URLConnection conn = u.openConnection();
conn.setRequestProperty("Accept", "application/json");
for (int i = 0; i < properties.length; i += 2)
conn.setRequestProperty(properties[i], properties[i + 1]);
if (rbSessionCookie != null)
conn.addRequestProperty("Cookie", rbSessionCookie);
conn.connect();
// check for an authorization cookie, and save if present
String newCookies = conn.getHeaderField("Set-Cookie");
if (newCookies != null) {