The Fifth Step
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The Fifth Step
"The Fifth Step" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the March 2020 issue of ''Harper's Magazine''. It was collected in King's 2024 collection '' You Like It Darker''. Plot summary Harold Jamieson is a 68-year old widower and retiree living in New York City. While reading the ''New York Times'' on a bench in Central Park one morning, he is approached by "Jack", an alcoholic salesman who is attempting to complete Alcoholics Anonymous' twelve-step program. Jack has reached step five - "admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs" - and at the behest of his sponsor has approached Jamieson, a stranger, to ask him to listen to his admissions. After Jamieson agrees to listen, Jack lists his various wrongdoings, which include fighting with another student in fourth grade for no reason, stealing alcohol from his mother, buying alcohol for a homeless man, cheating at Brown University, smuggling cocaine over the Canadian bo ...
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Raines
''Raines'' is a seven-episode American police procedural television show starring Jeff Goldblum as a police detective who hallucinates the victims whose murders he is investigating. Created by Graham Yost, the series was short-lived, airing in spring 2007 and garnering mixed reviews. Premise Michael Raines (Goldblum) is a police detective who investigates murders. With the series premiere, Raines is returning to work after recovering from a shootout that killed his partner, Charlie Lincoln (Malik Yoba). Over the course of each episode, Raines involuntarily hallucinates the victims, whom he speaks to and uses as sounding boards for his case; as Raines learns more about the dead, the apparitions he sees change duly. Once Raines solves their murders, the hallucinations disappear. Creator and executive producer Graham Yost found the analogous premise of ''Raines'' in his own creative process: "I spend time alone in a room, thinking of characters and interacting with them. And I ...
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Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professional, non-denominational, as well as apolitical and unaffiliated. In 2020 AA estimated its worldwide membership to be over two million with 75% of those in the U.S. and Canada. Despite viewing the disease model of alcoholism as an outside issue on which it has no opinion, AA is commonly associated with its popularity since many of its members took a large role in spreading it. Regarding its effectiveness, a 2020 scientific review saw clinical interventions encouraging increased AA participation resulting in higher abstinence rates over other clinical interventions while probably reducing health costs. AA marks 1935 for its start when Bill Wilson (Bill W.) first commiserated alcoholic to alcoholic with Bob Smith (Dr. Bob) who, along wi ...
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Shiv (weapon)
A shiv, also chiv, schiv, shivvie, or shank, is a handcrafted bladed-weapon resembling a knife that is commonly associated with London. Since blades are highly prohibited in the United Kingdom, the intended mode of concealment is central to a shiv's construction. An especially thin handle, for instance, makes it easier to conceal in a hidden pocket of a coat, or in stacks of objects, such as books, permitted to the London gent; however, this can also render the shiv difficult to grip and wield. Due to the number of knife crimes increasing in the United Kingdom, authorities have taken measures such as body searches in order to prevent knife violence amongst civilians, but these measures often fail, since shanks are made by hand and can easily be hidden. Beyond the authorities, it is also desirable to conceal possession of a shiv from members of a rival street gang. The word is recorded from the 1670s in the spelling ''chive'' as cant for ''knife'', whose pronunciation is ref ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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SFX (magazine)
''SFX'' is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy. Its name is a reference to the abbreviated form of "special effects". Description ''SFX'' magazine is published every four weeks by Future plc and was founded in 1995. The magazine covers topics in the genres of popular science fiction, fantasy, and horror, within the media of films, television, video games, comics, and literature. According to the magazine's website, the ''SF'' stands for "science fiction", but the ''X'' doesn't stand for anything in particular. Given the magazine's cinematic content, SFX may stand for 'Special Effects'. Matt Bielby was the editor for the first 11 issues. He was followed by Dave Golder who left the magazine in 2005 but later returned as its online editor. Golder was replaced by David Bradley, who edited for over nine years before being promoted to Group Editor-in-Chief, handing over the issue editor role to Richard Edwards, who had been deputy editor. In 2019, Edw ...
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USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virginia. Its newspaper is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. The paper's dynamic design influenced the style of local, regional, and national newspapers worldwide through its use of concise reports, colorized images, Infographic, informational graphics, and inclusion of popular culture stories, among other distinct features. With an average print circulation of 159,233 as of 2022, a digital-only subscriber base of 504,000 as of 2019, and an approximate daily readership of 2.6 million, ''USA Today'' is ranked as the first by circulation on the list of newspapers in the United States. It has been shown to maintain a generally center-left audience, in regards to political persuasion. ''US ...
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Lee Child
James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States. His first novel, '' Killing Floor'' (1997), won both the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel. Early life and education Grant was born in Coventry. His Northern Irish father, who was born in Belfast, was a civil servant who lived in the house where the singer Van Morrison was later born. He is the second of four sons; his younger brother, Andrew Grant, is also a thriller novelist. Grant's family relocated to Handsworth Wood in Birmingham when he was four years old so that the boys could receive a better education. Grant attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham. In 1974, at ...
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Ice Pick
The ice pick is a pointed metal tool used from the 1800s to the 1900s to break, pick or chip at ice. The design consists of a sharp metal spike attached to a wooden handle. The tool's design has been relatively unchanged since its creation. The only notable differences in the design are the material used for the handle. The handle material is usually made out of wood but can also be made from plastic or rubber. These materials can be better in terms of safety and allow the user to better grip the pick during use. History During the 1800s, ice blocks were gathered from frozen water sources and distributed to nearby homes. Ice picks were used to easily cut the blocks into smaller pieces for use. In many cases these smaller blocks were used in iceboxes. Iceboxes are similar in use to refrigerators with the major difference being that iceboxes could only stay cold for a limited time. They needed to be restocked with ice regularly to continue proper functioning. The ice pick slowly ...
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Canada–United States Border
The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada's border with the contiguous United States to its south, and with the U.S. state of Alaska to its west. The bi-national International Boundary Commission deals with matters relating to marking and maintaining the boundary, and the International Joint Commission deals with issues concerning boundary waters. The agencies currently responsible for facilitating legal passage through the international boundary are the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). History 18th century The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States. In the second article of the Treaty, the parties agreed on all boundaries of the United States, including, but ...
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Cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South America, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense''. After extraction from coca leaves and further processing into cocaine hydrochloride (powdered cocaine), the drug is often Insufflation (medicine), snorted, applied topical administration, topically to the mouth, or dissolved and injection (medicine), injected into a vein. It can also then be turned into free base form (crack cocaine), in which it can be heated until sublimated and then the vapours can be smoking, inhaled. Cocaine stimulates the mesolimbic pathway, reward pathway in the brain. Mental effects may include an euphoria, intense feeling of happiness, sexual arousal, psychosis, loss of contact with reality, or psychomo ...
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Drug Trafficking
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug injection, injection, smoking, ingestion, absorption (skin), absorption via a dermal patch, patch on the skin, suppository, or sublingual administration, dissolution under the tongue. In pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance, typically of known structure, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. A pharmaceutical drug, also called a medication or medicine, is a chemical substance used to pharmacotherapy, treat, cure, preventive healthcare, prevent, or medical diagnosis, diagnose a disease or to promote well-being. Traditionally drugs were obtained through extraction from medicinal plants, but more recently also by organic synthesis. Pharmaceutical drugs may be used ...
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Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Brown is one of nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Admissions at Brown is among the most selective in the United States. In 2022, the university reported a first year acceptance rate of 5%. It is a member of the Ivy League. Brown was the first college in the United States to codify in its charter that admission and instruction of students was to be equal regardless of their religious affiliation. The university is home to the oldest applied mathematics program in the United States, the oldest engineering program in the Ivy League, and the third-oldest medical program in New England. The university was one of the early doctoral-granting U.S. institutions in the late 19th century, adding masters ...
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