title: Ravenloft

text: The campaign settings published by White Wolf introduced a number of alterations, many due to conflicts with existing Wizards of the Coast intellectual property. Specific references to "D&D"-specific deities were replaced with new names in the White Wolf Ravenloft settings (for example, Bane was changed to the Lawgiver). The license to the Ravenloft trademark reverted to Wizards of the Coast on August 15, 2005, but White Wolf retained the right to continue to sell its back stock until June 2006. The timing of this reversion meant that the Ravenloft supplement "Van Richten's Guide to the Mists" did not see print. Instead, it was released by White Wolf as a free download in late September 2005. The majority of the "Van Richten's Guide" series had already been published by TSR in the 1990s, before White Wolf's involvement.


title: Ravenloft

text: In October 2006, Wizards of the Coast released "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft", a hardcover version of the original 1st Ed. adventure, updated for the "Dungeons & Dragons" v.3.5 rule set. This 2006 version includes maps from the original "Ravenloft" adventure, and new character-generation options. "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" is a stand-alone supplement set for any "D&D" worlds, and only requires the three core books for usage. This book's setting is distinct from the Ravenloft of the White Wolf product line. Shannon Appelcline, author of "Designers & Dragons", highlighted that by 2006 people were beginning to wonder if Wizards of the Coast might be preparing a fourth edition of "Dungeons & Dragons" and stated: "the release of "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" (2006) might just have offered another clue to the changing winds that lay ahead. First, it was a new line for 3.5e, suggesting that their original series of 3.5e books was coming to an end. Second, it was a fond look back at one of the most notable adventures from the "AD&D" days, just the sort of thing that Wizards published in the waning days of 2e". Appelcline later noted that, once fourth edition was officially announced, "the "Expedition" books that had begun publication in 2006 were revealed to indeed be part of Wizard's slow slide into 4e".


title: Ravenloft

text: In 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced the printing of two new Ravenloft novels for 2008, "Black Crusade" and "The Sleep of Reason", fueling more speculation. A short story by Ari Marmell, "Before I Wake", based on the realms of Darkon, Lamordia, and Bluetspur was released on October 31, 2007, on the Wizards of the Coast website as a special for Halloween; it featured characters inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.


title: Ravenloft

text: In September 2008, it was announced in Wizards of the Coast's "Digital Insider" no. 6 that Ravenloft would be re-introduced to 4th edition "Dungeons & Dragons", in the October issue of the "Dragon" online magazine. The "Dungeons & Dragons" 4th edition supplement "Manual of the Planes" (2008) established that in the retconned cosmology, the Domains of Dread (and by extension the Ravenloft setting) were now located within the Shadowfell, a mirror-plane of death and gloom lying adjacent to the mortal realm. While a 4th edition update to the Ravenloft setting was announced at Gen Con 2010, the product was never released.


title: Ravenloft

text: In 2010, Ravenloft was the setting for the "Castle Ravenloft Board Game". Ravenloft also appeared in official magazine articles, such as, "Dungeon" #207 "Fair Barovia" (October 2012) and "Dragon" #416 "History Check: Strahd and Van Richten" (October 2012).


title: Ravenloft

text: In 2016, Barovia (one of the main locations within Ravenloft) was the main setting for adventure module "Curse of Strahd" which acts as an adaptation of the original "Ravenloft" module for the 5th edition of "Dungeons & Dragons". The adventure states: "the lands of Barovia are from a forgotten world in the D&D multiverse [...]. In time, cursed Barovia was torn from its home world by the Dark Powers and bound in mist as one of the Domains of Dread in the Shadowfell". The module was developed in-house by the Wizards of the Coast team, led by Christopher Perkins, with story contributions by original creators Tracy and Laura Hickman. Charlie Hall, for "Polygon", explained that "Instead of reinventing the wheel, principle designer Chris Perkins brought in the module's original writers — the husband and wife team of Tracy and Laura Hickman — to create the very best version of the famous module yet. [...] Tracy and Laura have been hosting nearly annual sessions of the original "Ravenloft" at their home, for friends and family, over the course of decades. When Perkins asked for their input, they flew out to meet with the team. The result was a torrent of ideas for new locations, characters and encounters".


title: Ravenloft

text: Wizards of the Coast announced a new edition of the "Curse of Strahd" module, entitled "Curse of Strahd: Revamped". It was released on October 20, 2020. This module is the first released with the publisher's new focus on diversity and inclusion. Wizards of the Coast stated that "the adventure includes the latest errata and a revised depiction of the Vistani" who are based on stereotypes about the Romani people.


title: Ravenloft

text: In February 2021, Wizards of the Coast announced a new Ravenloft campaign sourcebook, "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" (2021), which introduces other Domains of Dread to the edition. It was published on May 18, 2021.


title: Ravenloft

text: Ravenloft is primarily a Gothic horror setting. Dungeon Masters are encouraged to use scenes that build apprehension and fear, culminating in the eventual face-to-face meeting with the nameless evil. Characters have a much greater significance attached to their acts, especially if they are morally impure, as they risk coming under the influence of the Dark Powers (through the game process called "dark powers checks") and gradually transforming themselves into figures of evil.


title: Ravenloft

text: The magical mists of Ravenloft could appear anywhere in the "Dungeons & Dragons" universe, drawing evil-doers (or player characters) into the Ravenloft setting. One exception is the phlogiston of the Spelljammer setting. The phlogiston blocks all planar travel, but the Ravenloft mists can appear in deep space inside crystal shells, according to the "Complete Spacefarer's Handbook".


title: Ravenloft

text: Luis Javier Flores Arvizu named the continuous presence of supernatural beings as one of the factors that made "Ravenloft" a very well received role-playing game setting during the 33 years of its existence.


title: Ravenloft

text: The Dark Powers are a malevolent force who control the Demiplane of Dread. Their exact nature and number are deliberately kept vague, allowing for plot development in accordance with the Gothic tradition of storytelling – where the heroes are frequently outclassed and outnumbered by unknowable evil forces beyond their control.


title: Ravenloft

text: The Dark Powers most frequently serve as a plot device for Ravenloft, especially concerning the Darklords, the visible rulers of the Ravenloft Demiplane. Where the player characters are often tormented and opposed by the Darklords, the Darklords are themselves tormented and opposed by the Dark Powers. Of course, the difference lies in order of power—while many "D&D" adventures focus on allowing a band of heroes to prevail over a Darklord (much as in the spirit of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula"), no such victory over the Dark Powers seems possible, or even conceivable, for the Darklords. Vecna and Lord Soth "escaped" Ravenloft, but are the only two Darklords known to have done so; Vecna by attaining the status of Greater God (and thus becoming too powerful for the Dark Powers to contain) and Lord Soth by ignoring his domain and punishment, causing the Dark Powers to lose interest in imprisoning him, and agents of his former curse on the world of Krynn coming to collect him.


title: Ravenloft

text: Most frequently, the Dark Powers make their wishes and intentions known through subtle manipulations of fate. Thus, Barovia's vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich's many attempts to win back his love, Tatyana, are doomed to failure, but the Dark Powers arrange such that he never truly loses hope. Each time, for example, Strahd's own actions may be partially culpable for his failure, and as such he may go through crippling self-recrimination, rather than cursing the gods solely and giving up. Most other Darklords have similar tales of frustration, kept all the more unbearable because the flicker of the possibility of success is never truly extinguished.


title: Ravenloft

text: Not all Darklords acknowledge the Dark Powers directly, however. Strahd, for example, in his own memoirs, speaks only of a force known as Death, who mocks him with the voices of his family and former colleagues throughout his life. Vlad Drakov, the Darklord of Falkovnia whose military expeditions are doomed to constant failure, seems even to be totally oblivious to any non-mortal factors in his repeated defeats.


title: Ravenloft

text: The Dark Powers also seem capable of non-evil manipulations. Although their machinations are often directly responsible for the misery of many of Ravenloft's inhabitants, they also appear to play a role as dispensers of justice. Some tales of innocents who have escaped Ravenloft for happier environs are attributed to the Dark Powers, who have judged a being worthy of reward and release from their misty domain.


title: Ravenloft

text: There are many Domains of Dread that makeup the landscape of Ravenloft. The Domains are surrounded by strange mists that can ensnare both people and places in Prime Material Plane and pull them into the Domains. Each Domain is ruled by a Darklord, however, each Darklord was imprisoned in their Domain by the Dark Powers. The Dark Powers "are believed to have been responsible for the overall creation of the Dread Domains". The concept of Domains and locations in Ravenloft besides Barovia and Mordent was introduced in the 2nd Edition campaign setting book "" (1990). This book outlined that the size of Ravenloft is "40,000 square miles [spanning] 26 different domains, including Barovia and Mordent. All of the core domains are overviewed in "Ravenloft", as are eight 'islands'." The revised 2nd Edition boxset "Ravenloft Campaign Setting" (1994) is an update to "Realm of Terror", however, it removes Domains that were destroyed in the Grand Conjunction adventure series and adds new Domains. The metaplot of the adventure series was used to update the setting; "David Wise, leader of the 'Kargat' of "Ravenloft" designers at TSR, has said there were a few reasons for the changes. Some domains were changed or removed because they didn't fit into Ravenloft ecologically [...]. Some domains were removed or merged because their lords were too similar, and finally some islands of terror were kicked to the curb just because they were 'less exciting'. [...] A few domains that had appeared since the publication of "Ravenloft: Realm of Terror" were notably missing [...]. All told, "Ravenloft Campaign Setting" covers 20 core domains and nine islands". The 5th Edition campaign guide "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" (2021) includes an overview of 39 Domains and many Domains are given a "wholesale revision" while "other Domains keep their original lore but are advanced in other ways". Rob Wieland writing for Forbes explained that in this book "Many of the domains have new Darklords that reflect their original character but have details changed to better fit the type of horror the domain is supposed to represent."


title: Ravenloft

text: Darklord is the title used to refer to the mystically imprisoned and cursed ruler of a domain. A Darklord was originally an individual who had committed a truly horrific crime, which drew the attention of the enigmatic Dark Powers. The Dark Powers then proceeded to craft a personal kingdom around the Darklord. This crafted domain serves both as a kingdom and a prison: the Darklord gains incredible powers whilst within its borders but can never leave it, although most Darklords can seal their domain borders with a thought. Within their domains, the Darklords are forever tormented by the objects of their desires, which are often the objects for which they committed their crimes.


title: Ravenloft

text: The Vistani are a nomadic ethnic group. They are based on depictions of the Romani people. Since their introduction in the original "Ravenloft" module (1983) as fortune-tellers, they became a unifying element in the Ravenloft and the Masque of the Red Death campaign settings, which offer Gothic horror scenarios. In a Ravenloft adventure, the Vistani have some control of the Mists of Ravenloft, which divide realms, while the players are generally confined to a region from which they must escape by solving one or more problems. Players generally need help from the Vistani to travel reliably from one open realm to another.


title: Ravenloft

text: The Vistani people were "described as superstitious" and had "abilities to curse and hypnotize players or cast spells like Evil Eye". They were also originally stereotyped "as 'uncivilized' and heavy drinkers," however, this portrayal was removed in the adventure module "Curse of Strahd Revamped" (2020). Their portrayal was further retconned in "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" (2021); the Vistani people are no longer considered superstitious but instead focused on their traditional practices and their abilities are grounded in the forms of magic found in "Dungeons & Dragons".


title: Ravenloft

text: The fictional character Rudolph van Richten, a famous Monster Hunter in Ravenloft and author of a series of guides to hunting and slaying various monsters, had a great enmity for the Vistani for most of his monster-hunting career, but his opinion improved during his penning of "Van Richten's Guide To The Vistani", during which he befriended a "mortu" (a Vistani outcast).


title: Ravenloft

text: "Ravenloft" has acted as the official campaign setting for multiple "Dungeons & Dragons" roleplaying adventure modules, sourcebooks and accessories. It has also been the main setting for novels and video games.


title: Ravenloft

text: Game designer Rick Swan commented in 1994 that when the Ravenloft setting first came out, it "just didn't seem special, a Forgotten Realms variant with a few more bats", but after supplements like "Forbidden Lore", "The Created", and the "Van Richten's Guide" series, Swan felt that "the Ravenloft campaign has proven to be a credible adventure alternative for players interested in the dark side of the "AD&D" game. Though it lacks the flamboyance of "Call of Cthulhu" and the, er, bite of "", the Ravenloft setting remains the hobby's most enduring fusion of horror and fantasy."


title: Ravenloft

text: Darker Days Radio declared Ravenloft the "greatest D&D campaign setting," citing the unique gothic horror elements and classic villains such as Azalin Rex.


title: Ravenloft

text: In the "Io9" series revisiting older "Dungeons & Dragons" novels, Rob Bricken highlighted that "Vampire of the Mists" "isn’t scary, per se, but Strahd wreaks enough horror and carnage to drive home that Ravenloft is much, much more sinister than the Forgotten Realms. [...] Ravenloft (and I guess Forgotten Realms) vampires have "all" the tropes: They can turn into bats, wolves, and mists, and they don’t cast reflections. They can control animals and enthrall people, to a degree. They can’t cross running water, and they have to be invited into a home to enter. Unless they’re an extremely powerful vampire like Strahd, natch".


title: Ravenloft

text: Shelly Jones, in the journal "Analog Game Studies: Volume IV", highlighted the Tarokka Deck mechanic used in both the original "Ravenloft" (1983) module and the 5th edition "Curse of Strahd" (2016) module to add randomization to the game and increase replayability. Jones wrote, "The Tarokka Deck incorporates an inconsistency in the game play that reflects fragmented traumatic memory and reifies the inconsistency present within an abusive relationship". Jones also highlighted that "Without sunshine as a key time-tracking element, players are forced to rely upon other means to signal the passage of time within Barovia. Further adding to that disorientation is the knowledge that the players have been abandoned from anything familiar or real. [...] This alienating effect, based upon the physical environment as well as the psychological manifestations, traumatizes characters".


title: Ravenloft

text: The Ravenloft setting has been criticized "for reinforcing harmful stereotypes through its portrayal of the Vistani, an in-fiction analogue for the Roma people". In 2020, Wizards of the Coast announced "in the editorial process for "Strahd"’s reprint, as well as two upcoming products, Wizards worked with a Romani consultant to present the Vistani without using reductive tropes". On this update, Jon Ryan, for "IGN", wrote "it's worth noting that the book's illustrations of the Vistani still evoke Romani culture, and some players may still associate certain abilities [...] with outdated cultural stereotypes". Julie Muncy, for "Io9", criticized the "granular changes" to the Vistani people as not very extensive and that "while there’s a real opportunity here to do better work—the aforementioned diversity pledge also mentioned future works that will feature the Vistani people and aim to complicate their depictions—starting that work with a fancy collector’s edition feels less like a promise to do better and more like a victory lap". Muncy also highlighted that the unrevised parts, such as the art and specific magical abilities, still lean "into tropes that suggest the Romani have mystical, dangerous powers, tropes that have been used in the past to target Romani for persecution".


title: Ravenloft

text: Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com, highlighted that in "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" (2021) the Domains of Dread "all now function as originally intended: prisons meant to torture specific souls. Many of the original Ravenloft domains featured strange punishments that didn't necessarily fit the crime of the Darklord. The revised domains are usually a better utilization of the ironic intent that flavors the immortal prisons of Ravenloft. The domains also now include a variety of different horror genres rather than a fixation on gothic horror. Finally, much of the misogynistic, colonialist, or racist elements have been purged out of this new iteration of Ravenloft. Although these changes will likely be the most talked about part of the book in some circles, these changes seem to have occurred naturally during the course of updating Ravenloft to reflect more diverse horror genres and to make the domains conform to Ravenloft's internal laws".


title: Jason Richardson

text: Jason Anthoney Richardson (born January 20, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Richardson was taken by the Golden State Warriors as the fifth overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft after playing college basketball for Michigan State University. He won the NBA Dunk Contest in both 2002 and 2003, becoming the second player, after Michael Jordan, to win the competition back-to-back. Richardson has also played for the Charlotte Bobcats, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic, and the Philadelphia 76ers. Richardson is often remembered for his proficiency in dunking and shooting. Since 2021, Richardson has been an active player for Tri-State of the BIG3.


title: Jason Richardson

text: Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Richardson graduated from Arthur Hill High School in 1999. Having led the Arthur Hill basketball team to the Class A championship game, Richardson was Mr. Basketball of Michigan and a McDonald's High School All-American in his senior year. Richardson chose to play college basketball for Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo.


title: Jason Richardson

text: In his freshman season at Michigan State, Richardson averaged 5.1 points per game in 37 games (including three starts) and made 50.3% of attempted field goals. Led by Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson, the Spartans won the NCAA Championship with Richardson as a key reserve. In a bigger role in his sophomore season at Michigan State, he led the Spartans in scoring averaging 14.7 points per game. Richardson played along future NBA players Zach Randolph and Charlie Bell as the Spartans advanced to the Final Four before losing to Arizona. He was named Big Ten First Team that year.


title: Jason Richardson

text: Richardson competed in the Rookie Challenge as a rookie in 2002 and a sophomore in 2003. His teams won both years, and he was awarded the Rookie Challenge MVP as a rookie. As a sophomore, he had a memorable moment when, in the closing seconds of the game, he bounced the ball off Carlos Boozer's forehead and then made a three-pointer before the clock ran out.


title: Jason Richardson

text: During his time with Golden State, Richardson gained popularity for his outstanding scoring, ability to dunk, dedication to the team and fans, and ethical maturity. As the long time captain of the Warriors, Richardson organized a letter of apology to Warrior fans in 2005 after the team failed to make the playoffs for the 12th straight season. The letter ran in several Bay Area newspapers. The following year, Richardson helped lead the Warriors to their first playoff trip in 13 years. The Warriors upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round, but lost in the second round to the Utah Jazz.


title: Jason Richardson

text: Even after leaving Golden State, Richardson remained one of the most popular players among Warrior fans because of his electric style of play and ability to shoot three-pointers, as well as the longevity and tenor of his tenure with the team. Richardson set the Warrior franchise record for three-pointers made in a game without missing (8) in a home win against the Phoenix Suns. Richardson is especially known for his high-flying abilities and is widely regarded as one of the best dunkers in 2000s. He won the NBA Slam Dunk Contests in 2002 and 2003, and also competed in the 2004 contest, but lost to Fred Jones in the finals.


title: Jason Richardson

text: On June 28, 2007, Richardson was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats along with the draft rights to 36th pick Jermareo Davidson for the draft rights to eighth pick Brandan Wright.


title: Jason Richardson

text: Richardson began to gain attention with the Bobcats when he led the team to a road win against the Boston Celtics after scoring 34 points. This was only the Celtics' fourth loss of the season and second loss at home. It was also the Bobcats' second road win of the season, ending an 11-game road losing streak. Richardson also led the Bobcats to a franchise-record five consecutive game winning streak, including a home win against his former team, the Golden State Warriors. Richardson posted 42 points against the Warriors. The 2007–08 season was a season of rebuilding for Richardson and the Bobcats. He was able to get his points per game average back up to 21.8, lead the Bobcats in scoring, and lead the league in three-point field goals made.


title: Jason Richardson

text: On December 10, 2008, Richardson was traded along with Jared Dudley, and a 2010 second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary. The Suns dealt for Richardson, as they were looking for another backcourt scorer to take pressure off of Steve Nash.


title: Jason Richardson

text: In his first game as a Sun, Richardson scored a game-high 21 points, including an alley-oop from Leandro Barbosa that brought the crowd to their feet. His first year in Phoenix resulted in the team missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003.


title: Jason Richardson

text: However, in his second year with the team, he helped bring them back to the playoffs with his play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. In the first round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs, Richardson led the Suns to a first-round victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, including a career playoff-high 42 points in a Game 3 blowout. In the next round, Richardson helped the Suns to a series sweep against the San Antonio Spurs, before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.


title: Jason Richardson

text: On December 18, 2010, Richardson was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Hedo Türkoğlu and Earl Clark for Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickaël Piétrus, a 2011 first-round draft pick and $3 million cash. In December 2011, Richardson agreed to a four-year, $25 million contract to remain in Orlando. The Magic made the playoffs in Richardson's first year with the team, losing in the first round to the Atlanta Hawks.


title: Jason Richardson

text: On August 10, 2012, Richardson was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in a four-team deal which sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers. He managed just 33 games in 2012–13 before being ruled out for the rest of the season in January 2013 after undergoing surgery on his left knee, and subsequently sat out the entire 2013–14 season with the injury as well.


title: Jason Richardson

text: On February 18, 2015, Richardson was a full participant in practice for the first time in over two years after having not taken to the court in 762 days. Two days later, he returned to action for the 76ers as he started against the Indiana Pacers. In 18 minutes of play, he recorded 7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in the 95-106 loss. On March 4, 2015, he scored a season-high 29 points in a 123-118 overtime loss in Oklahoma City to the Thunder.


title: Jason Richardson

text: Richardson's final NBA game ever was played on April 11, 2015 in a 107 - 114 loss to the Chicago Bulls. In that game, Richardson recorded 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.


title: Jason Richardson

text: On August 18, 2015, Richardson signed with the Atlanta Hawks. However, less than a month later, Richardson began experiencing pain in his right knee, and an MRI revealed bone spurs. On September 23, 2015, he announced his retirement from the NBA, citing he feared that his ability to walk would be impaired for the rest of his life if he continued to play.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed proprietary NoSQL database service that supports key–value and document data structures and is offered by Amazon.com as part of the Amazon Web Services portfolio. DynamoDB exposes a similar data model to and derives its name from Dynamo, but has a different underlying implementation. Dynamo had a multi-leader design requiring the client to resolve version conflicts and DynamoDB uses synchronous replication across multiple data centers for high durability and availability. DynamoDB was announced by Amazon CTO Werner Vogels on January 18, 2012, and is presented as an evolution of Amazon SimpleDB.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Werner Vogels, CTO at Amazon.com, provided a motivation for the project in his 2012 announcement. Amazon began as a decentralized network of services. Originally, services had direct access to each other's databases. When this became a bottleneck on engineering operations, services moved away from this direct access pattern in favor of public-facing APIs. Still, third-party relational database management systems struggled to handle Amazon's client base. This culminated during the 2004 holiday season, when several technologies failed under high traffic.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Engineers were normalizing these relational systems to reduce data redundancy, a design that optimizes for storage. The sacrifice: they stored a given "item" of data (e.g., the information pertaining to a product in a product database) over several relations, and it takes time to assemble disjoint parts for a query. Many of Amazon's services demanded mostly primary-key reads on their data, and with speed a top priority, putting these pieces together was extremely taxing.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Content with compromising storage efficiency, Amazon's response was Dynamo: a highly available key–value store built for internal use. Dynamo, it seemed, was everything their engineers needed, but adoption lagged. Amazon's developers opted for "just works" design patterns with S3 and SimpleDB. While these systems had noticeable design flaws, they did not demand the overhead of provisioning hardware and scaling and re-partitioning data. Amazon's next iteration of NoSQL technology, DynamoDB, automated these database management operations.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: DynamoDB differs from other Amazon services by allowing developers to purchase a service based on throughput, rather than storage. If Auto Scaling is enabled, then the database will scale automatically. Additionally, administrators can request throughput changes and DynamoDB will spread the data and traffic over a number of servers using solid-state drives, allowing predictable performance. It offers integration with Hadoop via Elastic MapReduce.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: In September 2013, Amazon made a local development version of DynamoDB available so developers could test DynamoDB-backed applications locally.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: A DynamoDB table features items that have attributes, some of which form a primary key. In relational systems, however, an item features each table attribute (or juggles "null" and "unknown" values in their absence), DynamoDB items are schema-less. The only exception: when creating a table, a developer specifies a primary key, and the table requires a key for every item. Primary keys must be scalar (strings, numbers, or binary) and can take one of two forms. A single-attribute primary key is known as the table's "partition key", which determines the partition that an item hashes to––more on partitioning below––so an ideal partition key has a uniform distribution over its range. A primary key can also feature a second attribute, which DynamoDB calls the table's "sort key". In this case, partition keys do not have to be unique; they are paired with sort keys to make a unique identifier for each item. The partition key is still used to determine which partition the item is stored in, but within each partition, items are sorted by the sort key.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: In the relational model, indices typically serve as "helper" data structures to supplement a table. They allow the DBMS to optimize queries under the hood and they do not improve query functionality. In DynamoDB, there is no query optimizer, and an index is simply another table with a different key (or two) that sits beside the original. When a developer creates an index, they create a new copy of their data, but only the fields that they specified get copied over (at a minimum, the fields that they index on and the original table's primary key).


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: DynamoDB users issue queries directly to their indices. There are two types of indices available. A global secondary index features a partition key (and optional sort key) that's different from the original table's partition key. A local secondary index features the same partition key as the original table, but a different sort key. Both indices introduce entirely new query functionality to a DynamoDB database by allowing queries on new keys. Similar to relational database management systems, DynamoDB updates indices automatically on addition/update/deletion, so you must be judicious when creating them or risk slowing down a write-heavy database with a slew of index updates.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: DynamoDB uses JSON for its syntax because of its ubiquity. The create table action demands just three arguments: TableName, KeySchema––a list containing a partition key and an optional sort key––and AttributeDefinitions––a list of attributes to be defined which must at least contain definitions for the attributes used as partition and sort keys. Whereas relational databases offer robust query languages, DynamoDB offers just Put, Get, Update, and Delete operations. Put requests contain the TableName attribute and an Item attribute, which consists of all the attributes and values the item has. An Update request follows the same syntax. Similarly, to get or delete an item, simply specify a TableName and Key.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: DynamoDB uses hashing and B-trees to manage data. Upon entry, data is first distributed into different partitions by hashing on the partition key. Each partition can store up to 10GB of data and handle by default 1,000 write capacity units (WCU) and 3,000 read capacity units (RCU). One RCU represents one strongly consistent read per second or two eventually consistent reads per second for items up to 4KB in size. One WCU represents one write per second for an item up to 1KB in size.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: To prevent data loss, DynamoDB features a two-tier backup system of replication and long-term storage. Each partition features three nodes, each of which contains a copy of that partition's data. Each node also contains two data structures: a B tree used to locate items, and a replication log that notes all changes made to the node. DynamoDB periodically takes snapshots of these two data structures and stores them for a month in S3 so that engineers can perform point-in-time restores of their databases.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Within each partition, one of the three nodes is designated the "leader node". All write operations travel first through the leader node before propagating, which makes writes consistent in DynamoDB. To maintain its status, the leader sends a "heartbeat" to each other node every 1.5 seconds. Should another node stop receiving heartbeats, it can initiate a new leader election. DynamoDB uses the Paxos algorithm to elect leaders.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Amazon engineers originally avoided Dynamo due to engineering overheads like provisioning and managing partitions and nodes. In response, the DynamoDB team built a service it calls AutoAdmin to manage a database. AutoAdmin replaces a node when it stops responding by copying data from another node. When a partition exceeds any of its three thresholds (RCU, WCU, or 10GB), AutoAdmin will automatically add additional partitions to further segment the data.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Just like indexing systems in the relational model, DynamoDB demands that any updates to a table be reflected in each of the table's indices. DynamoDB handles this using a service it calls the "log propagator", which subscribes to the replication logs in each node and sends additional Put, Update, and Delete requests to indices as necessary. Because indices result in substantial performance hits for write requests, DynamoDB allows a user at most five of them on any given table.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Suppose that a DynamoDB user issues a write operation (a Put, Update, or Delete). While a typical relational system would convert the SQL query to relational algebra and run optimization algorithms, DynamoDB skips both processes and gets right to work. The request arrives at the DynamoDB request router, which authenticates––"Is the request coming from where/whom it claims to be?"––and checks for authorization––"Does the user submitting the request have the requisite permissions?" Assuming these checks pass, the system hashes the request's partition key to arrive in the appropriate partition. There are three nodes within, each with a copy of the partition's data. The system first writes to the leader node, then writes to a second node, then sends a "success" message, and finally continues propagating to the third node. Writes are consistent because they always travel first through the leader node.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Finally, the log propagator propagates the change to all indices. For each index, it grabs that index's primary key value from the item, then performs the same write on that index without log propagation. If the operation is an Update to a preexisting item, the updated attribute may serve as a primary key for an index, and thus the B tree for that index must update as well. B trees only handle insert, delete, and read operations, so in practice, when the log propagator receives an Update operation, it issues both a Delete operation and a Put operation to all indices.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Now suppose that a DynamoDB user issues a Get operation. The request router proceeds as before with authentication and authorization. Next, as above, we hash our partition key to arrive in the appropriate hash. Now, we encounter a problem: with three nodes in eventual consistency with one another, how can we decide which to investigate? DynamoDB offers the user two options when issuing a read: consistent and eventually consistent. A consistent read visits the leader node. But the consistency-availability trade-off rears its head again here: in read-heavy systems, always reading from the leader can overwhelm a single node and reduce availability.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: The second option, an eventually consistent read, selects a random node. In practice, this is where DynamoDB trades consistency for availability. If we take this route, what are the odds of an inconsistency? We'd need a write operation to return "success" and begin propagating to the third node, but not finish. We'd also need our Get to target this third node. This means a 1-in-3 chance of inconsistency within the write operation's propagation window. How long is this window? Any number of catastrophes could cause a node to fall behind, but in the vast majority of cases, the third node is up-to-date within milliseconds of the leader.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: DynamoDB exposes performance metrics that help users provision it correctly and keep applications using DynamoDB running smoothly:


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: These metrics can be tracked using the AWS Management Console, using the AWS Command Line Interface, or a monitoring tool integrating with Amazon CloudWatch.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Languages and frameworks with a DynamoDB binding include Java, JavaScript, Node.js, Go, C# .NET, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, Haskell, Erlang, Django, and Grails.


title: Amazon DynamoDB

text: Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=<Credential>, SignedHeaders=<Headers>, Signature=<Signature>


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: The Double Life of Veronique (, ) is a 1991 drama film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Irène Jacob. Written by Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the film explores the themes of identity, love, and human intuition through the characters of Weronika, a Polish choir soprano, and her double, Véronique, a French music teacher. The two women do not know each other, and yet they share a mysterious and emotional bond that transcends language and geography.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: "The Double Life of Véronique" was Kieślowski's first film to be produced partly outside his native Poland. It won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Actress Award for Jacob. "The Double Life of Véronique" was selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In Poland in 1968, a little girl is shown the stars in the winter sky. In France, a little girl is shown one of the first leaves of spring.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In 1990, a young Polish woman named Weronika (Irène Jacob) is singing at an outdoor concert with her choir when a sudden downpour causes the singers to rush for cover. After Weronika holds the last note alone, she meets her boyfriend, Antek (Jerzy Gudejko), and they go to his apartment to make love. The next day she asks her father to tell Antek she is leaving to be with her sick aunt in Kraków. Mentioning that lately she feels that she is not alone in the world.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: Weronika travels to Kraków by train and meets up with her aunt, she later contacts a local friend who she meets up at her choir practice. As the choir rehearses, Weronika accompanies them in her soprano voice off-stage. Afterwards, the musical director asks her to audition. Overjoyed, Weronika rushes home with the sheet music. While walking through a square in the midst of a protest, Weronika notices a French tourist taking photos of the protestors—a young woman who looks exactly like her. Weronika smiles as she watches her double board the tourist bus that soon pulls away.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: At the audition, Weronika's singing impresses the musical director and conductor, and she is later told that she won the audition. While heading home after the audition, Weronika suffers a mild cardiac arrest but she recovers. The next day, Weronika reunites with Antek. That night during the concert, while singing a solo part, Weronika collapses onstage and dies of a heart attack.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In Clermont-Ferrand, France that same day, Véronique (Irène Jacob), a young French woman and Weronika's double, becomes overwhelmed with grief after having sex with her boyfriend. She later goes to her music teacher, telling him she's quitting the choir. The next day, at the school where she teaches music, Véronique attends a marionette performance with her class about a ballet dancer who breaks her leg and then turns into a butterfly. She then leads her class in a musical piece by an eighteenth-century composer, Van den Budenmayer—the same piece performed by Weronika when she died. That night while driving home, she sees the puppeteer at a traffic light motioning to her not to light the wrong end of her cigarette. Later she is awakened by a phone call with no one speaking, only a choir singing the music of Van den Budenmayer. Véronique visits her father the next day, where she reveals she is in love with someone she doesn't know, and that recently she felt that she lost someone from her life. Back in Clermont Ferrand, she receives a package containing a shoelace, which she compares to her EKG graph, and a stranger shines light on her using a mirror.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: Véronique learns that the puppeteer is a children's book author named Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), who based the marionette on one of his books and has written another about a shoelace. In the coming days, Véronique reads several of Alexandre's books. When Véronique visits her father, he gives her a package addressed to her containing a cassette tape. She listens to the tape, which contains the recordings of a typewriter, footsteps, a door opening, a train station, and a fragment of music by Van den Budenmayer. There are also sounds of a car accident and explosion. The postage stamp on the envelope leads Véronique to the Gare Saint-Lazare train station in Paris. She goes to a cafe in the station where she believes the recordings were made, and sees Alexandre. He tells her he's been waiting for her for two days, that he's working on a new book, and that he sent her the packages as a kind of experiment to see if she would come to him. Angered at being manipulated, Véronique leaves and checks into a nearby hotel. She runs into Alexandre, who asks for her forgiveness, and she brings him up to her room, where they both fall asleep. During the night, they confess their feelings for each other.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: The next morning, while talking to Alexandre, Véronique says that she feels that "I was here and somewhere else at the same time" and that someone has been guiding her life. Véronique proceeds to show Alexandre the contents of her handbag, and he comes across a proof sheet of photos taken on Véronique's recent trip to Poland. Alexandre notices what he thinks is a photo of Véronique, but she assures him it is not her. She then sees the picture, realizing that it was Weronika in the picture. Véronique is overwhelmed and breaks down crying as Alexandre comforts her. It becomes clear that Weronika's fate has somehow compelled Véronique to stop singing and avoid the same death.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: Some time later at his apartment, Véronique sees Alexandre working on a new marionette with her image. When asked about the purpose of a second identical marionette, Alexandre explains that he needs an additional puppet in case one becomes damaged. He shows her how to work the one marionette while the double lies lifeless on the table. Alexandre reads his new book to Véronique about two women, born the same day in different cities, who have a mysterious connection. Later that day, Véronique arrives at her father's house, stops at the front gate, and reaches out and touches an old tree trunk. Her father, who is inside the house, seems to sense her presence.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: The film has a strong metaphysical element, though the supernatural aspect of the story is never explained. Like the later "", it showcased Preisner's musical score as a major plot element, crediting his work to the fictional Van den Budenmayer. The cinematography is highly stylized, using color and camera filters to create an ethereal atmosphere; the cinematographer, Sławomir Idziak, had previously experimented with these techniques in one episode of "Dekalog", and Kieślowski would later use colour for a wider range of effects in his "Three Colours trilogy". Kieślowski had earlier used the idea of exploring different paths in life for the same person, in his Polish film "Przypadek" ("Blind Chance"), and the central choice faced by Weronika/Véronique is based on a brief subplot in the ninth episode of "Dekalog".


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: A Criterion Collection region 1 DVD was released in November 2006 in the United States and Canada, which includes an alternative ending which Kieślowski changed in the edit at the request of Harvey Weinstein of Miramax for the American release. Kieślowski added four brief shots to the end of the film showing Véronique's father emerging from the house and Véronique running across the yard to embrace him. The final image of the father and daughter embracing is shot from inside the house through a window.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: The film was scored by Zbigniew Preisner. In the film his music is described as being by Van den Budenmayer, a fictitious 18th-century Dutch composer created by Preisner and Kieślowski for attributions in screenplays. Music "by" the Dutch composer plays a role in two other Kieślowski films: "Dekalog" (1988), and "Three Colours: Blue" (1993) in which a theme from his "musique funebres" is quoted in the "Song for the Unification of Europe". Its E minor soprano solo is prefigured in Weronika's final performance.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: The puppet acts in "The Double Life of Véronique" were performed by American puppeteer and sculptor Bruce Schwartz. Unlike most puppeteers who usually hide their hands in gloves or use strings or sticks, Schwartz shows his hands while performing.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: "The Double Life of Veronique" received mostly positive reviews. In her review in "Not Coming to a Theater Near You", Jenny Jediny wrote, "In many ways, "The Double Life of Veronique" is a small miracle of cinema; ... Kieslowski’s strong, if largely post-mortem reputation among the art house audience has elevated a film that makes little to no sense on paper, while its emotional tone strikes a singular—perhaps perfect—key."


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In his review in "The Washington Post", Hal Hinson called the film "a mesmerizing poetic work composed in an eerie minor key." Noting that the effect on the viewer is subtle but very real, Hinson concluded, "The film takes us completely into its world, and in doing so, it leaves us with the impression that our own world, once we return to it, is far richer and portentous than we had imagined." Hinson was particularly impressed with Jacob's performance:


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In her review in "The New York Times", Caryn James wrote, ""Veronique" is poetic in the truest sense, relying on images that can't be turned into prosaic statements without losing something of their essence. The film suggests mysterious connections of personality and emotion, but it was never meant to yield any neat, summary idea about the two women's lives."


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In his review in the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert wrote, "The movie has a hypnotic effect. We are drawn into the character, not kept at arm's length with a plot." Ebert singled out Sławomir Idziak's innovative use of color and cinematography:


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In 2009, Ebert added "The Double Life of Veronique" to his Great Movies list. Krzysztof Kieślowski's "Dekalog" and "The Three Colours Trilogy" are also on the list.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: In his review for "Empire Online", David Parkinson called it "a film of great fragility and beauty, with the delicacy of the puppet theatre." He thought the film was "divinely photographed" by Slawomir Idziak, and praised Irène Jacob's performance as "simply sublime and thoroughly merited the Best Actress prize at Cannes." Parkinson saw the film as "compelling, challenging and irresistibly beautiful" and a "metaphysical masterpiece."


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: At the "All Movie" web site, the film received a 4-star rating (out of 5) plus "High Artistic Quality" citation. At "About.com", which specializes in DVD reviews, the film received 5 stars (out of 5) in their critical review. At "BBC", the film received 3 stars (out of 5). Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film five stars out of five. On the aggregate reviewer website "Rotten Tomatoes", the film received an 83% positive rating from critics based on 30 reviews.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: The film was the 50th highest-grossing film of the year with a total of 592,241 admissions in France. In North America the film opened on one screen grossing $8,572 its opening weekend. In total the film grossed $1,999,955 at the North American box office playing at a total of 22 theaters in its widest release which is a respectable result for a foreign art film.


title: The Double Life of Veronique

text: A digitally restored version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection. The release includes audio commentary by Annette Insdorf, author of "Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski"; three short documentary films by Kieślowski: "Factory" (1970), "Hospital" (1976), and "Railway Station" (1980); "The Musicians" (1958), a short film by Kieślowski's teacher Kazimierz Karabasz; "Kieślowski’s Dialogue" (1991), a documentary featuring a candid interview with Kieślowski and rare behind-the-scenes footage from the set of "The Double Life of Véronique"; "1966-1988: Kieślowski, Polish Filmmaker", a 2005 documentary tracing the filmmaker's work in Poland, from his days as a student through "The Double Life of Veronique"; a 2005 interview with actress Irène Jacob; and new video interviews with cinematographer Slawomir Idziak and composer Zbigniew Preisner. It also includes a booklet featuring essays by Jonathan Romney, Slavoj Zizek, and Peter Cowie, and a selection from "Kieślowski on Kieślowski".


The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts policy studies and strategic analyses of political, economic and security issues throughout the world, with a specific focus on issues concerning international relations, trade, technology, finance, energy and geostrategy.


title: Center for Strategic and International Studies

text: In the University of Pennsylvania's 2019 "Global Go To Think Tanks Report", CSIS is ranked the number one think tank in the United States across all fields, the "Top Defense and National Security Think Tank" in the world, and the 4th best think tank in the world overall. It was named as a "Defense and National Security Center of Excellence for 2016-2018".


text: Since its founding, CSIS "has been dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world", according to its website. CSIS is officially a bipartisan think tank with scholars that represent varying points of view across the political spectrum. The think tank is known for inviting well-known foreign policy and public service officials from the U.S. Congress and the executive branch, including those affiliated with either the Democratic or the Republican Party as well as foreign officials of varying political backgrounds. It has been labeled a "centrist" think tank by "U.S. News & World Report".


text: The center hosts the Statesmen's Forum, a bipartisan venue for international leaders to present their views. Past speakers have included UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. The center also conducts the CSIS-Schieffer School Dialogues, a series of discussions hosted by Bob Schieffer, of CBS News, in addition to the Global Security Forum, with keynote addresses by Defense Department officials including former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.


text: The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University. It officially opened its doors on September 4, shortly before the Cuban Missile Crisis. The original office was located one block away from Georgetown's campus in a small brick townhouse located at 1316 36th Street. The first professional staff member hired was Richard V. Allen who later served in the Reagan administration.


text: At a conference held in the Hall of Nations at Georgetown in January 1963, the center developed its blueprint for its intellectual agenda. The book that emerged from the conference, "National Security: Political, Military and Economic Strategies in the Decade Ahead", was more than one thousand pages long. The book set out a framework for discussing national security and defined areas of agreement and disagreement within the Washington foreign policy community during the Cold War. The book argued for a strategic perspective on global affairs and also defined a school of thought within international relations studies for that period. The practitioners of this school of thought subsequently made their way to the pinnacles of U.S. policymaking, particularly during the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations.


text: By the mid to late 1970s, many scholars who worked at the center had found their way to senior positions in government in the Department of State or Department of Defense. When Henry Kissinger retired from his position as U.S. Secretary of State in 1977, Harvard University declined to offer him a professorship. He decided to teach part-time at Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and to make CSIS the base for his Washington operations, over offers to teach at Yale, Penn, Columbia and Oxford. He still maintains an office suite at CSIS and continues to work as a counselor and trustee to CSIS. Kissinger's decision to become affiliated with the Washington-based institution attracted more public attention for the center than virtually any event in the preceding fifteen years.


text: Following Kissinger's involvement, other cabinet-level officials also made CSIS at least a part-time base of operations. Such senior officials as James Schlesinger, Bill Brock, Admiral William J. Crowe and Harold Brown joined CSIS in the late 1970s. When Zbigniew Brzezinski joined the center in 1981 after the end of the Carter administration, he worked on issues related to the Soviet Union and Poland's transition to a market economy. The arrangements for these senior government officials allowed them to write, lecture and consult with media and business firms and are typical of the way CSIS can incorporate high-level policymakers when they leave government. During the 1970s and 1980s, a myriad of think tanks either expanded operations or emerged in Washington representing a range of ideological positions and specialized policy interests. For senior government officials, there was a move away from accepting formal arrangements with universities toward the freedom and influence a think tank could provide.


text: Some of Georgetown University's professors criticized CSIS staff members for giving academically unsupported assessments of foreign policy issues during public interviews. Donations to Georgetown University decreased because of its association with CSIS. A special committee studied the friction, and its report stated that CSIS was more focused on the media than to scholarly research and recommended that CSIS be formally separated from Georgetown University. On 17 October 1986, Georgetown University's board of directors voted to sever all ties with CSIS.


text: The Center for Strategic and International Studies was incorporated in the District of Columbia on December 29, 1986, and the formal affiliation between Georgetown and CSIS ended on July 1, 1987.


text: The center became an incorporated nonprofit organization to raise its endowment and expand its programs to focus on emerging regions of the world. The work of the trustees and counselors with the center after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1980s left CSIS in a unique position to develop the nation's foreign policy with the United States as the world's sole superpower. It signified a degree of institutional maturation and prestige that the founders had not imagined when they founded the center in the early 1960s.


text: After the end of the Cold War, there emerged a suspicion in Washington that the United States was not as well equipped as it ought to be to compete in the international economy. This outlook drove CSIS to set up a project in early 1990 that, to some, seemed removed from traditional strategic and international concerns. The idea that America should focus on its problems at home to strengthen its role abroad evolved into the Commission on the Strengthening of America, chaired by Senator Sam Nunn and Senator Pete Domenici.


text: David Abshire saw the commission as a way to examine and improve upon economic policy, coming to the conclusion that the White House should reorganize the Executive Office of the President to include a National Economic Council with a national economic adviser on the model of the National Security Council. This new focus on economic policy led CSIS to increase its research focus on international economics and issues concerning the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank as well as global health and the environmental and societal effects of climate change. These issues merged into CSIS's mission to complement its traditional focus on international security issues. Up to the present day, CSIS has been dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world, according to the CSIS website.


text: In 2013, CSIS moved from its K Street headquarters to a new location on Rhode Island Avenue in Washington, D.C. The new building cost $100 million to build and has a studio for media interviews and room to host conferences, events, lectures and discussions. The building is located in Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle neighborhood and will earn LEED Platinum Certification.


text: H. Andrew Schwartz, a senior vice president at CSIS, in 2015 was quoted describing the organization's "number one goal" as "hav[ing] impact on policy." Defending the organization from claims that it had inappropriately engaged in lobbying on behalf of U.S. defense contractors, CEO John Hamre was quoted in 2016 as saying, "We strongly believe in our model of seeking solutions to some of our country's most difficult problems... We gather stakeholders, vet ideas, find areas of agreement and highlight areas of disagreement."


text: For fiscal year 2013, CSIS had an operating revenue of US$32.3 million. The sources were 32% corporate, 29% foundation, 19% government, 9% individuals, 5% endowment, and 6% other. CSIS had operating expenses of US$32.2 million for 2013 — 78% for programs, 16% for administration, and 6% for development.


text: In September 2014, "The New York Times" reported that the United Arab Emirates had donated a sum greater than $1 million to the organization. Additionally, CSIS has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Japan through the government-funded Japan External Trade Organization, as well as from Norway. After being contacted by the "Times", CSIS released a list of foreign state donors, listing 13 governments including those of Germany and China. The Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS lists major funding from defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, and General Atomics.


text: CSIS undertakes numerous programs and projects each with its own unique missions and interests. For example, the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group provides research into the defense industry on behalf of government and corporate customers. The Global Health Policy Center focuses on U.S. engagements in HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, polio, and other high priorities, especially their intersection with U.S. national security interests.


text: CSIS has often provided a platform for high-profile figures to make important statements about international relations issues. For example, in September 2019, former National Security Advisor John Bolton delivered his first speech since leaving office at CSIS, and used the opportunity to be highly critical of US policy towards North Korea.


text: In 2012, CSIS hosted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she delivered a keynote address on "U.S. Strategic Engagement with North Africa in an Era of Change," that addressed the security of embassies in the wake of the 2012 Benghazi attack.


text: CSIS hosts more than 350 students and professionals every year for variety of seminars and programming. CSIS also offers a master program in international relations in collaboration with the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.


text: The Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) is a program hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to advance the public debate about the future role nuclear technology will play on the world stage. Created in 2003 with support from a few government agencies and private donations, PONI has two stated goals. First, it seeks to "build and sustain a networked community of young nuclear experts from the military, the national laboratories, industry, academia, and the policy community." Second, "<nowiki>[work]</nowiki> to contribute to the debate and leadership on nuclear issues by generating new ideas and discussions among both its members and the public-at-large."


text: "Perhaps the most critical challenge in sustaining the US nuclear deterrent after the end of the Cold War is maintaining the human infrastructure necessary to support US nuclear capabilities. This is especially true as the human infrastructure necessary to support a nuclear stockpile at the envisioned level of 1700-2200 operational warheads is not appreciably smaller than that necessary to support one at current levels. The challenge is therefore to maintain a smaller, but still vibrant, community of nuclear experts."


text: Clark A. Murdock started PONI when it was widely recognized that the nuclear community faced an impending crisis. With the widespread and rapid retirement of nuclear scientists and experts from the national laboratories, private industry, and the government. His study "Revitalizing the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent", co-authored with Michèle Flournoy, documented these concerns with shocking clarity. Clark initiated PONI out of concern about the future leadership and expertise of the nuclear community.


text: CSIS regularly publishes books, reports, newsletters, and commentaries targeted at decision makers in policy, government, business, and academia. Primarily it publishes the work of its experts in a specific topic or area of focus in global affairs.


text: CSIS scholars have published op-eds in "The New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal", "The Financial Times", "Foreign Policy", "Foreign Affairs" and "The Washington Post". CSIS experts were quoted or cited thousands of times by the print and online press and appeared frequently in major newswires like the "Associated Press", "Reuters", "Agence France Presse" and "Bloomberg News". They have also appeared in online media such as "The Huffington Post" and "Summit News", "WSJ Live" and were regular guests on the "PBS NewsHour", NPR's Morning Edition and other policy-focused interview shows such as the Charlie Rose Show.


text: CSIS also has its own YouTube channel, which regularly posts short videos and infographics about the think tank's work.


text: The chairman of the Board of Trustees is Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman and CEO of The Pritzker Organization. He is also executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and serves on the board of directors of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre has been the president and chief executive officer of CSIS since April 2000.


text: The board of trustees includes many former senior government officials including Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, William Cohen, George Argyros and Brent Scowcroft.


text: The board also includes major U.S. corporate business leaders as well as prominent figures in the fields of finance, oil & gas, private equity, real estate, academia and media.


text: CSIS' 220 full-time staff and its large network of affiliated scholars conduct to develop policy proposals and initiatives that address current issues in international relations. In 2012, CSIS had a staff of 63 program staffers, 73 scholars and 80 interns. The center also worked with 241 affiliate advisors and fellows as well as 202 advisory board members and senior counselors.


text: CSIS has broadened its reach into public policy analysis under the leadership of Hamre and Nunn. The Department of Defense, as part of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, commissioned CSIS to conduct an independent assessment of U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific Region. Also, in May 2009, President Barack Obama thanked the CSIS bipartisan Commission on Cybersecurity for its help in developing the Obama administration's policies on cyber warfare. The center has also been highly influential in the creation of the White House's foreign policy. "For the last four years, every Friday afternoon, I've asked my staff to prepare me a reading binder for the weekend," said National Security Advisor Tom Donilon "The task is to go out and try to find the most interesting things that they can find with respect to national security issues [and] almost every week, there are products from CSIS." Within the intelligence community, CSIS is known for having "some of the most insightful analysis and innovative ideas for strengthening our national security," according to CIA Director John Brennan.


text: John Kempthorne wrote in "Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting" that CSIS was "heavily funded by the US government, arms dealers and oil companies, [and] is a consistently pro-war think tank".


title: Bunkering

text: Bunkering is the supplying of fuel for use by ships (such fuel is referred to as bunker), including the logistics of loading and distributing the fuel among available shipboard tanks. A person dealing in trade of bunker (fuel) is called a bunker trader.


title: Bunkering

text: The term bunkering originated in the days of steamships, when coal was stored in bunkers. Nowadays, the term bunker is generally applied to the petroleum products stored in tanks, and bunkering to the practice and business of refueling ships. Bunkering operations take place at seaports and include the storage and provision of the bunker (ship fuels) to vessels.


title: Bunkering

text: In many maritime contracts, such as charterparties, contracts for carriage of goods by sea, and marine insurance policies, the ship-owner or ship operator is required to ensure that the ship is seaworthy. Seaworthiness requires not only that the ship be sound and properly crewed, but also that it be fully fuelled (or "bunkered") at the start of the voyage. If the ship operator wishes to bunker en route, this must be provided for in a written agreement, or the interruption of the voyage may be deemed to be deviation (a serious breach of contract). If the vessel runs out of fuel in mid-ocean, this also constitutes serious breach, allowing the insurer to cancel a policy and allowing a consignee to make a cargo claim. It may also lead to a salvage operation.


title: Bunkering

text: The International Maritime Organisation is an agency of the United Nations responsible for the prevention of marine pollution by ships. On 1 January 2020, the agency began enforcing the IMO 2020 regulation of MARPOL Annex VI to minimise bunkering's environmental impact.


title: Bunkering

text: In countries such as Nigeria, "bunkering" also refers to the clandestine siphoning off or diverting of oil from pipelines and storage facilities. Such bunkering is often crudely carried out, causing both accidents and pollution.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Glenn Cartman Loury (born September 3, 1948) is an American economist, academic, and author. He is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University, where he has taught since 2005. At the age of 33, Loury became the first African American professor of economics at Harvard University to gain tenure.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury achieved prominence during the Reagan Era as a leading black conservative intellectual. In the mid 1990s, following a period of seclusion, he adopted more progressive views. Today, Loury has somewhat re-aligned with views of the American right, with "The New York Times" describing his political orientation in 2020 as "conservative-leaning."


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury was born in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, growing up in a redlined neighborhood. Before going to college he fathered two children, and supported them with a job in a printing plant. When he wasn't working he took classes at Southeast Junior College where he won a scholarship to study at Northwestern University. In 1972, he received his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976, writing his dissertation, "Essays in the Theory of the Distribution of Income", under the supervision of Robert M. Solow. At MIT he met his future wife, Linda Datcher Loury.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury became an assistant professor of economics at Northwestern University after receiving his Ph.D. In 1979, he moved to teach at the University of Michigan, and was promoted to full professor of economics in 1980.


title: Glenn Loury

text: In 1982, at age 33, Loury became the first black tenured professor of economics in the history of Harvard University.


title: Glenn Loury

text: He moved to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government after two years. While at Kennedy school he would befriend William Bennett and Bill Kristol


title: Glenn Loury

text: In 1984, Loury drew the attention of critics with "A New American Dilemma", published in "The New Republic", where he addressed what he terms "fundamental failures in black society" such as "the lagging academic performance of black students, the disturbingly high rate of black-on-black crime, and the alarming increase in early unwed pregnancies among blacks."


title: Glenn Loury

text: In 1987, Loury was under consideration to be an Undersecretary of Education in the Reagan administration. He withdrew from consideration on June 1, three days before being charged with assault in a domestic dispute with a 23-year-old woman; she later dropped the charges.


title: Glenn Loury

text: After a subsequent period of seclusion and self-reflection, Loury reemerged as a born-again Christian and described himself as a "black progressive."


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury left Harvard in 1991 to go to Boston University, where he headed the Institute on Race and Social Division. In 2005, Loury left Boston University for Brown University, where he was named a professor in the Economics Department, and a research associate of the Population Studies and Training Center.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury's areas of study include applied microeconomic theory: welfare economics, game theory, industrial organization, natural resource economics, and the economics of income distribution. In addition to economics, he has also written extensively on the themes of racial inequality and social policy. Loury testified on racial issues before the Senate Banking Committee on March 4, 2021. and presented at the Bruce D. Benson Center Lecture Series at the University of Colorado Boulder on February 8, 2021.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury hosts "The Glenn Show" on Bloggingheads.tv with John McWhorter, often regarding questions of race and education.


title: Glenn Loury

text: On a 2017 episode of the Sam Harris podcast "Waking Up", Loury stated that while he used to be "a Reagan conservative", he now thought of himself as a "centrist Democrat, or maybe a mildly right-of-center Democrat." The New York Times described Loury as "conservative-leaning" and The Wall Street Journal described Loury as a “Reagan Republican”.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury opposes reparations for slavery and cancel culture. Loury supports increased border security. On January 9, 2007, Loury spoke out against increasing the number of troops in Iraq.


title: Glenn Loury

text: In June 2020, Loury published a rebuttal to a letter Brown University president Christina Paxson sent to students and alumni in response to the murder of George Floyd by a policeman. Loury questioned the purpose of Paxson's letter, saying it either "affirmed platitudes to which we can all subscribe, or, more menacingly, it asserted controversial and arguable positions as though they were axiomatic certainties."


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury was opposed to Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential run. During debates with John McWhorter, Loury defended Donald Trump. Loury would later blame Trump for the 2021 United States Capitol attack. He opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump.


title: Glenn Loury

text: Loury was elected as a member of the Econometric Society in 1994, Vice President of the American Economics Society in 1997, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2011. He was elected president of the Eastern Economics Association in 2013. Loury is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a main academic contributor to the 1776 Unites project. He received the Bradley Prize in 2022.


title: Leflunomide

text: Leflunomide, sold under the brand name Arava among others, is an immunosuppressive disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD), used in active moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. It is a pyrimidine synthesis inhibitor that works by inhibiting dihydroorotate dehydrogenase.


title: Leflunomide

text: Rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis are the only indications that have received regulatory approval. Arava was developed by Sanofi Aventis and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1998. Clinical studies regarding the following diseases have been conducted: There has been reports on potential re-purposing of leflunomide for treatment of solid tumors with tumor suppressor, PTEN, loss. In PTEN negative tumors, leflunomide causes synthetic lethality potentially due to increased demand on pyrimidines in these faster growing cells.


title: Leflunomide

text: The dose-limiting side effects are liver damage, lung disease and immunosuppression. The most common side effects (occurring in >1% of those treated with it) are, in approximately descending order of frequency: diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, hair loss, high blood pressure, rash, nausea, bronchitis, headache, abdominal pain, abnormal liver function tests, back pain, indigestion, urinary tract infection, dizziness, infection, joint disorder, itchiness, weight loss, loss of appetite, cough, gastroenteritis, pharyngitis, stomatitis, tenosynovitis, vomiting, weakness, allergic reaction, chest pain, dry skin, eczema, paraesthesia, pneumonia, rhinitis, synovitis, cholelithiasis and shortness of breath. Whereas uncommon side effects (occurring in 0.1-1% of those treated with the drug) include: constipation, oral thrush, stomatitis, taste disturbance, thrombocytopenia and hives. Rarely (in 0.1% of those treated with it) it can cause: anaphylaxis, angiooedema, anaemia, agranulocytosis, eosinophilia, leucopenia, pancytopenia, vasculitis, toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, cutaneous lupus erythematosus, severe infection, interstitial lung disease, cirrhosis and liver failure.


title: Leflunomide

text: Though not reported elsewhere, 80 cases of interstitial pneumonitis involving leflunomide have been reported in Japan between 2003 and 2006. One such case resulting in a death was reported in a 2006 article from Japan and the authors suggest "an inter-racial difference" for the interstitial pneumonitis.


title: Leflunomide

text: Other immunomodulatory treatments should be avoided due to the potential for additive immunosuppressant effects, or in the case of immunostimulants like echinacea or astragalus, reduced therapeutic effects. Likewise live vaccines (like haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine and yellow fever vaccines) should be avoided due to the potential for severe infection due to the immunosuppressive nature of the treatment.


title: Leflunomide

text: The concomitant use of methotrexate, in particular, may lead to severe or even fatal liver-damage or hepatotoxicity. Seventy-five percent of all cases of severe liver damage reported until early 2001 were seen under combined drug therapy leflunomide plus methotrexate. However, some studies have shown that the combination of methotrexate and leflunomide in patients with rheumatoid arthritis gave better results than either drug alone.


title: Leflunomide

text: Leflunomide is an immunomodulatory drug that achieves its effects by inhibiting the mitochondrial enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), which plays a key role in the "de novo" synthesis of uridine monophosphate (rUMP), which is required for the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Hence, leflunomide inhibits the reproduction of rapidly dividing cells, especially lymphocytes.


title: Leflunomide

text: The inhibition of human DHODH by teriflunomide, the active metabolite of leflunomide, occurs at levels (approximately 600 nM) that are achieved during treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Teriflunomide also inhibits several tyrosine kinases. Teriflunomide prevents the expansion of activated and autoimmune lymphocytes by interfering with their cell cycle progression while nonlymphoid cells are able to use another pathway to make their ribonucleotides by use of salvage pyrimidine pathway, which makes them less dependent on "de novo" synthesis. Teriflunomide also has antiviral effects against numerous viruses including CMV, HSV1 and the BK virus, which it achieves by inhibiting viral replication by interfering with nucleocapsid tegumentation and hence virion assembly.


title: Leflunomide

text: It has an oral bioavailability of 80%, protein binding of >99%, metabolism sites of the GI mucosa and liver, volume of distribution (V) of 0.13 L/kg, elimination half-life of 14–18 days and excretion routes of faeces (48%) and urine (43%).


title: Leflunomide

text: Teriflunomide is the main active "in vivo" metabolite of leflunomide. Upon administration of leflunomide, 70% of the drug administered converts into teriflunomide. The only difference between the molecules is the opening of the isoxazole ring. Upon oral administration of leflunomide "in vivo", the isoxazole ring of leflunomide is opened and teriflunomide is formed.


title: Leflunomide

text: "Regardless of the substance administered (leflunomide or teriflunomide), it is the same molecule (teriflunomide)—the one exerting the pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action in view of restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions, and does not present, in clinical use, a new chemical entity to patients." Because of this, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) initially had not considered teriflunomide to be a new active substance.


title: SKY (universities)

text: SKY is an acronym used to refer to the three most prestigious universities in South Korea: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. The term is widely used in South Korea, both in media and by the universities themselves.


title: SKY (universities)

text: In South Korea, admission to one of the SKY universities is widely considered as determining one's career and social status. Many of South Korea's most influential politicians, lawyers, physicians, engineers, journalists, professors, and policymakers (bureaucrats) have graduated from one of the SKY universities.


title: SKY (universities)

text: In 2010, it was reported that 46.3% of high government officials and 50% of CEOs of major financial industries were graduates of SKY universities. Also, over 60% of the students who passed the 2010 Korean Bar examination were graduates of SKY universities.


title: SKY (universities)

text: Being admitted in one of these universities typically requires students to be within the top 1% of the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test.


title: SKY (universities)

text: There have been a number of SKY university students who have dropped out of school to protest against South Korea's overheated academic elitism.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: USS "Saratoga" (CV/CVA/CVB-60), was the second of four supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. "Saratoga" was the sixth U.S. Navy ship, and the second aircraft carrier, to be named for the Battles of Saratoga in the American Revolutionary War.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: Commissioned in 1956, she spent most of her career in the Mediterranean, but also participated during the Vietnam War, receiving one battle star for her service. One of her last operational duties was to participate in Operation Desert Storm.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: "Saratoga" was decommissioned in 1994, and was stored at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. Multiple unsuccessful attempts were made to preserve her as a museum ship. The Navy paid ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Texas, one cent to take the ship for dismantling and recycling. On 15 September 2014, ex-"Saratoga" arrived in Brownsville, Texas, to be scrapped. Scrapping was completed by early 2019.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: She was ordered as a "Large Aircraft Carrier", hull classification symbol CVB-60, and her contract was awarded to the New York Naval Shipyard of Brooklyn, New York on 23 July 1952. She is the second of the four "Forrestal"-class carriers. She was reclassified as an "Attack Aircraft Carrier" (CVA-60) on 1 October 1952. Her keel was laid down on 16 December 1952. She was launched on 8 October 1955 sponsored by Mrs. Charles S. Thomas, and commissioned on 14 April 1956 with CAPT Robert Joseph Stroh in command. She was the first carrier in the US Navy to use high-pressure boilers.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: For the next several months, "Saratoga" conducted various engineering, flight, steering, structural, and gunnery tests. On 18 August, she sailed for Guantanamo Bay and her shakedown cruise. On 19 December, she reentered the New York Naval Shipyard and remained there until 28 February 1957. Upon completion of yard work, she got underway on a refresher training cruise to the Caribbean before entering her home port, Naval Station Mayport in Mayport, Florida.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 6 June 1957, President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower and members of his cabinet boarded "Saratoga" to observe operations on board the giant carrier. For two days, she and eighteen other ships demonstrated air operations, antisubmarine warfare, guided missile operations, and the Navy's latest bombing and strafing techniques. Highlighting the President's visit was the nonstop flight of two F8U Crusaders, spanning the nation in three hours and twenty-eight minutes, from off the West Coast to the flight deck of "Saratoga" in the Atlantic.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: Also in 1957, "Saratoga" conducted Regulus guided missile tests. She was one of ten aircraft carriers configured to operate the turbojet powered subsonic guided missile and only one of six carriers to ever actually launch the missile (performing two test launches) providing the first United States Navy nuclear strategic deterrence force.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: The carrier departed Mayport on 3 September 1957 for her maiden transatlantic voyage. "Saratoga" sailed into the Norwegian Sea and participated in Operation Strikeback, joint naval maneuvers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. She returned briefly to Mayport before entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for repairs.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 1 February 1958, "Saratoga" departed Mayport for the Mediterranean and her first deployment with the Sixth Fleet. From this date through 31 December 1967 she was to spend a part of each year in the Mediterranean on a total of eight cruises. The remainder of the time, she either operated off the coast of Florida or was in port undergoing restricted availability.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On the night of 24–25 May 1960, "Saratoga" collided with the German freighter "Bernd Leonhardt" off North Carolina. The freighter's bridge and superstructure were damaged by the carrier's flight-deck. The results of an investigation were never published, but repairs to the freighter, amounting to about 2.5 million German marks, were paid for by the U.S. Navy.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: While deployed with the Sixth Fleet on 23 January 1961, a serious fire broke out in "Saratoga"s number two machinery space which took seven lives. The fire, believed caused by a ruptured fuel oil line, was brought under control by the crew, and the ship proceeded to Athens, Greece, where a survey of the damage could be made. The ship continued on its patrol mission with reduced steam generation capability, returning to the U.S. as scheduled to offload its air group before going to repair.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: After an extensive shipyard period in the second half of 1964, "Saratoga" departed for the Mediterranean, arriving just before Christmas 1964. Ports visited over the next 6 months were Naples, Athens, Cannes, Valencia, Spain, Istanbul, and Malta. Another routine Med cruise was undertaken in 1966. The Med cruise from June to December 1967 was anything but routine. Immediately after entering the Med, "Saratoga" was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, where her medical facility was used to treat survivors of the Israeli attack on USS "Liberty". Later on she was involved in a near collision with the cruiser , which cut across "Saratoga"s bow during flight operations. "Saratoga" had messaged indicating that she was planning to turn to starboard. This would put "Little Rock" on the outside of the turn because "Little Rock" was on the port side. As the carrier indicated she was executing her turn, "Little Rock" increased speed to maintain position. Unfortunately, "Saratoga" turned to port, putting "Little Rock" across her bow. Fortunately there was little damage and no injuries reported. During the return voyage in early December 1967, "Saratoga" spent several days in a fierce Atlantic storm, which caused heavy damage to external catwalks on the flight deck, garbage chute, and boat sponsons. She arrived in Mayport on 6 December.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 2 January 1968, "Saratoga" sailed for the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and an overhaul and modernization program which was to last 11 months. On 31 January 1969, she departed Philadelphia for Guantanamo, via Hampton Roads and Mayport, and extensive refresher training of the crew and air detachments.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 17 May 1969, Armed Forces Day, she was the host ship for President Richard Nixon during the firepower demonstration conducted by Carrier Air Wing Three in the Virginia Capes area. On 9 July, she departed Mayport for her ninth Mediterranean deployment. Underway, a Soviet surface force and a passed in close proximity, en route to Cuba. Off the Azores on 17 July, "Saratoga" was shadowed by Kipelovo-based Soviet aircraft. They were intercepted, photographed, and escorted while in the vicinity of the carrier. She operated with Task Group 60.2 of the Sixth Fleet in the eastern Mediterranean during September in a "show of force" in response to the large build-up of Soviet surface units there, the hijacking of a Trans World Airlines plane to Syria and the political coup in Libya. Numerous surveillance and reconnaissance flights were conducted by Carrier Wing Three aircraft against Soviet surface units, including the helicopter carrier , operating southeast of Crete. "Saratoga" operated in this area again in October because of the crisis in Lebanon.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: "Saratoga" returned to Mayport and the Florida coast from 22 January until 11 June 1970 when she again sailed for duty with the Sixth Fleet.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 28 September 1970, President Richard Nixon and his party arrived on board. That night, word was received that Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of the United Arab Republic had died; an event that might plunge the entire Middle East into a crisis. The intelligence and communications personnel of the "Saratoga" were required to supply the President, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretaries of State and Defense with the essential intelligence information to keep them abreast of the deteriorating situation. The presidential party departed the ship the next evening, and "Saratoga" continued on patrol in the eastern Mediterranean until she sailed for the United States on 2 November.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: From her arrival at Mayport until 10 March 1971, she was in a "cold iron" status. She then operated off the Florida coast until 7 June when she departed for her eleventh deployment with the Sixth Fleet, via Scotland and the North Sea where she participated in exercise "Magic Sword II." She returned to Mayport on 31 October for a period of restricted availability and local operations.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 11 April 1972, "Saratoga" sailed from Mayport en route to Subic Bay, and her first deployment to the Western Pacific. She arrived in Subic Bay on 8 May and departed for Vietnam the following week, arriving at "Yankee Station" on 18 May for her first period on the line. Before year's end, she was on station in the Tonkin Gulf a total of seven times: 18 May to 21 June; 1 to 16 July; 28 July to 22 August; 2 to 19 September; 29 September to 21 October; 5 November to 8 December; and 18 to 31 December. She had been reclassified as a "Multi-purpose Aircraft Carrier" (CV-60) on 30 June 1972.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: During the first period, "Saratoga" lost four aircraft and three pilots. On 21 June, two of her F-4 Phantoms attacked three Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s over North Vietnam. Dodging four surface-to-air missiles, they managed to down one of the MiG aircraft. "Saratoga"s planes attacked targets ranging from enemy troop concentrations in the lower panhandle to petroleum storage areas northeast of Hanoi. On her second line period, she lost an F-4 to enemy fire northeast of Hanoi with the pilot and radar intercept officer missing in action. During this period, her aircraft flew 708 sorties against the enemy.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 6 August, LT Jim Lloyd of Attack Squadron VA-105, flying an A-7 Corsair on a bombing mission near Vinh, had his plane shot out from under him by a SAM. He ejected into enemy territory at night. In a daring rescue by helicopters supported by CVW-3 aircraft, he was lifted from the midst of enemy soldiers and returned to the "Saratoga". On 10 August, one of the ship's CAP jet fighters splashed a MiG at night using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: During the period 2 to 19 September, "Saratoga"s aircraft flew over 800 combat strike missions against targets in North Vietnam. On 20 October, her aircraft flew 83 close air support sorties in six hours in support of a force of 250 Territorials beleaguered by the North Vietnamese 48th Regiment. Air support saved the small force, enabled ARVN troops to advance, and killed 102 North Vietnamese soldiers. During her last period on station, "Saratoga"s aircraft battered targets in the heart of North Vietnam for over a week.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: "Saratoga" departed "Yankee Station" for Subic Bay on 7 January 1973. From there she sailed for the United States via Singapore and arrived at Mayport on 13 February 1973 where she joined the Atlantic Fleet.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: In the beginning of 1975, "Saratoga" took part in the "Locked Gate-75", a NATO operation meant to contain the influence of the Portuguese Communist Party in Portugal after the Carnation Revolution. Along with several foreign vessels, she entered the Tagus River delta and anchored in front of the Presidential Palace of Belém.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: "Saratoga" sailed from Mayport, Florida January 1976 for another Med cruise. On board her was VS-22 with the first deployment of the S-3A Viking anti-submarine aircraft. She also took part in operations during the Lebanon crisis in 1976.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 3 October 1978, the "Saratoga" departed on another Mediterranean deployment returning on 5 April 1979. On 21 November 1978, "Saratoga" collided with the replenishment oiler while operating with the Sixth Fleet, during a refueling operation south of Crete, suffering minor damage and no injuries.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: In March 1980, "Saratoga" embarked airwing CVW-3 and departed on their 16th Mediterranean deployment. Highlights of the deployment included major exercises with the battle group, and visits by the Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Thomas B. Hayward, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Thomas C. Crow. Then-commanding officer, CAPT James H. Flatley III, made naval aviation history on 21 June 1980 when he completed his 1,500th carrier arrested landing. To make the event special, Midshipman James H. Flatley IV, the Captain's son, rode in the back seat.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 28 September 1980, only one month after her return from deployment, "Saratoga" departed Mayport and headed north to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she underwent the most extensive industrial overhaul ever performed on any Navy ship. "Saratoga" was the first ship to go through the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) overhaul that would last 28 months. She conducted sea trials on 16 October 1982, and left Philadelphia with much fanfare on 2 February 1983 with her new nickname — "Super Sara."


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: "The Saratoga" departed the Mayport Basin yet again for her 17th Mediterranean deployment on 2 April 1984.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: "Saratoga's" 18th deployment was anything but ordinary. After departing Mayport in August 1985, "Saratoga" steamed toward the Mediterranean for what was scheduled to be a routine deployment. But on 10 October, she was called into action. An Italian luxury liner, , on a pleasure cruise departing from Alexandria, was hijacked by terrorists from the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF). After tense negotiations and the killing of an American tourist, the hijackers went ashore at Port Said. Egyptian authorities made hasty arrangements for the terrorists to depart the country. They boarded an Egypt Air 737 jetliner at the Al Maza Air Base, northeast of Cairo. On orders from President Ronald Reagan, seven F-14 Tomcats from the VF-74 "Bedevilers" and the VF-103 "Sluggers" were launched from the "Saratoga". Supporting the Tomcats continuously were VA-85 Grumman KA-6D air tankers and E-2C Hawkeye of VAW-125. Off the coast of Crete, the F-14s, without the use of running lights, eased up beside and behind the airliner. On command, the Tomcats turned on their lights and dipped their wings – an international signal for a forced landing. The E-2C Hawkeye radioed the airliner to follow the F-14s. Realizing they were in a "no-win" situation, the hijackers allowed the pilot to follow the Tomcats to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy. One hour and 15 minutes later, the aircraft landed and the hijackers were arrested by the Italians after a disagreement between American and Italian authorities. Seven hours after the fighter jets were scrambled, all "Saratoga" aircraft returned home without a shot fired.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 5 December 1985 "Saratoga" became the first aircraft carrier to dock pierside on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.


title: USS Saratoga (CV-60)

text: On 23 March 1986, while operating off coast of Libya, aircraft from the carriers "Saratoga", and crossed what Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi had called the "Line of Death." The very next day at noon, three U.S. Navy warships crossed the same 32° 30' navigational line. Two hours later, Libyan forces fired SA-5 Gammon surface-to-air missiles from the coastal town of Surt. The missiles missed their F-14 Tomcat targets and fell harmlessly into the water. Later that afternoon, U.S. aircraft turned back two Libyan Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 fighter planes over the disputed Gulf of Sidra. Soon after, aircraft from the three carriers fought back in defense. A heavily armed A-6E Intruder fired Rockeye cluster bombs and a Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile at a Libyan missile patrol boat operating on the "Line of Death." Later that night, two A-7E Corsair II jets attacked a key radar installation at Surt. At the conclusion, three Libyan patrol boats and a radar site were destroyed by Navy aircraft.