title: Free public transport

text: Tallinn, capital city of Estonia with more than 420,000 inhabitants, as well as several mid-size European cities and many smaller towns around the world have converted their public transportation networks to zero-fare. The city of Hasselt in Belgium is a notable example: fares were abolished in 1997 and ridership was as much as "13 times higher" by 2006.


title: Free public transport

text: Local zero-fare shuttles or inner-city loops are far more common than citywide systems. They often use buses or trams. These may be set up by a city government to ease bottlenecks or fill short gaps in the transport network.


title: Free public transport

text: Zero-fare transport is often operated as part of the services offered within a public facility, such as a hospital or university campus shuttle or an airport inter-terminal shuttle.


title: Free public transport

text: Some zero-fare services may be built to avoid the need for large transport construction. Port cities where shipping would require very high bridges might provide zero-fare ferries instead. These are free at the point of use, just as the use of a bridge might have been.


title: Free public transport

text: Machinery installed within a building or shopping centre can be seen as 'zero-fare transport': elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks are often provided by property owners and funded through the sales of goods and services. Community bicycle programs, providing free bicycles for short-term public use could be thought of as zero-fare transport.


title: Free public transport

text: A common example of zero-fare transport is student transport, where students travelling to or from school do not need to pay. A notable example is the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which provides much of the funding to operate the Stevens Point Transit system. All students at the university can use any of the four citywide campus routes and the other four bus routes throughout the city free of charge. The university also funds two late night bus routes to serve the downtown free of charge with a goal of cutting down drunk driving.


title: Free public transport

text: In some regions transport is free because the revenues are lower that expenses from fare collection is already partially paid by government or company or service (for example BMO railway road in Moscow, most part of is used to as service transport and officially pick up passengers).


title: Free public transport

text: Many large amusement parks will have trams servicing large parking lots or distant areas. Disneyland in Anaheim, California, runs a tram from its entrance, across the parking lot, and across the street to its hotel as well as the bus stop for Orange County and Los Angeles local transit buses. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, provides tram service throughout its parking lot.


title: Free public transport

text: In July 2017, Dubai announced it would offer free bus services for a short period of time on selected days.


title: Free public transport

text: During natural disasters, pandemics, and other area-wide emergencies, some transit agencies offer zero-fare transport.


title: Free public transport

text: Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit commuter rail temporarily offered free service for those needing transportation alternatives during the 2017 Tubbs Fire and 2019 Kincade Fire.


title: Free public transport

text: Some agencies, including the Central Ohio Transit Authority and King County Metro, offer free public transport during snow emergencies to reduce the number of vehicles on the street.


title: Free public transport

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, several agencies paused the collection of fares to alleviate concerns that the virus could be transmitted on surfaces, to keep travelers from coming into close contact with employees, or to allow rear door boarding on their vehicles. These agencies are mostly located in smaller cities where the farebox recovery ratio is low as they could afford to implement this policy without a major hit to revenue.


title: Free public transport

text: Transport operators can benefit from faster boarding and shorter dwell times, allowing faster timetabling of services. Although some of these benefits can be achieved in other ways, such as off-vehicle ticket sales and modern types of electronic fare collection, zero-fare transport avoids equipment and personnel costs.


title: Free public transport

text: Passenger aggression may be reduced. In 2008 bus drivers of Société des Transports Automobiles (STA) in Essonne held strikes demanding zero-fare transport for this reason. They claim that 90% of the aggression is related to refusal to pay the fare.


title: Free public transport

text: Some zero-fare transport services are funded by private businesses, such as the merchants in a shopping mall, in the hope that doing so will increase sales or other revenue from increased foot traffic or ease of travel. Employers often operate free shuttles as a benefit to their employees, or as part of a congestion mitigation agreement with a local government.


title: Free public transport

text: Zero-fare transport can make the system more accessible and fair for low-income residents. Other benefits are the same as those attributed to public transport generally:


title: Free public transport

text: Global benefits of zero-fare transport are also the same as those attributed to public transport generally. If use of personal cars is discouraged, zero-fare public transport could mitigate the problems of global warming and oil depletion.


title: Free public transport

text: Several large U.S. municipalities have attempted zero-fare systems, but many of these implementations have been judged unsuccessful by policy makers. A 2002 National Center for Transportation Research report suggests that, while transit ridership does tend to increase, there are also some disadvantages:


title: Free public transport

text: This U.S. report suggests that, while ridership does increase overall, the goal of enticing drivers to take transit instead of driving is not necessarily met: because fare-free systems tend to attract a certain number of "problem riders", zero-fare systems may have the unintended effect of convincing some 'premium' riders to go back to driving their cars. It should be kept in mind that this was a study that only looked at U.S. cities, and the author's conclusions may be less applicable in other countries that have better social safety nets and less crime than the large U.S. cities studied.


title: Free public transport

text: Luxembourg was the first country to offer free public transport (trams, trains, and buses). Since 1 March 2020, all second-class public transport has been free in the Duchy.


title: Free public transport

text: Estonia has the ambition to become entirely zero-fare. Counties are allowed to make public transport free. As of May 2019, buses are free of charge in 11 of Estonia's 15 counties. Public transport in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, is free to local residents since 2013.


title: Free public transport

text: Scotland has implemented free bus travel for people across the country under 22-years-old since 31 January 2022.


title: Free public transport

text: Romania has also introduced free public transportation including bus, subway and inter-country trains for all pre-university students. University students only have the option for a 50% discount on individual inter-country train tickets or inter-city subscriptions.


title: Free public transport

text: Fare free transit has repeatedly demonstrated to increase ridership — especially during non-peak travel periods — and customer satisfaction. Several analyses have shown increased ridership by as much as 15% overall and about 45% during the off-peak periods. The effects on public transport operators included schedule adherence problems because of the increased ridership and more complaints about rowdiness from younger passengers, though obviously there were no more direct conflicts with passengers regarding fare collection. When the University of California, Los Angeles covered fare for the university community, ridership increased by 56% in the first year and solo driving fell by 20% (though one older study showed no measurable impact on automobile use).


title: Free public transport

text: In the United States, mass transit systems that collect fares are only expected to generate about 10% of the annual revenue themselves, with the remainder covered by either public or private investment and advertisements. Therefore, politicians and social-justice advocacy groups, such as the Swedish network Planka.nu, see zero-fare public transport as a low-cost, high-impact approach to reducing economic inequality. It has also been argued that transportation to and from work is essential to the employer in the managing of work hours, so financing of public transportation should fall to employers rather than private individuals or public funds.


title: M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System

text: The M26-MASS (Modular Accessory Shotgun System) is a shotgun configured as an underbarrel ancillary weapon attachment mounted onto the handguard of a service rifle, usually the M16/M4 family of United States military, essentially making the host weapon a combination gun. It can also be operated as a stand-alone shotgun by attachment to a pistol grip/collapsible buttstock module. Rollout commenced in 2013, replacing the M500 shotguns in service.


title: M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System

text: The M26-MASS is a lightweight underbarrel shotgun configured to be secured to a main rifle, developed by C-More Systems and manufactured by Vertu Corporation and originally marketed toward special operations forces. It attracted the interest of soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan who wanted a lightweight system that could eliminate the need to carry additional weapons.


title: M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System

text: The M26-MASS had been in development at the U.S. Army's Soldier Battle Lab since the late 1990s. The idea was to provide soldiers with lightweight accessory weapons which could be mounted underbarrel of the standard issue M16 rifle or M4 carbine. These would provide soldiers with additional capabilities, such as: door breaching using special slugs, very short-range increased lethality using 00 buckshot, and less-lethal capabilities using teargas shells, rubber slugs, rubber pellets, or other non-lethal rounds.


title: M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System

text: The original idea was based on the Knight's Armament Company Masterkey system, which dates back to the 1980s and originally comprised a shortened, tube-fed Remington 870 shotgun mounted under an M16 rifle or M4 carbine. The M26-MASS improved upon the original Masterkey concept with a detachable magazine option and more comfortable handling, thanks to a bolt-operated system which is manually cycled for reloading and is characterized by a bolt which must be moved backward to remove a spent case and forward to chamber a new cartridge. The relatively large bolt handle is located closer to the rear rather than the slide on the Masterkey pump shotgun, and thus is easier to cycle in combat. The handle can be easily attached on either side of the bolt. The detachable magazine offers quicker reloading and change of ammunition types.


title: M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System

text: The M26-MASS was chosen by the U.S. Military over the Masterkey as a breaching tool. Small numbers of M26-MASS shotguns were issued to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The current contract calls for the delivery of 9,000 shotguns. In February 2012, the first unit was fully equipped with M26-MASS. At the same time the U.S. Army is in the process of replacing the M500s with the M26s.


title: M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System

text: In May 2008, the Army announced it would procure 35,000 units. The first M26-MASS shotguns were procured and fielded to military police and engineer units in 2010. However, some units in both Iraq and Afghanistan were issued the M26-MASS in small quantities as early as 2003. Full initial fielding began in 2011.


The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) () is, in principle, the highest-ranking and senior most uniformed military officer, typically at four-star rank, in the Pakistan Armed Forces who serves as a Principal Staff Officer and a chief military adviser to the civilian government led by elected Prime minister of Pakistan and his/her National Security Council. The role of advisement is also extended to the elected members in the bicameral Parliament and the Ministry of Defence. The Chairman leads the meetings and coordinates the combined efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), comprising the Chairman, the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff, Commandant of Marines, DG Coast Guards and Strategic Plans Division, and commanders of the service branches in the Civil Armed Forces and the National Guard.


title: Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

text: Even as the Principal Staff Officer (PSO), the Chairman does not have any authority over the command of the combatant forces. The individual service chiefs are solely responsible for the coordination and logistics of the armed and combatant forces. Due to this constraint, the chiefs of army, navy and air force are much in command and control of their respected commands.


text: The Chairman's mandate is to transmit strategic communications to the combatant commanders from the Prime minister and President as well as allocate additional funding to the combatant commanders if necessary. The Chairman is nominated and appointed by the Prime Minister; and is finally confirmed by the President. Unlike United States's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the appointment of Chairman does not need confirmation via majority vote by the Parliament. Although, the appointment needs confirmation from the Prime minister. By statute, the Chairman is appointed as a four-star general, four-star air chief marshal and/or four star admiral. By law required, all four-star officers are required to have vast experience in joint uniformed services of Pakistan during their 40-year-long military careers.


text: The post of CJCSC was created by former Prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in March 1976, and the first Chairman was four star rank officer, General Muhammad Shariff. The current holder of the office is General Sahir Shamshad Mirza appointed in 2022.


text: Despite the post of the chairmanship is bound constitutionally for the rotation, the army generals are strongly preferred for such post, despite coming short of their qualifications, by the civilian prime ministers in a view of stabilizing the civil military relations.


text: Unlike the American system where the balance is made between the branches of the U.S. military, the majority of the chairmen are appointed from the department of the army, superseding the officers in the navy, marines, and the air force.


text: In 1999, Prime Minister Sharif notably refused to appoint the senior most officer, Admiral Fasih Bokhari, to such post in favor of appointing junior-most officer, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. This action of Prime Minister Sharif led towards Adm. Bokhar revolting against this decision in public in 1999, creating strain in the relation between the civilian government and the military.


text: The four-star admirals in the Pakistan Navy have been notably superseded by the junior army officers, in instances took place in 2005 when Adm. Karim was superseded by junior-most Lt-Gen. Ehsan ul Haq and, in 2011 when Adm. Numan was bypassed in favor of Lt-Gen. Wynne. In 2014, the practice continued by the civil government when Adm. Asif Sandila was bypassed and overlooked when the junior most officer, Lt-Gen. Rashad Mahmood was eventually appointed as Chairman joint chiefs.


text: Due to such preferential treatments given to army department, the retired admirals have given a strong criticism of such criterion, expressing their dissatisfaction towards the appointment processes.


title: Electra Mustaine

text: Electra Nicole Mustaine (born January 28, 1998) is an American musician. The daughter of heavy metal musician Dave Mustaine, she was raised in Fallbrook, California and currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.


title: Electra Mustaine

text: Mustaine is the daughter of Dave Mustaine, lead vocalist of Megadeth, and Pamela Anne Casselberry. She was born in Scottsdale, Arizona on January 28, 1998, six years after her older brother, Justis.


title: Electra Mustaine

text: Mustaine moved to Fallbrook, California, at age five and started pursuing a career in musical theater at age seven. She began to practice singing in hopes of one day becoming a prominent figure in the world musical theater and acting.


title: Electra Mustaine

text: Mustaine was co-host of Animal Planet's TV show, "Faithful Friends" "Itty Bitty Buddy" segment with WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg's wife, Wanda. She would continue to frequent Los Angeles for auditions and acting classes. As Mustaine built her voice, her love for music began to flourish above all else. That's when her family started to support her pursuit of a musical career. Mustaine began performing at fairgrounds and small gigs and venues around San Diego County and in Chicago. In 2013, she performed a cover of her father's band's song "A Tout le Monde" by Megadeth on Seattle's KING-TV and having a benefit concert for the Ward 57 Wounded Warrior Project to raise funds for wounded veterans and their families.


title: Electra Mustaine

text: In 2016, Mustaine released her cover of "I Thought I Knew It All", a Megadeth song from the album "Youthanasia", and her first original composition, "Life Is Good" written by Mustaine, Nathan Chapman, and Blair Daly. She also performed at the 2016 CMA Music Festival.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Chinese expansionism over the last four thousand years has been a central feature of the history of East Asia. During times when China wielded much greater power such as during the Han, Tang, Yuan, and Qing dynasties, China would even influence the development and politics further north and west in North Asia, Central Asia, and parts of South and Southeast Asia.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Historically, China has been a major empire in history, and throughout its history, China developed from the northern basin of the Huaxia, which is believed to be between modern Yellow and Yangtze rivers, slowly became a major power from ancient era. To achieve that, various ancient Chinese dynasties had perpetuated the expansion of the realm, until it was unified under the Qin dynasty. However, it was only the Qin dynasty that China truly started its process of expansion into other nations. Qin dynasty's expansionism eventually led to its first contacts with the ancient Yue tribes, and further extended to the Korean Peninsula, as well as the Xiongnus. The Qin dynasty laid the foundation for future territorial expansions by subsequent Chinese dynasties.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Han dynasty marked the height of early Chinese expansionism. Under the Han dynasty, China managed to conquer northern Korea and northern Vietnam, annexing several parts of these territories in the process. The Han dynasty also managed to conquer nomad tribes as far north as Mongolia and Siberia and gained control over western regions as far as modern Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Following the fall of the Han dynasty, the Korea peninsula gained political independence from The Central Plain dynasties, leaving only northern Vietnam remaining under Chinese control, and the Three Kingdoms era temporarily halted Chinese expansionism. Nonetheless, the Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu managed to extend its territorial gains in some parts under their territorial control. Once the Three Kingdoms ended and establishment of the Jin dynasty, Chinese expansionism stopped becoming the main headline for four centuries, as China was in dire need to consolidate back its borderland following its significant population losses.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Sui dynasty, which reunified China after another 350 years of divisions, attempted to embark back on expansionism, but four disastrous campaigns to Goguryeo put the dynasty to its end.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The establishment of the Tang dynasty marked the comeback of Chinese expansionism. Like the Han, the Tang was an ancient superpower and another golden age. Under the Tang dynasty, China managed to maintain control over northern Vietnam and Korea. The Chinese Empire also managed to extend its control over Xinjiang and Central Asia, reaching as far west as the Aral Sea and Caspian Sea. China also gained loyalty from the Turkic and Sogdian tribes at the northern and western borders. The Tang managed to encroach into the Tibetan territory and occupy Lhasa, until they had to abandon due to difficult climate.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Tang Chinese expansion was checked following the Battle of Talas in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, when the Tang was defeated by the Arabs. However, China remained strong enough to process a significant weight until the An Lushan Rebellion which crippled the Tang. The rebellion partly led to the collapse and implosion of the Tang into several warring states and kingdoms. After the Tang collapse, China would be divided into several smaller nations until the unification during the Yuan dynasty and Mongol empire.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: When the Tang dynasty collapsed, China entered the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. After this period, China remained fragmented and was divided into a number of smaller countries that emerged from the turmoil. These included the Song dynasty to the south and the Liao and Jin dynasties to the north. The Song, Liao, and Jin would continue to fight each other for centuries. As a result of perpetual instability, the Vietnamese eventually seceded from the union in the Battle of Bạch Đằng in 938, Song dynasty, unified much of China's south and launched an invasion of northern Vietnam in the process, but was repelled by Lê Hoàn. From then, the Song dynasty had struggled to reconsolidate back the borderland and inner territories, as well as repeated wars with Vietnam, the Liao dynasty, the Jin dynasty and the Western Xia. This had prevented the Song dynasty from ever taking any serious military expeditions. These various kingdoms (Song, Liao, Jin, Xia) would fight each other until they were all conquered and unified by the Yuan dynasty in 1279.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Yuan dynasty was founded by the Mongols in the traditional Chinese style in 1271. The Yuan dynasty and Mongol empire was characterized by unprecedented territorial expansionism north and west, reaching as far as Europe and West Asia. Yuan China undertook attempts to conquer other territories further east and south too. The Yuan dynasty launched two invasions of Burma, with the first invasion delivering a devastating blow to the Pagan Kingdom and effectively resulted in its collapse. The Yuan dynasty also managed to conquer Korea and Tibet, thereby incorporating Tibet into Chinese territory for the first time in history. However, the Yuan dynasty had been unsuccessful in its attempt to conquer Vietnam, with the Mongols being repelled by Trần Thái Tông. Furthermore, The Yuan's naval expeditions to invade Java and Japan had disastrous results, eventually leading to the end of Sino-Mongol expansionist desires.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty, the newly established Ming dynasty was initially reluctant to embark on expansionism due to destruction from rebellions in the waning years of the Yuan dynasty. The first Ming emperor, Hongwu, was openly against expansionism and was more concerned with killing his internal political opponents than dealing with outside threats. He specifically warned future Emperors only to defend against foreign barbarians, and not engage in military campaigns for glory and conquest. However, once Hongwu died, the reign of Yongle saw the Ming attempt to expand its territories. The Ming launched an invasion to Vietnam, eventually leading to the fourth Chinese domination. However, the Ming was defeated in the Battle of Tốt Động – Chúc Động 20 years later. Moreover, the Ming launched an attack on the Mongols and Northern Yuan to the north, but the Ming failed, and their emperors were even captured by the Mongols in the Tumu Crisis. Following its failures in Vietnam and the north, the Ming dynasty started to concentrate only in internal affairs, and refused to make further interventions or expeditions, except for naval expeditions and trades such as the Ming treasure voyages by Zheng He. Rather than expanding, the Ming was more defensive in nature and faced internal rebellions such as the Rebellion of Cao Qin and Bozhou rebellion as well as invasions from the north such as from the Later Jin (eventually the Qing) and the Japanese under Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Imjin war.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Qing dynasty was a Manchu-ruled dynasty, descended from the Jurchens which founded the Jin dynasty earlier. The dynasty embraced Chinese expansionism. By the late 19th century, in response to competition with other states, the Qing government of China attempted to exert direct control of its frontier areas by conquest or, if already under military control, conversion into provinces.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The ability of Qing China to project power into Central Asia came about because of two changes, one social and one technological. The social change was that under the Qing dynasty, from 1642, the Chinese military forces were organized around cavalry which was more suited for power projection than prior Chinese infantry. The technological change was advances in artillery which negated the military advantage that the people of the steppe had with their cavalry. The Dzungar Khanate was the last great independent nomadic power on the steppe of Central Asia. The Dzungars were deliberately exterminated in a brutal campaign during the Dzungar genocide by Manchu Bannermen and Khalkha Mongols. It has been estimated that more than a million people were slaughtered, and it took generations for it to recover. The Qing ruling family Aisin Gioro was supportive of Tibetan Buddhism and many in the ruling class adopted the religion.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Qing dynasty was seen to be the return of Chinese expansionist policies. Under the Qing rule, China expanded beyond the Great Wall and started to annex more territories in process. The Qing invaded Korea, managed to conquer Mongolia, and also annexed modern territories of Xinjiang and Tibet as well. The Qing also managed to extend its control into Central Asia for once more, mostly concentrated in what would be today Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Qing also destroyed the Kingdom of Tungning of Koxinga, and annexed Taiwan as well. This marked for the first time, China managed to directly control Xinjiang, Taiwan, Tibet, Central Asia and Mongolia. China also marked its claims far to Sakhalin, even though the Qing didn't manage to control it; or even to Kashmir where it fought a bitter war against the Sikhs.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Ming loyalists led by Koxinga invaded Taiwan and expelled Dutch colonialists from the island during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia and founded the Chinese Kingdom of Tungning. The Ming loyalists quickly moved to replace the institutions and culture of Dutch colonial rule with Han Chinese colonial rule. Language and religious institutions left by the Dutch were closed and replaced with Confucian temples and Chinese language schools for both Han Chinese and aboriginals. Officials encouraged new immigration of Han Chinese from China into territory further inland, turning aboriginal lands into new farmland. After fighting between the Ming loyalists and the Qing during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the Qing attacked the Kingdom of Tungning. the Qing won the Battle of Penghu and the Ming loyalists submitted to Qing rule. Tungning was annexed as part of Fujian. The Qing were "reluctant colonizers" but became convinced of Taiwan's value to their empire due to the threat the island posed if used as a base by rival powers, and by its abundant resources. The Qing turned Taiwan into its own province in 1885, after Japanese interest and a defeated French invasion attempt.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: After the British expedition to Tibet in the waning days of the Qing dynasty, the Qing responded by sending Zhao Erfeng to further integrate Tibet into China. He succeeded in abolishing the powers of the Tibetan local leaders in Kham and appointing Chinese magistrates in their places by 1909–10. Qing forces were also sent to Ü-Tsang in 1910 to establish a direct control over Tibet proper, though a province was never established in this area.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The Qing campaign against Burma (Myanmar) (1765–1769) was its most disastrous and costly frontier war. It ended in a military defeat but the Qing rulers could not accept Burma as an equal, and when diplomatic relations were resumed in 1790, the Qing court considered it a restoration of Chinese suzerainty.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: When the Qing collapsed in 1912, the newly established Republic of China found itself in dire need situation to protect its newly acquired border; both Tibet and Outer Mongolia declared their independence from China, but they were not recognized by the Republic of China. Therefore, the Republic of China focused its efforts on consolidating their control over Chinese territories and refused to embrace expansionist policy. The Republic of China, however, faced numerous pressure from the expansionist Empire of Japan in 1915, with the Twenty-One Demands caused public uproars. It also faced strong opposition from the Soviet Union, which also embraced expansionist policy, leading to the border conflict of 1929. The Soviets and Japanese meddling into Chinese affairs and the lack of compromises from Western leaders over Japanese and Russian expansionism made the work difficult, as Russia had interests with regard to Xinjiang, and Japanese invasion in northeast China at 1931. On the same time, the Chinese Civil War also prevented any attempts of a possible Chinese expansion.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: When the World War II broke out, nonetheless Chiang Kai-shek had sought to restore Chinese influence. Being a major ally and one of the Big Four, Chiang wanted to restore Chinese influence in Korea and Southeast Asia, in a vision for a new Asia under Chiang's command. Once the World War II ended, Chiang Kai-shek started trying to implement the project, by sending troops to occupy northern Vietnam. Yet, as the Chinese Civil War resumed, it had dented Chiang's desire, and he had to retreat most of his army to fight against the now-stronger communist force. Eventually, the Republic of China lost the war and was forced to retreat to Taiwan where it continues to rule today. The expansionist policy was succeeded by the communists which later proclaimed the People's Republic of China.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Following the "de facto" end of the Chinese Civil War, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China, and, at the first stage, styled his rule after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. China temporarily abandoned the irredentist idea to focus on internationalism promoted by the communist world. Thus, the early PRC saw China fought in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, both to help the communist North Korea and North Vietnam.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: However, this didn't mean China had given up the idea of expansionism. China started to reconquer Xinjiang, absorbing the then-Second East Turkestan Republic with help from Stalin, before conquering Tibet in 1950 and crushing a later uprising.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Following Dalai Lama's escape to India, China and India fought a border war in 1962, where China gained Aksai Chin and stampeded into Arunachal Pradesh (called South Tibet in China), before retreating from the latter over increasing turmoil. Before that, China also sought to take over Taiwan, then under the authority of the rival Republic of China, causing the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, but was unsuccessful due to American threats in response. China also sought to take over Sikkim in 1967, but it was unsuccessful. A Chinese map published in 1961 showed China claiming territories in Bhutan, Nepal and the Kingdom of Sikkim. Incursions by Chinese soldiers and Tibetan herdsmen allying with Chinese government also provoked tensions in Bhutan. Imposing a cross-border trade embargo and closing the border, Bhutan established extensive military ties with India.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: In 1974, China launched its first naval expedition to reclaim the Paracel Islands and defeated the 50-strong South Vietnamese occupation force. Tensions triggered between China and later unified communist Vietnam led to the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979. China and Vietnam later fought another bitter skirmish in the South China Sea in 1988, resulting in China's consolidation of some disputed islands.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: In the opening speech at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan, stating that "We have sufficient abilities to thwart any form of Taiwan independence attempts."


title: Chinese expansionism

text: During the 20th century, the Republic of China claimed that numerous neighbouring countries and regions in Asia were lost territories of China. Many of these lost territories were under the rule of Imperial Chinese dynasties or were tributary states. Sun Yat-sen claimed that these territories were lost due to unequal treaties, forceful occupation and annexation, and foreign interference. Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, among others, were supportive of these claims. China published a series of maps during this time known as a Map of National Shame () which showcased some of the lost territories that had links to various Imperial Chinese dynasties.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Since the Chinese economic reform of 1978, China has managed to transform into a new economic, military and political great power. As China transformed, there have been hopes that China would give up its expansionist idea. However, since the rise of Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping in power, and increasing territorial conflicts which China stated most of their disputed lands belong to China, it is generally believed that China continues to adhere to irredentist claims.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China (called the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" by the Chinese government and the "Chinese invasion of Tibet" by the Tibetan Government in Exile) were the series of events from 1950 to 1959 by which the People's Republic of China (PRC) gained control of Tibet.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: These regions came under the control of China after attempts by the Government of Tibet to gain international recognition, efforts to modernize its military, negotiations between the Government of Tibet and the PRC, a military conflict in the Chamdo area of western Kham in October 1950, and the eventual acceptance of the Seventeen Point Agreement by the Government of Tibet under Chinese pressure in October 1951. In some Western opinions, the incorporation of Tibet into China is viewed as an annexation. The Government of Tibet remained in place under the authority of China until the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when the Dalai Lama was forced to flee into exile in India and after which the Government of Tibet and Tibetan social structures were dissolved.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Five Fingers of Tibet is the Chinese strategy originally propounded by CCP chairman Mao Zedong to annex Ladakh (disputed territory), Nepal, Sikkim (disputed territory), Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh (disputed territory). According to the Five Fingers of Tibet strategy, Tibet is considered as China's right hand palm, with five fingers on its periphery: Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, with the ultimate objective to assert China's claim and authority over these regions.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: With the 1978 Chinese economic reform launched by Deng Xiaoping, China has increased its political stance, its influence and its power abroad. On one side, China remains deeply neutral and not involving itself in any conflict


title: Chinese expansionism

text: , and the land borders are stable . China has increased its influence, while using military and economic wealth and claims to island territories that have caused anxiety in neighbors to the east, such as the Philippines and Japan.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims of China and the claims of several neighboring sovereign states in the region, namely Brunei, the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The disputes are over islands, reefs, banks, and other features in the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Scarborough Shoal, boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin and the waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands.


title: Chinese expansionism

text: Jeffrey Reeves (2018) argues that since 2012, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping has demonstrated "a concerted imperialist policy" towards its developing neighbor states to the south and west, especially Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, it opened on April 14, 1988, and can seat up to 16,600 people, making it the highest-capacity Triple-A ballpark in the United States. It replaced the Bisons' former home, War Memorial Stadium, where the team played from 1979 to 1987.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The stadium was the first retro-classic ballpark built in the world, and was designed with plans for Major League Baseball (MLB) expansion. Buffalo had not had an MLB team since the Buffalo Blues played for the Federal League in 1915. However, Bisons owner Robert E. Rich Jr. was unsuccessful in his efforts to bring an MLB franchise to the stadium between 1988 and 1995. The stadium was a temporary home to the Toronto Blue Jays of MLB in 2020 and 2021 when they were displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Sahlen Field was previously home to the Buffalo Nighthawks of the Ladies Professional Baseball League in 1998, the Buffalo Bulls of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 2000, and the Empire State Yankees of the International League in 2012. In addition to concerts and professional wrestling, the stadium has hosted major events including the National Old-Timers Baseball Classic (1988–1990), Triple-A All-Star Game (1988, 2012), StarGaze (1992–1993), World University Games (1993) and National Buffalo Wing Festival (2002–2019).


title: Sahlen Field

text: Buffalo began hosting professional baseball in 1877, when the Buffalo Bisons of the League Alliance began play at Riverside Park. Over the next century, the city hosted major and minor league teams including the Buffalo Bisons (IA, 1878, 1887–1888), Buffalo Bisons (NL, 1879–1885), Buffalo Bisons (PL, 1890), and the Buffalo Blues (FL, 1914–1915). The longest-tenured franchise was the minor league Buffalo Bisons, which was founded in 1886 and played exclusively in the International League starting in 1912. This club played at Olympic Park until 1923, at which point that venue was demolished and replaced by Offermann Stadium.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Buffalo was awarded an expansion franchise by the Continental League of Major League Baseball in January 1960, and made plans to play at War Memorial Stadium beginning with the 1961 season. However, the league folded before the season began. The Buffalo Bisons remained in the International League and began play at War Memorial Stadium in 1961, as Offermann Stadium had already been slated for demolition.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In April 1968, Robert O. Swados and his investment group, which included George Steinbrenner, presented their bid for a Buffalo expansion franchise to the National League Expansion Committee. This bid included plans for a $50 million domed stadium that was designed by the architects of the Astrodome and had a capacity of 45,000. Buffalo was one of five finalists for the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion, but franchises were awarded to the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres in May 1968.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Erie County went on to modify the planned domed stadium to accommodate the Buffalo Bills, approving its construction as a 60,000-seat football venue in Lancaster that could also host baseball. However, bids for the stadium in 1970 came in over budget, and the project stalled. Bills owner Ralph Wilson threatened to move the Bills if action was not taken to replace the aging War Memorial Stadium, forcing Erie County to abandon the domed stadium in favor of building open-air Rich Stadium in Orchard Park. Major League Baseball had planned on relocating the struggling Washington Senators franchise to Buffalo, but when the domed stadium wasn't built it instead became the Texas Rangers. The Buffalo Bisons moved mid-season in 1970 and became the Winnipeg Whips, leaving Buffalo without professional baseball.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Mayor James D. Griffin and an investment group purchased the Jersey City A's of the Double-A class Eastern League for $55,000 in 1978, and the team began play as the Buffalo Bisons at War Memorial Stadium in 1979. This new franchise assumed the history of prior Buffalo Bisons teams that had played in the city from 1877 to 1970. Rich Products heir Robert E. Rich Jr. purchased the Bisons for $100,000 in 1983, and upgraded the team to the Triple-A class American Association in 1985 after buying out the Wichita Aeros for $1 million. The Bisons began drawing record crowds with promotional tie-ins, most notably annual post-game concerts by The Beach Boys.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Strong political support grew to replace the aging War Memorial Stadium with what was originally known as Downtown Buffalo Sports Complex. The City of Buffalo originally hired HOK Sport to design a $90 million domed stadium with a capacity of 40,000 on 13 acres of land, but the project was scaled back after New York State only approved $22.5 million in funding instead of the $40 million requested. A separate athletic facility to service the City Campus of Erie Community College was part of the proposed complex, and was eventually built several years later as the Burt Flickinger Center.


title: Sahlen Field

text: St. John's Episcopal Church originally occupied what would become the venue's land at the corner of Washington Street and Swan Street, and Randall's Boarding House originally occupied the adjacent lot on Swan Street. Mark Twain famously was a resident of the boarding house while editor of the "Buffalo Express". Constructed between 1846 and 1848, the church remained in use until 1893 and was demolished in 1906.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The land then became the site of Ellsworth Statler's first hotel, Hotel Statler, in 1907. It was later renamed Hotel Buffalo after Statler built a new hotel on Niagara Square in 1923 and sold his former location. Hotel Buffalo was demolished in 1968, and the land became a parking lot. The City of Buffalo would later acquire the land through eminent domain.


title: Sahlen Field

text: HOK Sport (now known as Populous) designed the downtown venue as the first retro-classic ballpark in the world. The open-air venue was designed to incorporate architecture from the neighboring Joseph Ellicott Historic District, most notably the Ellicott Square Building and Old Post Office. The venue's exterior would be constructed from precast concrete, featuring arched window openings at the mezzanine level, rusticated joints, and inset marble panels. Located in close proximity to Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and along the newly built Buffalo Metro Rail, the venue would be an attractive and accessible destination for suburban residents. The same design firm would later bring this concept to Major League Baseball with Oriole Park at Camden Yards.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The baseball field itself would feature a Kentucky Bluegrass playing surface and have dimensions that were designed to mirror those of pitcher-friendly Royals Stadium. Buffalo Bisons management insisted the field have deep fences after War Memorial Stadium acquired a poor reputation for allowing easy home runs. Roger Bossard, head groundskeeper of Comiskey Park, served as consultant for the project.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue broke ground in July 1986, with structural engineering handled by Geiger Associates, and Cowper Construction Management serving as general contractor. It was originally built with a seating capacity of 19,500, which at the time made it the third-largest stadium in Minor League Baseball. This included a club level with seating for 3,500 and 38 luxury suites, general admission bleacher seating for 1,130 in right field, and a 250-seat restaurant with city and field views on the mezzanine level. Rich Products already owned and operated local restaurants under their B.R. Guest brand, and they assumed operation of the venue's restaurant and concessions.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The $42.4 million venue was mainly paid for with public funding. $22.5 million came from New York State, $12.9 million came from the City of Buffalo, $4.2 million came from Erie County, and $2.8 million came from the Buffalo Bisons. The New York State funding was contingent on the Bisons signing a 20-year lease with the City of Buffalo for use of the venue, which they did just prior to groundbreaking. The City of Buffalo and Erie County paid an additional $14 million for the construction of parking garages to service the venue and other downtown businesses.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A planned second phase of construction was a seating expansion contingent on Buffalo acquiring a Major League Baseball franchise. The original design by HOK Sport called for a third deck to be added in place of the roof, expanding the venue's capacity from 19,500 to 40,000. In May 1987, it was estimated this expansion could be completed within one offseason at a cost of $15 million.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Opening Day of the venue's inaugural season took place on April 14, 1988, and saw the Buffalo Bisons defeat the Denver Zephyrs 1–0. Bob Patterson of the Bisons threw the first pitch against Billy Bates, and the lone score came from a Tom Prince home run. Pam Postema, the first female umpire in the history of professional baseball, officiated the game. Prior to the event, The Oak Ridge Boys performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and both Mayor James D. Griffin and Governor Mario Cuomo threw ceremonial first pitches.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The formal dedication of the venue took place on May 21, 1988, prior to the Buffalo Bisons defeating the Syracuse Chiefs in an interleague Triple-A Alliance game by a score of 6–5. Larry King threw the ceremonial first pitch and sat in on commentary with WBEN broadcasters Pete Weber and John Murphy.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In their first year at the venue after moving from War Memorial Stadium, the Buffalo Bisons broke the all-time record for Minor League Baseball attendance by drawing 1,186,651 fans during the 1988 season. The team had capped season ticket sales at 9,000 seats to ensure that individual game tickets would be available.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The inaugural Build New York Award was given to Cowper Construction Management by the General Building Contractors of New York State for their work on the venue.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was lauded by mainstream media outlets, including feature stories by "Newsday", "New York Daily News", "San Francisco Examiner", "Sports Illustrated", "The New York Times Magazine" and "Vancouver Sun". Eric Brazil wrote in his "San Francisco Examiner" column that the venue, "just may be baseball's prototype for the 1990s and beyond".


title: Sahlen Field

text: Pete McMartin wrote fondly of the venue in his June 1989 article for the "Vancouver Sun", contrasting it with the recently opened SkyDome in Toronto:


title: Sahlen Field

text: In anticipation of Buffalo being awarded a major league franchise, Robert E. Rich Jr. began establishing minor league farm teams for the Buffalo Bisons organization. Rich Jr. acquired the Double-A Wichita Pilots and founded the Class A Short Season Niagara Falls Rapids. He renamed Wichita's team to the Wranglers and planned to upgrade their franchise to Triple-A upon the Bisons joining Major League Baseball.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The proposed seating expansion to accommodate Major League Baseball was revised by HOK Sport to preserve the aesthetic of the roof, which would now be kept and raised to cover a third deck. In this new design, less seating would be built on the third deck, and instead a new right field seating structure would be built in front of the Exchange Street parking ramp. In addition, expanded bleachers would be added in right field that could later be converted to permanent seating. Capacity after this expansion would increase from 19,500 to 41,530 at a cost of $30 million, but unlike the earlier design would take longer than a single offseason to complete. Prior to the 1990 season, 1,400 bleacher seats and a standing-room only area within the third-base mezzanine were added at a cost of $1.34 million, increasing the stadium's capacity from 19,500 to 21,050.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In September 1990, Bob Rich Jr. attempted to buy the Montreal Expos for $100 million and move the team to Buffalo, but owner Charles Bronfman declined his offer. That same month, Rich Jr. and his investment group presented their bid for a Buffalo expansion franchise to the National League Expansion Committee. Members of this investment group included Jeremy Jacobs, Larry King, Northrup R. Knox, Robert G. Wilmers, Robert O. Swados and Seymour H. Knox III. It was reported that the investment group was prepared to fund $134 million in private capital required for expansion, which included the $95 million franchise fee and initial operating costs. The largest share of the financial burden would fall on Rich Jr., who pledged a minimum of $10 million cash and the equity in his three minor league teams. Rich Jr. publicly voiced concerns in December 1990 that without a salary cap and revenue sharing, he would have to raise ticket prices to unaffordable levels while being unable to produce a competitive on-field product. 27,000 major league season ticket commitments were made by April 1991, consisting of 18,000 paid seat deposits and 9,000 complimentary deposits awarded to the existing Bisons season ticket holders. Buffalo was one of six finalists for the 1993 Major League Baseball expansion, but franchises were awarded to the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins in June 1991. National League president Bill White later confirmed that Rich Jr. publicly questioning the league's financial structure sunk his bid.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In their fourth year at the stadium, the Buffalo Bisons once again broke the all-time record for Minor League Baseball attendance by drawing 1,240,951 fans during the 1991 season.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Rich Jr. offered to let the Montreal Expos finish their home schedule at the venue in September 1991 after Olympic Stadium was damaged, but the team instead played their final 13 home games on the road.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In June 1992, Rich Jr. attempted to buy the San Francisco Giants and move the team to Buffalo, but owner Bob Lurie declined his offer. The proposed name for the team would have been the New York Giants of Buffalo, as the franchise had previously played as the New York Giants from 1885 to 1957 in New York City. That same month, the City of Buffalo chose to exercise an escape clause and buy back $24.2 million in federal bonds they had earmarked for expanding the venue to accommodate Major League Baseball.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The 1988 to 1993 Buffalo Bisons seasons were the six highest-attended campaigns in Minor League Baseball history, with each season drawing over 1,000,000 fans.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Prior to the 1994 season, a restaurant called Power Alley Pub was constructed under the bleachers in right-center field. The restaurant provided seating with views of the field through the outfield wall.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Rich Jr. moved his Class A Short Season Niagara Falls Rapids after he was unable to secure repairs for the aging Sal Maglie Stadium. The team resumed play as the Jamestown Jammers in June 1994.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In July 1994, Rich Jr. notified the Major League Baseball Expansion Committee that he was interested in pursuing a Buffalo expansion franchise. However, he would retract this notification the following month after the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike commenced. Buffalo was withdrawn as a candidate for the 1998 Major League Baseball expansion, and franchises were awarded to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in March 1995.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Rich Jr. was offered an expansion franchise by the United Baseball League of Major League Baseball in November 1994 at a cost of $5 million, which would have played at the venue beginning with the 1996 season. However, franchises were awarded in February 1995 to Long Island, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Juan, Vancouver and Washington before the league folded without ever playing a game.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Buffalo Bisons considered sharing the venue with the Toronto Blue Jays for their 1995 season, as the Ontario Labour Relations Board prohibited non-union replacement players from competing at SkyDome during the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike. The Blue Jays instead chose to play at their spring training home of Dunedin Stadium, but the strike ended in April 1995 and the team returned to SkyDome.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A new outfield fence was erected prior to the 1996 season at a cost of $50,000 so that the venue's playing surface mirrored the dimensions of Jacobs Field. Left-center field was reduced from 384 feet to 371 feet, center field was reduced from 410 feet to 404 feet, right-center field was reduced from 384 feet to 367 feet, and the height of the center field fence was reduced from 15 feet to 8 feet. This change allowed the Cleveland Indians, Buffalo's major league affiliate, to better evaluate their prospects, while also making the park more hitter-friendly.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was home to the Buffalo Nighthawks of the Ladies Professional Baseball League before the league shut down mid-season in July 1998. The Nighthawks were in first place with an 11–5 record when the league folded, and were declared Eastern Division champions.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The park's original four-color dot matrix scoreboard in center field was retrofitted with a 38-foot wide by 19-foot tall Daktronics LED video screen in 1999 at a cost of $1.2 million.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was home to the Buffalo Bulls of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 2000. The Bulls finished the season with a 12–35 record and moved to Amherst Audubon Field the following year.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Major League Lacrosse staged an exhibition at the venue on August 11, 2000, as part of their Summer Showcase Tour. Robert E. Rich Jr. planned to purchase a Major League Lacrosse franchise at a cost of $1 million to begin play at the venue in June 2001. However, he withdrew support after determining that removing and replacing the pitcher's mound for lacrosse games would damage the field and put the Buffalo Bisons at a disadvantage.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The 20-year lease between the Buffalo Bisons and City of Buffalo for use of the venue was renegotiated in January 2003, with the addition of funding from Erie County.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Prior to the 2004 season, $5 million in renovations to the venue were completed, including removal of the stadium's right field bleachers and construction of a four-tier Party Deck in its place. The removal of the bleachers decreased the stadium capacity from 21,050 to 18,025.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A 4-foot wide by 8-foot tall digital billboard was installed on the corner of Washington Street and Swan Street before the 2007 season at a cost of $70,000.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The 20-year lease between the Buffalo Bisons and City of Buffalo for use of the venue expired following the 2008 season, and the city began offering year-to-year leases to the team thereafter.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue's luxury suites were consolidated and renovated beginning in 2010, reducing the total number from 38 to 26. A conference suite was constructed on the first-base side of the stadium at a cost of $250,000, and the year-round suite can accommodate business gatherings of up to 40 people.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Prior to the 2011 season, the park's original scoreboard in center field was removed and replaced by an 80-foot wide by 33-foot tall Daktronics high-definition LED video screen at a cost $2.5 million. That same year, a new $970,000 field drainage system and a new $750,000 field lighting system were added to the venue.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was one of six that played home to the Empire State Yankees of the International League in 2012. The team was forced to play at alternate sites that season as PNC Field was undergoing renovations. The Yankees finished the season with a 84–60 record and advanced to the International League playoffs.


title: Sahlen Field

text: $500,000 was spent in improvements to the venue before the 2014 season, including a new sound system and the installation of new LED message boards down both baselines.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A campaign to replace the park's original red seating with wider green seating began in 2014. The stadium's capacity was reduced from 18,025 to 17,600 when 3,700 seats were replaced prior to the 2015 season at a cost of $758,000. 2,900 seats were replaced prior to the 2017 season, reducing capacity of the venue from 17,600 to 16,907. 2,000 seats were replaced prior to the 2019 season, reducing capacity of the venue from 16,907 to 16,600.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Following the 2019 season, protective crowd netting was installed throughout the venue at a cost of $475,000 to meet Major League Baseball safety standards.


title: Sahlen Field

text: In June 2020, the Buffalo Bisons canceled their season at the venue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Toronto Blue Jays, the Bisons' major league affiliate, announced the following month that they would play their 2020 season at the venue after the government of Canada denied them permission to play at Rogers Centre. The venue's first Major League Baseball game took place on August 11, 2020, in which the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Miami Marlins 5–4 in extra innings. The Blue Jays finished the season with a 32–28 record, and advanced to the American League Wild Card Series.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Major League Baseball and the Blue Jays organization jointly funded renovations of the venue prior to the 2020 season at a cost of $5 million. Permanent upgrades included installation of LED field lighting, installation of instant replay technology, installation of Hawk-Eye for Statcast tracking, a resurfaced infield, and relocation of the home dugout to the third-base side of the stadium. Temporary facilities designed for the postponed MLB at Field of Dreams game were also utilized.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Blue Jays used the venue for part of their 2021 season due to the ongoing pandemic, after having started the season at TD Ballpark. The Bisons accommodated this residency by temporarily relocating to Trenton Thunder Ballpark in Trenton, New Jersey. The venue drew higher attendance for MLB home games than the Miami Marlins, Oakland A's and Tampa Bay Rays drew at their own home venues. The Blue Jays played 49 Major League Baseball games at the venue over the course of two seasons, tying Hiram Bithorn Stadium for the all-time record of most regular season games hosted by a non-home ballpark.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Bisons and Blue Jays jointly funded additional renovations of the venue prior to the 2021 season. These permanent upgrades included the installation of new light standards, new batting cages, new foul poles, a resurfaced outfield, and the relocation of both bullpens from foul territory to right-center field. The renovated venue was named Professional Baseball Field of the Year in November 2021 by Sports Turf Managers Association. The renovations were also nominated for Project of the Year at the 2021 Stadium Business Awards.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Pilot Air Freight of Philadelphia purchased the 20-year naming rights to the venue in 1986. The stadium would be named Pilot Field in exchange for the company paying the City of Buffalo $51,000 on an annual basis. Their name was stripped from the venue by the City of Buffalo in March 1995 after Pilot Air Freight defaulted on payments.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The stadium was then known as Downtown Ballpark until July 1995, when local HMO North AmeriCare purchased the naming rights and the stadium became North AmeriCare Park (colloquially known as The NAP). North AmeriCare agreed to pay the City of Buffalo $3.3 million over the course of 13 years. The Dunn Tire chain of tire outlets assumed North AmeriCare's remaining contract with the City of Buffalo in May 1999, and the venue became Dunn Tire Park.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Buffalo purchased the 10-year naming rights to the stadium in December 2008, and it was renamed Coca-Cola Field beginning with the 2009 season. Sahlen's purchased the 10-year naming rights to the stadium in October 2018, and it was renamed Sahlen Field beginning with the 2019 season.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was host to the inaugural Triple-A All-Star Game on July 13, 1988. It would later host the 25th-annual Triple-A All-Star Game on July 11, 2012.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The June 3, 1990 game between the Buffalo Bisons and Oklahoma City 89ers, with a post-game concert by The Beach Boys, set the all-time single-game attendance record for baseball at the venue with 21,050 fans. An August 30, 2002, game between the Buffalo Bisons and Rochester Red Wings would later match that record.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue hosted an exhibition between and Korea on July 9, 1992, that saw Korea win the game 4–2. The exhibition was part of Team USA's 30-game tour of both Cuba and the United States to promote their appearance in the 1992 Summer Olympics.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Bartolo Colón of the Buffalo Bisons threw the venue's first and only no-hitter on June 20, 1997, against the New Orleans Zephyrs, sealing a 4–0 win.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Buffalo Bisons defeated the Richmond Braves at the venue on September 17, 2004 in Game 4 of their championship series to win the Governors' Cup by a score of 6–1.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The baseball events of the World University Games were held at the venue in July 1993. The Gold medal game took place on July 16, 1993, and saw Cuba defeat South Korea 7–1.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue hosted the inaugural Big Four Baseball Classic tournament from April 27, 2004, to April 28, 2004. In the championship game, the Niagara Purple Eagles defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 8–7 in extra innings to win the Bisons Cup. The venue later hosted the second-annual Big Four Baseball Classic tournament from April 26, 2005, to April 27, 2005. In the championship game, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins 12–3.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Jim Kelly held his inaugural Jim Kelly Shootout and Carnival of Stars charity event at the venue on June 7, 1992. The event drew a crowd of 14,500 and raised $150,000 for the Kelly for Kids Foundation. The second-annual Jim Kelly charity event, now renamed StarGaze, was held at the venue on June 13, 1993. The event drew a crowd of 10,000 and raised $100,000 for the Kelly for Kids Foundation.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Micah Hyde held his inaugural Micah Hyde Charity Softball Game at the venue on June 2, 2019. The event drew a crowd of 2,500 and raised $40,000 for the Imagine for Youth Foundation. The second-annual Micah Hyde Charity Softball Game on May 15, 2022, drew a crowd of 10,000 and raised $200,000 for the Imagine for Youth Foundation, with a portion of proceeds donated to families impacted by the 2022 Buffalo shooting.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Buffalo Bisons have presented a yearly post-game Summer Concert Series at the venue since 1988, featuring performances from national touring acts and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue has regularly hosted local music festivals. WEDG presented their annual Edgefest at the venue in 1997 and 2003. WYRK has presented their annual Taste of Country at the venue since its inception in 2001. The June 12, 2015, Taste of Country event headlined by Dierks Bentley set the all-time attendance record for concerts at the venue with 27,000 fans. WKSE presented their annual Kiss the Summer Hello at the venue from 2001 to 2002, and again from 2009 to 2013. The Great Guitar Gig took place at the venue on June 15, 2003, as part of the second-annual Buffalo Niagara Guitar Festival.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue has also hosted national music festivals. Budweiser Superfest took place at the venue on July 7, 1989. Bluestime Jam took place at the venue on August 29, 1995. Counting Crows headlined a show at the venue on August 1, 2007, as part of their Rock 'n' Roll Triple Play Ballpark Tour.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A low-budget film called "Angel Blues" was shot at the venue in August 1993. It was directed by William Zabka and starred Michael Paloma, Loryn Locklin, Meredith Salenger, Richard Moll, David Johansen and Michael Horse.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Ballpark Brawl was a series of post-game professional wrestling events produced by the Buffalo Bisons and promoted by Christopher Hill, their Director of Sales and Marketing between 2003 and 2007. The promotion's Natural Heavyweight Championship paid homage to "The Natural", which was filmed in Buffalo at War Memorial Stadium.


title: Sahlen Field

text: TNA Wrestling held their BaseBrawl event at the venue on June 18, 2011, that was headlined by Kurt Angle defeating Scott Steiner, and an appearance by Hulk Hogan. A second BaseBrawl event on June 22, 2012 was headlined by Bobby Roode defeating Jeff Hardy to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Reverend Billy Graham staged his Greater Buffalo-Niagara Crusade at the venue from August 1, 1988, to August 7, 1988.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Opening Ceremonies for the Empire State Games took place at the venue on July 24, 1996. Buffalo native Todd Marchant was the event's keynote speaker.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was host to the annual Drum Corps International Tour of Champions, promoted locally as Drums Along the Waterfront, from its inception in 1997 to 2006.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue was host to the annual National Buffalo Wing Festival, featuring the U.S. National Buffalo Wing Eating Championship, from its inception in 2002 to 2019.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The inaugural Harvard Cup Hall of Fame Game took place at the venue on September 28, 2002. The Kensington Knights defeated the Bennett Tigers 26–0 in the venue's first-ever football game. The second-annual Harvard Cup Hall of Fame Game took place at the venue as a doubleheader on September 20, 2003. The Lafayette Violets defeated the Grover Cleveland Presidents 28–6, and the Hutch-Tech Engineers defeated the McKinley Macks 14–0.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue's play is greatly affected by its orientation and susceptibility to the winds of nearby Lake Erie. Center field faces South-Southeast, with a year-round 8 to 10 MPH breeze moving from the right field foul pole towards the left field foul pole. Right-handed batters therefore tend to have the most success hitting balls into left field and left-center, although left-handed batters hitting opposite field at a high trajectory also see their balls carried out of the park. The cozy field dimensions of 325 feet to left field and 371 feet to left-center aid the number of home runs hit in those directions. A 60-foot tall chain-link fence in left field protects motor vehicles on Oak Street from being struck. Cold winds in early months of the baseball season tend to prevent balls from exiting the park, while the warmer summer winds allow for greater carry. In 2019, "Baseball America" ranked it as the third-best International League ballpark to hit home runs in. The venue allowed 10% more runs than average during the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays season.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Pub at the Park is a 250-seat bar and restaurant located within the venue's first-base mezzanine that features both indoor seating and outdoor patio seating with views of the field. It is open to the public for special events via an entrance on Washington Street, and exclusively to ticketholders with reservations on game days. The restaurant was formerly known as Pettibone's Grille from 1988 to 2016.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Concessions around the venue's concourse highlight local cuisine, with selections including beef on weck from Charlie the Butcher, craft beer from Consumer's Beverages, craft beer and wine from Southern Tier Brewing Company, hot dogs from Sahlen's, ice cream from Nick Charlap's, pizza from La Nova Pizzeria, pizza logs from Original Pizza Logs, and soft serve from Upstate Farms. Coca-Cola brand soft drinks and Dunkin' brand coffee and iced coffee are also available throughout the stadium.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Buffalo Bisons have customarily marked the landing spot of every home run their players have hit into the right field parking lot since the venue's inaugural season in 1988. This feat is rarely accomplished because the balls have had to clear either the right field bleachers or the Party Deck that replaced them in order to reach the parking lot. Russell Branyan holds the record for most parking lot home runs, with three.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Robert E. Rich Sr., the founder of Rich Products and father of Buffalo Bisons owner Robert E. Rich Jr., died in February 2006. His initials are inscribed on the press box, above the owner's suite, in tribute. The venue hosted the annual Robert E. Rich Memorial Baseball Classic tournament between local high school teams from 2006 to 2008.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Former Mayor of Buffalo James D. Griffin was posthumously honored by the Buffalo Common Council in July 2008 after they voted to change the venue's address to One James D. Griffin Plaza.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A bronze sculpture of James D. Griffin titled "The First Pitch", referencing his ceremonial first pitch at the venue's inaugural game, was unveiled outside the stadium in August 2012. The William Koch piece was commissioned by the Buffalo Bisons to honor Griffin's contributions in constructing the ballpark and bringing professional baseball back to Buffalo.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Plaques honoring all members of the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame are on permanent display within the Hall of Fame and Heritage Room, which was built on the venue's third-base concourse in 2013. The Heritage Room also contains rotating exhibits of memorabilia that honor Buffalo's baseball history. It is open to ticketholders one hour prior to the first pitch on gamedays, and stays open through the third inning.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The Buffalo Bisons hang a Championship Corner banner in left field that commemorates the team's many league and division championships, along with the retired numbers of Ollie Carnegie (6), Luke Easter (25), Jeff Manto (30) and Jackie Robinson (42).


title: Sahlen Field

text: Retired numbers of former Toronto Blue Jays players Roberto Alomar (12) and Roy Halladay (32), along with the retired number of Jackie Robinson (42), were inscribed above the venue's press box for the 2020 season. In addition, the number of former Toronto Blue Jays player Tony Fernández (1) was inscribed on the venue's outfield fence to honor his recent passing.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Sahlen Field is located at the Elm Street exit (Exit 6) of Interstate 190, and within one mile of both the Oak Street exit of Route 33 and the Seneca Street exit of Route 5.


title: Sahlen Field

text: A 816-space Allpro parking ramp is located behind right field on Exchange Street, and a pedestrian bridge over Washington Street connects it with a 457-space Allpro parking garage under the Seneca One Tower complex. The Allpro parking garage provides a charging station.


title: Sahlen Field

text: The venue is publicly served by Seneca Station of Buffalo Metro Rail, located one block West of the venue on Main Street. It is also served by Buffalo–Exchange Street station of Amtrak, located directly across from the venue on Exchange Street.


title: Sahlen Field

text: Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority maintains the Washington & Seneca bus stop located directly outside the venue's Seneca Street entrance, providing local service on Route 8 between downtown Buffalo and University Station. Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center is located two blocks North of the venue on Ellicott Street and provides intercity bus service.


title: Fiber laser

text: A fiber laser (or fibre laser in British English) is a laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth elements such as erbium, ytterbium, neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, thulium and holmium. They are related to doped fiber amplifiers, which provide light amplification without lasing. Fiber nonlinearities, such as stimulated Raman scattering or four-wave mixing can also provide gain and thus serve as gain media for a fiber laser.


title: Fiber laser

text: An advantage of fiber lasers over other types of lasers is that the laser light is both generated and delivered by an inherently flexible medium, which allows easier delivery to the focusing location and target. This can be important for laser cutting, welding, and folding of metals and polymers. Another advantage is high output power compared to other types of laser. Fiber lasers can have active regions several kilometers long, and so can provide very high optical gain. They can support kilowatt levels of continuous output power because of the fiber's high surface area to volume ratio, which allows efficient cooling. The fiber's waveguide properties reduce or eliminate thermal distortion of the optical path, typically producing a diffraction-limited, high-quality optical beam. Fiber lasers are compact compared to solid-state or gas lasers of comparable power, because the fiber can be bent and coiled, except in the case of thicker rod-type designs, to save space. They have lower cost of ownership. Fiber lasers are reliable and exhibit high temperature and vibrational stability and extended lifetime. High peak power and nanosecond pulses improve marking and engraving. The additional power and better beam quality provide cleaner cut edges and faster cutting speeds.


title: Fiber laser

text: Other applications of fiber lasers include material processing, telecommunications, spectroscopy, medicine, and directed energy weapons.


title: Fiber laser

text: Unlike most other types of lasers, the laser cavity in fiber lasers is constructed monolithically by fusion splicing different types of fiber; fiber Bragg gratings replace conventional dielectric mirrors to provide optical feedback. They may also be designed for single longitudinal mode operation of ultra-narrow distributed feedback lasers (DFB) where a phase-shifted Bragg grating overlaps the gain medium. Fiber lasers are pumped by semiconductor laser diodes or by other fiber lasers.


title: Fiber laser

text: Many high-power fiber lasers are based on double-clad fiber. The gain medium forms the core of the fiber, which is surrounded by two layers of cladding. The lasing mode propagates in the core, while a multimode pump beam propagates in the inner cladding layer. The outer cladding keeps this pump light confined. This arrangement allows the core to be pumped with a much higher-power beam than could otherwise be made to propagate in it, and allows the conversion of pump light with relatively low brightness into a much higher-brightness signal. There is an important question about the shape of the double-clad fiber; a fiber with circular symmetry seems to be the worst possible design. The design should allow the core to be small enough to support only a few (or even one) modes. It should provide sufficient cladding to confine the core and optical pump section over a relatively short piece of the fiber.


title: Fiber laser

text: Tapered double-clad fiber (T-DCF) has tapered core and cladding which enables power scaling of amplifiers and lasers without thermal lensing mode instability.


title: Fiber laser

text: Recent developments in fiber laser technology have led to a rapid and large rise in achieved diffraction-limited beam powers from diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Due to the introduction of large mode area (LMA) fibers as well as continuing advances in high power and high brightness diodes, continuous-wave single-transverse-mode powers from Yb-doped fiber lasers have increased from 100 W in 2001 to over 20 kW. In 2014 a combined beam fiber laser demonstrated power of 30 kW.


title: Fiber laser

text: High average power fiber lasers generally consist of a relatively low-power master oscillator, or seed laser, and power amplifier (MOPA) scheme. In amplifiers for ultrashort optical pulses, the optical peak intensities can become very high, so that detrimental nonlinear pulse distortion or even destruction of the gain medium or other optical elements may occur. This is generally avoided by employing chirped-pulse amplification (CPA). State of the art high-power fiber laser technologies using rod-type amplifiers have reached 1 kW with 260 fs pulses and made outstanding progress and delivered practical solutions for the most of these problems.


title: Fiber laser

text: However, despite of the attractive characteristics of fiber lasers, several problems arise when power scaling. The most significant are thermal lensing and material resistance, nonlinear effects such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), mode instabilities, and poor output beam quality.


title: Fiber laser

text: The main approach to solving the problems related to increasing the output power of pulses has been to increase the core diameter of the fiber. Special active fibers with large modes were developed to increase the surface-to-active-volume ratio of active fibers and, hence, improve heat dissipation enabling power scaling.


title: Fiber laser

text: Moreover, specially developed double cladding structures have been used to reduce the brightness requirements of the high-power pump diodes by controlling pump propagation and absorption between the inner cladding and the core.


title: Fiber laser

text: Several types of active fibers with a large effective mode area (LMA) have been developed for high power scaling including LMA fibers with a low-aperture core, micro-structured rod-type fiber helical core or chirally-coupled fibers, and tapered double-clad fibers (T-DCF). The mode field diameter (MFD) achieved with these low aperture technologies usually does not exceed 20–30 μm. The micro-structured rod-type fiber has much larger MFD (up to 65 μm ) and good performance. An impressive 2.2 mJ pulse energy was demonstrated by a femtosecond MOPA containing large-pitch fibers (LPF). However, the shortcoming of amplification systems with LPF is their relatively long (up to 1.2 m) unbendable rod-type fibers meaning a rather bulky and cumbersome optical scheme. LPF fabrication is highly complex requiring significant processing such as precision drilling of the fiber pre-forms.  The LPF fibers are highly sensitive to bending meaning robustness and portability is compromised.


title: Fiber laser

text: In addition to the types of mode locking used with other lasers, fiber lasers can be passively mode locked by using the birefringence of the fiber itself. The non-linear optical Kerr effect causes a change in polarization that varies with the light's intensity. This allows a polarizer in the laser cavity to act as a saturable absorber, blocking low-intensity light but allowing high intensity light to pass with little attenuation. This allows the laser to form mode-locked pulses, and then the non-linearity of the fiber further shapes each pulse into an ultra-short optical soliton pulse.


title: Fiber laser

text: Semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors (SESAMs) can also be used to mode lock fiber lasers. A major advantage SESAMs have over other saturable absorber techniques is that absorber parameters can be easily tailored to meet the needs of a particular laser design. For example, saturation fluence can be controlled by varying the reflectivity of the top reflector while modulation depth and recovery time can be tailored by changing the low temperature growing conditions for the absorber layers. This freedom of design has further extended the application of SESAMs into modelocking of fiber lasers where a relatively high modulation depth is needed to ensure self-starting and operation stability. Fiber lasers working at 1 µm and 1.5 µm were successfully demonstrated.


title: Fiber laser

text: Graphene saturable absorbers have also been used for mode locking fiber lasers. Graphene's saturable absorption is not very sensitive to wavelength, making it useful for mode locking tunable lasers.


title: Fiber laser

text: In the non-mode locking regime, a dark soliton fiber laser was successfully created using an all-normal dispersion erbium-doped fiber laser with a polarizer in-cavity. Experimental findings indicate that apart from the bright pulse emission, under appropriate conditions the fiber laser could also emit single or multiple dark pulses. Based on numerical simulations the dark pulse formation in the laser may be a result of dark soliton shaping.


title: Fiber laser

text: Multi-wavelength emission in a fiber laser demonstrated simultaneous blue and green coherent light using ZBLAN optical fiber. The end-pumped laser was based on an upconversion optical gain media using a longer wavelength semiconductor laser to pump a Pr3+/Yb3+ doped fluoride fiber that used coated dielectric mirrors on each end of the fiber to form the cavity.


title: Fiber laser

text: Another type of fiber laser is the fiber disk laser. In such lasers, the pump is not confined within the cladding of the fiber, but instead pump light is delivered across the core multiple times because it is coiled in on itself. This configuration is suitable for power scaling in which many pump sources are used around the periphery of the coil.


title: Disasterpeace

text: Richard Vreeland (born June 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Disasterpeace, is an American composer and musician. He first got started in music after learning the guitar in high school and started writing music around the age of 17. Known for his work as a chiptune artist, Vreeland has scored many video games, including "Fez" and "Hyper Light Drifter". He stepped into film score composition with the 2015 film "It Follows", and has since composed the scores for "Under the Silver Lake", "Triple Frontier", and "Bodies Bodies Bodies".


title: Disasterpeace

text: Vreeland's first introduction to music was as a child, growing up in Staten Island. He spent a great deal of time learning from his step-father, who was a trained musician. In an interview, Vreeland stated, "As a child, I was mesmerized by drums. My step-father was the music director of our church and they would have band practice in the basement. Many of my fondest memories are of going down there to jam away on the drums, when they were there".


title: Disasterpeace

text: Vreeland composed "Fez"'s chiptune-esque electronic soundtrack. Despite his background in chiptune, Vreeland limited his use of that genre's mannerisms in the score. He worked with soft synth pads and reverb to push the score closer to an '80s synthesizer sound. He also reduced reliance on percussion and incorporated distortion techniques like bitcrushing and wow. Vreeland opted for slower passages with varying tempos that could "ebb, flow, and breathe with the player". He left some portions of "Fez" without music. Vreeland worked on its soundtrack at night for about 14 months while scoring "Shoot Many Robots", and Brandon McCartin of "Aquaria" contributed the game's sound effects.


title: Disasterpeace

text: In 2014, Vreeland produced the soundtrack for David Robert Mitchell's sophomore film "It Follows", after being approached by Mitchell, a fan of Vreeland's work on the video game "Fez".


title: Disasterpeace

text: Disasterpeace composed the soundtrack for "Hyper Light Drifter", a game developed by Heart Machine in 2016. The score follows Disasterpeace's previous soundtrack work and was listed as "One of the year's best scores, in any medium" by FACT.


title: Facebook Zero

text: Facebook Zero is an initiative undertaken by social networking service company Facebook in collaboration with mobile phone-based Internet providers, whereby the providers waive data (bandwidth) charges (also known as "zero-rate") for accessing Facebook on phones via a stripped-down text-only version of its mobile website (as opposed to the ordinary mobile website m.facebook.com that also loads pictures). The stripped-down version is available online only through providers who have entered the agreement with Facebook. Photos are not loaded by default. Users may still choose to view them by clicking through but regular data charges apply to photo use.


title: Facebook Zero

text: Plans for Facebook Zero were first announced at the Mobile World Congress in February 2010 by Chamath Palihapitiya. In collaboration with 50 mobile operators around the world, it was officially of launched on May 18, 2010. The scheme is considered zero-rated or the practice of offering free data for some services, filtering out others.


title: Facebook Zero

text: The Facebook model featured a stripped-down version of the platform, which was made available to all mobile phone owners. It was offered in emerging markets to address the issue of data caps. A report explained that Facebook Zero subsidized phone data for a period, allowing for free user access. Facebook also provide technical assistance to partner carriers so that the process incurs low cost. In some countries, Facebook Zero is offered as part of a carrier's Free Basic data plan that could include access to Google and Wikipedia as well as localized content.


title: Facebook Zero

text: Facebook Zero became controversial in some countries due to several issues such as net neutrality. For instance, India's Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) bans zero-rated services on account of "discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content”. A criticism also stated that Facebook is practicing digital colonialism because it is not introducing open internet but building a "little web that turns the user into a mostly passive consumer of mostly western corporate content”.


title: Facebook Zero

text: An article by Christopher Mims in "Quartz" in September 2012 stated that Facebook Zero played a very important role in Facebook's expansion in Africa over the 18 months following the release of Facebook Zero, noting that data charges could be a significant component of mobile usage cost and the waiving of these charges reduced a significant disincentive for people in Africa to use Facebook.


title: Facebook Zero

text: Facebook Zero was also credited as the inspiration for a similar initiative undertaken by Wikipedia titled Wikipedia Zero.


title: Facebook Zero

text: Google Free Zone, a similar service launched by Google in November 2012, was viewed by Internet commentators as both inspired by and a potential challenge to Facebook Zero.


title: Facebook Zero

text: The "Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones" of Chile ruled that "zero-rating" services like Wikipedia Zero, Facebook Zero, and Google Free Zone, that subsidize mobile data usage, violate net neutrality laws and had to end the practise by June 1, 2014.


title: Facebook Zero

text: In 2015, researchers evaluating how Facebook Zero shapes information and communication technology use in the developing world found that 11% of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the Internet. 65% of Nigerians, 61% of Indonesians, and 58% of Indians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet".


title: Legends (Juice Wrld song)

text: "Legends" is a song by American rapper Juice Wrld. It was released as the second single from his EP "Too Soon.." on June 22, 2018, three days after the EP's release. The song is an homage to deceased rappers Lil Peep and XXXTentacion, the latter being a friend of Juice Wrld's.


title: Legends (Juice Wrld song)

text: The song is dedicated to Lil Peep, who died from a drug overdose in November 2017, and XXXTentacion, who was murdered a day prior to "Too Soon.."'s release.


title: Legends (Juice Wrld song)

text: After Juice Wrld died from a seizure in December 2019 at 21, he was alleged to have predicted his death with the following lyrics from "Legends": "What's the 27 Club? / We ain't making it past 21."


title: Legends (Juice Wrld song)

text: The song initially peaked at 65 in 2018. However, following Juice Wrld's death, the song reentered the chart and peaked at 29 on the US Hot 100 Billboard charts on December 20, 2019, the days following his death.


title: Legends (Juice Wrld song)

text: "Legends", alongside "Rich and Blind", the other song on the two-track EP they came from, were later added to Juice Wrld's second posthumous album "Fighting Demons" on March 18, 2022, alongside the newly released song "Sometimes".


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: Johns Creek is a city in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. According to the 2020 census, the population was 82,453. The city is a northeastern suburb of Atlanta.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: In the early 19th century, the Johns Creek area was dotted with trading posts along the Chattahoochee River in what was then Cherokee territory. The Cherokee nation at the time was a confederacy of agrarian villages led by a chief. However, after Europeans colonized the area, the Cherokee developed an alphabet, and a legislature and judiciary system patterned after the American model.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: Some trading posts gradually became crossroads communities where pioneer families – Rogers, McGinnis, Findley, Buice, Cowart, Medlock and others – gathered to visit and sell their crops.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: By 1820, the community of Sheltonville (now known as Shakerag) was a ferry crossing site, with the McGinnis Ferry and Rogers Ferry carrying people and livestock across the river for a small fee. Further south, the Nesbit Ferry did the same near another crossroads community known as Newtown.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: In the 1820s, the discovery of gold in the foothills of northeast Georgia within the Cherokee Nation – approximately north of today's Johns Creek – led to America's first Gold Rush, the eventual takeover of the Cherokee Nation by the U.S. government in 1830, and the subsequent forced exile (the "Trail of Tears") of Cherokee Indians to Oklahoma and other areas of the American West.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: A few Cherokees remained, the most famous being Sarah Cordery (1785–1842), the half-blood Cherokee wife of pioneer John Rogers (1774–1851), and their 12 children. Rogers was a respected, influential plantation owner and colleague of President Andrew Jackson. Rogers's 1828 home – today, a private residence in Johns Creek – was an overnight stop-over for Jackson. Much later, the home was also visited by famed humorist Will Rogers, the great, great-nephew of John Rogers. Johns Creek's name comes from John Rogers's son, Johnson K. Rogers. A local tributary was named after him, and the name "Johns Creek" eventually came to be the name of the area.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: In 1831, much of the land in the former Cherokee Nation north of the Chattahoochee was combined into the massive Cherokee County. When Milton County was formed in 1858, the Johns Creek area was folded into it.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Milton County was dissolved and all of its land was then absorbed into Fulton County.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: The four main crossroad communities — Ocee, Newtown, Shakerag and Warsaw — remained the social, educational and business centers of rural, unincorporated northeast Fulton County. For the next 50 years, these communities helped bring a sense of identity to this largely undeveloped and underpopulated area, as the nearby cities of Roswell, Alpharetta, Duluth and Suwanee and adjoining Forsyth and Gwinnett counties continued to grow and develop.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: In 1981, a group of Georgia Institute of Technology graduates bought of farmland and woods near McGinnis Ferry and Medlock Bridge Roads for a high-tech office park. The new office park was to mirror one built in 1970 in nearby Peachtree Corners, known as Technology Park/Atlanta. Spotting tiny Johns Creek on an old map, they named their mixed-use, master-planned community "Technology Park/Johns Creek". This is the first reference to Johns Creek as a place. The area grew over the years to become the home of 200 companies – many of them Fortune 500 firms – with nearly 11,000 people spread over of office, retail and industrial space. With the jobs came houses and shopping centers, and the population increased to about 60,000.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: By 2000, a grassroots movement to incorporate the Johns Creek area into a city was slowly developing. Residents wanted more control over issues such as traffic, growth, development and quality of life. They also sought a level of service that was a challenge for the sprawling Fulton County to provide. Following the nearby city of Sandy Springs’ successful incorporation in 2005, a legislative campaign was started to incorporate the Johns Creek community. House Bill 1321 was passed by the state legislature, signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in March 2006, and approved by the residents of northeast Fulton County in a July 18, 2006 voter referendum. In November 2006, the city's first elected officials were voted into office, with the City of Johns Creek becoming official December 1, 2006.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: Newtown Elementary School, built in 1929, is Johns Creek's only listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It was listed in August 2006, with location described as "near Alpharetta", before Johns Creek's incorporation was completed.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: In 2017, an iHeartJC initiative has been growing to have the city's residential, business and innovation ecosystem develop a long-term strength and identity in healthcare innovation and wellness. The resolution passed a year later.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: Johns Creek is located in northeastern Fulton County and is centered at (34.0289259, -84.1985790). The elevation ranges from above sea level along the Chattahoochee River to in the Ocee area along the Alpharetta border. Johns Creek is bounded to the south by the Chattahoochee River and Gwinnett County, and on the northeast by McGinnis Ferry Road and Forsyth County. It is bounded by Roswell to the west, Alpharetta to the northwest, Suwanee to the east, and Duluth, Berkeley Lake, and Peachtree Corners to the south. Downtown Atlanta is to the southwest.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Johns Creek has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.76%, is water.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 82,453 people, 28,638 households, and 23,283 families residing in the city.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: According to the 2010 U.S. census, 76,728 people live in the city of Johns Creek, a 27.1 percent increase since a 2000 estimate for Georgia's 10th largest city. The racial makeup of the city in the 2010 U.S. census was 63.5 percent White; 23.4 percent Asian (8.4% Asian Indian, 6.5% Korean, 5.7% Chinese, 0.5% Vietnamese, 0.5% Japanese, 0.5% Pakistani, 0.4% Filipino, 0.1% Bangladeshi, 0.1% Indonesian, 0.1% Thai, 0.1% Cambodian, 0.1% Laotian); 9.2 percent African American; 5.2 percent Hispanic or Latino of any race (1.6% Mexican, 0.8% Puerto Rican, 0.7% Colombian, 0.4% Cuban, 0.2% Peruvian, 0.2% Dominican, 0.2% Venezuelan, 0.1% Guatemalan, 0.1% Honduran, 0.1% Salvadoran, 0.1% Chilean, 0.1% Argentinean, 0.1% Ecuadorian, 0.1% Spanish); 0.1 percent Native American; 1.4 percent from other races; and 2.4 percent from two or more races.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: Johns Creek's 2010 demographics showed an estimated $109,576 median household income, a $137,271 average household income and a $45,570 per capita income.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: According to the City's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: Johns Creek has metro Atlanta's only part-time, fully professional symphony orchestra, the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra. Under the leadership of Music Director J. Wayne Baughman, the orchestra performs several times each year.


title: Johns Creek, Georgia

text: The Johns Creek Arts Center offers classes and camps for aspiring artists in multiple media throughout the year.