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What Cocaine and Weed Do to Memory
"Your memory is really your identity. Your own history, your own desires, your own fears."
by Shayla Love
10 August 2018, 11:49am
It's well accepted that marijuana is associated with changes in memory, and the more you use, the more it could impede your ability to remember.
But "memory" is not just one thing, or one process. Some studies have looked at how marijuana affects your ability to remember words or information, while a new study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology looked at the effects of marijuana on a kind of "future memory" called episodic foresight.
Episodic foresight is the ability to mentally time travel into the future and pre-experience a new, future event that will happen to you, lead author Kim Mercuri, a clinical psychologist at Australian Catholic University, tells me.
It might seem strange to use the word "memory" to describe thoughts of the future. But researchers who study memory do so because of the realization that the purpose of memory is not to nostalgically remember sleep-away camp or your graduation. We remember to create a database of experiences so that we can prepare for future events. Moshe Bar, a professor of cognitive neuroscience and the director of the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, who was not involved in the new study, says that the brain is a very predictive organ, and it uses your past to anticipate the future.
To have episodic foresight, or mental "time travel," you first need to have episodic memory, named such because it has to do with remembering episodes. "It's personal," Bar says. "It's autobiographical. It's about your specific breakfast or your specific conversation last night."
This is different from semantic memory, which he says would be like asking me to describe "breakfast." I might say scrambled eggs and toast, based on my memories of what a general breakfast is. But if he asked me about my own breakfast this morning, my answer would be completely different: I had a smoothie bowl topped with granola. It's something specific to me, a specific episode that's mine.
Bar says that there have been cases where one type of memory, semantic or episodic, is impaired but not the other. This implies that, while there's probably overlap, they are at least partially distinguished from each other. Episodic memories, Bar thinks, carry more significance. "That's kind of part of your identity," he says. "I usually say when I give talks that it sounds like cliché but your memory is really your identity. Your own history, your own desires, your own fears."
Mercuri tells me that previous research has shown that marijuana use can impair episodic memory. And if episodic foresight is created from the database of episodic memories—could it be affected by cannabis too?
Studies have shown that when you ask people to remember events from their past, or imagine things that could happen into the future, similar parts of the brain are involved. And in people with amnesia, who have lost their ability to remember their past, they also can't imagine themselves in the future. Given that relationship, Kim and her colleagues decided to ask how marijuana impacted episodic foresight.
The new paper looked at 57 cannabis users, 23 who said they used it recreationally, and 34 regularly, and compared them to 57 controls. The recreational cannabis users reported marijuana use "weekly or less," while the regular-users reported smoking at least three times per week.
All the participants of the study were asked to describe past and potential future events in response to cue words like, birthday, vacation, nightmare, taxi, or bench. There were a mixture of positive, negative, and neutral cue words. Later, the number of personal details each person generated was counted and they found that the regular cannabis users weren't as able as the other groups to come up with details about themselves when asked to imagine future scenarios.
Their results, Mercuri says, shows that more marijuana use leads to more impairment of episodic memory and episodic foresight.
"Episodic memory is considered a building block, or the scaffolding to create a future event, to mentally time travel," Mercuri says. "In order to go forward, you need to go back."
Mercuri thinks their findings offer even more evidence to the connection between cannabis use and memory function. "It strengthens that argument that cannabis is targeting our memory centers," Mercuri says.
Researchers have previously observed reductions in grey matter in regular long-term cannabis smokers and other brain changes in areas of the brain like the hippocampus and amygdala. But interestingly, a lot of cannabis research isn't consistent. Some studies have found changes in the brain related to cannabis use, but not any behavioral deficits, and others don't show any changes at all.
Continuing to study this might help reveal where in the brain these different memory processes take place. In a paper from 2014, Mercuri and colleagues found that opiate users were worse also at episodic foresight, but performed the same as controls when asked to recall past events. "There are greater densities of cannabinoid receptors in areas responsible for memory recall, potentially rendering regular cannabis users particularly vulnerable to episodic memory disruption," their new study offers as a potential hypothesis.
If a drug can lower our ability to look into the future, can a different one enhance it? In the same issue of the journal, another study asked just that question about cocaine. Nadia Hutten, the first author and a neuropsychologist at Maastricht University, says that one of reasons they looked into this was that stimulants are often used as cognitive enhancers by college students. They were curious: Does it actually improve your memory? They found a single dose of cocaine could enhance something called prospective memory, another future-forward type of memory.
There are slight differences between episodic foresight and prospective memory. Hutten tells me that prospective memory is about remembering activities and actions in the future at their appropriate time or in the right context. Like, remembering that you have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, or which groceries you need when you're at the store. Whereas episodic foresight is imagining a future event, prospective memory is remembering to do something.
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"The really neat thing about prospective memory is that I would say it's one of the modes of future thinking that we engage in that really has immediate consequences," Karl Szpunar, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the head of the UIC memory lab, says. "So usually, when we think about our future, it's something that's much more distant. Whereas with prospective memory, if I forget to tell my colleague something I really need to tell them when I see them at a meeting later on, then that could have consequences."
In Hutten's study, people were either given a placebo, marijuana, or cocaine and asked to do a prospective memory activity. They were asked to do one task, while holding another in their mind, and only performing it when prompted later. They found that the people on cocaine were better at this than the other two groups.
Szpunar, who wasn't involved in the research, tells me he's not sure the task in the study really got at prospective memory. He thinks the people might have been prompted too quickly to be using memory, and instead were testing their vigilance, or ability to pay attention. "Prospective memory is usually: There's this one thing you need to remember to do, and you sort of stop thinking about it, and then at some point, it pops back to into mind," he says.
Bar tells me he didn't have a problem with the task, and Hutten says that they measured attention and arousal independently, finding that the enhancement they saw couldn't be completely explained by how well someone was paying attention. Some or most of the enhancement, she says, must be from a direct effect of the cocaine on prospective memory.
What's important to note about Hutten's study is that it looked at the effects of a single dose of cocaine, and they measured people while still under the influence. Many studies show that people who use cocaine and other stimulants show deficits in many areas of memory, even prospective memory. "It might be that regular cocaine use leads to impairment in the long run," Hutten says. "In addition, it might be that the cocaine use among the participant samples are different. It will be interesting to examine: When does the enhancing effects of cocaine turn into an impairment?"
She says she's hoping to study further how exactly the single dose of cocaine enhanced memory: Was it the creation of the memory itself? The retrieval of memory? She says they don't know, but what they find might generalize to interactions of drugs and other types of memory too.
Mercuri thinks that understanding drugs' effects on these future kinds of memory is important beyond basic science. Prospective memory will ensure that you don't forget something on your to-do list, but there's reason to believe that something like episodic foresight has even greater survival value. If you can mentally rehearse situations before they happen, you can make better choices.
Mercuri works with addiction, and she says a big part of treatment is focused on planning the future: How a person will say no to drugs when they encounter them out in the community, or making goals for the future. She says that knowing about marijuana's effect on this ability to make future personal plans can help drive treatment.
"We can make the goal setting quite close to the here and now," she says. "What can you do now to make later better? Versus, focusing on a goal for later on. This type of information does help tailor the way we work as clinicians in terms of preparing clients to work with their goals, and hopefully bettering later outcomes."
It reminds Szpunar of a related field of research called temporal discounting, which is choosing a more immediate reward, and discounting a better one because it's in the future. For example, if I say to you: I'll give you ten dollars now, or 100 dollars next week, you'd probably wait until next week. But if I said, do you want 10 dollars now, or 100 dollars in three months, Szpunar tells me there are some people who would take the money now rather than wait.
This plays out in more subtle ways all the time, like in our health. Are you going to eat those two slices of pizza at 2 AM, or are you going to hold off because you have a goal weight for yourself in the future? Are you going to smoke those cigarettes, or not, because you want to be healthy in 30 years? And it translates to many other areas of life besides health. Being future oriented is predictive of job success, marriage success, and Szpunar says that "in life, people who are more future oriented just seem to do better."
Lots of people don't think about the long-term future. But there's work showing that if you get people to imagine what their distant futures will be like, it helps them to behave in more future-oriented ways. This ties back into the cannabis study findings because, "if there are certain drugs that impair our ability to imagine the future, then they might get in the way of helping people to become more future oriented," he says. "We know future thinking can make us more future oriented, but if we're taking certain drugs that can prevent us from being able to imagine the future in a lot of detail, then maybe it won't work as well for some people as compared to others."
Cannabis is also being explored medically for many disorders, and Mercuri says it's important to know all the cognitive side effects so people can be aware how it might affect their decision making or memory. "There are so many potential benefits because of the molecular structure of cannabis but there are parts of it that aren't very good," she says. "Isolating what is beneficial without the potential cognitive cost; I think there's still a lot of work that's got to be done there."
This isn't trivial stuff, Bar tells me. Episodic foresight is a fundamental, crucial part of daily life. "It is not something exotic that the brain does once in a blue moon," Bar says. "Every decision— and we make hundreds or thousands of decisions a day—involves some kind of foresight, some kind of simulation about the future. Even simpler ones, like what to have for lunch."
It is possible that studying the deleterious effects of drugs on these memory types could help us figure out exactly how they work in the brain, since we know roughly where the drugs bind and interact. Hearing how beneficial this kind of memory is, I'm left wondering: If we could figure out the episodic foresight or memory networks, could or should we—hypothetically—make it stronger? And gain even more ability of the process that helps us imagine the future?
Like most things, too much can be just as harmful as too little. Think about what the experience of constantly imagining yourself in the future would be like. You can think about your future too much and then it goes from being adaptive, to developing into anxiety-related disorders, says Szpunar. "I think that's one thing that people are very interested in is what is that balance?" He says. "Why is it that some people use it in a very adaptive way and for other people it's sort of serves as a road block to leading an adaptive life?"
It reminds me about the current fixation on mindfulness, which tells us to stay focused on the present and not consider what's going to happen next. I have OCD, and I can say with certainty that I could use a break from constantly envisioning myself in future scenarios, and what will happen in them.
"The answer to anything we research is that it probably depends, and that's what we're sort of trying to figure out is what are the contingencies in day to day life that make it depend?" Szpunar says. "When is it good to be in the present? When is it good to be in the future? And how much does it matter in terms of how good you are at switching between those different perspectives?"
This article originally appeared on Tonic.
mental time travel


The project is about Refactoring, bugfixing, restyling. I create the new gui interface and increase brand identity of Openeye.
Backstage of meeting with Milo Manara Venice Comic Art Fest.
This is Jean Piérre, a character create for a video stop motin. I've done the puppet, starting from the character designnad the illustration, and the Making off. Mr. Lullaby and Cornelia are characters create for a fantasy story. I've done the puppet, starting from the character designnad the illustration, and the Making off.


It was the second day in North sikkim- we were enough lucky to have a visit to yumthang valley. After reaching to Lachung yesterday night, the night's sleep was awesome as we were fatigued too much. I traveled this spot just before 6months ago, but I missed the heavenly beauties of nature at that time, as it was the month of June.But now its the treasure of ice. I have inserted some of these photos.
Yumthang valley is situated at an elevation of 11000 ft , which is at a distance of 150 KM from the capital -"Gangtok.' that is the reason you cant cover the whole distance at one shot, you cant directly reach yumthang, you must some to Lachung from Gangtok, it would take a whole day time, you need to take rest overnight there. then the next morning you need to travel towards Yumthang valley.
I was very much excited before coming here, as I knew that the temperature there is near about -16 degree Centigrade at the night, & somewhat -2 degree centigrade in the day time, it was somewhat challenge to me – so I was eagerly waiting for this environment from the very beginning I appeared to Gangtok.
Its an option to wear some warm jackets & boots at this spot for those, who are willing to visit the zero point- another tourist attraction where anytime of the year, travelers can get ice. The Nepali people – they rent the shoes,glove,jackets each pair for 50 rupees.
As we were moving to higher altitudes, we could feel the air was getting thin & oxygen density started to be lesser. so some people can face difficulties with breathing, specially if they start hard works, like jumping or running faster in which they were supposed to supply more oxygens to blood, so its pretty advisable not to be engaged in toiling. Who knows we were about to encounter some snow fall next, but it was the fact which occurred after this.


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What Works & What Doesn't: 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'
Column by Christopher Shultz	June 20, 2016
What Works & What Doesn't
Welcome back to What Works & What Doesn't. If you've been following this series of columns, you'll know we're poised to examine the dynamics of Act III, which occupies anywhere from 20 to 30 pages of your script and wraps the story up, even if—and this is important—the audience isn't necessarily "happy" with the results. In other words, as a screenwriter, do not strive for a happy ending to your story if one is not called for, based on the story elements you've set up in the previous acts.
Case in point: A Nightmare on Elm Street (the original, of course). If you're familiar with this film, you already know how the story ends, but if not, we'll get to a plot breakdown in a moment. As always, I'm providing the requisite SPOILER ALERT now, in case that wasn't obvious, but I'll also wag my finger at you for having not seen Elm Street '84—I mean, jam on it, already. It's 32 years old at this point, and now I feel really old.
Now, before we jump in to Elm Street itself, let's take a moment to get a better grasp on the inner workings of a solid Act III with some writing advice from a renowned screenwriting expert...
Act III Defined
If you're thinking I'm about to dip into Robert McKee's Story, your line of reasoning would be credible—I've referenced this text in every single WWWD column thus far—but you'd also be wrong. I've decided to shake things up this time around and turn instead to Syd Field, whose how-to book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting; A Step-by-Step Guide from Concept to Finished Script (or just Screenplay for short) is just as revered as McKee's Story, perhaps even more-so, depending on who you ask.
So, what does Mr. Field have to say about Act III, or more specifically, the resolution of a story? Quite a bit, actually, and his advice is especially pertinent to our discussion of Elm Street. Field theorizes that the best way to satisfactorily wrap up your story is to effectively know how the story ends even before you begin writing Act I. This is because screenplays are, by design, guided by a sense of direction. He writes:
...your story moves forward from point A to point Z, from set-up to resolution, and it doesn't matter whether it's told in bits and pieces of memory, as in The Bourne Supremacy; or in flashbacks, as in Cold Mountain, Annie Hall, or The English Patient; or in a straight linear story line as in The Pianist, Chinatown, Spider-Man 2 (Alvin Sargent), or The Matrix. Remember that the definition of screenplay structure is 'a linear progression of related incidents, episodes, and events leading to a dramatic resolution.'
That means your story moves forward from beginning to end.
Because of this, Field insists that before you can know how to begin your script, you have to know how it ends. This no doubt sounds counter-intuitive to the creative process, and opposite most writing advice you've ever heard—generally speaking, most writers will tell you to let the characters and outside obstacles steer you to the final moments of your story. And this is also solid advice, however, it is also advisable, once you've arrived at the ending, to go back and change the beginning and other moments throughout the narrative to better "prepare" your readers/viewers for the outcome—something I like to call leaving breadcrumbs, little hints and suggestions that subtly inform the audience what will happen, even if they're not wholly aware that is happening (which is of course ideal).
'Nightmare' Revisited
As I said above, this concept of knowing a story's resolution prior to the story's inception—or, if not that, shaping the story's beginning as well as sprinkling in those breadcrumbs of suggestion—is pertinent to our discussion of Elm Street. Why? Because, for many years now, I believed that writer/director Wes Craven failed to do this, to properly set us up for the ending—or more specifically, the final terror stinger that closes the film.
Now, let me qualify this statement by saying that I ADORE this film, even though I recognized a potential flaw in its storytelling structure. I even love (most) of the sequels, despite their more glaring problems.
Furthermore, let me admit that, for all these years, up until my re-watch of Elm Street for this very column you're now reading, I was completely WRONG about the absence of breadcrumbs in this film. I'm honestly a bit embarrassed I hadn't noticed them before now, as many times as I've watched this movie since first viewing it decades ago.
Okay, for those of you who are familiar with the film, you may know what I'm talking about at this point, or you might be about as lost as Nancy was when navigating Freddy's boiler room lair. So for anyone who's lost, and anyone who hasn't yet seen the film (jam the fuck on it, already), I give you the requisite, and very brief, plot synopsis (and the finer details are important, so bear with me):
The film starts with a nightmare. Freddy (Robert Englund) chases Tina (Amanda Wyss), a high school girl, through a labyrinthine boiler room. He almost catches her with his homemade claw glove before she wakes up in a cold sweat.
Later, telling of her nightmare to friends Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), Glen (Johnny Depp), and Rod (Jsu Garcia, as Nick Corri), she learns that they all had similar dreams the night before, though they brush it off as a coincidence.
Tina invites Glen and Nancy over to her house that night to help her feel safe (her mother is out of town). Rod crashes the party, and after having sexy time in her mother's bedroom with him, Tina falls asleep and once again dreams of Freddy, who is successful in killing her this time, in the film's decidedly most brutal kill sequence (she's dragged across the ceiling by an invisible Freddy as he slashes her to ribbons).
Rod, distraught, disappears, leaving Nancy, Glen and Nancy's cop father (John Saxon) to believe he killed Tina. He's eventually caught by the police and thrown in a holding cell. Meanwhile, Nancy dozes off in English class and dreams of Freddy, who very nearly kills her. She only escapes by burning her own arm on a pipe, thus startling her from the dream.
At home, she's once again attacked by Freddy when she falls asleep in the tub, and thus decides to begin taking caffeine pills and drinking copious amounts of coffee. This doesn't work, however, so she devises a plan with Glen, in which Nancy will fall asleep and he will watch her, to finally solidify her theory that Freddy is real. The plan works, though Nancy unfortunately has to watch as Freddy kills Rod in jail, which she could have stopped in real-life, but Glen dozed off too (this inability to stay awake for five minutes will come back around).They rush to the police station, but they are too late: Rod is dead.
Nancy's mother (Ronnee Blakely), believing something to be terribly wrong with her daughter, takes Nancy to a sleep institute, where they attempt to monitor her during R.E.M. sleep. It quickly becomes apparent she's in trouble, and the doctor's wake her up. Not only did she indeed meet Freddy again, but this time, she managed to bring his hat back with her into the real world. It even has his name written on the inside band, which makes her mother dodgy and nervous.
Nancy begins studying booby trap guides as she hatches the ultimate plan to catch Freddy. Glen, still not convinced anything supernatural is actually occurring, tells her the next time she has a nightmare, to turn her back on the thing that scares her, in order to take away its power of fear (and to simply embrace the dream and go into a "magic world").
Returning home, Nancy finds that her mother has put bars on all the windows, ostensibly to keep anyone dangerous from getting in. Nancy confronts her about the name Freddy Kruger, and her mother finally tells her the truth: Kruger was a child killer active when Nancy was younger. He was finally caught by the police, but was acquitted on a technicality. Thus, the neighborhood parents decided to take justice into their own hands, lock him into his boiler room lair, and burn him alive. Nancy's mom even kept Freddy's glove as a souvenir.
This solidifies Nancy's resolve, and she once again turns to sleepy-head Glen to help her catch Freddy, his one job being to stay awake and call her at a specific time. So what does he do? Puts on his headphones and passes out with his TV on his lap.
So yeah, he gets pulled into his own bed by Freddy and completely exsanguinated. Freddy calls Nancy on the phone, says the iconic line, "I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy," and sticks his tongue out through the mouthpiece (all while Nancy is wide-awake, mind you; remember this).
Now it's just up to Nancy. She sets her booby traps, goes to sleep, pulls Freddy into the real world, fucks his shit up old school, and burns him up again. Doesn't work, though, and Freddy uses his own burning body to turn Nancy's mother into burnt bacon. Fed up, Nancy decides to heed Glen's advice (he has to be useful for something, after all) and she demands Freddy give back her mother and friends, then turns her back on him. He vanishes into the ether mid claw-swipe, and Nancy finds herself outside, on her way to school, everyone she's lost alive and well.
Except...Turns out, Freddy is still in control of the dream, the stripes of his sweater appearing on the ragtop of Glen's convertible. The Freddy car drives Nancy and her friends off to ostensible doom, then Freddy's arm pulls Nancy's mom through the tiny window on the front door of her quaint Elm Street home.
Cue painfully '80s end credit rock theme.
So, on that stinger ending. It always felt a bit tacked on to me. It seemed to be inconsistent with all the rules set up previously, and a subversion of the actual breadcrumbs left by Craven throughout the film, specifically Glen's speech about the "Balinese way of dreaming," whereby he advises Nancy to turn away from Freddy and rob him of his power to terrify her.
And indeed, this stinger was tacked on. According to the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, producer Robert Shaye insisted on including more of a question mark at the end of the picture. Craven said Shaye's reasoning on this was to open the door for sequels, though Shaye insists it was because Craven's denouement—where Nancy finally wakes up to discover the preceding narrative had been nothing more than an elaborate nightmare, and she goes off to school with her friends, happy and content—didn't pack enough weight and, well, horror.
Craven is a master, to be sure, but I have to say, Shaye was right. Even if we look at the "nightmare isn't over" denouement as tacked on, it still works much better than the completely happy ending Craven devised, mostly because the "it was all a dream" ending is just so cliche, and likely wouldn't have held up as well over the years.
But here's what's really interesting: both the stinger ending and the happy ending reveal something key about Elm Street: the entire film is a dream. Moreover, even though this was never intended by Craven, there are actually numerous breadcrumbs that hint audiences to the nightmarish final minutes. Here they are:
Clue 1: The Jump-Roping Girls
Right after the nightmare scene that opens the film, when Tina talks about her dream in Glen's car, as they're pulling up to school, we first see a group of girls jump-roping in slow motion, dressed all in white (even the rope is blinding), singing the iconic "1-2 Freddy's Coming for You" song. There's this gauzy effect that makes the surreal scene look hazy. The camera pans over to the road, the film resumes normal speed, the sound of the girls' singing fades out, and the gauzy effect dissipates, at which point we can hear Tina discussing her dream, and even mentioning the old jump rope song.
One immediately thinks, okay, the visualization was nothing more than Tina's memory, "showing" us this old song, rather than telling it to us. But, these girls, the slow-mo, the gauziness, all return just after Glen's car turns into Freddy and rolls the teens toward prolonged terror at the end of the film, solidifying these figures as not part of Tina's memory, but rather part of "reality." Remember, the girls at the beginning transition into reality—i.e., they're shown to be a ghostly aspect of reality, rather than separate from it.
Clue 2: Literary Allusions
"What is seen is not always what is real," says the English teacher in the scene where Nancy dozes off and meets Freddy once again. If there is a more bold-faced indication that Nancy's supposed victory over Freddy at the end of Act III is not what it seems, I'd like to see it.
Furthermore, the quote is a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which the titular character may or may not be insane. Furthermore, we see that Nancy has written her name on the side of her paperback copy of Hamlet, though the pages are rather splayed toward the top of the book. This splaying cuts into her last name, Thompson, representing the idea that she is deteriorating, splitting up the middle. This notion of madness will crop up again in further clues...
There's another literary allusion in this scene, in the form of a giant poster for the 1977 Lincoln Center production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, featuring the face of Irene Worth, who plays the lead matriarch Ranevskaya. I struggle to find concrete parallels between that play's narrative and Elm Street's. Perhaps the image of Ranevskaya represents Nancy's polar opposite, in that the former is at times infuriatingly languid in her resolve and motivations, while Nancy is all about getting shit done. Maybe the poster just looks cool. Who can say?
Clue 3: Madness
In the sleep institute scene, Nancy asks the doctor if she couldn't just take a pill that would keep her from dreaming. He effectively tells her every person has to dream, because "If you don't dream, you go." On the last word, he points to his temple, meaning the brain, meaning if you don't dream, you lose your mind. The same can be said for depriving oneself of sleep, which Nancy has been doing pretty much ever since Tina's death.
The question of Nancy's sanity crops up numerous times throughout the film, an idea promulgated primarily by her mother. And while Nancy insists her mind is still intact, we have to wonder: are her faculties really that sound? Could these nightmares of Freddy in fact be hallucinations spurred on by her rapidly deteriorating state?
One instance in the film seems to verify this: the phone call Nancy receives from Freddy while she is wide awake. Ostensibly this moment breaks the rules in favor of a gross (and awesome) special effects gag. How could Freddy attack Nancy if she isn't asleep? And the answer is, of course: she IS asleep, or perhaps in a kind of sleepwalking state, where reality and fantasy have blurred into one, incoherent and surreal landscape—i.e., madness.
Overall, Elm Street works simply because it is so entertaining and watchable these 32 years since its release. The special effects hold up rather well, and the story is taut and engaging in a short span of time (just a little over 90 minutes). If you ignore the broader implications of the stinger ending, and the suggestion that the narrative is either a prolonged nightmare or a descent into madness, what you have is a fairly straightforward adventure plot, in which our heroine learns of an external evil (and internal, considering Freddy's ability to enter one's dreams) and fights tooth and nail to stop it, with the whole of Act III comprising the crafty Nancy's final confrontation with the ghostly baddie. She "wins," though in the last minute or so we have the rug pulled out from under us, as it is revealed she didn't win at all.
Again, ignoring any broader implications to this stinger, and instances of rule-breaking (Freddy harassing Nancy over the phone while she is wide-awake), Elm Street has a solid plot with a few flaws that don't take away from its overall quality. However, when we look closer at the narrative, and we consider that the entire film is basically a dream, we realize that there are no rules, that Freddy doesn't have to attack his prey when they're "sleeping," because technically, they're already asleep, and that the stinger ending doesn't subvert Nancy's supposed victory at all, because technically, she never won.
I know what you're thinking, so we'll end our discussion on this final point. The question is, if the entire narrative is a dream—which means Freddy is actually in control of EVERYTHING (the dreamworld is HIS domain, after all), why would Freddy effectively pretend to lose his battle? Why would he dissipate mid-attack after Nancy turns her back on him?
The answer is simple, and evidenced throughout the original Elm Street and all the sequels to follow: Freddy's an asshole. He loves to taunt his victims before executing his deathblow. In this way, letting Nancy think she's won, letting her walk out her front door under the pretense that everything is fine, that her friends and her mother are alive—it's all one big, taunting "FUCK YOU" before he drops his striped-rag-top self over Nancy's head. You even hear him laughing as the Freddy car slowly drives away.
What are your thoughts on A Nightmare on Elm Street? Even though much of the breadcrumbs I discussed were unintentional, do you agree that everything works out rather perfectly in the end, or do you still think—as I once did—that the telling of the tale is enjoyable, but nonetheless flawed? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection (All 7 Original Nightmare Films + Bonus Disc) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Various
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
Christopher Shultz writes weird, dark fiction. His stories have appeared both online and in print, including most recently in Apex Magazine, freeze frame flash fiction and Grievous Angel. In addition to LitReactor, he has also written for Ranker.com, Cultured Vultures and Tor.com. At times, he dabbles in digital art and photography. Christopher lives in Oklahoma City with his fiancée Lauren and their two mostly well-behaved cats. More info at christophershultz.com.
Follow @chris_shultz81
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Putting Other People's Words in Your Mouth with John F.D. Taff
February 4, 2020 - March 3, 2020
Make sure the dialog you're writing for your characters sounds like real people actually said it, ensuring they come off as authentic.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Prevent padding above Image at top of ScrollView when scrolling beyond limit in Sheet If you present a Sheet that displays an Image with Text underneath in a ScrollView, when you scroll down then flick back up, notice that it'll scroll beyond the limit and empty space appears above the image until the elastic scroll effect settles. You can then pull down to dismiss the Sheet.
I want to prevent adding space above the Image in the ScrollView. Instead, I want that padding to appear in-between the Image and the first Text. An app that does this is the App Store - when you tap a story in Today, notice the image at the top always remains fixed to the top when scrolled up past the limit, and the elastic bounce effect occurs underneath it.
I suspect GeometryReader could be utilized to get the position in the global CoordinateSpace, but it's not clear to me how to utilize that to obtain the desired behavior.

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var sheetVisible = false

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Button(action: {
                sheetVisible = true
            }, label: {
                Text("Present Sheet")
            })
        }
        .sheet(isPresented: $sheetVisible) {
            DetailsView(image: UIImage(named: "test"))
        }
    }
}

struct DetailsView: View {
    var image: UIImage?

    var body: some View {
        ScrollView {
            Image(uiImage: image ?? UIImage())
                .resizable()
                .aspectRatio((image?.size.width ?? 1) / (image?.size.height ?? 1), contentMode: .fill)
                .background(Color(.secondarySystemFill))

            ForEach(0..<50) { index in
                Text("\(index)")
            }
        }
    }
}

A: This is possible using GeometryReader:

*

*Wrap the Image in GeometryReader so it's possible to get the position in the global coordinate space.

*Make sure to add .scaledToFill() to the GeometryReader because otherwise it won't take up any space in a ScrollView. Alternatively you could solve this by giving the GeometryReader a default frame

*Use the minY of the Image in the global coordinate space to set the offset when 'dragging up'. This way it's simulated the image is in a fixed position.

There is a problem with this technique. When dragging the sheet down the image will stick to it's position, which looks weird. I haven't found out how to fix that but maybe this answer will help you.
See the example below.
struct DetailsView: View {
    func getOffsetY(basedOn geo: GeometryProxy) -> CGFloat {
        // Find Y position
        let minY = geo.frame(in: .global).minY

        let emptySpaceAboveSheet: CGFloat = 40

        // Don't offset view when scrolling down
        if minY <= emptySpaceAboveSheet {
            return 0
        }

        // Offset the view when it goes above to simulate it standing still
        return -minY + emptySpaceAboveSheet
    }

    var body: some View {
        ScrollView {
            GeometryReader { imageGeo in
                Image(systemName: "option")
                    .resizable()
                    .scaledToFill()
                    .background(Color(.secondarySystemFill))
                    .offset(x: 0, y: self.getOffsetY(basedOn: imageGeo))
            }
            // Need this to make sure the geometryreader has a size
            .scaledToFill()

            ForEach(0..<50) { index in
                Text("\(index)")
            }
        }
    }
}

A: Ok, here is possible solution for your case. Tested with Xcode 12b5 / iOS 14.
The idea is to have internal container, that scrolls inside, but reading its coordinate in scroll view coordinate space, compensate image position offsetting it relative to container, which continue scrolling, such giving effect that everything else, ie below image, still has bouncing.

struct DemoView: View {
    var image: UIImage?

    @State private var offset = CGFloat.zero

    var body: some View {
        ScrollView {
            VStack { // internal container
                Image(uiImage: image ?? UIImage())
                    .resizable()
                    .aspectRatio((image?.size.width ?? 1) / (image?.size.height ?? 1), contentMode: .fill)
                    .background(Color(.secondarySystemFill))
                    .offset(y: offset < 0 ? offset : 0)      // compansate offset

                ForEach(0..<50) { index in
                    Text("\(index)")
                }
            }
            .background(GeometryReader {
                // read current position of container inside scroll view
                Color.clear.preference(key: ViewOffsetKey.self,
                    value: -$0.frame(in: .named("scroll")).origin.y)
            })
            .onPreferenceChange(ViewOffsetKey.self) {
                self.offset = $0   // needed offset to shift back image
            }
        }
        .coordinateSpace(name: "scroll")
    }
}

struct ViewOffsetKey: PreferenceKey {
    typealias Value = CGFloat
    static var defaultValue = CGFloat.zero
    static func reduce(value: inout Value, nextValue: () -> Value) {
        value += nextValue()
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


What's more important in wedding besides taking photos! Besides the bride and groom who wanted to treasure their once in a lifetime memory, the guests would love to keep their lovely appearance of the group pictures with the newlyweds.
Group photos are essential in every single wedding and everyone wants to look good in group pictures. Let's face it, who doesn't want to look good for group photos? Fret not about not knowing how to pose for good pictures. If you are camera shy or wanting to look better in a group photo, here are some tips to looking good in pictures no matter weddings or other events.
In every photo, try your best to be natural. We know it isn't easy to be natural in front of the camera. Start by just relaxing and smile! You don't want to look stiff and uneasy at photos. Remember not to force out a smile and just go with the flow. However, by being natural doesn't mean you have to keep on smiling. You can just strike out a nice pose depends on what the wedding photographer asks you to do.
However, if you are not comfortable with the pose the wedding photographer asked you to do, you may ask him/her for a different pose. In order to look natural in pictures, you must first be comfortable with what you're doing.
One of the things that people will definitely notice in group photos other than your outfit, would be your hair. Therefore, make sure your hair is well maintained during the group photo. Make sure that it's washed, dried, styled, etc.
For men, if you were wearing a cap the entire day and you are required to remove your cap for a picture, make sure you have something to style your hair with as your hair will be flat due to the cap. If you have difficulties styling your own hair, do consider going to the saloon a day before the wedding to get your hair done.
One important thing to remember is to make sure your hair smells good too. Nobody likes to be with someone who smells bad. Therefore, make sure you wash your hair before the wedding as it's going to be a whole day out and sweating will just seem unavoidable.
If you want people to notice you in group pictures, you must first stand out. But, how do you do that?
Well, one of the tips to pose for good photos and stand out is when others are doing a particular pose, just pose something else! Explore unique poses more than just a simple peace sign. People tend to remember things that are one of a kind which they never saw before.
The easiest way to look good in pictures and standing out is through your dressing. However, no matter how out of this world you may dress, always remember to follow the dress code of the particular event.
Check out this completely FREE & downloadable Must-Take Wedding Photography Checklist to capture all your gorgeous wedding memories!
Everybody has got that one good angle that helps us in pictures. Different people have different "best angles". Therefore, it is a good idea to spend some time in front of the mirror and test out where and which is your best angle. This is one of the crucial tips on how to pose for a good picture, no matter male or female.
However, there are some people who still are yet to find their "best angle". Don't worry, this is where a good photographer comes to use! Having an experienced wedding photographer will definitely make you and your guests looking good in every photo! Do consider trying out different angles by yourself. You may even practice doing different poses in order to find your best angle.
One of the common mistakes people makes while taking a group picture is that they tend to slouch instead of standing straight. By standing up straight during group pictures, you give out the impression of viewers that you are a person with class instead of a lazy person that slouches.
Therefore, it is a good idea to practice before actually going out and try to ace it. Keep on practising until it becomes a habit then you won't have to force yourself to stand up straight in the future. In a way, standing straight makes you a little more confident and attractive unintentionally.
Remember not to go overboard and make it too obvious that you are trying really hard to stand straight. By doing so, you will be doing the opposite of what you really wanted to do.
Different people have different requirements when taking pictures. In order to look nice in a group photo, just make sure that you yourself look good and just be natural and let the wedding photographer do his/her job.
There are many different types of group photos. Therefore, it is also important to pose according to the assigned theme. You won't want to be looking out of the place too much would you?


At this year's PRI, billed as the world's leading responsible investment conference, Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation challenged whether the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) investments in globally branded hotels actually promote decent work and development. Burrow said, "Development loans must benefit workers -- not just global financiers. Development through hospitality sector investments must ensure engagement with trade unions at every level." Burrow's comments referenced recent letters sent to the IFC raising concerns about various labor issues at hotels Marriott operates for IFC loan recipients.
Loans from the IFC require recipients and entities with whom they contract to ensure labor standards for development on the project under a Performance Standard on Labor and Working Conditions, updated in 2012. Loan applicants must include an economic and social action plan with their application, disclosing concrete steps to meet the standard at each phase of the project. The IFC makes these publicly available through its online information portal.
The discussion at this year's PRI signals a change to the "business as usual" approach to private sector investment in the hospitality sector for the IFC and private lenders who invest alongside the IFC. Investors are now on notice to be attentive to how the IFC, its loan recipients, and global brands like Marriott ultimately respond.
In a letter responding to a proposed 45 million USD loan to Ananta Hotels and Resorts Limited for a Marriott Hotel and Residence property in Bangladesh, The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) and human and labor rights NGO Global Labor Justice (GLJ) requested that the IFC conduct additional due diligence before approving the loan, in order to ensure ethical labor standards throughout the life of the project.
In a letter referencing a $20.95 million USD loan to SAMHI Private Limited, covering a wide portfolio of hotels in India, the majority now branded Marriott, Hotel Mazdoor Panchayat, a trade union organizing in hotels, along with human and labor rights NGO Global Labor Justice (GLJ) alleged that the project does not adequately protect workers with relation to freedom of association, gender based violence, limits on contract labor and subcontracting of permanent jobs core to the industry, and living wages that enable workers and their families to afford basic necessities and participate in development.
They asked that the IFC take action to ensure that the loan recipient, SAMHI, and its branded operator Marriott, engage with trade unions as they continue to proceed with the organizing in hotels covered by the project. "We expect SAMHI, Marriott and their financiers to ensure all the hotel workers on this project are paid living wages, with fair working conditions, and freedom of association, and not retaliate against workers for forming unions in their hotel chains," said Ashim Roy, President of Hotels Mazdoor Panchayat.
Marriott International is the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 6,500 properties in 127 countries and earning more than $22 billion in the 2017 fiscal year, which has funded its global growth in part through these preferential loans. With over 100 managed and/or franchised hotels in India and approximately 50 more under construction and renovation, Marriott's 22,000 rooms make it the largest branded hotel chain in India.
Marriott could also face potential strikes after 8,000 workers in six cities in the United States voted to authorize strikes. More than 12,000 Marriott workers have had their contracts expire and continue negotiations to secure better standards around job security and safety while demanding the hotel giant provide more for workers who say they often can not afford to live in the cities where Marriott prospers.


The Washington state clean technology sector is working with a variety of industries to provide technology and related production processes. These will improve their environmental and business performance. Our top priority is to create an economic climate across the state, where innovation and entrepreneurship can thrive and create well-paying jobs.
Clean tech crosses many industrial sectors and represents a wide range of manufacturing processes, services and products. All of these make up what is known as the clean technology sector. Consumer products produced in this sector provide greater value to the customer at a lower environmental cost. Each industrial sector will convey its own set of environmental performance objectives. If these are significantly greater than previous processes, or if the product or service represents a significant improvement over previous production methods, then these products would likely qualify for reference in the Clean Tech sector.
For example, clean tech in the electric utility industry can include a technology that allows utilities to purchase or re-sell more electrical power from renewable sources. This would include grid scale batteries and system controllers, as well as the software that allows the integrated units to capture and deliver electrical energy generated from renewable sources as well. This means that the solar or wind units would be considered in the clean tech industry as well as the batteries, controllers and associated software.
If you're a company exploring or producing next generation clean energy products, materials, concepts or services come to Washington State.
Our culture of innovation offers you dynamic partnerships with other high performing companies, a workforce of highly skilled clean technology workers, a pro-business environment that embraces companies that want to change the world with new energy sources and a stunning natural environment that will inspire you to create and succeed in exploring and producing new energy for the country and the world.
To learn more, contact our clean tech expert today. They'll be happy to answer your questions and show you how choosing Washington could be the best business decision you could ever make.
The clean tech industry in the state of Washington employs nearly 90,000 workers and is backed by more than a billion dollars in venture capital. These companies are supported by world-class research institutions including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Washington and Washington State University.
These companies are poised to make a significant contribution to the worldwide demand for cleaner industrial processes. Important trade and industry organizations include the Washington Clean Technology Alliance, Washington Technology Industry Association and Northwest Energy Efficiency Council.
Washington State has a big stake in the future of renewable and clean energy. The state's legislature mandated that 15 percent of Washington's electricity come from new energy sources, including wind, tidal, biomass, biofuel and solar. This has led to significant private-sector investment in next-generation technologies in the Clean Tech sector.
New ideas are encouraged at all levels, from the use of real-time mathematical and computer computational science to improve power grid management and control and the use of algae to create energy efficient fuel sources to tidal power generators and more efficient solar production capabilities.
Sharelynn Moore – Itron, Inc.
Are you interested in business opportunities in Washington's clean technology industry? Visit ChooseWashington.com to learn more.


We are doing an additional drive to promote Home Composting across the borough this summer. We are able to offer discounted compost bins and a free kitchen caddy for householders.
Turn your food waste into a beautiful garden with your own Home Composter.


Paul has lost his right leg at the hip in a road accident but races a fearsome Porsche 996 Twin Turbo Tiptronic very successfully.
I am 54 was born in London but has lived in Oxfordshire since the age of 3 years. In 1965 whilst study mechanical engineering at college in Oxford selected to attend the British Trampolining training camp.
Three weeks later in April 1965 whilst riding a motorcycle to college I was involved in serious road traffic accident (RTA). Injuries included loss of right leg and half of pelvis on right side (Hemipelvectomy), torn liver with resultant internal bleeding. Complete renal failure due to shock. Placed on dialysis machine for 6 weeks until kidneys started functioning again.
Escaped from hospital 16 weeks after RTA and went on holiday for 2 weeks. Received almighty bollocking from Dr Robert Taylor (Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon) for missing 1st outpatients appointment. Dr Taylor also commented that I appear to get an unusual amount of sunlight in my bedroom at home.
I think the sun burn on my face gave the game away.
In August 1997 on way back from Silverstone race meeting with two friends I suffered reoccurrence of severe chest pains and collapsed. Driven to Hospital and diagnosed with severe unstable Angina. Probably caused by stress and addiction to smoking small cigars. Underwent multi coronary bypass surgery (artery grafts) the same week. In 1998 purchased Porsche 911 2.7 RS replica race car. In 1999 took and passed MSA ARDS test at Silverstone race driving school.
Same year applied and accepted as entrant for the PCGB Porsche Open and AMOC Intermarque Championships.
In 2001 sold 911 2.7 RS and purchased Porsche 996 Tiptronic which has since been converted by Phil Hindley and his team at Tech 9 Motorsport into what Porsche Germany believe is the only 996 Twin Turbo Tiptronic race car being used competitively anywhere in the World.
Highest race finish todate Porsche Open Round 4 at Castle Combe in May 2003 finished 5th overall and 3rd in class 2. Worst race todate Porsche Open Round 5 at Brands Hatch in June 2003 crashed on lap 7 and suffered four fractured ribs.
More importantly the race car was severely bent. Expensive!
I have two sons Lee 28 years and Jamie 26 years who come and support at most races I enter.
actual race when boredom often sets-in and the cold weather at most UK race circuits.
My full time occupation (the day job!) is commercial director for Chelton (Electrostatics) Limited. Chelton is the worlds foremost aerospace avionics company and a major division of Cobham plc.
a) I currently hold an National A race licence issued by the MSA. The MSA have endorsed my application to the FIA for upgrade to International C race licence. If granted and I can raise sufficient financial help I intend to enter the British GT Championship cup class in the Porsche 996 Twin Turbo Tiptronic and selected rounds of the Porsche Open Championship - day job permitting.
b) Give up smoking those small cigars!


This system was also available as GRUNDIG MC10. The unit has a front loading CD player, digital tuner with presets, autoreverse cassette deck and remote controlled amplifier (system) with equalizer presets. The performance of this system is quite good and it does work very well.
It has an elegant finish and it will look good anywhere you'll place it. As you can see from the pictures I have both the matching DUAL remote and also one branded as GoldStar.
Great two box, micro component system.
Top loading (motorized lid) CD player.
Digital tuner with preset control.
Auto reverse cassette with logic control.
Separate Bass and treble control.
Very good sound for a micro component, even with headphones.
This unit was sold in Brazil as Gradiente MP-5 Prestige micro component system.
It's black, It's white.... Compact designer audio system from SHARP. The black is model XL-1100 and the silver is model XL-1000. They are in fact both the same system with 2 x 10 W (RMS 10% THD) amplifier, motorised door and 1 bit D/A converter CD player, digital tuner with 30 random presets, headphone output and optical digital output. There is only one difference. The display of the XL-1100 has blue light and the XL-1000 has orange light. Blue light is in fashion today, but the orange back light display is easier to read. Another surprising rebadge of this unit was the KENWOOD HM-233.
This is a SONY MHC-1600 (amplifier, tuner and cd player), part of the MHC-1600 CD system which also had a dual cassette deck, loudspeakers and remote control. This unit can work as a standalone unit with different speakers and a SONY "friendly" programmable remote control. Some technical details are as follow: amplifier 2x30 W sinus, 7 band equalizer with 7 band spectrum analyzer, 5 EQ presets and 5 manual EQ settings, 40 programmes for your favourite radio stations. The CD player has a 1 bit D/A converter, 24 titles to programme and various edit functions to help you with your cassette compilations.
Top of the line and an extremely complex system for those who wanted a compact system, but not so special for those who wanted a high quality system. It has so many functions and settings that it is difficult to operate it even with the instruction manual in front of you.
- From top to bottom first there is a sound processor with equalizer (manual and preset curves), Digital sound field processor, Dolby PRO-LOGIC and Karaoke functions that can be infinitely combined and shaped.
- The second unit is the integrated amplifier with a function display and timer with controls for center and rear levels for surround sound operation.
- The next unit is a tuner-CD player combination with a big display. The whole front panel flips down to acces the cd tray.
- The last unit is perhaps the most satisfactory. It is a double cassette deck with both cassette being autoreverse. The recorder cassette has an automatic (CCRT) bias, level, eq and automatic record level setting that works fine. It also has Dolby B and C with HX Pro noise reduction.
The whole system is functional only if you have all the 4 pieces and are linked together with their special cable. On top of this, the CD player "makes music" only if it is connected to the sound processor using a digital optical cable.
In conclusion this is a very good system, but too complex for the average user to operate.


TopBox is a Canadian Beauty Box Subscription! For $12 CDN a month with free shipping you get 4 deluxe sample size or full size products. You fill out a beauty profile and get items based on what you have identified. Also, every month you have the option to "wish" for a prive box. This month I wished for a Benefit Prive Box! (I have been secretly dying to try the new gel push-up eyeliner).
And yay!!! lucky me - I got the box I was hoping for!
I love Benefit so I am happy to see these goodies!
Benefit Stay Don't Stray ~ sample size 0.08 for $7.28 (full size 0.33 oz for $30). This is a primer fro concealers and eye-shadows. The only color I believe it came in for these boxes is medium/deep. I have quite a fair complexion and I did not find this to be dark as well - it worked good.
Benefit They're Real! Push-Up Liner ~ sample size 0.003 oz for $2.17 (full size is 0.04 oz for $29) So this is the most talked about product this month - this is just released. It is a new type of gel eyeliner. I was really excited to try this product (I wear eyeliner everyday!). I know the name is a little cheesy and no one is going to ask if your eyes are real from the eyeliner you wear but it goes with the mascara under that product line.
Benefit They're Real Remover ~ sample size 7.5 ml for $3.30 (full size is 50 ml for $22). This is creamy gel eye remover designed to take off waterproof makeup (I used it with the eyeliner as it was definitely an eyeliner that needed makeup remover! This worked well I thought and was a nice formula to use - I really enjoy the gel feel of it!
Overall, I do like how the mascara looks on - it might not be enough to convince me to switch kinds because of the brush - but the sample will happily be used!
So altogether for $12 I received 4 sample size products for a total value of $24.75. Some of the samples were a little small but I really like Benefit, and liked the idea that we got to try a sample of a brand new item that had a lot of hype!
Did you get TopBox this month? And it you did, what was your box like? I read a few reviews where people weren't too happy with the products they have been receiving. I have only gotten 2 topboxes and both have been prive boxes so I haven't got to review a regular topbox - I will try next month for a regular one!


The past few years in the mining industry have been characterized as a race to the bottom, but on the manufacturing front, the metals industry is witnessing a resurgence in growth and positive forecasts. Either way, both industries are undergoing a rebirth.
To address market forces and remain competitive, metals companies are looking for deeper insights into operations to improve efficiency and are looking at the use of Smart Manufacturing technologies and analytics. Further, companies are facing new challenges, such as rising energy costs, aging technology on the edge of obsolescence, and a departure of the tribal knowledgebase required for smooth operation to name a few.
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) can help metals companies optimize their processes, improve standardization, enforce inline quality controls, track scrap recovery, and better understand their operations to get more out of their workforce, equipment, and materials.
Metals companies are ideally positioned to implement modern MES as they transition to advanced materials, incorporate new equipment and more complex processes, and address emerging workforce needs. The efficiencies and cost savings that MES offers only further justifies the investment. MES also enables metals companies to move their stand-alone databases, legacy "expert" systems and Excel spreadsheets into a more integrated solution, which can help drive business value across their enterprise.
Brock Solutions has extensive experience delivering real business value to metals customers implementing MES projects in Primary and Secondary markets through to Finishing and Material Handling. Brock is dedicated to this space, and has built a repeatable and scalable MES solution for an integrated digital strategy solution helping drive business value across their enterprise.


Do you know someone in uniform who has gone Above & Beyond the call of duty? Now is your chance to nominate your favorite candidate or co-worker for the Lex Brodie's Above & Beyond Award. The winner will win a bronze American Eagle trophy and will be recognized at an award ceremony in their honor. Winners are selected each month, so send in your nomination today!


text:
This Weekend's Pick
Strewn Rogue's Lot Cabernet Sauvignon /Cabernet Franc
Winemakers will often aim to draw out certain flavours or textures when making a wine, highlighting a certain aspect of the terroir or the grape's natural properties. When the team at Strewn set out to make Rogue's Lot, it wanted a wine that was 'social'– a quaffable wine that would match with people enjoying each other's company – with all the required distancing of course. This easy-drinking blend of Cabernets has been charming Ontarians ever since.
Tasting Notes: Rogue's Lot is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, bursting with black and red berry fruit, supple tannins, lively acidity, soft floral notes, and subtle oak spices.
Enjoy With: Grilled meats and sausages, pizza, stuffed peppers or semi-hard cheeses, and good company. It's a versatile wine.
Style: A dry, medium-bodied, fruity red wine.
Terroir/Region: Strewn Rogue's Lot is grown and made in the Niagara Peninsula region of Ontario. The Cabernet Franc vineyards tend to ripen before the Cabernet Sauvignon, but both grapes are some of the last to be harvested each year. This ensures soft tannins and full fruit flavours.
Producer: Strewn has been a long-time homegrown favourite. It offers a wide range of wines and levels of sophistication with classics like Rogue's Lot available in the LCBO and lots of treasures, including terroir-driven selections and back vintages from select stellar years, available from the winery.
Availability: Strewn Rogue's Lot Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc is available in the Ontario VQA section of your local LCBO. It also happens to be $1.00 off until October 10, so now is a great time to stock up!
Find it Now
Check LCBO store inventory
Price: $14.95 Now: $13.95; Save $1.00 Until October 10, 2021
LCBO #: 65342
Alcohol Content: 12.8% alc./vol.
Copyright © 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part strictly prohibited. Wine of the Weekend is a trademark of 2140322 Ontario Inc., 350 Sheppard Avenue East, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M2N 3B4
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Small Car Accident = Big Problem!
Home » Uncategorized » Small Car Accident = Big Problem!
Just about everyone has been involved in a car accident during their lives. From multi-car incidents to minor fender benders, even the slightest motor vehicle accident (MVA) can cause serious spinal problems, particularly in the neck due to whiplash injury.
How can a minor car accident create such a huge problem? Whiplash injury can happen regardless of which angle the accident happens from. A whiplash injury occurs in less than .5 seconds! Less than half a second! Obviously the more serious the impact, the more damage can be done, but research indicates that even accidents of less than 3 mph can cause cervical spine problems – particularly upper cervical subluxation.
Most people think that the head has to undergo full flexion and extension to damage tissue (looking all the way down and then all the way up) but this isn't the case. Instead, it is the abnormal motion that occurs within and between vertebral segments that has the potential to injure facets, disks, and ligaments.
Why such a diverse array of symptoms just from whiplash? For a few reasons. First of all, a whiplash injury can stretch the spinal cord, causing neurological trauma. Second, because the neurology of the cervical spine creates more input to the brain than many other areas of the body combined. Dysfunction in those pathways create functional brain imbalance and results in the manifestation of various different symptoms.
1) 44% are not recovered at 3 months.
2) 30% are not recovered at 6 months.
3) 24% are not recovered at 12 months.
4) 18% are not recovered at 24 months.
So, what does this tell us? Car accidents we were involved in as children, long before we ever had our own car keys, can be the cause of chronic neck pain and dysfunction later in life.
Chiropractic adjustments remove the dysfunction created by a car accident. By helping to reestablish proper motion paterns of the neck and back, the spine is able to reconnect itself neurologically to the brain and to the rest of the body restoring proper function. It also aids in reduction of pain and discomfort. As indicated by the statistics just above, it makes sense why it would take time to fully recover from a car accident. Our objective is simply to help the body do it faster without dangerous medications.
If you or someone you love has been involved in a car accident, please have them Contact Us for a check up today.
Eating, Movement, and Thought…for Wellness!


text:
The body of the Soldier who was shot dead by Terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir had been brought to Chennai yesterday night. The Soldier namely Perumal belongs to Madurai district of Tamilnadu.
The body of the soldier has been handed over to Om Prakash, Higher Official of South Zone Central Security Force.
Following this, the security soldiers paid tribute to his body. Then the body of Perumal was taken to his native Madurai for further funerals. The body of the soldier who died in terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir is to be handed over to the Collector of Madurai. Then the body will be handed over to his relatives for death funerals.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced 5 lakh cash relief to the family of Soldier Perumal. She condole the death of the soldier, who hails from Thummanayakkanpatti in Madurai district. She expressed grief over the incident and sympathized with the family members of the martyred soldier. Ganesan, leader of BJP, who paid tribute to the soldier's body in the Airport stated that the Central Government is not paying proper attention to the terrorist attacks in India.
All Party Meeting in Bangalore today: To Discuss about Cauvery issue
Indian share market – Sensex rised upto 109 points
Vijay Meets Edappadi Palaniswami to Discuss 'Mersal' Issues
Expansion of Tuticorin Harbor
Additional Protection for Women: Punjab to Put in Action
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Sandbar shark (C. plumbeus): The sandbar shark has a snout that is shorter than the width of its mouth and a large first dorsal fin originating over the axis of the pectoral fin (the Caribbean reef shark's first dorsal fin is further from the head than the sandbar shark). Unlike the Caribbean reef shark, the sandbar shark has widely spaced non-overlapping dermal denticles that lack defined teeth on their free edges.
The coloration is grey above, sometimes with a bronze sheen, and white below. The entire rear margin of the caudal fin has a distinctive, broad, black band. There are dusky to black tips on the pectoral, pelvic, second dorsal, and anal fins.[9] Individuals from the western Indian Ocean have a narrow, white margin at the tip of the first dorsal fin; this trait is usually absent from Pacific populations.[5] Grey reef sharks that spend time in shallow water eventually darken in color, due to tanning.[10] Most grey reef sharks are less than 1.9 m (6.2 ft) long.[4] The maximum reported length is 2.6 m (8.5 ft) and the maximum reported weight is 33.7 kg (74 lb).[9]
Although they only grow to about 1.6 to 3 meters (5 to 10 feet) in length, these sharks are the apex predators on the very delicate coral reefs. That means, around coral reefs, they are the top of the food chain. The significants of this goes largely unnoticed, but theWorld Wildlife Fund has classified the Reef Shark as one of the most important species on the entire planet!
One useful definition distinguishes reefs from mounds as follows: Both are considered to be varieties of organosedimentary buildups – sedimentary features, built by the interaction of organisms and their environment, that have synoptic relief and whose biotic composition differs from that found on and beneath the surrounding sea floor. Reefs are held up by a macroscopic skeletal framework. Coral reefs are an excellent example of this kind. Corals and calcareous algae grow on top of one another and form a three-dimensional framework that is modified in various ways by other organisms and inorganic processes. By contrast, mounds lack a macroscopic skeletal framework (see stromatolite). Mounds are built by microorganisms or by organisms that don't grow a skeletal framework. A microbial mound might be built exclusively or primarily by cyanobacteria. Excellent examples of biostromes formed by cyanobacteria occur in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and in Shark Bay on the coast of Western Australia.
Cyanobacteria do not have skeletons and individuals are microscopic. Cyanobacteria can encourage the precipitation or accumulation of calcium carbonate to produce distinct sediment bodies in composition that have relief on the seafloor. Cyanobacterial mounds were most abundant before the evolution of shelly macroscopic organisms, but they still exist today (stromatolites are microbial mounds with a laminated internal structure). Bryozoans and crinoids, common contributors to marine sediments during the Mississippian (for example), produced a very different kind of mound. Bryozoans are small and the skeletons of crinoids disintegrate. However, bryozoan and crinoid meadows can persist over time and produce compositionally distinct bodies of sediment with depositional relief.
Despite its abundance in certain areas, the Caribbean reef shark is one of the least-studied large requiem sharks. They are believed to play a major role in shaping Caribbean reef communities. These sharks are more active at night, with no evidence of seasonal changes in activity or migration. Juveniles tend to remain in a localized area throughout the year, while adults range over a wider area.[7]
The Caribbean reef shark feeds on a wide variety of reef-dwelling bony fishes and cephalopods, as well as some elasmobranchs such as eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari) and yellow stingrays (Urobatis jamaicensis).[1] It is attracted to low-frequency sounds, which are indicative of struggling fish.[4] In one observation of a 2 m (6.6 ft) long male Caribbean reef shark hunting a yellowtail snapper (Lutjanus crysurus), the shark languidly circled and made several seemingly "half-hearted" turns towards its prey, before suddenly accelerating and swinging its head sideways to capture the snapper at the corner of its jaws.[8] Young sharks feed on small fishes, shrimps, and crabs.[8] Caribbean reef sharks are capable of everting their stomachs, which likely serves to cleanse indigestible particles, parasites, and mucus from the stomach lining.[11]
Blacktip reef sharks are fast, pursuit predators that prefer reef fishes, but also feeds on stingrays, crabs, mantis shrimps and other crustaceans, cephalopods, and other mollusks. In the Maldives, this species has been documented feeding cooperatively on small schooling fishes, herding them against the shore and feeding en masse. Feeds heavily on sea snakes in northern Australia. A large individual (1.6 m) was observed attacking a green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, in North Male' Atoll, Maldives.
The Caribbean Reef Shark is known to become aggressive in the presence of food, but they are mostly only considered dangerous to humans because of its size. This shark was fished in Belize for almost the entire 20th century. They were used to make local delicacies in addition to liver oil (mostly used in cosmetics). Their low reproduction rate combined with a high level of hunting and fishing have caused the numbers to dwindle. The shark is now considered to be near threatened. Many countries and organizations have banned the commercial fishing of this species.
Although still abundant at Cocos Island and other relatively pristine sites, grey reef sharks are susceptible to localized depletion due to their slow reproductive rate, specific habitat requirements, and tendency to stay within a certain area. The IUCN has assessed the grey reef shark as Near Threatened; this shark is taken by multispecies fisheries in many parts of its range and used for various products such as shark fin soup and fishmeal.[2] Another threat is the continuing degradation of coral reefs from human development. There is evidence of substantial declines in some populations. Anderson et al. (1998) reported, in the Chagos Archipelago, grey reef shark numbers in 1996 had fallen to 14% of 1970s levels.[30] Robbins et al. (2006) found grey reef shark populations in Great Barrier Reef fishing zones had declined by 97% compared to no-entry zones (boats are not allowed). In addition, no-take zones (boats are allowed but fishing is prohibited) had the same levels of depletion as fishing zones, illustrating the severe effect of poaching. Projections suggested the shark population would fall to 0.1% of pre-exploitation levels within 20 years without additional conservation measures.[31] One possible avenue for conservation is ecotourism, as grey reef sharks are suitable for shark-watching ventures, and profitable diving sites now enjoy protection in many countries, such as the Maldives.[6]
Grey reef sharks are active at all times of the day, with activity levels peaking at night.[4] At Rangiroa, groups of around 30 sharks spend the day together in a small part of their collective home range, dispersing at night into shallower water to forage for food. Their home range is about 0.8 km2 (0.31 sq mi).[25] At Enewetak in the Marshall Islands, grey reef sharks from different parts of the reef exhibit different social and ranging behaviors. Sharks on the outer ocean reefs tend to be nomadic, swimming long distances along the reef, while those around lagoon reefs and underwater pinnacles stay within defined daytime and night-time home ranges.[26] Where there are strong tidal currents, grey reef sharks move against the water: towards the shore with the ebbing tide and back out to sea with the rising tide. This may allow them to better detect the scent of their prey, or afford them the cover of turbid water in which to hunt.[25]
The Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi) is a species of requiem shark, belonging to the family Carcharhinidae. It is found in the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Brazil, and is the most commonly encountered reef shark in the Caribbean Sea. With a robust, streamlined body typical of the requiem sharks, this species is difficult to tell apart from other large members of its family such as the dusky shark (C. obscurus) and the silky shark (C. falciformis). Distinguishing characteristics include dusky-colored fins without prominent markings, a short free rear tip on the second dorsal fin, and tooth shape and number.
Grey reef sharks are fast-swimming, agile predators that feed primarily on free-swimming bony fishes and cephalopods. Their aggressive demeanor enables them to dominate many other shark species on the reef, despite their moderate size. Many grey reef sharks have a home range on a specific area of the reef, to which they continually return. However, they are social rather than territorial. During the day, these sharks often form groups of five to 20 individuals near coral reef drop-offs, splitting up in the evening as the sharks begin to hunt. Adult females also form groups in very shallow water, where the higher water temperature may accelerate their growth or that of their unborn young. Like other members of its family, the grey reef shark is viviparous, meaning the mother nourishes her embryos through a placental connection. Litters of one to six pups are born every other year.
Now 30 years later, the company is thriving as the global surf lifestyle brand that lives by the "Just Passing Through" mentality of surf adventure. Reef draws on the spirit of the global traveler to offer casual lifestyle footwear for men and women, as well as apparel for men that combines function and fashion for life on the road. Using technology and a host of eco-based materials inspired by Reef Redemption, Reef continually delivers instant comfort and exotic styling, and strives toward versatile and multi-functional products for the traveling surfer. The brand is also well known for an ambassador program that supports some of the best wanderers and waveriders around the globe.
Another danger posed to humans by the Caribbean reef shark involves the accumulation of toxins in the flesh of the shark. Since sharks are apex marine predators, they may contain toxic levels of mercury and other heavy metals due to bioaccumulation (increasing concentrations at higher levels in the food web). It was found that methylmercury levels (MeHg) in sharks off the coast of Florida were higher than the FDA guidelines.
Blowhole Cliffed coast Coastal biogeomorphology Coastal erosion Concordant coastline Current Cuspate foreland Discordant coastline Emergent coastline Feeder bluff Fetch Flat coast Graded shoreline Headlands and bays Ingression coast Large-scale coastal behaviour Longshore drift Marine regression Marine transgression Raised shoreline Rip current Rocky shore Sea cave Sea foam Shoal Steep coast Submergent coastline Surf break Surf zone Surge channel Swash Undertow Volcanic arc Wave-cut platform Wave shoaling Wind wave Wrack zone
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Programmer Creates a Computer Chip Designed Specifically to Play DOOM
For those who weren't yet around when the original DOOM was released back in 1993, this first-person shooter, developed by id Software, was distributed freely as shareware and played by an estimated 21-million people within two years. However, the full game, with a total of three episodes, had to be purchased by mail order. Fast forward to today, programmer Sylvain Lefebvre has created a custom computer chip designed specifically to play a custom build of this game. Read more for a video and additional information.
The DooM-chip! It will run E1M1 till the end of times (or till power runs out, whichever comes first).
Algorithm is burned into wires, LUTs and flip-flops on an #FPGA: no CPU, no opcodes, no instruction counter.
Running on Altera CycloneV + SDRAM. (1/n) pic.twitter.com/wd7j4JnfWn
— Sylvain Lefebvre (@sylefeb) May 8, 2020
Officially called "The DooM-chip!," it is programmed to run E1M1 until the end of time, or when power runs out, whichever comes first. The algorithm has been burned into wires, LUTs and flip-flops on an FPGA. There's no CPU, opcodes, or instruction counter, and it also runs on Altera CycloneV + SDRAM. All it took to get everything running was an ominous 666 lines of code.
VANGUARD Personal Gaming Environment for Xbox One S, Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 (Consoles Not Included) - Black - Xbox One
Storage bags hold your Controllers, power supplies, and other accessories
Shoulder strap, and sticker kit included, Resolution 1366 x 768, display colors (8 bit) 16.7M, Audio integrated stereo speakers
Removable center badge on the case exterior for future customization
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