A soft drink is a drink that contains carbonated water, a sweetener, a natural or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar substitute, or some combination of these. Soft drinks may contain caffeine, preservatives, and/or other ingredients. Soft drinks are called "soft" in contrast with "hard" alcoholic drinks. Small amounts of alcohol may be present in a soft drink, but the alcohol content must be less than 0.5% of the total volume of the drink in many countries and localities if the drink is to be considered non-alcoholic. Fruit punch and other such non-alcoholic drinks are technically soft drinks by this definition, but are not referred to as such. Unsweetened sparkling water may be consumed as an alternative to soft drinks. Soft drinks may be served chilled, over ice cubes, or at room temperature soda, they are available in many container formats, including cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles. Containers come in a variety of sizes. Soft drinks are available at fast food restaurants, movie theaters, convenience stores, casual-dining restaurants, dedicated soda stores, bars from soda fountain machines.

Soft drinks are served in paper or plastic disposable cups in the first three venues. In casual dining restaurants and bars, soft drinks are served in glasses made from glass or plastic. Soft drinks sipped directly from the cups. Soft drinks are mixed with other ingredients in several contexts. In Western countries, in bars and other places where alcohol is served, many mixed drinks are made by blending a soft drink with hard liquor and serving the drink over ice. One well-known example is the rum and coke, which may contain lime juice; some homemade fruit punch recipes, which may or may not contain alcohol, contain a mixture of various fruit juices and a soft drink. At ice cream parlors and 1950s-themed diners, ice cream floats, root beer floats, are sold. Examples of brands include Coca-Cola, Sprite, Sierra Mist, Sunkist, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, 7 UP. While the term "soft drink" is used in product labeling and on restaurant menus, in many countries these drinks are more referred to by regional names, including carbonated drink, cool drink, cold drink, fizzy drink, fizzy juice, lolly water, seltzer, coke, soda pop and mineral.

Due to the high sugar content in typical soft drinks, they may be called sugary drinks. In the United States, the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey tracked the usage of the nine most common names. Over half of the survey respondents preferred the term "soda", dominant in the Northeastern United States and the areas surrounding Milwaukee and St. Louis; the term "pop", preferred by 25% of the respondents, was most popular in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, while the genericized trademark "coke", used by 12% of the respondents, was most popular in the Southern United States. The term "tonic" is distinctive to eastern Massachusetts. In the English-speaking parts of Canada, the term "pop" is prevalent, but "soft drink" is the most common English term used in Montreal. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the terms "fizzy drink" is common. "Pop" and "fizzy pop" are used in Northern England, South Wales, the Midlands, while "mineral" or "lemonade" are used in Ireland. In Scotland, "fizzy juice" or simply "juice" is colloquially encountered.

In Australia and New Zealand, "fizzy drink" or "soft drink" is used. In South African English, "cool drink" and "cold drink" are used, but in South African Indian English, "cool drink" is most prevalent. Older people use the term "mineral". In other languages, various names are used: descriptive names as "non-alcoholic beverages", equivalents of "soda water", or generalized prototypical names. E.g. Bohemian variant of Czech language uses "limonáda" for all such beverages, not only for those from lemons. Slovak language uses "malinovka" for all such beverages, not only for raspberry ones; the origins of soft drinks lie in the development of fruit-flavored drinks. In the medieval Middle East, a variety of fruit-flavored soft drinks were drunk, such as sharbat, were sweetened with ingredients such as sugar and honey. Other common ingredients included lemon, pomegranate, jujube, musk and ice. Middle Eastern drinks became popular in medieval Europe, where the word "syrup" was derived from Arabic. In Tudor England,'water imperial' was drunk.

Another early type of soft drink was lemonade, made of water and lemon juice sweetened with honey, but without carbonated water. The Compagnie des Limonadiers of Paris was granted a monopoly for the sale of lemonade soft drinks in 1676. Vendors dispensed cups of the soft drink to Parisians. In the late 18th century, scientists made important progress in replicating carbonated mineral waters. In 1767, Englishman Joseph Priestley first discovered a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide to make carbonated water when he suspended a bowl of distilled water above a beer vat at a local brewery in Leeds, England, his invention of carbonated water (also known as soda w

Parkdale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Hood River County, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 311, up from 266 at the 2000 census. Parkdale was founded by David Eccles and R. J. McIsaac in 1910 to serve as a terminus for the Mount Hood Railroad. Parkdale is located in central Hood River County at 45°31′1″N 121°35′49″W, in the Upper Hood River Valley, it is 2 miles southwest of the neighboring community of Mount Hood and 16 miles south of Hood River, the county seat. Oregon Route 281 is the main road through the community. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Parkdale CDP has a total area of 0.62 square miles, all of it land. This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Parkdale has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps; the geology of Parkdale is dominated by the geology of Mount Hood, a nearby stratovolcano about 10 miles to the south of the town.

A 6,000-year-old lava flow is named after the town. It flowed north from the Upper Hood River Valley; as of the census of 2000, there were 266 people, 88 households, 68 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 419.1 people per square mile. There were 92 housing units at an average density of 145.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP is 80.08% White, 4.51% Native American, 0.75% Asian, 11.65% from other races, 3.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.31% of the population. There were 88 households out of which 43.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 22.7% were non-families. 15.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.5% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.21. In the CDP, the population was spread out with 30.5% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older.

The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 133.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 122.9 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $31,786, the median income for a family was $34,375. Males had a median income of $52,679 versus $30,313 for females; the per capita income for the CDP was $18,091. About 8.0% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those sixty five or over. Mount Hood Parkdale, Oregon

The Mind Readers is a crime novel by Margery Allingham, first published in 1965, in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus, London. It is the eighteenth novel in the Albert Campion series. Canon Avril is looking forward to hosting Albert Campion and his wife Lady Amanda for half-term, with their nephew Edward, his cousin Sam, but strange things are happening at the electronics establishment on a remote island on the east coast where Sam's father works, when the boys arrive at Liverpool Street Station an attempt is made to kidnap them. Edward goes missing, Campion and DS Charles Luke find themselves caught up in a mystery, unexpectedly helped by a certain Thomas T. Knapp..... Margery Allingham, The Mind Readers, An Allingham bibliography, with dates and publishers, from the UK Margery Allingham Society A page about the book from the Margery Allingham Archive