Because STHTTPRequest was using NSURLConnection, which was scheduled to the Main Run Loop. You can have it on threads other than the main run loop, but you have

Because STHTTPRequest was using NSURLConnection, which was scheduled to the Main Run Loop. You can have it on threads other than the main run loop, but you have to create the thread and kick off the run loop yourself, and manage it afterwards. On the main thread, you can always get a running run loop, the main run loop, for free.