Snow

Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds.

Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft, white, and fluffy structure, unless subjected to external pressure. Snowflakes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Types that fall in the form of a ball due to melting and refreezing, rather than a flake, are hail, ice pellets or snow grains.

The process of precipitating snow is called snowfall. Snowfall tends to form within regions of upward movement of air around a type of low-pressure system known as an extratropical cyclone. Snow can fall poleward of these systems' associated warm fronts and within their comma head precipitation patterns (called such due to the comma-like shape of the cloud and precipitation pattern around the poleward and west sides of extratropical cyclones). Where relatively warm water bodies are present, for example because of water evaporation from lakes, lake-effect snowfall becomes a concern downwind of the warm lakes within the cold cyclonic flow around the backside of extratropical cyclones. Lake-effect snowfall can be heavy locally. Thundersnow is possible within a cyclone's comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy snow is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, if the atmosphere is cold enough. Snowfall amount and its related liquid equivalent precipitation amount are measured using a variety of different rain gauges.

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain is a 1992 collection of short stories by Robert Olen Butler. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1993.

Each story in the collection is narrated by a different Vietnamese immigrant living in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The stories are largely character-driven, with cultural differences between Vietnam and the United States as an important theme. Many of the stories were first published in journals such as The Hudson Review, The Southern Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. The collection was re-released in 2001 with two additional stories, "Salem" and "Missing".

Synopsis

Open Arms

The opening story is set during the Vietnam War. The narrator, a translator for the Australian forces, recounts the story of a North Vietnamese communist named Thập who joins the Australian forces as a spy, after the communists massacre his family. When the Australian soldiers bring him to a screening of pornographic films, Thập seems overwhelmed and disgusted. The narrator speculates that, as a former Communist, he considers pornography immoral, and that it simultaneously reminds him of his longing for his dead wife. Thập later kills an Australian soldier and himself.

Snow cream

Snow cream can be one of two distinct desserts.

The cream-based dessert

The cream-based variety of Snow "Cream" is an old English recipe. It is known in continental Europe at least as early as the late 15th or early 16th century where it can be found in the Dutch recipe collection now known as KANTL Gent 15. It has been suggested that "Snow" may be even older than that.

The common ingredients for early recipes are cream, rosewater and sugar, whipped until stiff. Other flavouring agents, e.g., cloves or ginger, are also known from various recipes. It is the process of whipping cream until stiff that is often likened to snow as can be seen in passages such as "Beat your cream with a stick until the Snow rises ...". It was often draped over another item to give the appearance of snow having fallen over the item.

Pusher (1996 film)

Pusher is a 1996 Danish crime drama co-written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The film was a success both in Denmark and many other European countries. The film became the first of a trilogy and launched Winding Refn's career. A Hindi remake of the film, directed by Assad Raja, was released in 2010. An English language remake directed by Luis Prieto was released in 2012.

Pusher tells the story of the drug dealer Frank, who loses a large amount of money in a drug deal gone wrong. The debt sends Frank into desperation as he only has a few days to raise the money he owes. The story takes place in the criminal underground of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Plot

The film begins in Copenhagen with a low-level drug dealer Frank (Kim Bodnia) going to a heroin deal with his sidekick Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen). The pair only manage to sell some of their product, and then waste time about town. Frank then visits his friend Vic (Laura Drasbæk), a prostitute who holds some of Frank's stash for a fee. Vic wants to have a serious relationship with Frank, but Frank prefers to keep it purely casual.

Pusher (2012 film)

Pusher is a 2012 British crime thriller film directed by Luis Prieto. It is an English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 film of the same name. The film stars Richard Coyle, Agyness Deyn, Bronson Webb, and Paul Kaye. Refn takes on the role of executive producer, with Rupert Preston of Vertigo Films and Chris Simon and Felix Vossen of Embargo Films producing. International sales are handled by Gaumont Film Company.

Plot

Frank is a low-level cocaine dealer in England, conducting business with his partner Tony and would-be-girlfriend Flo. When a former cellmate contacts him for a large drug deal, Frank borrows £48,000 of cocaine from Milo, a dangerous Serbian drug lord. He promises to return to Milo with the money the next day, but police raid the deal and Frank is forced to dump the cocaine in a duck lake. In custody, Frank is told by police that Tony has confessed to the deal, but they release him the next day. Frank quickly finds Tony and beats him savagely with a baseball bat.

Pusher 3

Pusher 3 (also known as Pusher III: I'm the Angel of Death) is a 2005 Danish crime film written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. It is the third film of the Pusher trilogy and released in 2005.

Plot

Milo, an aging Serbian drug lord, attends a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous. The five-days-sober Milo admits that he is worried that the stress of cooking for his daughter's 25th birthday celebration will cause him to relapse into using. Milo departs the meeting to pick up a drug shipment with his henchman Branko. Though he requested heroin, the shipment turns out to be 10,000 ecstasy pills. Seeking an explanation, Milo meets with his Albanian supplier Luan. The Albanians agree to send a new shipment of heroin and allow Milo to try to sell the ecstasy as well.

After a quick talk with his demanding and spoiled daughter, Milena, Milo goes back to the kitchen at his club to cook for the party. After Milo forces his henchman to try his cooking, he meets his associate Little Muhammed, who has come to drop off his daily haul. The pugnacious Muhammed warns Milo to respect younger hoods like himself, calling himself "King of Copenhagen", but Milo mockingly calls him the "King Kong of Copenhagen." However, as Milo knows nothing about ecstasy, he needs Muhammed to set up a buyer for the pills. When all of Milo's henchmen get food poisoning from his cooking, Milo has no choice but to trust Muhammed to make the sale alone and return within an hour.