title: StarCraft

text: In "Brood War", the Protoss are led by Zeratul and Artanis. They begin to evacuate the surviving population of Aiur to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras under a fragile alliance between the two untrusting branches of the Protoss. On Shakuras, they are misled by Kerrigan into attacking the Zerg to advance Kerrigan's quest to securing power over the Zerg. This deception comes after she reveals that a new Overmind has entered incubation. Meanwhile, Earth decides to take action in the sector, sending a fleet to conquer the Terran Dominion and capture the new Overmind. Although successfully taking the Dominion capital Korhal and enslaving the Overmind, the UED's efforts to capture Mengsk are thwarted by a double agent working for Kerrigan, Samir Duran. Kerrigan, allying with Mengsk, Fenix, and Raynor, launches a campaign against the UED, recapturing Korhal. She turns against her allies, with Fenix and Duke both perishing in the ensuing attacks. Kerrigan later extorts Zeratul into killing the new Overmind, giving her full control over the entire Zerg Swarm. After defeating a retaliatory attack by the Protoss, Dominion, and the UED (consequently destroying the last of the UED fleet), Kerrigan and her Zerg broods become the dominant power in the sector.


title: StarCraft

text: Four years later, in "Wings of Liberty", Kerrigan and the Zerg vanish from the Koprulu Sector, allowing the Protoss to once again take on a passive role in the galaxy. Meanwhile, Raynor forms a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Mengsk. On Mar Sara, Raynor liberates the local population from Dominion control and also discovers a component of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. The Zerg reappear and overrun Mar Sara, forcing Raynor to arrange an evacuation to his battlecruiser, the "Hyperion". The Raiders embark on a series of missions to undermine Mengsk, stop frequent Zerg infestations on Terran worlds, gather psychic individuals for military assets, and find the remaining pieces of the Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution. Soon after, Zeratul delivers a psychic crystal that allows Raynor to share visions involving an ominous prophecy where Zerg-Protoss hybrids and an enslaved Zerg swarm wipe out the Terrans and the Protoss. The vision reveals that only Kerrigan has the power to prevent the eradication of all life in the sector and beyond. After collecting more artifact pieces, the Raiders forge an alliance with Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son, who is their secret benefactor from Moebius Foundation. After recovering the final artifact piece, Valerian and Raynor work together to invade the Zerg world of Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan's humanity, thus weakening the Zerg at the cost of much of the Dominion fleet. An agent of Arcturus makes an attempt on Kerrigan's life, and Raynor defends her and takes her in for medical examination.


title: StarCraft

text: In "Heart of the Swarm", the Dominion discovers where Raynor and Kerrigan are hiding and launch an attack on them. Kerrigan manages to escape, but is cut off from Raynor and upon hearing news that he was captured and executed, she returns to Zerg territory to retake control of the swarm and exact revenge on Mengsk. During her quest, she has an encounter with Zeratul, who advises her to travel to Zerus, the original homeworld of the Zerg, where she regains her powers as the Queen of Blades, returning stronger than ever, and learns that a fallen Xel'Naga named Amon was responsible for making the Zerg what they are: a warring swarm, bound to a single overriding will. After confronting a legion of servants of Amon, including a breed of Protoss-Zerg hybrids, Mengsk informs Kerrigan that Raynor is still alive and uses him as a leverage against her, keeping the location where he is imprisoned a secret, until she joins forces with the "Hyperion" to locate and rescue him. Seeing that she discarded her humanity after all the effort he took to restore it, Raynor rejects her, despite her confession that she loves him, and parts ways with her. Kerrigan turns her attention to Korhal and sends her forces to bring down Mengsk once and for all. During their showdown, Mengsk uses the artifact to immobilize her, but Raynor appears to protect her, and Mengsk is ultimately killed by Kerrigan. With the Dominion under control of Mengsk's son Valerian, Kerrigan bids farewell to Raynor and departs with the Zerg Swarm to confront Amon and his forces.


title: StarCraft

text: In "Legacy of the Void", Zeratul invades a Terran installation under control of Amon in order to pinpoint the exact location of his resurrection, taking advantage of a sudden attack by Kerrigan and the Zerg swarm. After obtaining the exact location, he departs to an ancient Xel'Naga temple where he has a vision of Tassadar, who prompts him to claim the artifact in possession of the Terrans. Zeratul returns to warn Artanis of Amon's return, but he decides to proceed with his plans of leading his army to reclaim Aiur. Amon awakens on Aiur and takes control of the majority of the Protoss race through the Khala, the telepathic bond that unites all emotions for the Khalai faction of the Protoss. Only Zeratul and the Nerazim, the Dark Templar, are immune due to their lack of connection to the Khala, and the Nerazim proceed to save as many Khalai as they can by severing their nerve cords, which connect them to the Khala, with Zeratul sacrificing himself to save Artanis in the occasion. After escaping the planet with an ancient vessel, the "Spear of Adun", Artanis reclaims the artifact as Zeratul suggested and gathers allies among the many Protoss tribes scattered across the galaxy in order to remake his army and launch another assault on Aiur. Using the artifact, Artanis' forces restrain Amon's essence, time enough for the other Khalai Protoss who were still under his control to sever their nerve cords and banish Amon to the Void.


title: StarCraft

text: In a short epilogue after the end of "Legacy of the Void", Kerrigan calls for Artanis and Raynor's help to confront Amon inside the Void to defeat him once and for all. In the occasion, they meet Ouros, the last of the Xel'Naga who reveals that to confront Amon on equal terms, Kerrigan must inherit Ouros' essence and become a Xel'Naga herself, as Ouros himself is at the last of his strength. Assisted by the Zerg, Terran and Protoss forces, the empowered Kerrigan vanquishes Amon, before disappearing without a trace. Two years later, Kerrigan appears before Raynor in human form and he departs with her to never be heard from again, while the Zerg, the Terran and the Protoss civilizations begin to rebuild in an age of peace and prosperity.


title: StarCraft

text: The "StarCraft" series includes a core set of titles that carry the main storyline. These games were released in chronological order, with each new title following on from the events that are depicted in the previous title. A full second game, "", was released in 2010, taking place four years after the end of Brood War. Two expansions, "" and "" (both currently stand alone games), were planned from the beginning; the former was released in 2013 and the later was released in 2015.


title: StarCraft

text: All the games in the main series are real-time strategy games, where the player views the events as a military commander for each of the three species. In addition, two spin-off titles have been released; these are authorized expansion packs to the original that focus on other characters and settings based at the same time as the main storyline. Like the main series, these two titles are also real-time strategy games. A spin-off, "", which was to be a third person action-stealth game, was in development, but has been placed on indefinite hiatus.


title: StarCraft

text: "StarCraft", released for Windows on March 31, 1998, is the first video game in the "StarCraft" series. A science fiction real-time strategy game, "StarCraft" is set in a distant sector of the Milky Way galaxy. A Mac OS version of the game was released by Blizzard Entertainment in March 1999. A Nintendo 64 port including "StarCraft", "Brood War", and a new secret mission "Resurrection IV" was released in the United States on June 13, 2000. The game's story revolves around the appearance of two alien races in Terran space and each race's attempts to survive and adapt over the others. The player assumes three roles through the course of the three campaigns: a Confederate colonial governor who becomes a revolutionary commander, a Zerg cerebrate pushing forward the species' doctrine of assimilation, and a Protoss fleet executor tasked with defending the Protoss from the Zerg. "StarCraft" soon gained critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, including being labelled "the best real-time strategy game ever made" and being ranked the seventh best game of all time by IGN in both 2003 and 2005, and the eleventh best game in 2007.


title: StarCraft

text: "" is the official expansion pack for "StarCraft", developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Saffire. Released for Windows and Mac OS in the United States on December 18, 1998, the expansion directly continues the events of "StarCraft". The expansion's story continues only days after the conclusion of the original game. It starts with the Protoss' struggle to ensure the survival of their species and continues with the intervention of the United Earth Directorate into local Terran affairs. The livelihood of both the Protoss and the previously silent Earth government is then threatened by the ever-increasing power of Sarah Kerrigan and her Zerg broods. In addition, the expansion introduces new features and improvements. A total of seven new units with different functions and abilities are included, the artificial intelligence behavior was modified, new graphical tilesets for terrain were added, and the game's level editor received improved scripting tools to facilitate cut scenes with the in-game engine. The expansion received critical praise for fixing various balance issues with the original game, development attention on par with that of a full game, and for continuing with single player campaigns that were heavily story-driven. In April 2017, Starcraft received its first update in over 8 years, and Brood War was released for free to both PC and MAC.


title: StarCraft

text: A remastered edition of the game, "", released August 14, 2017, preserves the gameplay of the original while adding support for ultra-high-definition graphics, Blizzard's modern online features, and re-recorded audio (soundtrack and sound effects). On July 10, 2019, Blizzard released "StarCraft: Cartooned", a graphics overhaul pack for the game by Carbot Animations, the producers of multiple Blizzard-related parody animations, including their first and longest-running one, the "StarCrafts" series. As a graphical overhaul, its effect applies to all game modes and menus in "StarCraft: Remastered".


title: StarCraft

text: A port of the "StarCraft" and "StarCraft: Brood War" campaigns was released in 2011 as a fan-made mod for StarCraft II under the name "StarCraft: Mass Recall". The mod includes the original units, campaigns, and hidden missions, but uses the "StarCraft II" engine including the AI mechanics, which makes the game notably more difficult than the original. It was completed in 2019 and has since received minor technical updates.


title: StarCraft

text: "" is the official sequel to "StarCraft" released for Windows and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment on July 27, 2010. The game was announced at the Worldwide Invitational in South Korea on May 19, 2007 with a pre-rendered cinematic cut scene trailer and a gameplay demonstration of the Protoss. Further demonstrations regarding the game's new features have been showcased at subsequent BlizzCons and other games conventions. The game incorporates a new 3D graphics engine and adds new features such as the Havok physics engine. "StarCraft II" also incorporates DirectX 10 level effects in Windows. Originally envisioned as a single game, "StarCraft II" was split into three parts during development, one for focusing on each race. The base game, "Wings of Liberty", follows the Terrans, while two expansion packs, "Heart of the Swarm" and "Legacy of the Void", have been released to complement "Wings of Liberty" and further the story from the views of the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The story of "Wings of Liberty" continues from four years after the conclusion of "Brood War" and revolves around Jim Raynor's struggles against the Terran Dominion.


title: StarCraft

text: "" is an expansion pack to "" and was released on March 12, 2013. It is part two of the "StarCraft II" trilogy. The expansion includes additional units and multiplayer changes from Wings of Liberty, as well as a continuing campaign focusing on Kerrigan and the Zerg race. It spans 27 missions (20 main missions and 7 side missions).


title: StarCraft

text: The saga of "StarCraft" is ultimately completed with "", which was released on November 10, 2015. "StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void" is a stand-alone game in which new units are added to all three races as well as changing existing units, and also makes groundbreaking changes to the economy-aspect of the game. The story of StarCraft is concluded by following the Protoss Race in their quest to reclaim their homeworld and for Kerrigan to ultimately slay the greatest threat to the entire universe. The game is divided into a 3-mission prologue, a 19-mission main story campaign, and a 3-mission epilogue that wraps everything up.


title: StarCraft

text: At BlizzCon 2015, during the "Future of StarCraft II" presentation, it was revealed that Blizzard will release additional mission packs to keep players engaged with StarCraft II. The first pack is called "", and will center around the character Nova. The mission pack consists of three episodes, with a total of nine new missions. It did not require the purchase of StarCraft II and could be played with the Starter Edition. The release date for the first episode is March 29, 2016.


title: StarCraft

text: At the same time, Blizzard has announced that new commanders are planned to be added to the Co-Op mode in Legacy of the Void as a DLC, with Karax to be the first addition given for free.


title: StarCraft

text: The success of "StarCraft" spurred the creation of two authorized add-on titles to "StarCraft", as well as one failed attempt at a deviation into a genre other than real-time strategy.


title: StarCraft

text: "" was the first add-on pack released for "StarCraft". Although developed and published by Aztech New Media, it is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for the PC on July 31, 1998. The expansion's story focuses on a Confederate colony during the course of the first campaign of "StarCraft". As in "StarCraft", the player takes control of each race in three separate campaigns. In the first campaign, Terran colonists attempt to defend themselves from the Zerg invasion of the sector as well as from a rising insurgency. The second campaign has the player directing a Protoss task force sent to clear the Zerg infestation of the colony by any means necessary. In the final campaign, the player assumes the role of a Zerg cerebrate, whose goal is to crush all opposition on the surface. The expansion contains 30 new campaign missions and over 100 new multiplayer maps, although it does not include new content in the form of units and graphical terrain tilesets. "Insurrection" was criticized by reviewers for lacking the quality of the original game, and is not widely available. Although the add-on is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, they offer no comment on support or availability of the game.


title: StarCraft

text: "Retribution" is the second of the two authorized add-on packs released for "StarCraft". The add-on was developed by Stardock and published by WizardWorks. It was released for the PC in late 1998. The game is set during the second campaign in "StarCraft", revolving around the acquisition of a crystal of immense power connected to the Xel'Naga. Divided into three campaigns, the game has the player assuming the roles of a Protoss fleet executor, the commander of a Dominion task force, and a Zerg cerebrate, all tasked with retrieving "the crystal" from a Dominion colony and getting it off the planet as quickly as possible. As with its predecessor, "Retribution" does not include any new gameplay features beyond its single player campaigns and an abundance of multiplayer levels. The add-on was not well received by reviewers, and instead it was regarded as "average", but at least challenging. "Retribution" is similarly not widely available, and Blizzard Entertainment offers no comment regarding support or the availability of the add-on despite authorizing it.


title: StarCraft

text: "" was intended to be a tactical stealth game for video game consoles developed under the supervision of Blizzard Entertainment. Announced in 2002, the game was constantly delayed due to various issues, including a change of development team from Nihilistic Software to Swingin' Ape Studios in July 2004. As updates about the development of the game became less frequent, and the graphics and game mechanics became more outdated, suspicion began to grow that Blizzard would cancel the game. Finally, on March 24, 2006, Blizzard indefinitely postponed the game's development. The story of the game is about Nova, a of the Terran Dominion. Frequently used as an example of development hell, in 2008, Blizzard Entertainment refused to list the game as "cancelled". It was not until August 23, 2014, in an interview with Polygon, that Chris Metzen confirmed that "StarCraft: Ghost" was indeed cancelled.


title: StarCraft

text: Blizzard still has yet to produce an FPS game based on StarCraft. In summer 2019 there was a 2nd project called StarCraft: Ares that was cancelled when Blizzard focused on developing Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 instead.


title: StarCraft

text: Blizzard Entertainment began planning development on "StarCraft" in 1995, shortly after the beginning of development for "Diablo". The development was led by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, who also created the game's fictional universe. Using the "" game engine as a base, "StarCraft" made its debut at E3 1996. The game's success led to the development of two authorized add-ons, which were both released in 1998. However, neither of the two add-ons were particularly well received by critics. "StarCraft" also marked the debut of Blizzard Entertainment's film department. Previously, cinematic cut scenes were seen as simply gap fillers that often deviated from the game, but with "StarCraft" and later "Brood War" introducing high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series, Blizzard Entertainment is cited as having changed this perception and became one of the first game companies to raise the standard regarding such cut scenes.


title: StarCraft

text: "StarCraft"s success also inspired third-party developer Microstar Software to release an unauthorized add-on, entitled "Stellar Forces", in May 1998. Blizzard Entertainment consequently filed a lawsuit against Microstar for selling the add-on, arguing that as the product was unauthorized and created using "StarCraft"s level editing software, it was a breach of the end user license agreement.


title: StarCraft

text: In November 1998, Blizzard Entertainment won the court case against Microstar Software. In the settlement, Microstar agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in punitive damages and to destroy all remaining copies of "Stellar Forces" in its possession, as well as to formally apologize to Blizzard Entertainment.


title: StarCraft

text: After the release of the first two add-on packs, Blizzard Entertainment announced the official expansion pack to "StarCraft", entitled "Brood War". Most of the team at Blizzard Entertainment responsible for "StarCraft" returned to work on "Brood War". Development on "Brood War" began shortly after "StarCraft"s release, and Blizzard Entertainment were assisted by members of Saffire, who were contracted for a variety of tasks consisting of programming and design for levels, visuals and audio effects.


title: StarCraft

text: In 2001, "" began development under Nihilistic Software, with the aim of releasing the game for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube during late 2003. Unlike previous real-time strategy "StarCraft" titles, "Ghost" was to be a tactical third-person action game. Although the press was positive about the video game console direction taken by "Ghost", the game was consistently delayed, and during the third quarter of 2004, Nihilistic Software discontinued their work with the project. Blizzard stated that Nihilistic Software had completed the tasks it had been contracted for and that the game would be delivered on time. The game was never released, although footage purported to be from the game was leaked online in 2021 before being taken down due to a request by Blizzard.


title: StarCraft

text: "StarCraft II" was announced on May 19, 2007, nearly a decade after the original, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. "StarCraft II" was being developed, under the codename "Medusa", for concurrent release on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X. Blizzard announced a release date for July 27, 2010. Development on the game began in 2003, shortly after "" was released.


title: StarCraft

text: The soundtrack for the original "StarCraft" was provided by Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes, and Tracey W. Bush. The soundtrack for "StarCraft II" was provided by Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Neal Acree, and Russell Brower. Brower, Blizzard's Director of Audio, has suggested that the music of StarCraft serves two functions: the music heard during gameplay is designed to be unobtrusive in order to allow the player to focus, with only the music that attaches to the cinematic interludes permitted to become more distinctive. Brower has also pointed out that certain musical themes in "StarCraft II" become associated with certain characters, a technique borrowed from composers such as John Williams and Richard Wagner.


title: StarCraft

text: Brower has said that most of the music for the original "StarCraft" series was produced on keyboards.


title: StarCraft

text: The original material for the "Wings of Liberty" soundtrack spans approximately four hours. Brower has said in interviews that his team was consciously seeking a film-score feel for "StarCraft II". In a short commentary provided for Blizzard, he recounted that the orchestral music for "StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty" was performed by 78 members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera and recorded at the Skywalker stage at the Lucasfilm Ranch in Marin County, California, under the name 'Skywalker Symphony Orchestra', conducted by Eímear Noone. Brower also recalled the use of a 32-voice choir in Seattle, Washington. Both these recording sessions were mixed by John Kurlander, who had previously worked on Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" and The Beatles' "Abbey Road". The Terran country and blues pieces were recorded at Dreamland studio in Woodstock, New York and performed by members of Peter Gabriel's band, including bassist Tony Levin and drummer Jerry Marotta. Remaining pieces were recorded at the Blizzard studios, performed by musicians such as Laurence Juber (formerly of Wings) and Tommy Morgan. The soundtrack also contains John Bacchus Dykes and William Whiting's hymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" (1860).


title: StarCraft

text: The orchestral music for "Heart of the Swarm" was likewise recorded in Marin County, again with the services of Kurlander and Noone, with 80 performers from the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra.


title: StarCraft

text: Brower stated in an interview in 2013 that he intended to continue the process of associative musical themes in "Legacy of the Void".


title: StarCraft

text: The "StarCraft" series is supported by at least 12 novelizations and an anthology, all published by Simon & Schuster, two short stories, and two graphic novels. At BlizzCon 2007, Chris Metzen stated that he hoped to novelize the entirety of "StarCraft" and "Brood War" into a definitive text-based story. The first novel, "StarCraft: Uprising", was written by Micky Neilson, a Blizzard Entertainment employee, and originally released only as an e-book in December 2000. The novel follows the origins of the character Sarah Kerrigan. The second novel, entitled "StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade", serves as an adaptation of the first campaign of "StarCraft", following on a journalist following a number of the key Terran characters in the series. Written by Jeff Grubb and published in March 2001, it was the first "StarCraft" novel to be released in paperback. "StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga", published in July 2001 is the third novel, written by Kevin Anderson under the pseudonym Gabriel Mesta. It serves as a link between "StarCraft" and "Brood War". The fantasy author Tracy Hickman was brought in to write the fourth novel, "StarCraft: Speed of Darkness", which was published in June 2002. "Speed of Darkness" is written from the viewpoint of a Confederate marine during the early stages of "StarCraft". The first four novels, including the e-book "Uprising", were later re-released as a single anthology entitled "The StarCraft Archive" in November 2007.


title: StarCraft

text: A fifth novel entitled "StarCraft: Queen of Blades" was published in June 2006. Written by Aaron S. Rosenberg, it is a novelization of the second campaign in "StarCraft" from the perspective of Jim Raynor. This was followed in November 2006 by "StarCraft Ghost: Nova", a book focusing on the early origins of the character of Nova from the postponed "" game. Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the novel was meant to accompany the release of "StarCraft: Ghost", but was continued despite the postponement of the game. In 2007 Christie Golden, an author whose previous work included novels in Blizzard's "Warcraft" series, was brought in to write a trilogy entitled the "StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga". The trilogy acts as a link between "StarCraft" and its sequel "". The first installment, "Firstborn" being published in May 2007 and "Shadow Hunters", the second novel, being published in November 2007. The final part of the trilogy, "Twilight" was released in June 2009. "I, Mengsk" was publish in 2009, a novel that was written by Graham McNeill which focuses on the origins of the characters in the Mengsk family. In January 2010 Keith R.A. DeCandido and David Gerrold authored the "StarCraft: Ghost Academy" to elaborate the training of Nova as an espionage agent and in September 2011, Simon & Schuster published the "StarCraft Ghost: Spectres" as a sequel to the novel "StarCraft Ghost: Nova". Timothy Zahn released "Starcraft: Evolution" in 2016.


title: StarCraft

text: In addition to these, Blizzard Entertainment authorized two short stories in "Amazing Stories" magazine, entitled "StarCraft: Revelations" and "StarCraft: Hybrid". "Revelations" was authored by series creator Chris Metzen and Sam Moore, a Blizzard employee, and was featured on the cover of the 1999 spring edition with art by Blizzard's art director Samwise Didier. "Hybrid" was written by Micky Neilson and again was accompanied by artwork by Didier; the short story was published in the spring edition of 2000. At New York Comic-Con in 2008, TokyoPop announced that they would be producing a number of "StarCraft" graphic novels. Two series were announced: "StarCraft: Frontline", which is a series of short story anthologies that spanned four volumes, and "StarCraft: Ghost Academy", which was written by Keith R.A. DeCandido and follows several characters, such as Nova, during their training as the psychic assassins called "ghosts". There was a "Starcraft" graphic novel released in 2010, produced by Wildstorm and DC Comics, which features outlaws working on a last job, the assassination of Jim Raynor.


title: StarCraft

text: A number of action figures and collectable statues based upon the characters and units in "StarCraft" have been produced by ToyCom. A number of model kits, made by Academy Hobby Model Kits, were also produced, displaying 1/30 scale versions of the marine and the hydralisk. In addition, Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with Fantasy Flight Games to create a based in the "StarCraft" universe. Blizzard Entertainment also licensed Wizards of the Coast to produce an Alternity based game entitled "StarCraft Adventures".


title: StarCraft

text: In 2015, Blizzard released "Heroes of the Storm", a crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game in which players can control over 15 characters from the "StarCraft" universe as playable heroes, such as Artanis, Kerrigan, Nova, Raynor, and Zeratul. The game features two "StarCraft"-themed battlegrounds, Braxis Holdout and Warhead Junction. Various soundtracks from "StarCraft," such as "Terran" and "Zerg Theme," are present as background music in the game. "Heroes of the Storm" originated as a custom map called "Blizzard DOTA", as a part of the arcade feature for "."


title: StarCraft

text: The "StarCraft" series has been a commercial success. After its release, "StarCraft" became the best-selling PC game for that year, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In the next decade, "StarCraft" sold over 9.5 million copies across the globe, with 4.5 million of these being sold in South Korea. Since the initial release of "StarCraft", Blizzard Entertainment reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent. "StarCraft" remained one of the most popular online games in the world ten years after its release. After its release, "StarCraft" rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea, establishing a successful pro-gaming scene. Pro-gamers in South Korea are niche media celebrities and "StarCraft" games broadcast over three television channels dedicated to gaming. "StarCraft" has won numerous Game of the Year awards, is often described as one of the best real-time strategy games made, and is widely credited with popularizing the use of distinct and unique sides—as opposed to sides of equal ability and strength—in real-time strategy games.


title: StarCraft

text: Although "Insurrection" and "Retribution" were not particularly well received, "StarCraft: Brood War" generally received very positive reviews, with an aggregate GameRankings score of 95.00%. The magazine "PC Zone" gave "Brood War" a short but flattering review, describing it as having "definitely been worth the wait" and also drew note to the cinematic cut scenes, stating that they "actually feel like part of the story rather than an afterthought." IGN stated that "Brood War"s enhancements were "enough to enrich the core gameplay without losing the flavor" while GameSpot noted that the expansion was developed with the same level of care as the full game.


title: StarCraft

text: In 1999, "Next Generation" listed "Warcraft" and "Starcraft" as number 32 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, ""StarCraft" took it all a step further, with an innovative campaign structure and fantastic game balance for endless hours of multiplayer fun."


title: StarCraft

text: The release of "" performed very well commercially and critically, selling 1.8 million copies within the first forty eight hours of release, which breaks the record of best selling strategy game in the history of the gaming industry. It received very positive reviews with an aggregate GameRankings score of 93%, and was nominated as the "Best PC Game of 2010" on GameSpot. By the end of 2012, "Wings of Liberty" had sold more than 6 million copies. This success continued with the release of the first expansion pack, "", which had a GameRankings aggregate score of 86%. The standalone expansion pack sold 1.1 million copies within the first two days of its release on March 12, 2013, and was the best-selling PC game in that quarter. "", the third expansion pack, was similarly well received, having a GameRankings aggregate score of 88% while selling more than 1 million copies worldwide within the first day of its release.


title: StarCraft

text: Since the release of "StarCraft II" a number of tournaments have been hosted in Korea and elsewhere, such as the GOMTV Global StarCraft II League (GSL).


title: StarCraft

text: In December 2018, an artificial intelligence system by Google's DeepMind (called "AlphaStar") beat professional players in StarCraft II for the first time.


title: StarCraft

text: The series had sold over 17.6 million copies of games and expansions by the end of 2015. The first game (including "Brood War") sold 11 million copies by 2009, making it the best selling PC strategy game of all time. By the end of 2017, the franchise had grossed over $1 billion in total revenue.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Numbers (stylized as NUMB3RS) is an American crime drama television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, for six seasons and 118 episodes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his brother Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), a college mathematics professor and prodigy, who helps Don solve crimes for the FBI. Brothers Ridley and Tony Scott produced "Numbers"; its production companies are the Scott brothers' Scott Free Productions and CBS Television Studios (originally Paramount Network Television, and later CBS Paramount Network Television).


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The show focuses equally on the relationships among Don Eppes, his brother Charlie Eppes, and their father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), and on the brothers' efforts to fight crime, usually in Los Angeles. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically modeled by Charlie, with the help of Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) and Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat). The insights provided by Charlie's mathematics were always in some way crucial to solving the crime.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The show revolved around three intersecting groups of characters: the FBI, scientists at the fictitious California Institute of Science (CalSci), and the Eppes family.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Temporary characters on the show were often named after famous mathematicians. For example, in the episode "In Plain Sight" (season two, episode eight), one of the criminals is named Rolle and Charlie's father mentions a meeting with a man named Robert Peterson.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Opening: (Voice-over by David Krumholtz) We all use math every day. To predict weather, to tell time, to handle money. Math is more than formulas and equations. It's logic; it's rationality. It's using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The first season aired between January 23, 2005, and May 13, 2005, at 10:00 pm on Fridays. It started the working relationship between Los Angeles' FBI field office and Charlie Eppes. The main FBI agents are Charlie's brother, Don Eppes, and Terry Lake, as well as David Sinclair. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes, provides emotional support for the pair, while Professor Larry Fleinhardt and doctoral student Amita Ramanujan provide mathematical support and insights to Charlie. Season one was a half-season, producing only 13 episodes. Sabrina Lloyd played Terry Lake, an agent, in this season; she was later replaced by Diane Farr, who played Megan Reeves.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The second season aired between September 23, 2005, and May 19, 2006, again at 10:00 pm on Fridays. Season two has several changes to Don's FBI team: Terry Lake is reassigned to Washington and two new members join Don and David Sinclair: Megan Reeves and Colby Granger. Charlie is challenged on one of his long-standing mathematical workpieces and starts work on a new theory, cognitive emergence theory. Larry sells his home and assumes a nomadic lifestyle while he becomes romantically involved with Megan. Amita receives an offer for an assistant professor position at Harvard University, but is plagued by doubt as her relationship with Charlie is challenged, and her career is in upheaval. Alan begins work and dating again, although he struggles with the loss of his wife and Charlie and his dream of her.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: "Numb3rs" was renewed for a third season, which began airing at 10:00 pm on Friday, September 22, 2006, and ended on May 18, 2007. Charlie and Amita intensify their relationship, as do Larry and Megan, especially after Megan's kidnapping. Amita has trouble adjusting to her new role as a CalSci professor, and Larry announces his leave of absence; he will be on the International Space Station for six months, which greatly distresses Charlie. Charlie and his colleagues are troubled by Dr. Mildred Finch, the newly appointed chair of the CalSci Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy Division, whom they learn has begun dating Alan.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Meanwhile, Don dates Agent Liz Warner and questions his ethics and self worth, and receives counseling. Charlie sees Don's therapist, and the two understand one another more. Despite Don's concerns, Alan engages in some FBI consulting with his engineering knowledge, and Larry returns from the space station, disillusioned. The finale wraps up with a revelation that Colby was a double agent for the Chinese.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Noticeable changes from previous seasons include removing the opening-credit sequence (credits are now done during the first segment of the show), the absence of Peter MacNicol's character for much of the season, and the absence of Diane Farr's character for a few episodes. Peter MacNicol appeared in the first 11 episodes before leaving for the television show "24", but returned to "Numbers" for the 21st episode of season three ("The Art of Reckoning"). His character's absence was written into the show by becoming a payload specialist on the International Space Station. Diane Farr, pregnant for most of the season, left the show for maternity leave in episode 18 ("Democracy"); her character's absence is explained as a particular assignment to the Department of Justice.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The season premiere aired on September 28, 2007, in the same time slot as in previous seasons, 10:00 pm Eastern Time. Because of the writer's strike, only 12 episodes were initially produced. However, once the strike ended, CBS announced the show's return April 4, 2008, with six episodes. The season ended on May 16, 2008.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: As this season starts, Colby Granger escapes from jail and is revealed to be a triple agent. He then rejoins the team. Don and Liz break up halfway through this season after Liz has trouble with Don's trust issues. Amita's parents come to visit, which becomes a secondary theme throughout most of the season. Due to her work at the DOJ, Megan is conflicted by her work and turns to Larry. Near the end of the season, Don's girlfriend from season two, Robin Brooks, returns. Don and Robin then continue their relationship. Charlie attends FBI training camp because he has been working with Don for several years and wants to understand better what his brother does. In the season finale, Megan leaves the team to move back to Washington, DC, and Charlie goes head-to-head with Don about a case. This causes Charlie to send information to scientists in Pakistan. He is subsequently arrested and has his security clearance revoked to no longer help Don on cases. At the end of the episode, Don drives away to another case, and Charlie admits that giving up FBI work will be more challenging than he expected.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Several characters from previous seasons did not appear in season four, most notably Mildred Finch and Ian Edgerton.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The fifth season premiered on October 3, 2008, and the season finale aired on May 15, 2009. The season premiere was moved back one week to accommodate the 2008 presidential debates.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Season five opens three weeks after "When Worlds Collide" (season four's finale), with the government dropping the charges against Charlie. Charlie gets his security clearance back after Don and he fight FBI Security Officer Carl McGowan. Don begins to explore Judaism. The team adds new agent Nikki Betancourt, who arrives shortly after Megan Reeves' departure. Robin is offered a promotion but turns it down. Buck Winters (from the episodes "Spree" and "Two Daughters") breaks out of prison and comes after Don. Alan suddenly finds himself coaching CalSci's basketball team. David becomes Don's primary relief supervisor. DARPA tries to recruit Charlie, but he turns down their offer. Toward the end of the season, Don is stabbed, and Charlie blames himself for it. The aftermath of Don's stabbing causes Charlie to focus more on his FBI consultation work. Amita is kidnapped, and the team races to find her. After she is rescued, Charlie proposes to Amita. Her response is left undisclosed.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The sixth and final season premiered Friday, September 25, 2009, at 10:00 pm ET and the season finale aired on March 12, 2010, 3 days before Hirsch's 75th birthday.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The season starts with the engagement of Charlie and Amita. Soon after, Larry turns down an opportunity to meet with mathematicians at CERN, in Geneva, and drops his course load for the following semester. This leads Charlie to realize Larry is once again leaving and leaving all of his work to Charlie. Don learns that his former mentor is crooked, causing Don angst to shoot his mentor. Charlie and Don realize that Alan has lost a substantial amount of money in his 401(k). After some delay, Larry leaves Los Angeles to find a vacant piece of land for sale within driving distance of the city. Alan decides to return to work and finds a job as a software technical consultant. David asks Don for advice about career paths within the FBI. Larry returns from the desert with a new theory about the universe's fate. Charlie and Amita begin planning their wedding and decide to join the Big Brother/Big Sister program to practice parenting skills. They get married before their move to England to teach at the University of Cambridge. Don loses his gun, recovers it after it is used in some vigilante murders, and gets engaged to Robin. He also decides to leave the team, taking an administrative position within the FBI. Before leaving, Charlie and Amita decide that the family garage should be converted to a guest house so Alan can continue living with them. Leaving Colby, Liz, and Nikki behind, David departs for Washington, DC, to a position as an anti-corruption team leader.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) has released all six seasons of "Numb3rs" on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, have won several awards for the show, including the Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science in 2006, and the National Science Board's Public Service Award in 2007. Also, the show's stunt coordinator, Jim Vickers, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination in 2006 for episode 14 of Season 2, "Harvest".


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Several mathematicians work as consultants for each episode. Actual mathematics are presented in the show; the equations on the chalkboards are mathematically valid, and are somewhat applicable to the situations presented in each show. This mathematical validity and applicability of the equations have been asserted by professional mathematicians.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: A book entitled "The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics" (; published August 28, 2007), written by Keith Devlin and Dr. Gary Lorden, a consultant to the show along with Dr. Orara, a physics consultant, explain some of the mathematical techniques that have been used both in actual FBI cases and in other law-enforcement departments.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Since the premiere season, the blog edited by Prof. Mark Bridger (Northeastern University) has commented on the mathematics behind each episode of the show.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Wolfram Research (the developers of "Mathematica") is the chief math consultant, reviewing scripts and providing background mathematics for the show. Starting with season four, their website in collaboration with CBS is entitled "The math behind "NUMB3RS"".


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Alice Silverberg, a mathematician consultant to the show, expressed concern with its use of mathematics, asserting that the math is inserted after the initial script and written to provide plausible-sounding jargon, rather than having consultants involved at all stages of story development. The same part-time consultant offered criticism of the show's portrayal of female mathematicians and expressed concern over the appropriateness of the relationship between Charlie Eppes and his graduate student Amita Ramanujan.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The idea for "Numbers" was generated in the late 1990s when Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, attended a lecture given by Bill Nye, a popular science educator. The premise of the show is similar to that of author Colin Bruce's reimaginings of the Sherlock Holmes character, and to the "Mathnet" segment on the children's television show "Square One".


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Gabriel Macht was originally cast to portray the character of Don Eppes. Also, the original concept for the show had the events take place at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; this was later changed to the fictional California Institute of Science, commonly called CalSci. Scenes which take place at CalSci are filmed at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Southern California. One of the most frequent campus locations at Caltech is the vicinity of , including the bridge over Millikan Pond, the Trustees room, and the arcades of nearby buildings. At USC, locations include Doheny Library and the Town and Gown dining room. Exteriors for the FBI offices are on the distinctive bridge at Los Angeles Center Studios.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Another common location is the Craftsman home of the Eppes family. The house shown in the first season is real; it is owned by David Raposa and Edward Trosper, although a replica set was used from the second season onwards.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: The show uses the number three in its title instead of the letter "e", in which is found in Leetspeak. In the interviews with Tom Jicha of the "South Florida Sun-Sentinel" and with Alan Pergament of "The Buffalo News", Heuton mentioned that the use of the number three in the title derives from leet, a form of computer jargon that replaces letters with numbers. Dr. Gary Lorden, a California Institute of Technology mathematics professor who served as the show's mathematics consultant, told NPR's Ira Flatow that it was created on a normal computer keyboard. Lorden also mentioned that the use of the number three in the title can serve as a restriction in Internet searches about the series.


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Both entertainment reporters and psychologists noticed the title's spelling. Some reporters, such as Joanne Ostrow of the "Denver Post", the staff members of "People Magazine", the editors of The Futon Critic, the staff of the Scripps Howard News Service, and Mike Hughes of "USA Today" acknowledged the presence of the number three in the title. Lynette Rice of "Entertainment Weekly" asked Krumholtz about the three in the title; his response was, "Isn't that annoying? I think it should be the mathematical symbol for sigma, which looks like an E. I've been fighting that for weeks." (The sigma (Σ) stands for summation.) Others used varying adjectives to describe the title. The TV site Zap2it.com called it "their typographical silliness, not ours". Brad Aspey of "The Muskegon Chronicle", stated, "No, that wasn't an ugly typo you just read - "NUMB3RS" (pronounced numbers) is the idiosyncratic title of filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott's astute and crafty psychological drama which shows that even math can make for edge-of-your-seat entertainment." Ellen Gray of "The Philadelphia Daily News", said, "Some of you may have noticed that in promoting "Numb3rs," which premieres Sunday before moving to its regular 10 p.m. Friday slot, CBS has chosen to put a 3 in place of the "e" in the title...I won't be going along with this particular affectation, which slows down my typing and seems to be the graphic equivalent of the reversed "R" in Toys R Us. So there."


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: Still others had a more positive view of the title. When NPR's Flatow asked both Lorden and Dr. Keith Devlin, NPR's mathematics reporter, about the title, both men denied creating the title; Devlin believed that executive producer Tony Scott originated the title. Lorden stated that he initially thought that the title was "kind of hokey", but later saw it as "brilliant" and a "catchy logo". Jonathan Storm of "The Philadelphia Inquirer", in his review of the series stated, "You'd think CBS's new "Numbers", which premieres at 10 tonight after the Patriots-Steelers football game, is just another one of those shows with numskull titles trying to draw attention to themselves. But the '3' substituting for the 'e' is actually based on a real thing"... He later said that the show was "written by people familiar with the Dead Cow Cult". David Brooks of "The Telegraph (Nashua, NH)" devoted the majority of his entire review to the use of leet in the series title. In addition, three psychologists, Manuel Perea, Jon Andoni Duñabeitia, and Manuel Carreiras mentioned the television series in their 2008 article for the American Psychological Association's "".


title: Numbers (TV series)

text: "Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps."


title: Leonardo (2021 TV series)

text: Leonardo is a historical drama created by Frank Spotnitz and Steve Thompson. The series was produced by Italian in collaboration with Rai Fiction, Sony Pictures Entertainment, with Frank Spotnitz's Big Light Productions and Freddie Highmore's Alfresco Pictures in association with France Télévisions and RTVE.


title: Leonardo (2021 TV series)

text: The series recounts Leonardo da Vinci's extraordinary life through the works that made him famous and through the stories hidden within those works, revealing little by little the inner torments of a man obsessed with attaining perfection.


title: Leonardo (2021 TV series)

text: In 1506, Leonardo da Vinci, the most famous artist of his time, is accused of the murder of Caterina da Cremona. Questioned by Stefano Giraldi, an ambitious officer of the Duchy of Milan, Leonardo begins to tell his life, starting from the first meeting with Caterina in Andrea del Verrocchio's workshop. Giraldi, fascinated by the artist's personality, begins to suspect that Leonardo may be innocent and investigates to discover the truth.


title: Leonardo (2021 TV series)

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series aired on Amazon Prime Video, premiering 16 April 2021. In India, the series premiered on SonyLIV on 9 April 2021. It aired in Canada on 15 April on Telus, while in Spain, on 3 June on RTVE. In March 2022, The CW picked up the series in the United States, and it premiered on 16 August 2022 as part of the network's summer programming slate in the 2021–22 television season.


title: Leonardo (2021 TV series)

text: The producers openly declared that they had purposely moved away from historical reality to insert elements of fantasy, such as the story relating to the murder accusation of Leonardo and the character of Caterina da Cremona. Among the alterations to real events are:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with mechanical friction. The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (), while electrical conductance is measured in siemens (S) (formerly called the 'mho' and then represented by ).


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The resistance of an object depends in large part on the material it is made of. Objects made of electrical insulators like rubber tend to have very high resistance and low conductance, while objects made of electrical conductors like metals tend to have very low resistance and high conductance. This relationship is quantified by resistivity or conductivity. The nature of a material is not the only factor in resistance and conductance, however; it also depends on the size and shape of an object because these properties are extensive rather than intensive. For example, a wire's resistance is higher if it is long and thin, and lower if it is short and thick. All objects resist electrical current, except for superconductors, which have a resistance of zero.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The resistance of an object is defined as the ratio of voltage across it to current through it, while the conductance is the reciprocal:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: For a wide variety of materials and conditions, and are directly proportional to each other, and therefore and are constants (although they will depend on the size and shape of the object, the material it is made of, and other factors like temperature or strain). This proportionality is called Ohm's law, and materials that satisfy it are called "ohmic" materials.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: In other cases, such as a transformer, diode or battery, and are not directly proportional. The ratio is sometimes still useful, and is referred to as a "chordal resistance" or "static resistance", since it corresponds to the inverse slope of a chord between the origin and an – curve. In other situations, the derivative formula_2 may be most useful; this is called the "differential resistance".


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: In the hydraulic analogy, current flowing through a wire (or resistor) is like water flowing through a pipe, and the voltage drop across the wire is like the pressure drop that pushes water through the pipe. Conductance is proportional to how much flow occurs for a given pressure, and resistance is proportional to how much pressure is required to achieve a given flow.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The voltage drop (i.e., difference between voltages on one side of the resistor and the other), not the voltage itself, provides the driving force pushing current through a resistor. In hydraulics, it is similar: the pressure difference between two sides of a pipe, not the pressure itself, determines the flow through it. For example, there may be a large water pressure above the pipe, which tries to push water down through the pipe. But there may be an equally large water pressure below the pipe, which tries to push water back up through the pipe. If these pressures are equal, no water flows. (In the image at right, the water pressure below the pipe is zero.)


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The resistance and conductance of a wire, resistor, or other element is mostly determined by two properties:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Geometry is important because it is more difficult to push water through a long, narrow pipe than a wide, short pipe. In the same way, a long, thin copper wire has higher resistance (lower conductance) than a short, thick copper wire.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Materials are important as well. A pipe filled with hair restricts the flow of water more than a clean pipe of the same shape and size. Similarly, electrons can flow freely and easily through a copper wire, but cannot flow as easily through a steel wire of the same shape and size, and they essentially cannot flow at all through an insulator like rubber, regardless of its shape. The difference between copper, steel, and rubber is related to their microscopic structure and electron configuration, and is quantified by a property called resistivity.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: In addition to geometry and material, there are various other factors that influence resistance and conductance, such as temperature; see below.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Substances in which electricity can flow are called conductors. A piece of conducting material of a particular resistance meant for use in a circuit is called a resistor. Conductors are made of high-conductivity materials such as metals, in particular copper and aluminium. Resistors, on the other hand, are made of a wide variety of materials depending on factors such as the desired resistance, amount of energy that it needs to dissipate, precision, and costs.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: For many materials, the current through the material is proportional to the voltage applied across it:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: over a wide range of voltages and currents. Therefore, the resistance and conductance of objects or electronic components made of these materials is constant. This relationship is called Ohm's law, and materials which obey it are called "ohmic" materials. Examples of ohmic components are wires and resistors. The current–voltage graph of an ohmic device consists of a straight line through the origin with positive slope.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Other components and materials used in electronics do not obey Ohm's law; the current is not proportional to the voltage, so the resistance varies with the voltage and current through them. These are called "nonlinear" or "non-ohmic". Examples include diodes and fluorescent lamps. The current-voltage curve of a nonohmic device is a curved line.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The resistance of a given object depends primarily on two factors: what material it is made of, and its shape. For a given material, the resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area; for example, a thick copper wire has lower resistance than an otherwise-identical thin copper wire. Also, for a given material, the resistance is proportional to the length; for example, a long copper wire has higher resistance than an otherwise-identical short copper wire. The resistance and conductance of a conductor of uniform cross section, therefore, can be computed as


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: where formula_5 is the length of the conductor, measured in metres (m), is the cross-sectional area of the conductor measured in square metres (m), (sigma) is the electrical conductivity measured in siemens per meter (S·m), and (rho) is the electrical resistivity (also called "specific electrical resistance") of the material, measured in ohm-metres (Ω·m). The resistivity and conductivity are proportionality constants, and therefore depend only on the material the wire is made of, not the geometry of the wire. Resistivity and conductivity are reciprocals: formula_6. Resistivity is a measure of the material's ability to oppose electric current.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: This formula is not exact, as it assumes the current density is totally uniform in the conductor, which is not always true in practical situations. However, this formula still provides a good approximation for long thin conductors such as wires.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Another situation for which this formula is not exact is with alternating current (AC), because the skin effect inhibits current flow near the center of the conductor. For this reason, the "geometrical" cross-section is different from the "effective" cross-section in which current actually flows, so resistance is higher than expected. Similarly, if two conductors near each other carry AC current, their resistances increase due to the proximity effect. At commercial power frequency, these effects are significant for large conductors carrying large currents, such as busbars in an electrical substation, or large power cables carrying more than a few hundred amperes.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The resistivity of different materials varies by an enormous amount: For example, the conductivity of teflon is about 10 times lower than the conductivity of copper. Loosely speaking, this is because metals have large numbers of "delocalized" electrons that are not stuck in any one place, so they are free to move across large distances. In an insulator, such as Teflon, each electron is tightly bound to a single molecule so a great force is required to pull it away. Semiconductors lie between these two extremes. More details can be found in the article: Electrical resistivity and conductivity. For the case of electrolyte solutions, see the article: Conductivity (electrolytic).


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Resistivity varies with temperature. In semiconductors, resistivity also changes when exposed to light. See below.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: An instrument for measuring resistance is called an ohmmeter. Simple ohmmeters cannot measure low resistances accurately because the resistance of their measuring leads causes a voltage drop that interferes with the measurement, so more accurate devices use four-terminal sensing.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Many electrical elements, such as diodes and batteries do satisfy Ohm's law. These are called "non-ohmic" or "non-linear", and their current–voltage curves are straight lines through the origin.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Resistance and conductance can still be defined for non-ohmic elements. However, unlike ohmic resistance, non-linear resistance is not constant but varies with the voltage or current through the device; i.e., its operating point. There are two types of resistance:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: When an alternating current flows through a circuit, the relation between current and voltage across a circuit element is characterized not only by the ratio of their magnitudes, but also the difference in their phases. For example, in an ideal resistor, the moment when the voltage reaches its maximum, the current also reaches its maximum (current and voltage are oscillating in phase). But for a capacitor or inductor, the maximum current flow occurs as the voltage passes through zero and vice versa (current and voltage are oscillating 90° out of phase, see image below). Complex numbers are used to keep track of both the phase and magnitude of current and voltage:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The impedance and admittance may be expressed as complex numbers that can be broken into real and imaginary parts:


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The complex angle formula_13 is the phase difference between the voltage and current passing through a component with impedance . For capacitors and inductors, this angle is exactly -90° or +90°, respectively, and and are nonzero. Ideal resistors have an angle of 0°, since (and ) are zero, and and reduce to and respectively. In general, AC systems are designed to keep the phase angle close to 0° as much as possible, since it reduces the reactive power, which does no useful work at a load. In a simple case with an inductive load (causing the phase to increase), a capacitor may be added for compensation, since the capacitors phase is negative, bringing the total impedance phase closer to 0° again.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: A key feature of AC circuits is that the resistance and conductance can be frequency-dependent, a phenomenon known as the universal dielectric response. One reason, mentioned above is the skin effect (and the related proximity effect). Another reason is that the resistivity itself may depend on frequency (see Drude model, deep-level traps, resonant frequency, Kramers–Kronig relations, etc.)


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Resistors (and other elements with resistance) oppose the flow of electric current; therefore, electrical energy is required to push current through the resistance. This electrical energy is dissipated, heating the resistor in the process. This is called "Joule heating" (after James Prescott Joule), also called "ohmic heating" or "resistive heating".


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The dissipation of electrical energy is often undesired, particularly in the case of transmission losses in power lines. High voltage transmission helps reduce the losses by reducing the current for a given power.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: On the other hand, Joule heating is sometimes useful, for example in electric stoves and other electric heaters (also called "resistive heaters"). As another example, incandescent lamps rely on Joule heating: the filament is heated to such a high temperature that it glows "white hot" with thermal radiation (also called incandescence).


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: where is the power (energy per unit time) converted from electrical energy to thermal energy, is the resistance, and is the current through the resistor.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Near room temperature, the resistivity of metals typically increases as temperature is increased, while the resistivity of semiconductors typically decreases as temperature is increased. The resistivity of insulators and electrolytes may increase or decrease depending on the system. For the detailed behavior and explanation, see Electrical resistivity and conductivity.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: As a consequence, the resistance of wires, resistors, and other components often change with temperature. This effect may be undesired, causing an electronic circuit to malfunction at extreme temperatures. In some cases, however, the effect is put to good use. When temperature-dependent resistance of a component is used purposefully, the component is called a resistance thermometer or thermistor. (A resistance thermometer is made of metal, usually platinum, while a thermistor is made of ceramic or polymer.)


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Resistance thermometers and thermistors are generally used in two ways. First, they can be used as thermometers: by measuring the resistance, the temperature of the environment can be inferred. Second, they can be used in conjunction with Joule heating (also called self-heating): if a large current is running through the resistor, the resistor's temperature rises and therefore its resistance changes. Therefore, these components can be used in a circuit-protection role similar to fuses, or for feedback in circuits, or for many other purposes. In general, self-heating can turn a resistor into a nonlinear and hysteretic circuit element. For more details see Thermistor#Self-heating effects.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: where formula_18 is called the "temperature coefficient of resistance", formula_19 is a fixed reference temperature (usually room temperature), and formula_20 is the resistance at temperature formula_19. The parameter formula_18 is an empirical parameter fitted from measurement data. Because the linear approximation is only an approximation, formula_18 is different for different reference temperatures. For this reason it is usual to specify the temperature that formula_18 was measured at with a suffix, such as formula_25, and the relationship only holds in a range of temperatures around the reference.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: The temperature coefficient formula_18 is typically to for metals near room temperature. It is usually negative for semiconductors and insulators, with highly variable magnitude.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Just as the resistance of a conductor depends upon temperature, the resistance of a conductor depends upon strain. By placing a conductor under tension (a form of stress that leads to strain in the form of stretching of the conductor), the length of the section of conductor under tension increases and its cross-sectional area decreases. Both these effects contribute to increasing the resistance of the strained section of conductor. Under compression (strain in the opposite direction), the resistance of the strained section of conductor decreases. See the discussion on strain gauges for details about devices constructed to take advantage of this effect.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Some resistors, particularly those made from semiconductors, exhibit "photoconductivity", meaning that their resistance changes when light is shining on them. Therefore, they are called "photoresistors" (or "light dependent resistors"). These are a common type of light detector.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Superconductors are materials that have exactly zero resistance and infinite conductance, because they can have and . This also means there is no joule heating, or in other words no dissipation of electrical energy. Therefore, if superconductive wire is made into a closed loop, current flows around the loop forever. Superconductors require cooling to temperatures near with liquid helium for most metallic superconductors like niobium–tin alloys, or cooling to temperatures near with liquid nitrogen for the expensive, brittle and delicate ceramic high temperature superconductors.


title: Electrical resistance and conductance

text: Nevertheless, there are many technological applications of superconductivity, including superconducting magnets.


title: Polar night

text: The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the Sun remains above the horizon for more than 24 hours.


title: Polar night

text: "Night" is understood as the center of the Sun being below a free horizon. Since the atmosphere refracts sunlight, the polar day is longer than the polar night, and the area that is affected by polar night is somewhat smaller than the area of midnight sun. The polar circle is located at a latitude between these two areas, at approximately 66.5°. While it is day in the Arctic Circle, it is night in the Antarctic Circle, and vice versa.


title: Polar night

text: Any planet or moon with a sufficient axial tilt that rotates with respect to its star significantly more frequently than it orbits the star (no tidal locking between the two) will experience the same phenomenon (a nighttime lasting more than one rotation period).


title: Polar night

text: The polar shortest day is not totally dark everywhere inside the polar circle, but only in places within about 5.5° of the poles, and only when the moon is well below the horizon. Regions located at the inner border of the polar circles experience polar twilight instead of polar night. In fact, polar regions typically get more twilight throughout the year than equatorial regions.


title: Polar night

text: For regions inside the polar circles, the maximum lengths of the time that the Sun is completely below the horizon varies from zero to a few days beyond the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle to 179 days at the Poles. However, not all this time is classified as polar night since sunlight may be visible because of refraction. The time when "any" part of the Sun is above the horizon at the poles is 186 days. The preceding numbers are average numbers: the ellipticity of Earth's orbit makes the South Pole receive a week more of Sun-below-horizon than the North Pole (see equinox).


title: Polar night

text: As there are various kinds of twilight, there also exist various kinds of polar night. Each kind of polar night is defined as when it is darker than the corresponding kind of twilight. The descriptions below are based on relatively clear skies, so the sky will be darker in the presence of dense clouds.


title: Polar night

text: Polar twilight occurs in areas that are located at the inner border of the polar circles, where the Sun will be on or below the horizon all day on the winter solstice. There is then no true daylight at the solar culmination, only civil twilight. This means that the Sun is below the horizon, but by less than 6°. During civil twilight, there may still be enough light for most normal outdoor activities because of light scattering by the upper atmosphere and refraction. Street lamps may remain on and a person looking at a window from within a brightly lit room may see their reflection even at noon, as the level of outdoor illuminance will be below that of many illuminated indoor spaces. It occurs at latitudes between 67°24’ and 72°34’ North or South, when the Sun does not rise, only civil twilight visible.


title: Polar night

text: Sufferers of seasonal affective disorder tend to seek out therapy with artificial light, as the psychological benefits of daylight require relatively high levels of ambient light (up to 10,000 lux) which are not present in any stage of twilight; thus, the midday twilights experienced anywhere inside the polar circles are still "polar night" for this purpose.


title: Polar night

text: The civil polar night period produces only a faint glow of light visible at midday. It happens when there is no civil twilight and only nautical twilight occurs at the solar culmination. Civil twilight happens when the Sun is between 0 and 6° below the horizon, and civil night when it is lower than that. Therefore, the civil polar night is limited to latitudes above 72° 34', which is exactly 6° inside the polar circle. Nowhere on mainland Europe is this definition met. On the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, however, civil polar night lasts from about 11 November until 30 January. Dikson, in Russia, experiences civil polar night from December 6 to January 6. During dense cloud cover places like the coast of Finnmark (about 70°) in Norway will get a darker "day". On the Canadian territory of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, however, civil polar night lasts from about 16 December until 26 December.


title: Polar night

text: During the nautical polar night period, there is no trace of daylight, except around midday. It happens when there is no nautical twilight and only astronomical twilight occurs at the solar culmination. Nautical twilight happens when the Sun is between six and twelve degrees below the horizon. There is a location at the horizon around midday with more light than others because of refraction. During nautical night, the Sun is lower than 12° below the horizon, so nautical polar night is limited to latitudes above 78° 34', which is exactly 12° within the polar circle, or 11.5° from the pole. Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost settlement in Canada and the world, experiences this from November 19 to January 22.


title: Polar night

text: Oodaaq, a gravel bank at the northern tip of Greenland and a disputed most northerly point of land, experiences this from November 15 to January 27. Its antipode () experiences this from May 13 to July 31.


title: Polar night

text: The Canadian territory of Eureka, Nunavut, experiences this from December 1 to January 10. Its antipode () experiences this from June 1 to July 11.


title: Polar night

text: The Norwegian territory of Svalbard Ny-Ålesund experiences this from December 12 to 30. Its antipode () experiences this from June 12 to July 1.


title: Polar night

text: The Russian territory of Franz Josef Land experiences this from November 27 to January 15. Its antipode () experiences this from May 25 to July 17.


title: Polar night

text: The astronomical polar night is a period of continuous night where no astronomical twilight occurs. Astronomical twilight happens when the Sun is between twelve and eighteen degrees below the horizon and astronomical night when it is lower than that. Thus, the astronomical polar night is limited to latitudes above 84° 34', which is exactly 18° within the polar circle, or five and a half degrees from the pole. The only permanent settlement on Earth above this latitude is Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, the South Pole scientific research station, whose winter personnel are completely isolated from mid-February to late October. During the astronomical polar night, stars of the sixth magnitude, which are the dimmest stars visible to the naked eye, will be visible throughout the entire day. This happens when the sun is between 18° and 23° 26’ below the horizon. These conditions last about 11 weeks at the poles.


title: Polar night

text: The South Pole, Antarctica experiences this from May 11 to August 1 or August 2 depending on the year.


title: Polar night

text: If an observer located on either the North Pole or the South Pole were to define a "day" as the time from the maximal elevation of the Sun above the horizon during one period of daylight, until the maximal elevation of the Sun above the horizon of the next period of daylight, then a "polar day" as experienced by such an observer would be one Earth-year long.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Slobodan Praljak (; 2 January 1945 – 29 November 2017) was a Bosnian Croat who served in the Croatian Army and the Croatian Defence Council, an army of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, between 1992 and 1995. Praljak was found guilty of committing violations of the laws of war, crimes against humanity, and breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the Croat–Bosniak War by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2017.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak voluntarily joined the newly formed Croatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Before and after the war he was an engineer, a television and theatre director, as well as a businessman. Praljak was indicted by, and voluntarily surrendered to, the ICTY in 2004. In 2013, he was convicted for war crimes against the Bosniak population during the Croat–Bosniak War alongside five other Bosnian Croat officials, and was sentenced to 20 years in jail (minus the time he had already spent in detention). Upon hearing the guilty verdict upheld in November 2017, Praljak stated that he rejected the verdict of the court, and fatally poisoned himself in the courtroom.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Slobodan Praljak was born on 2 January 1945 in Čapljina, Yugoslavia. His father Mirko worked for the security agency OZNA.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak attended high school in Široki Brijeg with the future Croatian Defence Minister Gojko Šušak. He had three university degrees. In 1970, he graduated as an electrical engineer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Zagreb with a GPA of 4.5/5. In 1971, he graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, majoring in philosophy and sociology. In 1972, he graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: At first, Praljak worked as a professor and manager of the electronics laboratory at the Nikola Tesla Vocational High School in Zagreb, then lectured on philosophy and sociology, and after 1973 was a freelance artist. Praljak was also a theatre director in theatres in Zagreb, Osijek and Mostar. He directed the television series "Blesan i Tulipan" [Blesan and Tulipan], television dramas "Novela od Stanca" and "Sargaško more" [Sargasso Sea], documentaries "Smrt psa" (1980) [Death of a Dog], "Sandžak" and "Duhan" [Tobacco] (both in 1990), and film "Povratak Katarine Kožul" (1989) [Return of Katarina Kožul].


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak drew public attention in September 1991 when he voluntarily joined the newly formed Croatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence. He formed a unit composed of the Zagreb artists and intellectuals with whom he held positions in Sunja. After the Sarajevo Agreement, by 3 April 1992, he was made major general, received a number of responsibilities in the Ministry of Defence, and became one of the 14 members of the Croatian National Defence Council and a member of the Croatian State Commission for Relations with United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). He was the High Representative of the Ministry of Defence, and since 13 May 1993, representative of the Ministry of Defence in the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Praljak petitioned Alija Izetbegović to unblock Sarajevo but his propositions were rejected. From 24 July to 8 November 1993, Praljak was the Chief of Staff of the Croatian Defence Council. In spite of the Croat-Muslim conflict in the Croat–Bosniak War, he sent a truck full of weapons to besieged Sarajevo to help Bosniaks. He also allowed the UNHCR's humanitarian convoy through to Mostar, which was stopped in Čitluk.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak was accused of failing to prevent the armed forces from committing many crimes of which he was informed and that he could foresee, including removing and placing in detention the Muslim population of Prozor from July through August 1993, murders in Mostar municipality, the destruction of buildings in East Mostar (including the mosques and the Stari Most), attacking and wounding of members of international organisations, the destruction and looting of property in Gornji Vakuf in January 1993, Raštani in August 1993, and Stupni Do in October 1993. During 1993, General Praljak was in charge of the Dretelj camp where Bosniak men were brutalized, starved, and some killed.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak was accused of ordering the destruction of Mostar's Stari Most in November 1993, an act which ICTY ruled had "caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population". However, ICTY agreed that the bridge was a legitimate military target. During the trial, Praljak denied the accusation because in the same month when the destruction occurred, he came into conflict with the commander of the HVO's so-called "Punishment Battalion" Mladen Naletilić Tuta which resulted in his resignation from the positions of HVO's Chief of Staff, one day before the destruction of the bridge. He said that the bridge was demolished by activation of the explosive charge set on the left bank of the Neretva, where the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was located. In addition to the responsibility and whether it was a legitimate military target, ICTY also examined whether the earlier siege by JNA and Bosnian Serb forces contributed to the bridge's collapse. Praljak retired from military service at his own request on 1 December 1995.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: After the war, Praljak became a businessman. In 1995, Praljak co-founded a company with his brother Zoran called Oktavijan. His company initially produced films, video, and television programs and published Praljak's books. It later engaged in real estate business by managing a business complex "Centar 2000" in Zagreb. Since 2005, the company is owned and managed by his stepson Nikola Babić Praljak. In 2011 it had around 22 million kunas of revenue. Praljak was also a co-owner of Liberan, a company that has a share in Ljubuški Tobacco Factory, and owned other shares in few other companies. In 2008, the Croatian Ministry of Culture deemed that 18 of his works about the Croatian War of Independence, Bosnian War, and relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were not books but brochures of worthless literature, and in 2013 the Ministry of Finance made an enforcement charge of 435 thousand kunas. In total, he authored 25 works. Since 2012, The Hague Tribunal's secretariat requested Praljak to recover defence costs of around EUR 2.8-3.3 million, as they estimated that he had assets and shares worth EUR 6.5 million which allowed him to fund the costs of his defence. Praljak and his lawyer refused the estimation statement because he had no property in his name even from the beginning of the trial.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak was among six accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in relation to the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. On 5 April 2004, he voluntarily surrendered and was transferred to the ICTY. In his indictment it was alleged that Praljak as a senior military official commanded, directly and indirectly, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO armed forces which committed mass war crimes against Bosnian Muslim population in 8 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina during a joint criminal enterprise between 1992 and 1994. In his role as a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Defence, he was closely involved in all aspects of not only the Herceg-Bosna/HVO military planning and operations but the actions of the Herceg-Bosna/HVO civilian police too. On 6 April, he appeared before ICTY and pleaded not guilty. He chose to defend himself without a lawyer.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: The indictment charged on the basis of their individual and superior criminal responsibility, but subsequently in judgment only on the basis of individual criminal responsibility. Praljak was found guilty on (taken from the UN press release 2004, 2017):


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: The trial began on 26 April 2006. On 29 May 2013 the Trial Chamber judgement sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment (the sentence took into account the time he had already spent in detention), and on 28 June 2013, Praljak filed an appeal. On 29 November 2017, the ICTY trial was concluded finding him guilty, and although some parts of his conviction were overturned, the judge did not reduce the initial sentence of 20 years. He was charged with crimes against "humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions", also "extensive appropriation of property not justified by military necessity" and "plunder of public or private property through the third category of joint criminal enterprise liability", on which given his command responsibility he failed to act and prevent. He was acquitted of some charges related to the destruction of Stari Most. As he had already served more than two-thirds of the sentence in jail (around 13 years and several months), he would probably have been released soon.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: On 29 November 2017, during the pronouncement of the appeal judgment against him, Praljak addressed the judges, saying: "Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. With disdain, I reject your verdict!" He then drank what he said was poison, leading presiding judge Carmel Agius to suspend the hearings. ICTY medical staff transported Praljak to nearby HMC Hospital, where he died. The Dutch authorities declared the courtroom a crime scene and launched an investigation. His body was cremated in Zagreb in a private ceremony.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Former ICTY judges Wolfgang Schomburg and Richard Goldstone commented that "it is a tragedy that someone in such a situation has taken their own life". Goldstone added: "In a way, the victims are deprived of this deed. They did not get full justice." Martin Bell described Praljak as a "theatrical character" who "died in a theatrical way". Andrey Shary for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty noted that "Praljak's samurai final act might evoke respect or sympathy", but "individual perceptions of honor don't always coincide with correctness".


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Writing in "The Daily Telegraph", journalist Harry de Quetteville opined that the defiant suicide was "the most dramatic proof possible of a very uncomfortable reality: many in the Balkans refuse to accept that the horrific ethnic cleansing of the 1990s was wrong". Former US Ambassador for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp compared Praljak's suicide by poisoning to that of another war crimes convict, Hermann Göring, noting that in both cases the verdict nevertheless "stands for all history in establishing the facts and in showing that the perpetrators of atrocities will be held to account". Praljak, like Göring, just managed to thwart the due process of law at its climax.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: The Croatian government offered condolences to Praljak's family and said the ICTY misrepresented its officials in the 1990s. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated that Praljak's suicide illustrated the "deep moral injustice towards the six Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian people". All the party caucuses of the Croatian Parliament except the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Civic Liberal Alliance issued a joint statement declaring that ICTY's verdict did not respect the "historical truths, facts and evidence", and that it was "unjust and unacceptable", adding that Praljak symbolically warned of all the verdicts' injustice with his suicide. They expressed their condolences to the families of victims of crimes committed during the Bosnian War. Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović expressed her condolences to Praljak's family, calling him "a man who preferred to die rather than live as a convict for crimes he did not commit". Miroslav Tuđman stated it was a "consequence of his moral position not to accept the verdict that has nothing to do with justice or reality".


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: The Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović, said that Praljak was led to suicide by the joint criminal enterprise, while Croat Chairman Dragan Čović stated that Praljak had sacrificed his life to prove his innocence. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said he would not mock Praljak's suicide but has criticized the reaction of Croatian officials, stating that it would have been unacceptable for him to praise a convicted war criminal as a hero or to denounce an ICTY verdict. The Serbian politician Vojislav Šešelj commented that, although he was an enemy, it was a "heroic move worthy of respect" and there should have been more such strong blows to the tribunal.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Almost a thousand Bosnian Croats gathered in the Mostar and Čapljina squares to light candles to pay respect to Praljak. On December 11, 2017, a commemoration for Slobodan Praljak was held in Zagreb. The event was attended by two thousand people, including Government ministers Damir Krstičević and Tomo Medved (as private citizens), a number of MPs, mostly from the Croatian Democratic Union party, and some retired army officers that participated in the 1990s war. In the evening, a religious ceremony was also held at a Catholic church. During the same day, members of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights made a commemoration for the victims of Croatian forces urging condemnation of that period policies.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: President Grabar-Kitarović has been pressured to take away wartime decorations from Praljak and other convicted officials, but she refused to do so stating that they received it for defence against Serbian aggression, adding that "such practice has not been implemented so far, except in the case of verdicts made by the Croatian courts".


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: A preliminary autopsy determined that Praljak had poisoned himself with potassium cyanide, which caused his heart to fail. How the poison was obtained and brought into the courtroom is to be the subject of an official investigation. Praljak's lawyer Nika Pinter suggested that he may have committed suicide because he could not accept being convicted as a war criminal and that the act had been long-planned.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: "With regards to the investigation concerning assistance in the commission of suicide, the Dutch authorities conducted a thorough investigation of how Praljak could get hold of the cyanide. Witnesses were interviewed, video materials watched, rooms in which Praljak stayed were checked and numerous materials inspected. However, no information was found concerning the question on how Praljak came into possession of that substance," the prosecutors’ report said. The report added that video surveillance recordings did not show if Praljak carried the vial of poison with him or if it was handed to him.


title: Slobodan Praljak

text: Praljak married Kaćuša Babić, the former wife of his close friend and poet Goran Babić. The couple had no children, but Praljak was close to his stepchildren, Nataša and Nikola, the latter adding the last name Praljak to his birth name.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marriage to the union of one man and one woman, and it further allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: In the 1980s, same-sex marriage had opposition especially from socially conservative groups. Congressman Bob Barr and Senator Don Nickles, both members of the Republican Party, introduced the bill that became DOMA in May 1996. It passed both houses of Congress by large, veto-proof majorities, with opposition coming from approximately one-third of the Democratic caucus in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Clinton criticized DOMA as "divisive and unnecessary". He nonetheless signed it into law in September 1996.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: Section 2 of the act allowed states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages conducted by other states. Section 3 codified non-recognition of same-sex marriages for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, social security survivors' benefits, immigration, bankruptcy, and the filing of joint tax returns. It also excluded same-sex spouses from the scope of laws protecting families of federal officers, laws evaluating financial aid eligibility, and federal ethics laws applicable to opposite-sex spouses.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: After its passage, DOMA was subject to numerous lawsuits and repeal efforts. In "United States v. Windsor" (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause, thereby requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages conducted by the states. In "Obergefell v. Hodges" (2015), the Court held that same-sex marriage was a fundamental right protected by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling required all states to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, leaving Section 2 of DOMA as superseded and unenforceable. On 13th December 2022, DOMA was repealed by the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act which was signed into law by President Joe Biden.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: The issue of legal recognition of same-sex marriage attracted mainstream attention infrequently until the 1980s. A sympathetic reporter heard several gay men raise the issue in 1967 and described it as "high among the deviate's hopes". In one early incident, gay activist Jack Baker brought suit against the state of Minnesota in 1970 after being denied a marriage license to marry another man; the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled (in "Baker v. Nelson") that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples did not violate the Constitution. Baker later changed his legal name to Pat Lynn McConnell and married his male partner in 1971, but the marriage was not legally recognized. A 1972 off-Broadway play, "Nightride", depicted "a black–white homosexual marriage". In 1979, IntegrityUSA, an organization of gay Episcopalians, raised the issue when the U.S. Episcopal Church considered a ban on the ordination of homosexuals as priests.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: "The New York Times" said the question was "all but dormant" until the late 1980s when, according to gay activists, "the AIDS epidemic... brought questions of inheritance and death benefits to many people's minds." In May 1989, Denmark established registered partnerships that granted same-sex couples many of the rights associated with marriage. In the same year, New York's highest court ruled that two homosexual men qualified as a family for the purposes of New York City's rent-control regulations. Within the movement for gay and lesbian rights, a debate between advocates of sexual liberation and of social integration was taking shape, with Andrew Sullivan publishing an essay "Here Comes the Groom" in "The New Republic" in August 1989 arguing for same-sex marriage: "A need to rebel has quietly ceded to a desire to belong." In September 1989, the State Bar Association of California urged recognition of marriages between homosexuals even before gay rights advocates adopted the issue.


title: Defense of Marriage Act

text: Gary Bauer, head of the socially conservative Family Research Council, predicted the issue would be "a major battleground in the 1990s". In 1991, Georgia Attorney General Michael J. Bowers (who had previously been the defendant in a failed Supreme Court challenge to a law that criminalized homosexuality) withdrew a job offer to a lesbian who planned to marry another woman in a Jewish wedding ceremony. In 1993, a committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released a report asking Lutherans to consider blessing same-sex marriages and stating that lifelong abstinence was harmful to same-sex couples. The Conference of Bishops responded, "There is basis neither in Scripture nor tradition for the establishment of an official ceremony by this church for the blessing of a homosexual relationship." In a critique of radicalism in the gay liberation movement, Bruce Bawer's "A Place at the Table" (1993) advocated the legalization of same-sex marriage.