title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Rountree faced Ion Cuțelaba on September 28, 2019 at UFC Fight Night 160. He lost via TKO in the first round.


title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Rountree was expected to face Sam Alvey on March 28, 2020 at . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was eventually postponed.


title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Despite talks of retiring after the scrapped bout with Alvey, Rountree signed a contract extension with the UFC in October 2020.


title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Rountree faced Marcin Prachnio on January 24, 2021 at UFC 257. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Rountree faced Modestas Bukauskas on September 4, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 191. He won the fight via TKO in round two after catching Bukauskas with an oblique kick, marking the first time the technique had been used to finish a fight in the UFC.


title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Rountree faced Karl Roberson on March 12, 2022 at UFC Fight Night 203. Rountree won the fight via TKO in round two. This win earned him the "Performance of the Night" award.


title: Khalil Rountree Jr.

text: Rountree faced Dustin Jacoby on October 29, 2022 at UFC Fight Night 213. He won the fight via split decision which was controversial.


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge is an American hardcore punk band formed by vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990. During the recording of their seminal fourth album "Jane Doe", the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since. They have released nine studio albums, three live albums, and numerous EPs. The band's sound is rooted in hardcore and also features frequent influences from heavy metal. They are considered pioneers of metalcore as well as its subgenre mathcore.


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge have enjoyed a relatively high level of recognition. According to AllMusic, they are "regarded as one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground." Their popularity rose with the release of "Jane Doe", which was ranked as the best album of the decade by Sputnikmusic, the best album of 2001 by "Terrorizer" and later as the 61st-best metal album of all time by "Rolling Stone". Subsequently, Converge moved from Equal Vision Records to the considerably larger label Epitaph Records and their records gradually became more elaborate and expensive to produce. Special releases have traditionally been handled by Deathwish Inc., established by Bannon in 1999. Converge's latest albums are "The Dusk in Us" (2017) and their first full-length collaboration, "" (2021) with Chelsea Wolfe.


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge was formed in the winter of 1990 by Bannon and Ballou, they were later joined by high school friends Jeff Feinberg and Damon Bellorado in 1991. They started by playing covers of hardcore punk, punk rock and heavy metal songs. The band soon graduated to playing live performances in mid-1991, after recording some demos on a 4-track recorder. The band started writing and playing what they consider "relevant" music in 1994.


title: Converge (band)

text: In 1994 the band became a five piece when Aaron Dalbec was recruited as a second guitarist. Later in the year Converge released their debut album, "Halo in a Haystack", released through Earthmaker Records. This was only released as a vinyl record and was limited to 1000 copies. The album has not been reprinted since its release. The record was funded by Bannon through money he saved up from working at a nursing home.


title: Converge (band)

text: In 1995 Converge released their first compilation album, "Caring and Killing", which featured tracks from the band's early work from the years 1991 to 1994. The album was originally released as a European exclusive through Lost & Found Records. However, Converge became dissatisfied with the way the label was handling the release and overcharging fans for their hard-to-find older songs. The album was re-released through Hydra Head Records on November 17, 1997 in America to "make an overpriced release obsolete". Converge also released a seven-inch EP called "Unloved and Weeded Out" in 1995, which Bannon links more to contemporary Converge than the stuff that predated it.


title: Converge (band)

text: In 1996 Converge released a four-song EP, "Petitioning the Empty Sky." It was released through Ferret Music, and was one of the earliest releases through the newly-formed label. Later that same year the record was re-released with four additional new tracks. Two years later, the record was reissued through Converge's new label Equal Vision Records on January 20, 1998. This version contained the previous eight tracks as well as three newly added live tracks, recorded during a radio broadcast. Due to the addition of the new tracks, fans and sources consider this to be Converge's second studio album, while the band considers it a compilation album because it is a collection of songs recorded at different times.


title: Converge (band)

text: In early 1997 the band's original bassist, Feinburg, left the band, and was replaced with Stephen Brodsky. Also that year, the band signed to Equal Vision Records. On December 22, 1997, recording for the band's third studio album "When Forever Comes Crashing" began at Ballou's GodCity Studio; it finished on January 3, 1998. On April 14, 1998 Converge released "When Forever Comes Crashing" through Equal Vision.


title: Converge (band)

text: In 1998, Brodsky left the band and was replaced by Newton, who initially joined the band as a part-time member while he was still active in another band, Jesuit. Jesuit later disbanded in 1999, allowing Newton to make Converge his main focus. In early 1999, the original drummer Bellorado left the band and he was quickly replaced with John DiGiorgio. Converge's only release with DiGiorgio was "The Poacher Diaries"; Koller joined Converge in late 1999, replacing him. Ballou selected Koller to temporarily fill in while Converge searched for a more permanent replacement for Bellorado, as he was familiar with his work in previous bands, Force Fed Glass and Blue/Green Heart, a band that Ballou and Koller played in together. After working well with the band during some local shows in Boston, Converge made him an official member. Newton and Koller remain in the band to this day.


title: Converge (band)

text: The band was reported to take part in a Metallica tribute split series titled "Crush 'Em All" with Today Is the Day for Undecided Records in 2000 but the release fell through. In mid-2000 Converge self-released a three-track demo record titled "Jane Doe Demos". This was released on tour and was limited to 100 copies. It contained unreleased demo versions of "Bitter & Then Some" and "Thaw" from their upcoming album "Jane Doe". Converge entered the studio to begin recording in the summer of 2001.


title: Converge (band)

text: On September 4, 2001, Converge released their fourth studio album, "Jane Doe". It was met with immediate critical acclaim, with critics praising its poetic lyrics, dynamic range, ferocity and production. The album was a commercial success in comparison to Converge's previous outings, and both the band and the album have developed a cult following since its release.


title: Converge (band)

text: It is the band's first studio album to feature Newton and Koller, and the last to feature Dalbec, who was asked to leave the band due to his devotion to his side project Bane. Converge's first tour in support of "Jane Doe" was in September 2001 with Drowningman and Playing Enemy, however Drowningman later dropped out of the tour to work on a new album.


title: Converge (band)

text: In 2002 a music video was released for the track/tracks "Concubine/Fault and Fracture" from the album "Jane Doe"; the music video was directed by Zach Merck.


title: Converge (band)

text: On January 28, 2003 Converge released their second compilation album, "Unloved and Weeded Out". The album was originally released as a three track EP in 1995. The 2003 album version contains all three tracks from the 1995 EP but in total features 14 tracks, some of which were previously released rarities while others were previously unreleased.


title: Converge (band)

text: On February 25, 2003 Converge released their first official DVD, "The Long Road Home". It is modeled after band home videos such as Metallica's "Cliff 'Em All". Deathwish Inc describes the DVD as a "two disc collection that is as energetic and exciting as the moments the release captures". The DVD also comes with a bonus disk that included three full live sets from the band.


title: Converge (band)

text: In early 2004 the band announced that they were signing to Epitaph Records, having previously been signed to Equal Vision. Bannon stated, "We are confident as artists and genuinely happy about the move. We are part of a diverse, quality roster with Epitaph, rich in both history and integrity. We've struggled for years looking for a supportive label to call home and after a decade we have found it."


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge began writing for "You Fail Me" after they recorded "Jane Doe"; they wrote on the road during sound checks of shows. Converge entered the studio to begin recording in March 2004 mainly at GodCity Studio. On September 20, 2004 Converge released their fifth studio album, "You Fail Me". It was the band's first to chart commercially, reaching number 171 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Converge (band)

text: On February 14, 2005 a music video was released for the track "Eagles Become Vultures", directed by Zach Merck. Converge's first tour in support of "You Fail Me" started in September 2004 with Cave In and Between the Buried and Me.


title: Converge (band)

text: In 2005 Equal Vision reissued "Petitioning the Empty Sky" and "When Forever Comes Crashing". These reissues gave the albums one new bonus track each; "Petitioning the Empty Sky" received an alternate version of the song "Love as Arson" and "When Forever Comes Crashing" received a demo version of the song "Bitter and Then Some". These reissues also came with new album artwork by Aaron Turner of Isis. Ballou said in an interview that he wanted to remix and remaster the albums because the quality of Converge's recordings had improved so much that the original recordings were "becoming distracting". These reissues became the standard versions of these albums.


title: Converge (band)

text: In early July 2006 Converge's official website announced the title of their upcoming album, "No Heroes", as well as the meaning behind it: "These days, cowards outnumber the heroes, and the begging souls outweigh the calloused hands of the hardest of workers. Both in life and in art, the lack of passion is sickening, and the lust for complacency is poisonous. This album is the artistic antithesis of that sinking world; a thorn in the side of their beast. It's for those who move mountains one day at a time. It's for those who truly understand sacrifice. In our world of enemies, we will walk alone..."


title: Converge (band)

text: On October 24, 2006 Converge released their sixth studio album, "No Heroes". This was the first Converge album to be self-produced by Ballou with no input from other producers, at his own GodCity Studio.


title: Converge (band)

text: The same day as the album's release, Converge released a music video for the title track, directed by Ryan Zunkley.


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge's first tour in support of "No Heroes" started in November 2006 with Some Girls, Modern Life Is War, Blacklisted, Kylesa and Gospel. Despite their growing prominence, Converge continued to appear at small independent events such as Fluff Fest in the Czech Republic, which they played in 2007.


title: Converge (band)

text: In November 2008 Converge began writing "Axe to Fall". Following a short tour in March 2009 with Ceremony, Coliseum, Pulling Teeth and Rise and Fall, Converge entered the studio to begin recording in May 2009. During this short tour, the band debuted a few new songs live, and footage could be seen online.


title: Converge (band)

text: The album was produced by Ballou, at GodCity Studio. In August 2009, two months prior to the release of "Axe to Fall", Converge made the opening track, "Dark Horse", available for streaming and as a free download. It was noted for being one of the few tracks lacking guest musicians, and was met with a very positive reaction from reviewers. The title track was also made available for free download in September 2009. The entire album was available for streaming on Converge's MySpace page one week before the official release date. On October 14, 2009, a music video was released for the title track of the album, directed by Craig Murray.


title: Converge (band)

text: On October 20, 2009 Converge released their seventh studio album, "Axe to Fall". On November 7, the "Axe to Fall" video debuted on MTV2's heavy metal music program, "Headbangers Ball".


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge's first tour in support of "Axe to Fall" was the Metalocalypse tour in late 2009, sponsored by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Alongside High on Fire, Converge held an opening slot for co-headliners Mastodon and Dethklok. Converge's first headlining tour in support of the album started in April 2010 with Coalesce, Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts and Black Breath. Converge began the European part of their world tour in July 2010 with Kylesa, Gaza and Kvelertak.


title: Converge (band)

text: In July 2010 the band released a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl single, "On My Shield". It was released in three different colors, with each limited to 1,000 copies. One version was sold during Converge's 2010 European tours, one was sold through the band's Epitaph web store, and the final version was distributed to various vinyl retailers.


title: Converge (band)

text: In January 2012 Converge completed writing for their eighth studio album, "All We Love We Leave Behind". The following day, Ballou announced plans via his Facebook page to begin recording with the band in January. On August 28, 2012 a music video was released for the track "Aimless Arrow" from the upcoming album, directed by Max Moore. On the same day, Converge revealed the album's artwork, depicting a lunar cycle. On October 3, 2012, the album was available to stream in its entirety on YouTube, a week before its official release.


title: Converge (band)

text: On October 9, 2012 Converge released their eighth studio album, "All We Love We Leave Behind." It peaked at number 70 on the "Billboard" 200, surpassing "Axe to Fall" in terms of commercial success. Converge's first headlining tour in support of "All We Love We Leave Behind" started in October 2012 with Torche, Kvelertak, Nails and Whips/Chains.


title: Converge (band)

text: On April 17, 2014 another music video was released for the track "Precipice / All We Love We Leave Behind", directed by Craig Murray.


title: Converge (band)

text: On October 15, 2015 Deathwish's YouTube channel released a trailer for Converge's Blu-ray set, "Thousands of Miles Between Us". This was released on November 27, 2015. The set was described by Deathwish as the long-awaited sequel to their landmark 2003 DVD release, "The Long Road Home". The footage includes a full 20-song Converge set and over 15 hours of live, rare, and previously unseen footage, which is claimed to span over a decade in the life of the band.


title: Converge (band)

text: On April 29, 2016 Converge announced plans to reissue the album "You Fail Me" (12 years after the original release); it was made available for pre-order the same day. On May 2, 2016 the title track from the upcoming version of the album was made available to stream on SoundCloud. On June 17, 2016 Converge reissued the album under the name "You Fail Me Redux" through Epitaph and Deathwish. Ballou remixed the album and Alan Douches remastered it. The album was also repackaged by Bannon. Ballou explained in an interview with Noisey that after he recorded and mixed the album "No Heroes", he wanted to go back and remix "You Fail Me," because he and the rest of the band were "never quite content with the original mix".


title: Converge (band)

text: On January 16, 2017 the band announced they would release a live album of their "Jane Doe" set from the Netherlands Roadburn Festival in 2016, titled "Jane Live". The album was put up for pre-order the same day. Deathwish's SoundCloud put the live version of the track "Jane Doe" up for streaming. "Jane Live" was released on March 3, 2017.


title: Converge (band)

text: Koller announced during an interview that the band was planning to start tracking for a new album in the spring of 2017. Following their tour on April 8, Converge planned to promptly head into the studio to record their next album. On May 27, 2017 DigBoston published an interview with the band's vocalist Jacob Bannon, who revealed that the band had 18 songs already written. He stated the album is "very powerful" and will be a "progression of something [they] did previously."


title: Converge (band)

text: On July 25, 2017 Converge released the single "I Can Tell You About Pain", accompanied by a video directed by Tony Wolski. The single also contained the non-album track “Eve” as a b-side.


title: Converge (band)

text: On August 15, Converge released the new track "Under Duress", available for streaming. It was described by Bannon as his "emotional reaction to the complex world in which we live". With the announcement of the song, the album's tracklist and cover art were revealed. The band toured in Europe in August 2017 prior to the release.


title: Converge (band)

text: The following month another track, “Reptilian”, was made available for streaming. "A Single Tear" was made available for streaming on October 31, accompanied by a video directed by Max Moore. The video was described by having "heavy with symbolism about parenthood and connection." "The Dusk in Us" was released in the through Epitaph and Deathwish on November 3, 2017.


title: Converge (band)

text: On June 28, 2018, the band uploaded a short series of images to their Instagram page, alluding to a new release. On June 29, the band released the "Beautiful Ruin" EP via Epitaph and Deathwish, along with a music video for the song "Melancholia", directed by Tony Wolski. The EP consists of four tracks recorded during the sessions for "The Dusk in Us" which did not make the cut.


title: Converge (band)

text: Under the name Shattered Void, Converge contributed the new song "I Won't Let You Go" to the soundtrack for "Cyberpunk 2077", a 2020 video game.


title: Converge (band)

text: On September 28, 2021 the band announced their 10th studio album "", a collaboration with singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe. Converge's longtime collaborator Brodsky and Wolfe's longtime collaborator Ben Chisholm also contributed to the recording. The project was preceded by all of the aforementioned, as well as Steve Von Till of Neurosis, uniting for a series of performances called Blood Moon in 2016. "Bloodmoon: I" was released on November 19, 2021 to critical acclaim.


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge's music is rooted in both hardcore punk and heavy metal and they are considered one of the earliest and most influential metalcore bands. Their sound has also been described as mathcore, post-hardcore, noisecore, experimental hardcore, or simply hardcore.


title: Converge (band)

text: AllMusic describes them as a "revered punk metal band that combined the aggression of hardcore and metal with the complexity and polyrhythms of jazz." Their 2001 album "Jane Doe", which has become their most acclaimed work, introduced an experimental approach and emphasis on rhythmical complexity, which are defining features of mathcore. However Bannon has stated: "I really don't know what mathcore is. Converge is an aggressive band. We have elements of hardcore, punk, and metal for sure. But I think trying to define our efforts and other bands with a generic subgenre name is counter productive. We all have something unique to offer and should be celebrated for those qualities rather than having them generalized for easy consumption."


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge started writing and playing what they consider "relevant" music in 1994. At that time they started incorporating influences like Starkweather, The Accüsed, Rorschach, Born Against, Moss Icon, Universal Order of Armageddon, Heroin, and Mohinder into their approach.


title: Converge (band)

text: In a 2012 interview, Bannon told Jonny Cohn of "The Aquarian" that the band "don’t really look to any outside influences all that much anymore. We kind of haven’t for a long time. We have been a band for over two decades. We’re more introverted. We’re used to writing and creating in our own little bubble. We love and appreciate all different kinds of music and at times you can hear little subtle things come out but for the most part, they’re just an extension and exploration of things that we’ve done in the past."


title: Converge (band)

text: Kurt Ballou has produced (and co-produced) the majority of Converge's albums at his own GodCity Studio. He has always been involved in the production of Converge's albums, but it was not until their 2006 album, "No Heroes", that he was involved in the entire recording and mixing process. This became the standard for Converge releases afterwards. One reason Ballou claimed to get into the studio side of music was to have "maximum control over our music". He stated, "When we were starting out, no one wanted to help us anyway, so if we didn't take control, nothing was going to get done."


title: Converge (band)

text: Scott Butterworth of Noisey has described Bannon's vocals "as just another sonic element—more percussive and tonal than lyrical—allowing listeners to develop an emotional understanding of the material even without a precise knowledge of the words." Sammy O'Hagar of Metalsucks stated Bannon's vocals "[are] as much a part of Converge's uniqueness as is Ballou's nimble riffing".


title: Converge (band)

text: Bannon has designed all of Converge's artwork since their 1996 release, "Petitioning the Empty Sky". Although reissues of older albums have had artwork done by Aaron Turner such as the 2005 reissues of "Petitioning the Empty Sky" and "When Forever Comes Crashing", Bannon still took part in the design process of these reissues. In an interview with "Revolver", Bannon shared his art process, saying, "When I work I usually start out with a sketch of some kind, either in my process book or on a scrap of paper," he explains. "I also did this with the "Jane Doe" album. By doing that, I work through ideas, write about them, and force them to evolve into something more refined. Process is extremely important for me--it allows me to have a log of my ideas, whether they're successful or not. That said, I sketched the basic cover and started building it in layers, using acrylic, ink, and spray paint. Because of the nature of the work and the need for flexibility in the imagery, I decided to build it in physical layers and scan certain elements for future use."


title: Converge (band)

text: Since the release of Converge's 2001 album "Jane Doe", the cover art of the woman simply known as "Jane" (recently revealed to be based on a photograph of French actress and model Audrey Marnay) has become Converge's icon, in a similar vein to Iron Maiden's Eddie or Motörhead's Snaggletooth.


title: Converge (band)

text: Converge have collaborated with numerous musicians throughout their work such as members of Cave In, The Hope Conspiracy, Genghis Tron, Neurosis and Disfear. Most of these bands are featured on the band's collaborative album "Axe to Fall". However, with the exception of "Axe to Fall," Converge tend not to include many guests on their albums, and the guests that are included have minor roles such as backing vocals. The band have also worked with Tomas Lindberg (of At the Gates, Skitsystem, The Great Deceiver, and Disfear), Aaron Turner (of Isis and Old Man Gloom), and Kevin Baker (of All Pigs Must Die and The Hope Conspiracy), all of whom provided vocals for a cover of Entombed's "Wolverine Blues" performed by Converge.


title: Converge (band)

text: After touring together in 2004, every member of Cave In and Converge entered Ballou's GodCity Studio to lay the foundation for what was intended to become a full-length collaborative album between the two bands. Tentatively dubbed the "Verge-In" sessions (an amalgamation of the bands' names), the project was described as sounding "like this freaky mix of "Ride the Lightning"-era Metallica meets Mars Volta meets the Allman Brothers." Due to both groups growing busier with their primary bands, as well as creative differences, the project eventually fizzled out. Brodsky described the sessions as being a "bigger project than anyone had anticipated taking on... The idea was to put out some sort of release at some point. But as with anything that has too many cooks in the kitchen, the project got delayed, and certain people felt one way or another about the pieces we came up with, and in the end, there was a very small portion of material that everyone could agree on." Tracks from the abandoned Verge-In sessions were reworked and transformed years later into the Converge songs "Plagues" from "No Heroes" and "Effigy", "Cruel Bloom", and "Wretched World" from "Axe to Fall", the latter of which were heavily reworked by members of Genghis Tron. Bannon said he believes there are only two unused and half-finished tracks from these sessions that could end up being reworked into new Cave In songs down the road. Brodsky said what became "Effigy" was some of the best material from the sessions and expressed interest in going back and finishing the remaining unreleased tracks at some point.


title: Converge (band)

text: Cave In and Converge members have collaborated numerous times, Brodsky had been the bassist of Converge from 1997 to 1998. Ballou produced Cave In's first two records, "Beyond Hypothermia" and "Until Your Heart Stops." Koller became a temporary drummer for Cave In during their support tour of their fourth studio album, "Perfect Pitch Black". Cave In also recorded two songs with Koller, "Dead Already" and "Shapeshifter"; these songs were released together on a limited-edition cassette single. Bands that feature both members of Cave In and Converge include Kid Kilowatt, Old Man Gloom, Doomriders, Mutoid Man and Bannon's Wear Your Wounds live band. The relationship between the two bands has been described as "incestuous" by members of each band. The bands even went as far to joke with each other about hosting a festival titled "IncestFest", which would only feature bands and side-projects that are related to Cave In and Converge.


title: Converge (band)

text: In April 2016, all four members of Converge, and guests Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm also of Chelsea Wolfe, Stephen Brodsky of Cave In and Steve Von Till of Neurosis, collaborated for four limited European performances titled Blood Moon. The collective performed "ambient/post-rock interpretations" of various tracks from Converge's discography, particularly their "lesser-heard and slower work."


title: Converge (band)

text: The first Blood Moon set took place at Postbahnhof in Berlin on April 11. The second took place at La Cartonnerie in Reims on April 12. The third took place at Electric Brixton in London on April 13. The fourth and final Blood Moon show took place after a special one-off Converge set where they played their 2001 album "Jane Doe" in its entirety for the first and presumably last time, to celebrate its 15-year anniversary. This took place at the Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands on April 14. The following Blood Moon set took place at Roadburn on April 16.


title: Converge (band)

text: In Tom Hartley of NME's review of their London performance, he said: "As one of only four European cities visited by Converge on this tour, it felt truly fortunate to witness such a unique show and once again reaffirmed they are crushingly brilliant with whatever they choose to do." In Kim Kelly of Noisey's review of Blood Moon's Roadburn Festival performance, she said: "I hadn't realized Converge's Jacob Bannon had such a powerful clean voice, or just how well it would mesh with Chelsea Wolfe's; I stood rooted to the spot for a good half hour if not more, totally sucked in by what was happening onstage. It was obvious that the musicians involved had put a lot of thought into what they were presenting up there."


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: The Looming Tower is an American television miniseries, based on Lawrence Wright's 2006 book of the same name, which premiered on Hulu on February 28, 2018. The 10-episode drama series was created and executive produced by Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, and Wright. Futterman also acted as the series's showrunner and Gibney directed the first episode. The series stars an ensemble cast featuring Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Wrenn Schmidt, Bill Camp, Louis Cancelmi, Virginia Kull, Ella Rae Peck, Sullivan Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Peter Sarsgaard.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: "The Looming Tower" traces the "rising threat of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and how the rivalry between the FBI and CIA during that time may have inadvertently set the path for the tragedy of 9/11. It follows members of the I-49 Squad in New York and Alec Station in Washington, D.C., the counter-terrorism divisions of the FBI and CIA, respectively, as they travel the world fighting for ownership of information while seemingly working toward the same goal – trying to prevent an imminent attack on U.S. soil."


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: The project emanated from Ali Soufan and Lawrence Wright's realization that both of them were fielding offers from various studios and production companies regarding the rights to their books about the lead-up to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The pair met with filmmaker Alex Gibney, who had already adapted Wright's one-man show, "My Trip to Al-Qaeda" and book "Going Clear" for HBO. Wright said about the collaborations with Gibney, "He's a documentarian, and he understands the importance of truth. We’ve been in the trenches. I came to trust him, and that's what I wanted — someone I felt could handle and negotiate these really difficult moral questions." Following that partnership, the team began to interview potential showrunners. They soon landed on screenwriter Dan Futterman after one meeting, and then decided to work on their pitch for the series. After refining their pitch, they approached HBO, Netflix and Amazon with the project. As a courtesy, they also reached out to Hulu without really placing them into consideration due to the perception of the streaming service as merely a place to stream episodes of network television shows. However, during their meeting with Hulu they were offered a straight-to-series order, an abbreviated development process, a promise not to cave under pressure from the federal agencies portrayed in the series, and the largest financial commitment of any service or network they had previously met with. It was due to these terms and conditions that the producers ultimately decided to sign with the company.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: During pre-production, producers spent months doing exhaustive homework. This involved interviewing the real-life counterparts of the characters they were bringing to life, including Ali Soufan and his wife; former National Security Council chief counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke; former and current members of the FBI's I-49 squad; and former members of the CIA. Futterman has mentioned that in addition to adapting Wright's book, the series also drew from Soufan's book "The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda" and the 9/11 Commission Report.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: In September 2016, Hulu ordered "The Looming Tower" to series from Legendary Television with executive producers including Alex Gibney, Dan Futterman, and Lawrence Wright. It was announced that the limited series would consist of ten episodes and premiere in 2017. It was later reported that Craig Zisk was also an executive producer for the series and would be directing as well. Ultimately, five different directors were chosen to helm the series' ten episodes: Zisk, Michael Slovis, John Dahl, Ali Selim and Alex Gibney. The show's first episode was directed by Gibney, episodes six and seven were directed by Slovis, and episodes eight, nine, and ten were directed by Zisk. The series' story requires multiple international locations with the first five episodes having scenes that are set in seven countries and ten cities. Early on in the development process, Zisk and Gibney went on several international location scouting missions, in order to give their fellow directors options to pick from for filming.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: In January 2017, it was announced that Tahar Rahim was cast in one of the series' lead roles as Ali Soufan. In February 2017, Michael Stuhlbarg and Bill Camp were announced as series regulars and cast as Richard Clarke and Robert Chesney, respectively. In March 2017, Jeff Daniels was cast as John O’Neill. Also announced that month were the castings of Sullivan Jones, Virginia Kull, Louis Cancelmi, Peter Sarsgaard, and Wrenn Schmidt and Ella Rae Peck as series regulars. In May 2017, Alec Baldwin was cast as George Tenet in a guest role.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: After being cast as the late O’Neill, Jeff Daniels struggled on how to approach playing the role. He ultimately credits significant research he did involving speaking with those who knew O'Neill. At one point, he spent an evening at a bar in Lower Manhattan with ten of O’Neill's colleagues, who'd worked with him for years. He commented, "I had a great meeting with those guys, walked out to the corner, turned to get a cab and there's the World Trade Center. To feel him, you need the spirit of what John is fighting for."


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: The series began filming on May 3, 2017 in New York City and it was expected that shooting would take place in a number of locations around the world. Ultimately, the production lasted six months and sprawled across three continents and six countries. Various places stood-in for the locales in which the story actually took place. For instance, scenes set in Yemen were filmed in Morocco, and drone and car travel shots of Pakistani landscapes were used to evoke Afghanistan. Johannesburg, South Africa served as the production base, and was where the bulk of filming took place. The city possessed the "visual variety" that the producers were seeking, and doubled for various places including Nairobi, Tanzania, England, Albania, and Las Vegas, Nevada. While there was an initial push to shoot the production all in South Africa, Zisk argued for filming the back half in Morocco. In August 2017, filming took place at the River Café in Brooklyn.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: Production designer Lester Cohen credits Wright's and Gibney's list of contacts and the production's research team for allowing him to gather the material needed to recreate various settings. During the design period, a set dresser shared photos of his tour in Afghanistan and an art coordinator's daughter dove into the newspaper archives in Nairobi to help re-create the bombing site of the 1998 embassy attacks. Those details informed the design of the huge rubble pile that shut down the central business district in Cape Town for weeks. Also, as much of the story that takes place in the United States occurs in offices, practical sets were built, including Alec Station and the FBI office in New York.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: On December 19, 2017, Hulu released the first preview of the series through a collection of images and a "first-look" video featuring interviews with the cast and crew. On January 11, 2018, Hulu released the first official trailer for the series.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: On February 13, 2018, "The Washington Post" held a screening of the first episode. Following the screening, journalist David Ignatius moderated a question-and-answer session with Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Peter Sarsgaard, Wrenn Schmidt, Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright, and Ali Soufan.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: On February 15, 2018, the series had its official premiere at The Paris Theatre in New York City. On February 20, 2018, the series held its international premiere during the annual Berlin International Film Festival at the Zoo Palast cinema in Berlin.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: On February 27, 2018, the LBJ Presidential Library held a screening of the first episode. Following the screening, LBJ Foundation president Mark K. Updegrove moderated a question-and-answer session with Lawrence Wright, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Ali Soufan. On May 1, 2018, episodes 1 and 2 were screened during the Series Mania Festival at the Le Majestic cinema in Lille, France. It appeared alongside seven other television programs in the festival's "Best of USA" series of shows.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: In all regions outside the United States, the series is distributed by Amazon Video. The series premiered on March 1, 2018, in the United Kingdom and subsequent episodes were released weekly for the following seven weeks, The series began airing weekly on April 26, 2019, on BBC Two, with catch-up availability on iPlayer. In Germany and Austria, the series premiered on March 9, 2018.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: "The Looming Tower" was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 18, 2018. The set includes four behind-the-scenes featurettes and audio commentaries on the premiere and finale episodes.


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: "The Looming Tower" was met with a positive response from critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an 88% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4 out of 10 based on 60 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and powerfully written, "The Looming Tower" delivers gripping counter-terrorism drama rendered even more soberingly effective through its roots in real-life events." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 74 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: "The Washington Post"s Hank Stuever praised the series for its "coolly fascinating pace and tenor" and commented that "Tahar Rahim gives a smart and sincere performance as Ali Soufan, a Muslim American agent on O’Neill's squad." "The Hollywood Reporter"s Daniel Fienberg offered the series praise saying, ""The Looming Tower" demands a hasty combination of faith in the storytellers and half-forgotten knowledge of the history. Absent that, the series is essentially like a well-shot, brilliantly cast, fast-moving season of "Homeland", which is better than the actual current season of "Homeland"." In a positive review, "Variety"s Maureen Ryan said that the show was an "accessible, illuminating series that does not downplay the petty and tragic elements of the tale." "Time"s Daniel D'Addario commended the show as "a series that's both gripping and relevant. It succeeds, with a project that restages the years before Sept. 11 and tells a darkly ironic story about the fecklessness of government." In a more negative review, "Collider"s Chris Cabin criticized the series calling it "a middling act of didacticism, an attempt to pass off facts as insight and characters as little more than the sum of their intellect. Rather than tracing the complicated personalities and ludicrous dick-measuring contests that led to Al-Qaeda carrying out the biggest terrorist attack in American history, Gibney, Wright, and the rest of the creative team boil down the personal drama to little more than a series of arguments and discussions in offices at varying volumes."


title: The Looming Tower (miniseries)

text: It has been reported that if the limited series is sufficiently successful, a sequel series could possibly be ordered. Early discussions among the producers have begun; their concept revolves around the birth of the Muslim Brotherhood.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Inside () is a 2007 French horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo and starring Béatrice Dalle and Alysson Paradis. Written by Bustillo, it is the first feature film from either director. It concerns the attack and home invasion of a young pregnant woman (Paradis) by a mysterious stranger (Dalle) who seeks to take her unborn baby. The film received generally positive reviews from mainstream critics upon its release and was particularly well received among horror film critics, noting it for being a genuinely scary and brutally violent example of the new wave of French horror.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: On Christmas Eve, four months after expectant mother Sarah Scarangella survives a car crash that kills her husband, she makes final preparations for her delivery the following day. Her baby is overdue. Still reeling from her husband's death, Sarah has grown moody and depressed. She turns down her mother's request to stay with her for the night and has asked her employer Jean-Pierre to take her to the hospital for her eventual delivery.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: That evening, a mysterious, unidentified woman arrives at Sarah's door, asking to use the telephone to call for help. Sarah lies that her husband is sleeping and she does not want to be disturbed, but the woman tells her that she knows that he is dead. When the visitor persists on coming in, Sarah, a professional photographer, attempts to take her photo through a window and telephones the police. When they arrive, the woman has already vanished. The police assure Sarah that she will be fine, arranging to have a patrol car visit throughout the night.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Upon developing her photos, Sarah recognizes the woman in the background of an earlier photo she had taken, indicating she was stalking Sarah. Sarah telephones Jean-Pierre, asking to have the photos enhanced. As she goes to bed, the woman arrives in the bedroom, awakening Sarah with scissors puncturing her pregnant belly. Sarah fights the visitor off (who slashes part of Sarah's face with the scissors) and locks herself in the bathroom, where the woman tries to gain entry. The woman makes clear that her intentions are to take Sarah's child for herself.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Jean-Pierre arrives, and not knowing what Sarah's mother looks like, takes the woman's word that she is the mother. Not long after her actual mother Louise arrives, arousing his suspicion. Louise heads upstairs to check on her daughter. Believing her to be the attacker, Sarah accidentally kills Louise by stabbing a needle into her neck. Jean-Pierre is later stabbed to death by the intruder. The police arrive to check up on her with a prisoner in tow. Not knowing what Sarah looks like, the police take the woman's word that she is Sarah and everything is fine. As they are about to leave, the police realize the woman who answered the door was not pregnant and return to the home. The first officer is stabbed to death with knitting needles as he attempts to arrest the attacker. The second is shot in the back of the head as he attempts to help Sarah. The attacker turns off the power as the third enters, waiting until they go to turn it back on before shooting the officer and stabbing his prisoner in the head.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Sarah confronts the woman, and both injure each other with various household appliances. Sarah manages to burn off half of the woman's face with an aerosol container and cigarette. The woman flees, and after being cornered by Sarah, reveals that she was the other driver in the car accident, which killed her unborn baby. She wants Sarah's baby as a replacement.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Before anything else can happen or be said, the two are interrupted by the revival of the third police officer; having been shot in close proximity by the woman with his riot gun, he survived the attack but is now disoriented and blinded. He confuses Sarah with her attacker and beats her in the stomach with his club, forcing her water to break. The woman comes to Sarah's aid and brutally kills the officer; but Sarah, now lying on the stairs, has begun to give birth and the baby is stuck.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Desperate to save her child, Sarah pleads for the now reluctant woman to do what she originally intended. Acquiescing to the plea, the woman tearfully performs a Caesarean section on Sarah with scissors, saving the infant but killing Sarah in the process. The woman then sits in a chair and begins rocking the baby, who briefly cries, as she looks soulfully at Sarah who lies dead on the steps.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo met each other through a mutual friend. After the meeting, Bustillo sent Maury a first draft of the script and Maury sent over some short films that he had worked on in the past. According to Maury, "The first idea with the story was to change the sex of the killer. In horror movies it’s always a guy chasing after young girls; it’s one of the clichés of the genre. So the first main idea was changing the identity of the bad guy. We wondered what was the motivation for a woman to hunt another woman?" The film was given a budget of 1.7 million Euros.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: "Inside" received mostly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports a score of 85% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.61/10.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Nathan Lee of "The Village Voice" found the film to be a "nasty number" that was both "repellent" and "uncompromising" while Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News called it "off the hook awesome" and "a traumatically entertaining experience." Jason Buchanon of AllMovie gave the film a score of 4/5, and called it "a pitch-perfect balance of grinding tension and inventive gore" while John Fallon of Arrow in the Head gave it a perfect score of 10/10, and deemed it "a real horror film; character driven, suspenseful as hell, smarter than the norm and gory as fuck." Brad Miska of "Bloody Disgusting" gave "Inside" a top score of 5/5, labeling it "one of the scariest movies I have ever seen in my life" before concluding, "This is quite possibly the most violent, realistic and bloody slasher film ever assembled, ending on such a gut-wrenching note that there's not a single person who could walk out of that theater feeling normal." "Bloody Disgusting" later ranked the film twelfth in their list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade, with the article saying, "One of the most audacious, brutal, unrelenting horror films ever made, "Inside" is perhaps the crown jewel of the new wave of extreme French horror films."


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: "Inside" was called "the most visceral slasher film of all time" by Steve Barton of "Dread Central", who awarded the film a score of 4½ out of a possible 5 and wrote, "The film may be cruel, but it's executed with pure artistry. Haunting images carry their own grotesque beauty and there is real emotional depth anchored by a pair of powerhouse performances from the dueling ladies." "Inside" was deemed an "excellently paced suspense movie" by Kevin Carr of "Film School Rejects" while Adrian Halen of "Horror News" praised it as "an amazing film" that "no self-respecting horror fan should go without seeing." Sarah Gopaul of "Popjournalism" found "Inside" to be "a gut-wrenching exhibition of intensity and gore, propelled by strong performances from Dalle and Paradis." Steve Dollar of "The New York Sun" opined that the "darkly stylish and shockingly violent" film was the "essence of grindhouse" and "one of the most edge-of-the-seat, fingers-over-the-eyes flicks in recent memory."


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: While Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club admitted that "Inside" was "a superb piece of horror craftsmanship" that was stylish, intense, and nerve-jangling, he criticized its frequent cutaways to the protagonist's in utero child, writing, "Where "Inside" crosses the line is a visual device that periodically checks the baby's status as it sloshes around the uterus, like a CGI ultrasound. Sometimes it's as peaceful-looking as the in ""; at other times, after a scuffle or a blow, it's tossed about so violently that its survival is in question. While I recognize that no digital fetuses were harmed during the making of "Inside", there's something unseemly and grossly manipulative about treating the baby like some helpless variation on the "Final girl" in a "Halloween" knockoff." Kim Newman had a lukewarm response to the film, offering praise to its unsettling and "quietly intense" first half while criticizing its descent into "gory farce" for its finale, writing, "Designed to provoke extreme responses, "Inside" is conceptually among the most horrific movies ever made. In execution, it surprisingly lets the audience off the suspense hook to go for CGI-assisted ketchup-sloshing in the almost cheerful Herschell Gordon Lewis manner rather than the nerve-stretching, you-can't-watch-this approach of, say, Gaspar Noé."


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Hollywood has shown interest in remaking the film; Maury and Bustillo were propositioned but both turned it down.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Jaume Balagueró, the director of "REC", told Fangoria that he may be directing the remake in the future and that it would "accent the terror of the pregnancy situation more than the gore".


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: Recently, Maury mentioned that there had been some problems with the rights and the project was delayed. Furthermore, he was unsure if Balagueró’s was still attached to the project; "For us this was really like a dream because we are big fans of Balagueró’s movies. For the first time it wasn’t the case of a newbie making the movie of a big director, it was the exact opposite where a huge director is making the film of two poor French guys. So we were proud of that."


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: In 2015, it was announced that the remake was back in production. Miguel Vivas, known for directing "Kidnapped", is set to direct.


title: Inside (2007 film)

text: The remake was completed in 2017 and released in the United States exclusively on video on demand on January 18, 2018. Directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas from a screenplay penned by Jaume Balagueró, the film stars Rachel Nichols, Laura Harring, and Andrea Tivadar.


title: Filling station

text: A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.


title: Filling station

text: Gasoline pumps are used to pump gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas, CGH2, HCNG, LPG, liquid hydrogen, kerosene, alcohol fuel (like methanol, ethanol, butanol, propanol), biofuels (like straight vegetable oil, biodiesel), or other types of fuel into the tanks within vehicles and calculate the financial cost of the fuel transferred to the vehicle. Besides gasoline pumps, one other significant device which is also found in filling stations and can refuel certain (compressed-air) vehicles is an air compressor, although generally these are just used to inflate car tires.


title: Filling station

text: Many filling stations provide convenience stores, which may sell confections, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, lottery tickets, soft drinks, snacks, coffee, newspapers, magazines, and, in some cases, a small selection of grocery items, such as milk. Some also sell propane or butane and have added shops to their primary business. Conversely, some chain stores, such as supermarkets, discount stores, warehouse clubs, or traditional convenience stores, have provided fuel pumps on the premises.


title: Filling station

text: In North America the fuel is known as "gasoline" or "gas" for short, and "gas station" and "service station" are used in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. In some regions of Canada, the term "gas bar" (or "gasbar") is used. In the rest of the English-speaking world the fuel is known as "petrol", and the term "petrol station" or "petrol pump" is used. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa "garage" and "forecourt" is still commonly used. Similarly, in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, the term "service station" describes any petrol station; Australians also call it a "servo". In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, it is called a "petrol pump" or a "petrol bunk". In Japanese, a commonly used term is although the abbreviation "SS" (for "service station") is also used.


title: Filling station

text: The first filling station was the city pharmacy in Wiesloch, Germany, where Bertha Benz refilled the tank of the first automobile on its maiden trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim back in 1888. Shortly thereafter other pharmacies sold gasoline as a side business. Since 2008 the Bertha Benz Memorial Route commemorates this event.


title: Filling station

text: The first ""posto de gasolina"" of South America was opened in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, in 1920. It was located on Ana Costa Avenue, in front of the beach, in a corner that is located by the Hotel Atlântico, which occupies its area nowadays. It was owned by Esso and brought by Antonio Duarte Moreira, a taxi entrepreneur.


title: Filling station

text: In Russia, the first filling stations appeared in 1911, when the Imperial Automobile Society signed an agreement with the partnership "Br. Nobel". By 1914 about 440 stations functioned in major cities across the country.


title: Filling station

text: In the mid-1960s in Moscow there were about 250 stations. A significant boost in retail network development occurred with the mass launch of the car "Zhiguli" at the Volga Automobile Plant, which was built in Tolyatti in 1970. Gasoline for other than non-private cars was sold for ration cards only. This type of payment system stopped in the midst of perestroika in the early 1990s.


title: Filling station

text: Since the saturation of automobile filling stations in Russia is insufficient and lags behind the leading countries of the world, there is a need to accommodate new stations in the cities and along the roads of different levels.


title: Filling station

text: The increase in automobile ownership after Henry Ford started to sell automobiles that the middle class could afford resulted in an increased demand for filling stations. The world's first purpose-built gas station was constructed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1905 at 420 South Theresa Avenue. The second station was constructed in 1907 by Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) in Seattle, Washington, at what is now Pier 32. Reighard's Gas Station in Altoona, Pennsylvania claims that it dates from 1909 and is the oldest existing filling station in the United States. Early on, they were known to motorists as "filling stations". These filling stations were known to wash your windows for free.


title: Filling station

text: The first "drive-in" filling station, Gulf Refining Company, opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913, at Baum Boulevard and St Clair's Street. Prior to this, automobile drivers pulled into almost any general or hardware store, or even blacksmith shops in order to fill up their tanks. On its first day, the station sold of gasoline at 27 cents per gallon (7 cents per litre). This was also the first architect-designed station and the first to distribute free road maps. The first alternative fuel station was opened in San Diego, California, by Pearson Fuels in 2003.


title: Filling station

text: Maryland officials said that on September 26, 2019, RS Automotive in Takoma Park, Maryland became the first filling station in the country to convert to an EV charging station.


title: Filling station

text: Most filling stations are built in a similar manner, with most of the fueling installation underground, pump machines in the forecourt and a point of service inside a building. Single or multiple fuel tanks are usually deployed underground. Local regulations and environmental concerns may require a different method, with some stations storing their fuel in container tanks, entrenched surface tanks or unprotected fuel tanks deployed on the surface. Fuel is usually offloaded from a tanker truck into each tank by gravity through a separate capped opening located on the station's perimeter. Fuel from the tanks travels to the dispenser pumps through underground pipes. For every fuel tank, direct access must be available at all times. Most tanks can be accessed through a service canal directly from the forecourt.


title: Filling station

text: Older stations tend to use a separate pipe for every kind of available fuel and for every dispenser. Newer stations may employ a single pipe for every dispenser. This pipe houses a number of smaller pipes for the individual fuel types. Fuel tanks, dispenser and nozzles used to fill car tanks employ vapor recovery systems, which prevents releases of vapor into the atmosphere with a system of pipes. The exhausts are placed as high as possible. A vapor recovery system may be employed at the exhaust pipe. This system collects the vapors, liquefies them and releases them back into the lowest grade fuel tank available.


title: Filling station

text: The forecourt is the part of a filling station where vehicles are refueled. Gasoline pumps are placed on concrete plinths, as a precautionary measure against collision by motor vehicles. Additional elements may be employed, including metal barriers. The area around the gasoline pumps must have a drainage system. Since fuel sometimes spills onto the pavement, as little of it as possible should remain. Any liquids present on the forecourt will flow into a channel drain before it enters a petrol interceptor which is designed to capture any hydrocarbon pollutants and filter these from rainwater which may then proceed to a sanitary sewer, stormwater drain, or to ground.


title: Filling station

text: If a filling station allows customers to pay at the dispenser, the data from the dispenser may be transmitted via RS-232, RS-485 or Ethernet to the point of sale, usually inside the filling station's building, and fed into the station's cash register operating system. The cash register system gives a limited control over the gasoline pump, and is usually limited to allowing the clerks to turn the pumps on and off. A separate system is used to monitor the fuel tank's status and quantities of fuel. With sensors directly in the fuel tank, the data is fed to a terminal in the back room, where it can be downloaded or printed out. Sometimes this method is bypassed, with the fuel tank data transmitted directly to an external database.


title: Filling station

text: The underground modular filling station is a construction model for filling stations that was developed and patented by U-Cont Oy Ltd in Finland in 1993. Afterwards the same system was used in Florida, US. Above-ground modular stations were built in the 1980s in eastern Europe and especially in Soviet Union, but they were not built in other parts of Europe due to the stations' lack of safety in case of fire.


title: Filling station

text: The construction model for underground modular filling station makes the installation time shorter, designing easier and manufacturing less expensive. As a proof of the model's installation speed an unofficial world record of filling station installation was made by U-Cont Oy Ltd when a modular filling station was built in Helsinki, Finland in less than three days, including groundwork. The safety of modular filling stations has been tested in a filling station simulator, in Kuopio, Finland. These tests have included for instance burning cars and explosions in the station simulator.


title: Filling station

text: In the United States and Canada, there are generally two marketing types of filling stations: premium brands and discount brands.


title: Filling station

text: Filling stations with "premium brands" sell well-recognized and often international brands of fuel, including Exxon/Mobil and its Esso brand, Phillips 66/Conoco/76, Chevron, Mobil, Shell, Husky Energy, Sunoco (US), BP, Valero and Texaco. Non-international premium brands include Petrobras, Petro-Canada (owned by Suncor Energy Canada), QuikTrip, Hess, Sinclair, and Pemex. Premium-brand stations accept credit cards, often issue their own company cards (fuel cards or fleet cards) and may charge higher prices. In some cases, fuel cards for customers with a lower fuel consumption are ordered not directly from an oil company, but from an intermediary. Many premium brands have fully automated pay-at-the-pump facilities. Premium stations tend to be highly visible from highway and freeway exits, utilizing tall signs to display their brand logos.


title: Filling station

text: Discount brands are often smaller, regional chains or independent stations, offering lower prices on fuel. Most purchase wholesale commodity gasoline from independent suppliers or from the major petroleum companies. Lower-priced stations are also found at some supermarkets (Albertsons, Kroger, Big Y, Ingles, Lowes Foods, Giant, Weis Markets, Safeway, Hy-Vee, Vons, Meijer, Loblaws/Real Canadian Superstore, and Giant Eagle), convenience stores (7-Eleven, Circle K, Cumberland Farms, QuickChek, Road Ranger, Sheetz and Wawa), discount stores (Walmart, Canadian Tire) and warehouse clubs (Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's Wholesale Club). At some stations (such as Vons, Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, or Sam's Club), consumers are required to hold a special membership card in order to be eligible for the discounted price, or pay only with the chain's cash card, debt card or a credit card issuer exclusive to that chain. In some areas, such as New Jersey, this practice is illegal, and stations are required to sell to all at the same price. Some convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven and Circle K, have co-branded their stations with one of the premium brands. After the Gulf Oil company was sold to Chevron, northeastern retail units were sold off as a chain, with Cumberland Farms controlling the remaining Gulf Oil outlets in the United States.


title: Filling station

text: Some countries have only one brand of filling station. In Mexico, where the oil industry is state-owned and prices are regulated, the country's main operator of filling stations is Pemex. In Malaysia, Shell is the dominant player by number of stations, with government-owned Petronas coming in second. In Indonesia, the dominant player by number of stations is the government-owned Pertamina, although other companies such as TotalEnergies and Shell are increasingly found in big cities such as the capital Jakarta or Surabaya.


title: Filling station

text: Some companies, such as Shell, use their brand worldwide, however, Chevron uses its inherited brand Caltex in Asia Pacific, Australia and Africa, and its Texaco brand in Europe and Latin America. ExxonMobil uses its Exxon and Mobil brands but is still known as Esso (the forerunner company name, Standard Oil or S.O.) in many places, most noticeably in Canada. In Brazil, the main operators are Petrobras Distribuidora and Ipiranga, but Esso and Shell are also present. In the United Kingdom, the two largest are BP and Shell. The "Big Four" supermarket chains, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Asda and Tesco, all operate filling stations, as well as some of the smaller supermarkets such as The Co-operative Group and Waitrose. Indian Oil operates approximately 15,000 stations in India. In Japan, the main operators are Cosmo Oil, Idemitsu (under the brand names "apollostation" and "Idemitsu"),


title: Filling station

text: ENEOS Corporation (under the brand names "ENEOS", "Express" and "General") and Mitsubishi Group (operates self-service stations under the Lawson convenience store branding), although foreign brands such as Shell (operated by Idemitsu since its acquisition of Showa Shell Sekiyu in 2018–2019), and formerly Esso and Mobil (previously operated by ENEOS Corporation under license from ExxonMobil, all rebranded to ENEOS in 2019) are also present.


title: Filling station

text: Most service stations allow the customer to pump the fuel before paying. In recent years, some service stations have required customers to purchase their fuel first. In some small towns, the customer may hand the cash to the attendant on the forecourt if they are paying for a set amount of fuel and have no change; but usually customers will enter the service centre to pay a cashier. Some supermarkets have their own forecourts which are unmanned and payment is pay-at-pump only. Customers at the supermarket will receive a discount voucher which offers discounted fuel at their forecourt. The amount of discount varies depending on the amount spent on groceries at the supermarket, but normally starts at 4 cents a litre.


title: Filling station

text: In New Zealand BP has an app for smartphones that detects a user's location, then allows one to select the type of fuel, which pump, and how much to spend. The amount is then deducted from the user's account.


title: Filling station

text: In British Columbia and Alberta, it is a legal requirement that customers either pre-pay for the fuel or pay at the pump. The law is called "Grant's Law" and is intended to prevent "gas-and-dash" crimes, where a customer refuels and then drives away without paying for it.


title: Filling station

text: In other provinces, payment after filling is permitted and widely available, though some stations may require either a pre-payment or a payment at the pump during night hours.


title: Filling station

text: In the Republic of Ireland, most stations allow customers to pump fuel before paying. Some stations have pay-at-the-pump facilities.


title: Filling station

text: A large majority of stations allow customers to pay with a chip and pin payment card or pay in the shop. Many have a pay at the pump system, where customers can enter their PIN prior to refueling.


title: Filling station

text: Pre-payment is the norm in the US and customers may typically pay either at the pump or inside the gas station. Modern stations have pay-at-the-pump functions: in most cases credit, debit, ATM cards, fuel cards and fleet cards are accepted. Occasionally a station will have a pay-at-the-pump-only period per day, when attendants are not present, often at night, and some stations are pay-at-the-pump only 24 hours a day.


title: Filling station

text: Filling stations typically offer one of three types of service to their customers: full service, minimum service or self-service.


title: Filling station

text: In Brazil, self-service fuel filling is illegal, due to a federal law enacted in 2000. The law was introduced by Federal Deputy Aldo Rebelo, who claims it saved 300,000 fuel attendant jobs across the country.


title: Filling station

text: Before 1998, filling stations in Japan were entirely full-service stations. Self-service stations were legalized in Japan in 1998 following the abolition of the Special Petroleum Law, which led to the deregulation of the petroleum industry in Japan. Under current safety regulations, while motorists are able to self-dispense fuel at self-service stations, generally identified in Japanese as , at least one fuel attendant must be on hand to keep watch over potential safety violations and to render assistance to motorists whenever necessary.


title: Filling station

text: In the past, filling stations in the United States offered a choice between "full service" and "self service". Before 1970, full service was the norm, and self-service was rare. Today, few stations advertise or provide full service. Full service stations are more common in wealthy and upscale areas. The cost of full service is usually assessed as a fixed amount per US gallon.


title: Filling station

text: The first self-service station in the United States was in Los Angeles, opened in 1947 by Frank Urich. In Canada, the first self-service station opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1949. It was operated by the independent company Henderson Thriftway Petroleum, owned by Bill Henderson.


title: Filling station

text: In New Jersey, filling stations offer only full service (and mini service); attendants there are required to pump gasoline for customers. Customers, in fact, are prohibited by law from pumping their own gasoline. The only exception to this within New Jersey is at the filling station next to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Wrightstown. New Jersey prohibited self-service in 1949, with the passage of "Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act," after lobbying by service station owners. That laws states that "Because of the fire hazards directly associated with dispensing fuel, it is in the public interest that gasoline station operators have the control needed over that activity to ensure compliance with appropriate safety procedures, including turning off vehicle engines and refraining from smoking while fuel is dispensed." Proponents of the prohibition cite safety and jobs as reasons to keep the ban. Of note, the ban does not apply to the pumping of diesel fuel at filling stations (though individual filling stations may prohibit this); nor does it apply to the pumping of gasoline into boats or aircraft.


title: Filling station

text: Similarly, Oregon, with few exceptions, also mandates full service at most service stations. The exception to this regulation is that a filling station may be self-service if located in a county with a population of 40,000 or less. The only exception to this within Oregon is at the filling stations next to the Indian reservation casinos in Pendleton and Grand Ronde, which are permitted to be self service. Oregon prohibited self-service in a 1951 statute prohibiting that listed 17 different justifications, including flammability, the risk of crime from customers leaving their vehicles, toxic fumes, and the jobs created by requiring mini service. Like New Jersey, the Oregon self-service prohibitions do not apply to the pumping of diesel fuel at filling stations (though individual filling stations may prohibit this). Motorcycle owners may pump their own with the service station attendant present, and non-retail customers may also pump their own gas.


title: Filling station

text: Oregon's ban on self-service gasoline is also seen as part of Oregonian culture. One commentator noted, "The joke is when babies are born in Oregon, the doctor slaps their bottom, 'No self-serve and no sales tax'... It's as much a cultural issue as an economic issue. It's a way of life." However, recent years have shown that this opinion might be changing, as a 2014 Public Policy Poll showed that although self-serve was favored by a narrow margin of all Oregonians, Oregonians under 45 favored self-serve gas by 53 percent to 33 percent.


title: Filling station

text: In 1982 Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure sponsored by the service station owners, which would have legalized self-service. Oregon legislators passed a bill that was signed into law by the Governor in May 2017 to allow self-service for counties with a total population of 40,000 or less beginning in January 2018.


title: Filling station

text: The constitutionality of the self-service bans has been disputed. The Oregon statute was brought into court in 1989 by ARCO, and the New Jersey statute was challenged in court in 1950 by a small independent service station, Rein Motors. Both challenges failed. Former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine sought to lift the ban on self-service for New Jersey. He asserted that it would be able to lower gas prices, but some New Jerseyans argued that it could cause drawbacks, especially unemployment.


title: Filling station

text: The town of Huntington, New York has prohibited self-service stations since the early 1970s firstly to prevent theft and later due to safety concerns.


title: Filling station

text: Contrary to popular belief, lit cigarettes are not capable of igniting gasoline. However, several states outlaw smoking at gas stations as the fire from the ignition source used to light the cigarette can ignite gasoline vapors. Most gas stations and many municipalities will also explicitly ban any smoking activity within certain distances of gasoline pumps.


title: Filling station

text: Many stations provide toilet facilities for customer use, as well as squeegees and paper towels for customers to clean their vehicle's windows. Discount stations may not provide these amenities in some countries.


title: Filling station

text: Stations typically have an air compressor, typically with a built-in or provided handheld tire-pressure gauge, to inflate tires and a hose to add water to vehicle radiators. Some air compressor machines are free of charge, while others charge a small fee to use (typically 50 cents to a dollar in North America). In US states, such as California, state law requires that paying customers must be provided with free air compressor service and radiator water.


title: Filling station

text: In some regions of America and Australia, many filling stations have a mechanic on duty, but this practice has died out in other parts of the world.


title: Filling station

text: Many filling stations have integrated convenience stores which sell food, beverages, and often cigarettes, lottery tickets, motor oil, and auto parts. Prices for these items tend to be higher than they would be at a supermarket or discount store.


title: Filling station

text: Many stations, particularly in the United States, have a fast food outlet inside. These are usually "express" versions with limited seating and limited menus, though some may be regular-sized and have spacious seating. Larger restaurants are common at truck stops and toll road service plazas.


title: Filling station

text: In some US states, beer, wine, and liquor are sold at filling stations, though this practice varies according to state law ("see Alcohol laws of the United States by state"). Nevada also allows the operation of slot and video poker machines without time restrictions.


title: Filling station

text: Vacuum cleaners, often coin-operated, are a common amenity to allow the cleaning of vehicle interiors, either by the customer or by an attendant.


title: Filling station

text: Some stations are equipped with car washes. Car washes are sometimes offered free of charge or at a discounted price with a certain amount of fuel purchased. Conversely, some car washes operate filling stations to supplement their businesses.


title: Filling station

text: From approximately 1920 to 1980, many service stations in the US provided free road maps affiliated with their parent oil companies to customers. This practice fell out of favor due to the 1970s energy crisis.


title: Filling station

text: In European Union member states, gasoline prices are much higher than in North America due to higher fuel excise or taxation, although the base price is also higher than in the US. Occasionally, price rises trigger national protests. In the UK, a large-scale protest in August and September 2000, known as 'The Fuel Crisis', caused wide-scale havoc not only across the UK, but also in some other EU countries. The UK Government eventually backed down by indefinitely postponing a planned increase in fuel duty. This was partially reversed during December 2006 when then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown raised fuel duty by 1.25 pence per liter.


title: Filling station

text: Since 2007, gasoline prices in the UK rose by nearly 40 pence per liter, going from 97.3 pence per liter in 2007 to 136.8 pence per liter in 2012.


title: Filling station

text: In much of Europe, including the UK, France and Germany, stations operated by large supermarket chains usually price fuel lower than stand-alone stations. In most of mainland Europe, sales tax is lower on diesel fuel than on gasoline, and diesel is accordingly the cheaper fuel: in the UK and Switzerland, diesel has no tax advantage and retails at a higher price by quantity than gasoline (offset by its higher energy yield).


title: Filling station

text: In 2014, according to Eurostat, the mean EU28 price was €1.38 /L for euro-super 95 (gasoline), €1.26 /L for diesel.


title: Filling station

text: The least expensive gasoline was in Estonia at €1.10 /L, and the most expensive at €1.57 /L in Italy.


title: Filling station

text: Nearly all filling stations in North America advertise their prices on large signs outside the stations. Some locations have laws requiring such signage.


title: Filling station

text: In Canada and the United States, federal, state or provincial, and local sales taxes are usually included in the price, although tax details are often posted at the pump and some stations may provide details on sales receipts. Gasoline taxes are often ring-fenced (dedicated) to fund transportation projects such as the maintenance of existing roads and the construction of new ones.


title: Filling station

text: Individual filling stations in the United States have little if any control over gasoline prices. The wholesale price of gasoline is determined according to area by oil companies which supply the gasoline, and their prices are largely determined by the world markets for oil. Individual stations are unlikely to sell gasoline at a loss, and the profit margin—typically between 7 and 11 cents a US gallon (2–3 cents per liter)—that they make from gasoline sales is limited by competitive pressures: a gas station which charges more than others will lose customers to them. Most stations try to compensate by selling higher-margin food products in their convenience stores.


title: Filling station

text: Even with oil market fluctuations, prices for gasoline in the United States are among the lowest in the industrialized world; this is principally due to lower taxes. While the sales price of gasoline in Europe is more than twice that in the United States, the price excluding taxes is nearly identical in the two areas. Some Canadians and Mexicans in communities close to the US border drive into the United States to purchase cheaper gasoline.


title: Filling station

text: Due to heavy fluctuations in price in the United States, some stations offer their customers the option to buy and store gasoline for future uses, such as the service provided by First Fuel Bank.


title: Filling station

text: In order to save money, some consumers in Canada and the United States inform each other about low and high prices through the use of gasoline price websites. Such websites allow users to share prices advertised at filling stations with each other by posting them to a central server. Consumers then may check the prices listed in their geographic area in order to select the station with the lowest price available at the time. Some television and radio stations also compile pricing information via viewer and listener reports of pricing or reporter observations and present it as a regular segment of their newscasts, usually before or after traffic reports. These price observations must usually be made by reading the pricing signs outside stations, as many companies do not give their prices by telephone due to competitive concerns. It is a criminal offense to have written or verbal arrangements with competitors, suppliers or customers for:


title: Filling station

text: Gas stations must never hold discussions with other competitors regarding pricing policies and methods, terms of sale, costs, allocation of markets or boycotts of our petroleum products.


title: Filling station

text: In other energy-importing countries such as Japan, gasoline and petroleum product prices are higher than in the United States because of fuel transportation costs and taxes.


title: Filling station

text: On the other hand, some of the major oil-producing countries such as the Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela provide subsidized fuel at well-below world market prices. This practice tends to encourage heavy consumption.


title: Filling station

text: Hong Kong has some of the highest pump prices in the world, but most customers are given discounts as card members.


title: Filling station

text: In Western Australia a program called FuelWatch requires most filling stations to notify their "tomorrow prices" by 2pm each day; prices are changed at 6am each morning, and must be held for 24 hours. Each afternoon, the prices for the next day are released to the public and the media, allowing consumers to decide when to fill up.


title: Filling station

text: A service station or "servo" is the terminology often used in Australia, along with petrol station, to describe any facility where motorists can refuel their cars.


title: Filling station

text: In New Zealand a filling station is often referred to as a service station, petrol station or garage, even though it may not offer mechanical repairs or assistance with dispensing fuel. Levels of service available include full service, for which assistance in dispensing fuel is offered, as well as offers to check tire pressure or clean vehicle windscreens. That type of service is becoming uncommon in New Zealand, particularly Auckland. Further south of Auckland, many filling stations offer full service. There is also help service or assisted service, for which customers must request assistance before it is given, and self-service, for which no assistance is available.


title: Filling station

text: In the US, a filling station that also offers services such as oil changes and mechanical repairs to automobiles is called a service station. Until the 1970s the vast majority of filling stations were service stations. These stations typically offered free air for inflating tires, as compressed air was already on hand to operate the repair garage's pneumatic tools. While a few filling stations with a service station remain, many in the 1980s and 1990s were converted to convenience stores while still selling fuel, while others continued to offer services but discontinued offering fuel.


title: Filling station

text: This kind of business provided the name for the US comic strip "Gasoline Alley", where a number of the characters worked.


title: Filling station

text: In the UK and Ireland, a 'service station' refers to much larger facilities, usually attached to motorways (see rest area) or major truck routes, which provide food outlets, large parking areas, and often other services such as hotels, arcade games, and shops in addition to 24-hour fuel supplies and a higher standard of restrooms. Fuel is typically more expensive from these outlets due to their premium locations. UK or Irish service stations do not usually repair automobiles.


title: Filling station

text: This arrangement occurs on many toll roads and some interstate freeways and is called an oasis or service plaza. In many cases, these centers might have a food court or restaurants. In the United Kingdom and Ireland these are called motorway service areas.


title: Filling station

text: Often, the state government maintains public rest areas directly connected to freeways, but does not rent out space to private businesses, as this is specifically prohibited by law via the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 which created the national Interstate Highway System, except sites on freeways built before January 1, 1960, and toll highways that are self-supporting but have Interstate designation, under a grandfather clause. As a result, such areas often provide only minimal services such as restrooms and vending machines.


title: Filling station

text: Private entrepreneurs develop additional facilities, such as truck stops or travel centers, restaurants, gas stations, and motels in clusters on private land adjacent to major interchanges. In the US, Pilot Flying J and TravelCenters of America are two of the most common full-service chains of truck stops. Because these facilities are not directly connected to the freeway, they usually have huge signs on poles high enough to be visible by motorists in time to exit from the freeway. Sometimes, the state also posts small official signs (normally blue) indicating what types of filling stations, restaurants, and hotels are available at an upcoming exit; businesses may add their logos to these signs for a fee.


title: Filling station

text: In Canada, the province of Ontario has stops along two of its 400-series highways, the 401 and the 400, traditionally referred to as "Service Centres", but recently renamed "ONroute" as part of a full rebuild of the sites. Owned by the provincial government, but leased to private operator Host Kilmer Service Centres, they contain food courts, convenience stores, washrooms, and co-located gas and diesel bars with attached convenience stores. Food providers include Tim Hortons (at all sites), A&W, Wendy's and Pizza Pizza. At most sites fuel is sold by Canadian Tire, with a few older Esso gas bars at earlier renovated locations.


title: Filling station

text: In Australia, gasoline is unleaded, and available in 91, 95, 98 and 100 octane (names differ from brand to brand). Fuel additives for use in cars designed for leaded fuel are available at most filling stations.


title: Filling station

text: In Canada, the most commonly found octane grades are 87 (regular), 89 (mid grade) and 91 (premium), using the same "(R+M)/2 Method" used in the US (see below).


title: Filling station

text: In China, the most commonly found octane grade is RON 91 (regular), 93 (mid grade) and 97 (premium). Almost all of the fuel has been unleaded since 2000. In some premium filling stations in large cities, such as Petrol China and Sinopec, RON 98 gas is sold for racing cars.


title: Filling station

text: In Europe, gasoline is unleaded and available in 95 RON ("Eurosuper") and, in nearly all countries, 98 RON ("Super Plus") octanes; in some countries 91 RON octane gasoline is offered as well. In addition, 100 RON is offered in some countries in continental Europe (Shell markets this as "V-Power Racing"). Some stations offer 98 RON with lead substitute (often called Lead-Replacement Petrol, or LRP).


title: Filling station

text: In New Zealand, gasoline is unleaded, and most commonly available in 91 RON ("Regular") and 95 RON ("Premium"). 98 RON is available at selected BP ("Ultimate") and Mobil ("Synergy 8000") service stations instead of the standard 95 RON. 96 RON was replaced by 95 RON, and subsequently abolished in 2006. Leaded fuel was abolished in 1996.


title: Filling station

text: In the UK the most common gasoline grade (and lowest octane generally available) is 'Premium' 95 RON unleaded. 'Super' is widely available at 97 RON (for example "Shell V-Power", "BP Ultimate"). Leaded fuel is no longer available.


title: Filling station

text: In the United States all motor vehicle gasoline is unleaded and is available in several grades with different octane rating; 87 (Regular), 89 (Mid-Grade), and 93 (Premium) are typical grades. At high altitudes in the Mountain States and the Black Hills of South Dakota, regular unleaded can be as low as 85 octane; this practice has become increasingly controversial, since it was instituted when most cars had carburetors instead of the fuel injection and electronic engine controls standard in recent decades.


title: Filling station

text: In the US gasoline is described in terms of its "pump octane", which is the mean of their "RON" (Research Octane Number) and "MON" (Motor Octane Number). Labels on pumps in the US typically describe this as the "(R+M)/2 Method". Some nations describe fuels according to the traditional RON or MON ratings, so octane ratings cannot always be compared with the equivalent US rating by the "(R+M)/2 method".


title: Filling station

text: In Europe, New Zealand and Australia, the customer selects one of several color-coded nozzles depending on the type of fuel required. The filler pipe of unleaded fuel is smaller than the one for fuels for engines designed to take leaded fuel. The tank filler opening has a corresponding diameter; this prevents inadvertently using leaded fuel in an engine not designed for it, which can damage a catalytic converter.


title: Filling station

text: In most stations in Canada and the US, the pump has a single nozzle and the customer selects the desired octane grade by pushing a button. Some pumps require the customer to pick up the nozzle first, then lift a lever underneath it; others are designed so that lifting the nozzle automatically releases a switch. Some newer stations have separate nozzles for different types of fuel. Where diesel fuel is provided, it is usually dispensed from a separate nozzle even if the various grades of gasoline share the same nozzle.


title: Filling station

text: Motorists occasionally pump gasoline into a diesel car by accident. The converse is almost impossible because diesel pumps have a large nozzle with a diameter of which does not fit the filler, and the nozzles are protected by a lock mechanism or a liftable flap. Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine—while creating large amounts of smoke—does not normally cause permanent damage if it is drained once the mistake is realized. However even a liter of gasoline added to the tank of a modern diesel car can cause irreversible damage to the injection pump and other components through a lack of lubrication. In some cases, the car has to be scrapped because the cost of repairs exceeds its residual value. The issue is not clear-cut as older diesels using completely mechanical injection can tolerate some gasoline—which has historically been used to "thin" diesel fuel in winter.


title: Filling station

text: In most countries, stations are subjected to guidelines and regulations which exist to minimize the potential of fires, and increase safety.


title: Filling station

text: It is prohibited to use open flames and, in some places, mobile phones on the forecourt of a filling station because of the risk of igniting gasoline vapor. In the US the fire marshal is responsible for regulations at the pump. Most localities ban smoking, open flames and running engines. Since the increased occurrence of static-related fires many stations have warnings about leaving the refueling point.


title: Filling station

text: Cars can build up static charge by driving on dry road surfaces. However many tire compounds contain enough carbon black to provide an electrical ground which prevents charge build-up. Newer "high mileage" tires use more silica and can increase the buildup of static. A driver who does not discharge static by contacting a conductive part of the car will carry it to the insulated handle of the nozzle and the static potential will eventually be discharged when this purposely-grounded arrangement is put into contact with the metallic filler neck of the vehicle. Ordinarily, vapor concentrations in the area of this filling operation are below the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the product being dispensed, so the static discharge causes no problem. The problem with ungrounded gasoline cans results from a combination of vehicular static charge, the potential between the container and the vehicle, and the loose fit between the grounded nozzle and the gas can. This last condition causes a rich vapor concentration in the ullage (the unfilled volume) of the gas can, and a discharge from the can to the grounded hanging hardware (the nozzle, hose, swivels and break-a-ways) can thus occur at a most inopportune point. The Petroleum Equipment Institute has recorded incidents of static-related ignition at refueling sites since early 2000.


title: Filling station

text: Although urban legends persist that using a mobile phone while pumping gasoline can cause sparks or explosion, this has not been duplicated under any controlled condition. Nevertheless, mobile phone manufacturers and gas stations ask users to switch off their phones. One suggested origin of this myth is said to have been started by gas station companies because the cell phone signal would interfere with the fuel counter on some older model fuel pumps causing it to give a lower reading. In the "MythBusters" episode "Cell Phone Destruction", investigators concluded that explosions attributed to cell phones could be caused by static discharges from clothing instead and also observed that such incidents seem to involve women more often than men.


title: Filling station

text: The US National Fire Protection Association does most of the research and code writing to address the potential for explosions of gasoline vapor. The customer fueling area, up to above the surface, normally does not have explosive concentrations of vapors, but may from time to time. Above this height, where most fuel filler necks are located, there is no expectation of an explosive concentration of gasoline vapor in normal operating conditions. Electrical equipment in the fueling area may be specially certified for use around gasoline vapors.


title: Don't Starve

text: Don't Starve is a survival video game developed by the Canadian indie video game developer Klei Entertainment. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on April 23, 2013. A PlayStation 4 port, renamed "Don't Starve: Giant Edition", became available the following year (with PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 versions released in September 2014 and June 2015 respectively, and an Xbox One version released in August 2015). "Don't Starve" for iOS, renamed "Don't Starve: Pocket Edition" was released on July 9, 2015. An Android version was released on October 20, 2016. Downloadable content titled "Reign of Giants" was released on April 30, 2014, and a multiplayer standalone expansion called "Don't Starve Together" became free for existing users on June 3, 2015. On Steam, this game is able to be purchased with a free copy for a friend. A Nintendo Switch port came out on April 12, 2018.


title: Don't Starve

text: The game follows a scientist named Wilson who finds himself in a dark, dreary parallel world known as the Constant and must survive as long as possible. To this end, the player must keep Wilson alive, fed, and mentally stable as he avoids a variety of surreal and supernatural enemies that will try to kill and devour him. The game's Adventure mode adds depth to the sparse plot and pits Wilson against the game's supposed antagonist, Maxwell.


title: Don't Starve

text: "Don't Starve" was Klei's first foray into the survival genre. Conceived during the height of a game industry trend of dropping players into a world with few instructions and a goal of survival, the game was influenced by "Minecraft" which spearheaded this trend as well as by filmmaker Tim Burton. The game received positive reviews from critics, commended for its original art style, music, and variety of ways for the player to die, although its high level of difficulty and implementation of permanent death were less warmly received.


title: Don't Starve

text: "Don't Starve" is an action-adventure game with a randomly generated open world and elements of survival and roguelike gameplay. Combat is handled by pointing and clicking with the mouse, or by using "force attack" (ctrl+f), while other activities are controlled by the keyboard, or using the inbuilt gamepad support to play using a controller, giving it a console-like gameplay feel. The goal is to survive as long as possible, and a count of the number of days the player has survived is shown onscreen, as well as the season. The game keeps few records of player progress besides the total number of experience points and the playable characters unlocked. Wilson is the default playable character, unlocked upon purchase of the game, but the next character, Willow, can be unlocked with 160 experience points. Woodie, the last character unlockable with experience, requires the game's limit of 1,600. Each character has a perk that is specific to them, as well as a disadvantage. The player earns 20 experience points each in-game day and receives them after dying. As is common among roguelikes, death is permanent, barring the use of several rare or expensive items like the Meat Effigy, Touch-Stone, and Life-Giving Amulet.


title: Don't Starve

text: The game relies on a day/night cycle that causes meaningful fluctuations in gameplay style. During the day, the player spends most of their time exploring the world: gathering food, firewood, and other resources, discovering crafting recipes to combine available items, and avoiding enemies. With nightfall comes dangerous monsters and an invisible menace, Charlie, who attacks the player when the screen is dark. A player must have a light source or night vision to prevent Charlie from attacking. Crafting from recipes allows the player to build shelter, weapons, and tools like axes. Almost all tools will break after running out of durability, by using them, with exceptions such as Woodie's Axe. Players can forage and farm plants as well as hunt animals for sustenance, with several characters having dietary perks or restrictions. Food can spoil, however, so the player cannot keep it for too long. Eating spoiled food results in a loss of health, sanity, and a reduced increase in hunger restoration relative to that provided by fresh food. Each in-game day takes 8 minutes of real time. The length of day and night varies across the seasons, with day being shorter and night longer in winter.