions, proclamations and letters of support stating their solidarity with Standing Rock and the Sioux people. Since then, many more Native American organizations, politicians, environmental groups and civil rights groups joined the effort in North Dakota, including the Black Lives Matter movement, indigenous leaders from the Amazon Basin of South America, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka, and many more. "The Washington Post" called it a "National movement for Native Americans." As of September, the protest constituted the single largest gathering of Native Americans in more than 100 years.


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: On September 20, 2016, Standing Rock Chairman David Archambault II addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, where he called "upon all parties to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline." Citing the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux and 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, two treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate that recognize the Sioux's national sovereignty, Archambault told the Council that "the oil companies and the government of the United States have failed to respect our sovereign rights."


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: On September 22, 2016, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a United Nations expert on the rights of indigenous peoples, admonished the U.S., saying, "the tribe was denied access to information and excluded from consultations at the planning stage of the project, and environmental assessments failed to disclose the presence and proximity of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation." She also responded to the rights of pipeline protesters, saying, "the U.S. authorities should fully protect and facilitate the right to freedom of peaceful assembly of indigenous peoples, which plays a key role in empowering their ability to claim other rights."


title: Dakota Access Pipeline protests

text: On April 25, 2017, descendant of Sitting Bull, Standing Rock Lakota Reserve member and Indigenous Environmental Network delegate, Brenda White Bull, spoke at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She specifically addressed indigenous resistance against Dakota Access and the state's unwarranted use of violence. She stated that "we are more powerful than their [the state's] militarized police forces and guns, because we are armed with prayer." She further indirectly addressed a widely acknowledged indigenous principle that 'Water is Life', cautioning against the contamination of water sources in Standing Rock, speaking as a guardian on their behalf. Facing violent violations of the rights of the Standing Rock community and its water sources, she demanded that the United States implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, warning that if they fail to do so, Standing Rock will do it themselves.