text:
One hundred steps to Heaven
If heaven was to be a place in Singapore, there would probably not be a better candidate for a suitable location than the Mount Sophia that previously existed. These days of course, Mount Sophia is associated more with sought after high-rise residential units in a prime location close to the heart of the city. However, back in the early part of the 20th century, it must certainly have been a truly magical and heavenly place, dominated by the magnificent Eu Villa that commanded a view of much of the surrounding areas of the fast growing city that lay on the areas some 100 feet below, and the many other grand bungalows and mansions, paticularly around Adis and Wilkie Roads. By the time I was going to school in Bras Basah Road and wandering curiously around the area, many of the heavenly places were still around, albeit in dilapidated condition – and mostly I guess crumbling to a point that it would have taken a monumental effort to preserve them. Still one could easily imagine how grand the area, which seemed a world apart from the rough and tumble of the mixed residential and commercial districts that lay below, would have been.
An aerial view of Mount Sophia and the surrounding area in the 1960s. It is easy to see why the well heeled would choose to build their magnificent mansions on the geographical feature which commanded an excellent view of the area around it. The Cathay Building can be seen on the south of Mount Sophia and the castle like Eu Villa to the top and right of it. The Istana and its grounds, which together with Mount Sophia and adjoining Mount Emily were part of Charles Robert Prinsep's huge nutmeg plantation can be seen on the left of the photo (Photo Source: http://www.singas.co.uk).
I was fortunate to be able to have seen all that I guess and place myself in that magical world, then accessible either via Sophia Road or by the so-called one hundred steps up from Handy Road. Given the choice of access options, the adventurous schoolboy that I was would certainly have chosen the latter route – after all, it was a shortcut we occasionally took to get to Plaza Singapura, then not accessible through Handy Road, which would involve climbing into the upper level of the car park at Plaza Singapore right next to western slopes of Mount Sophia, where Yaohan and a popular hangout for teens then, the Yamaha Music School run Do Re Mi cafe, beckoned. These days, much of that magic that I felt back then, is absent, with the manisons, most of which went in the 1980s and 1990s, with Eu Villa itself being demolished in 1981 after being sold by the Eu family for a princely sum of S$ 8.19M in 1973 to a property development company, having given way to a mess of monstrous apartment blocks, and it's difficult to return to that magical world that I once wandered around.
The fairy-tale like Eu Villa, once the home of Eu Tong Sen. It was built in 1915 at a cost of S$1M on the site of Adis Lodge which Eu had purchase from Nissim Nissim Adis, the owner of the Grand Hotel de L'Europe in 1912.
I had an opportunity to do just that, return to the magical world that is, taking a walk with the National Library Board around the area, and trying to transport not just myself, but also a group of 30 participants to that world that I once knew. It was good to have on board two ladies who attended two of the schools in the area, who were able to share their experiences as well of going to Nan Hwa Girls' School and Methodist Girls School (MGS). Both described ascending the one hundered steps to get to their schools, describing how it rose precariously up the steep slope from Handy Road with no railings to speak of and the steps being uneven in height – far different from the reconstructed steps in the vicinity of the original we see today. The ex MGS girl described how her schoolmates and her would race down the steps … something I am sure many would have not been able to resist in impetuosity of youth. We also confirmed that there were actually 100 steps – something I never thought of trying to establish in the many occasions on which I ascended the steps.
The one hundred steps offered a short cut for the adventurous to Plaza Singapura (seen here in its very early days - source: http://www.picas.gov.nhb.sg).
The walk started with a short introduction at the library, after which we were transported to the magical hill not by the one hundred steps, but by air-conditioned coach to the top of Mount Emily, I guess in keeping with the new age. What we saw were some remnants of there area that I loved, including the former Mount Emily Girls' home which for a while was used as the Japanese Consulate prior to the war, becoming a halfway house for underage street prostitutes before becoming the girls' home in 1969 and later the Wilkie Road Children's Home in the 1980s. There was also the location of the first public swimming pool in Singapore, built on the site of the waterworks on Mount Emily, a pool that I visited in my younger days, being one of my father's favourite pools, across from which we could see the hoardings surrounding the former bungalow of the late Major Derrick Coupland who passed away in 1991. Major Coupland was well known as a World War II veteran and the President of the Ex-Services Association heading it for some 20 years prior to his death from bone cancer in June 1991. I understand from a reader that the bungalow has been left empty since and the deterioration from 20 years of abandonment was evident before the hoardings came up some time at the end of last year – I suppose that the building is being prepared for demolition right at this moment.
The hoardings havve come up around the crumbling former residence of Major Derrick Coupland.
From the original coat of arms, used during the years of self-govenrment that can be seen on the structure at the entrance to Mount Emily Park, we made our way down Wilkie Road, past the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sikh Temple. The current temple with its distinctive white dome, is a later one, built in 1983, next to an old house which as a plaque indicates, was purchased in 1932 (I was told from a Jewish gentleman), and originally housed the temple. Most of the magnificent mansions, including one owned by M J Nassim, that lined Wilkie Road have been replaced by apartment blocks … one that remains is the Abdullah Shooker Welfare Home at 81 Wilkie Road which is described in a previous post.
Wilkie Road used to be lined with magnificent mansions including one that still stands - the Abdullah Shooker Welfare Home, left by the late Abdullah Shooker, a Baghdadi Jew who died during internment by the Japanese in 1942, to the Jewish community.
Further down Wilkie Road, the participants were introduced to the Sophia Flats, once the home of the illustrious F J Benjamin, across from which we could once get a glimpse of the roofs of the magical Eu Villa over a retaining wall which marked the edge of the table on which the villa and its huge grounds once stood. Sadly the wall has come down, perhaps the last reminder of the villa that was left, along with the table which is being levelled for what is probably a commercial/residential project.
And the wall came tumbling down ... the last reminder of Eu Villa comes down - a retaining wall that marked the edge of the table of land on which the villa once stood (as seen in January 2011).
The last bit of the wall next to Peace Centre on Sophia Road.
At the corner of Adis and Sophia Roads, the excited chatter of a former student of Nan Hwa Girl's School was heard, as she reminisced about her schooldays. The building which was completed in 1941, before being used by the Japanese during the war and the British forces after before being returned to Nan Hwa in 1947, is now used as a student hostel – and as one participant on the walk pointed out, the flag poles in front of the basketball courts which also served as an assembly area were still very much in evidence. Besides this, we learnt of a popular ice-kacang stall that both the girls of Nan Hwa and MGS patronised after school which was at the corner opposite Nan Hwa.
The former Nan Hwa Girls' High School at the corner of Adis and Sophia Roads.
A former student at Nan Hwa Girls' School sharing her experiences of going to school outside the former Nan Hwa Girls' School.
The corner of Adis Road and Sophia Road at which the ice kacang stall that both girls of Nan Hwa and MGS patronised, was located.
Before we hit the new one hundred steps, we stopped by the Art Deco styled building which housed San Shan Public School which was built in the 1950s by the Foochow Association, which ran the school up to the 1970s when the running of it was handed to the Ministry of Education. The school after moving from its Mount Sophia premises in the 1980s has stopped functioning. Next was the former Trinity Theological College which was established in 1948. The cluster of buildings that belonged to the college including the church with the distinctive roof shaped to the Chinese character for people, 人 (Ren), were built in the 1960s. The college moved in the 1990s to its current location along Upper Bukit Timah Road – and the roof of the church there is identical to the one on Mount Sophia. Next to the college, the cluster of buildings (now Old School) that house MGS still stands. The former pupil of MGS spoke of how she could see the gardens of Eu Villa from her class window, and how the classes were organised, C being the best class and A for the weakest students, of the three classes that each form had in the 1960s.
A view of the former MGS.
From the hundred steps down, we made our way to the corner of what used to be Dhoby Ghaut and Bras Basah Road, now dominated by another monstrous piece of architecture which did not agree with most of the participants – one remarked that it "stuck out like a sore thumb". Where that building which is the School of the Arts (SOTA) stand, there was what had been Dhoby Ghaut, gone as a road that carried the name in an area that once was used by the Indian Dhobis to gain access to the fresh water stream that has since become the Stamford Canal. What survives of that Dhoby Ghaut which hold memories of the row of shops which included the Red Sea Aquarium and an A&W outlet that I frequented as a schoolboy and another row of houses up behind on Kirk Terrace which included a Sikh temple, is only the name of the MRT station in the vicinity.
The row of shops at Dhoby Ghaut next to Cathay Building was where the Red Sea Aquarium as well as the A&W was. Today the SOTA building stands on top of the area where Dhoby Ghaut was (source: http://www.picas.nhb.gov.sg).
We then walked up Prinsep Street, named after Charles Robert Prinsep, the owner of the nutmeg plantation which once included Mount Emily, Mount Sophia and Mount Caroline and extended to the Istana grounds (100 acres were purchased in 1867 for the Governor's House which became the Istana). There were suggestions that the three mounts were named after three daughters of Prinsep, but what is more likely was that when Prinsep purchased the land, Mount Sophia (which appears earlier as Bukit Selegi) would have already been named after the second wife of Raffles, modern Singapore's founder, Sophia Hull, and if anything, Prinsep named the two adjoining hills after two other daughters, having been part of the former estate of Raffles' brother-in-law and Singapore's first Master Attendant, Captain Flint.
Kirk Terrace over Dhoby Ghaut (source: http://www.picas.nhb.gov.sg).
It was then a leisurely stroll back to the library via Middle Road, where we stopped by the site of the former POSB headquarters facing Prinsep Street and the Registry of Vehicles (ROV) facing Bencoolen Street, where Sunshine Plaza stands, but not before introducing the former Tiger Balm Building, the David Elias Building and the former Middle Road hospital. At Sunshine Plaza, we saw a few signcraft shops – remnants of those that featured in the area when demand for vehicle number plates existed due to the presence of the ROV in the vicinity. Then it was past the former Middle Road Church (now Sculpture Square), used as a motor workshop when I went to school in the area in the 1970s, and the former St. Anthony's Convent, before hitting the site of the former Queen of the Mooncakes (Empress Hotel) – our destination where the Central Library building now stands.
Middle Road once featured sign craft shops serving the demand from the nearby ROV, including Rainbow Signs which I well remember from passing many times on the bus home from school (source: http://www.picas.nhb.gov.sg).
It was the end of a rather enjoyable walk for me, and I hope the participants had as good a time as I had. Before what was left of the participants dispersed, there was still time to exchange a story, one about the sighting of an Orang Minyak (translated from Malay as "Oily Man" – one that is said to be cursed to an existence as an dark oil coated being that possesses supernatural powers, but more likely as a participant Jeff pointed out, was a man coated in oil to ensure a smooth getaway), reputed as one that terrorises the fairer sex. I had heard about one which was reportedly known to lurk in the compound of St. Joseph's Church across Victoria Street, through a reader Greg Lim, who lived in Holloway Lane in the 1950s. My mother who boarded at St. Anthony's Convent in the 1950s could not confirm this, but did mentioned that there were rumours of one lurking in the stairwell. Jeff, who himself lived on nearby Cashin Street in the 1950s confirmed that there was indeed sightings reported, and he was in one of the crowds that had gathered to try to catch a glimpse of the Orang Minyak. Another participant, the mother of Ms Thiru (who is with the NLB and organised the walk), also confirmed that she was aware of the story. It was certainly an interesting end to the walk, one that took a little longer than anticipated, but one that was thoroughly enjoyable.
The Empress Hotel at the corner of Middle Road and Victoria Street which was demolished in 1985.
Tags: 100 Steps, Abdullah Shooker Welfare Home, Adis Road, Bencoolen Street, Boarding House at St. Anthony's Convent, Bukit Selegi, Captain Flint, Central Library, Charles Robert Prinsep, David Elias Building, Dhoby Ghaut, Doh-Jin Hospital, Empress Hotel, Eu Tong Sen, Eu Villa, Ex-Services Association, Former St. Anthony's Convent, Istana, Major Derrick Coupland, Middle Road, Middle Road Church, Middle Road Hospital, Mount Emily, Mount Emily Girls' Home, Mount Emily Swimming Pool, Mount Sophia, National Library Board, NLB, Nutmeg Plantations, Old Methodist Girls' School, Old Nan Hwa Girls' High School, Old San Shan Chinese School, Old Singapore, Old Trinity Theological College, One Hundred Steps, One Hundred Steps to Heaven, POSB Headquarters, Prinsep Street, Queen of the Mooncakes, ROV, Sculpture Square, Selegi Hill, Selegie Road, Signcraft Shops on Middle Road, Social Hygiene Hospital, Sophia Flats, Sophia Hull, Sophia Road, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sikh Temple, Stamford Raffles, Upper Wilkie Road, Wilkie Road
Categories : Architecture, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Middle Road Area, Myths and Legends, National Library Board, New Singapore, Reminders of Yesterday, Schooldays, Selegie Road Area, Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, SJI, Things I loved about Singapore
The changing face of Middle Road
In looking up on the background of the areas around Middle Road and based on feedback received from a reader, Greg Lim, and my mother who was familar with the area having lived in St. Anthony's Convent as a boarder, I have a better impression of the colourful history that the area around of which that I was only familiar with going to school at nearby Bras Basah Road in late 1970s has had. Over the years, the various parts around the road had played host to various immigrant communities, communities that have provided us living in modern Singapore with the unique blend of cultures and cuisines that we have today. In roughly a century, it has played host to a thriving Jewish quarter inhabited by many Jews of the Iraqi diaspora; a Japanese community, within which homes, businesses, brothels and even a hospital that catered to the Japanese, were set up, and of course the Hainanese or Hylam community which gave us wonderfully aromatic coffee, the many coffee shops which has become a national institution, and of course Hainanese Chicken Rice, made famous by an outlet that was right on Middle Road.
Middle Road looking northwest from the National Library Building facing Victoria Street. Most of the area has been rebuilt, with taller commercial buildings replacing the mostly two and three storey houses with shop on the lower floor and residential units on the upper floor.
There are several suggestions as to how Middle Road got its name. One that seems plausible was that Middle Road was the mid-point between what was the civic district of the British colonial administration and the Sultan's palace in Kampung Glam. Another similar to this has it that it was the mid-point between the Singapore and Rochore (now Rochor) Rivers. Another suggestion was that it served as a demarcation line of sorts between the civic area and the ethnic settlements as planned by the early colonial administration. Whatever it was, it was served as a main street and focal point for least two of the ethnic groups that settled around it: the Hainanese, for whom it was Street No. 1, which was referred to by the other locals as "Hylam Street No. 1"; and the Japanese as "Chuo Dori" or "Central Street". The Hainanese community, which occupied the southeast end of Middle Road and some of the streets around (Purvis Street was Hylam Street No. 2 and Seah Street was Hylam Street No. 3), was the longest surviving of the ethnic communities in the area, settling initially around Hylam Street (which is within the Bugis Junction complex today), before moving towards the waterfront area around Beach Road, where there is still some evidence of the community. The Japanese, prior to the Second World War, settled along much of Middle Road, close to the Japanese Consulate which was located on nearby Mount Emily (at the building which became Mount Emily Girl's Home), and the Doh Jin Hospital (which later became the Middle Road Hospital) was built to serve the community, as well as around the areas vacated by the Hainanese community around where Bugis Junction (Hylam, Malay, Malabar and Bugis Streets). The area comprised many dilapidated two storey shop houses, and much it was part of the Japanese red light district before the war, which were demolished in the early 1980s. Opposite Bugis Junction, on the area where the National Library stands, there were some other streets that were occupied by the Hainanese and Shanghainese communities (the Shanghainese operated the furniture shops that the Victoria Street area was well known for), which I had mentioned in a previous post on Victoria Street.
Incidentally, the streets running perpendicular to Middle Road had local names as well, with North and South Bridge Roads being referred to as "Main Street" or "1st Street", being the main thoroughfare between what was known to the Chinese community as the "Bigger Town" where the main settlement of Chinese immigrants was across the Singapore River, and the "Smaller Town", which was initially planned as a European district, where some of the later Chinese immigrants settled in. The other streets running parallel to North Bridge Road, west of North Bridge Road were numbered in sequence, with Victoria Street being "2nd Street", Queen Street "3rd Street", Waterloo Street "Fourth Street", Bencoolen Street "Fifth Street", Prinsep Street "Sixth Street" and Selegie Road "Seventh Street".
I have a few photographs that I have taken on a recent walk through the area as well as some scans of old postcards which would perhaps provide a little glimpse of how the area has transformed over the years …
The face of Middle Road has changed over the last century.
The new has overtaken the old ... very little is left to remind us of the colourful history of Middle Road.
The former Bras Basah Community Centre close to the end of Middle Road near where the well known Swee Kee Chicken Rice (which was started by Mok Fu Swee who pioneered the commercialisation of the dish invented by Wong Yi Guan under whom Mok was an apprentice).
The Kiung Chow Hwee Kuan (Hainanese Clan Association) on Beach Road - evidence of the Hainanese community settling in the area.
A figure on the roof of the temple of the Kiung Chow Hwee Kuan (Hainanese Association) on Beach Road watches over the community.
Shaw Tower on Beach Road stands where the Alhambra and Marlborough Theatres stood on Beach Road at the end of Middle Road.
The view northwest down Middle Road from the area where the National Library building stands where the Empress Hotel once stood on the left and where Bugis Junction stands in place of a row of shops that included the Daguerre Photo Studio.
The same area of Middle Road in the 1970s.
The Empress Restaurant at the Empress Hotel was well known for the "Queen of the Mooncakes".
The National Library seen from the Hainanese area by Middle Road.
Bugis Junction was built over an area which was part of a Japanese enclave.
The transformation has seen an area of dilapidated shop houses which were once in an area of brothels is now a air-conditioned shopping mall within which some attempt has been made to recreate the former streets that has been incorporated into the complex.
Malay Street today - part of a shopping mall.
The corner of Hylam and Malay Streets from an old postcard (c. 1930s), when it was part of the Japanese enclave.
The corner of Hylam and Malay Streets today - within the area rebuilt as Bugis Junction.
The buildings that used to be St. Anthony's Convent at the corner of Middle Road and Victoria Street, from which my mother as a boarder had a view of the seedier parts of the Middle Road area.
St. Anthony's Convent in the 1950s.
Another view of the former St. Anthony's Convent building today.
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Tags: Bugis Junction, Bugis Street, Chuo Dori, Doh-Jin Hospital, Empress Hotel, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Hylam Street, Hylam Streets, Japanese Enclave, Jewish Quarter, Mahallah, Malabar Street, Malay Street, Middle Road, Middle Road Hospital, National Library, Old Singapore, Queen of the Mooncakes, St. Anthony's Convent
Categories : Forgotten Places, History, Middle Road Area, Singapore
Smokey's and a Red House: Memories of Victoria Street from Bras Basah to Middle Road
For the SJI schoolboy in the late 1970s, Victoria Street offered an appealing escape from the boredom of the classroom. It was not just for the two convent schools that stradled the ends of the stretch of Victoria Street in question (from Bras Basah Road to Middle Road), but also for the other distractions to the classroom that was on offer. The area around the corner of Bras Basah Road was perhaps where we were most familiar with. As we made our way from school or from the bus stop in front of the City Music outlet on Bras Basah Road roughly where the NTUC Income Centre is today, we would come to this corner where the window display of test tubes, beakers and laboratory supplies of the Central Medical Hall which occupied the corner unit of Victoria Building never failed to catch my eye.
A building belonging to the Singapore Management University stands in place of the two storey Victoria Building at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Victoria Street. The Central Medical Hall occupied the corner unit of the Victoria Building.
Around the medical hall, was the row of shops that included a coffee shop that we dubbed as "Smokey's", where many of us grabbed a cup of tea in the morning, motivated by the steady stream of convent school girls that dropped in on their way to school. I never found out why we called it Smokey's and I understand that there were sumptuous beef brisket noodles on offer there, not that I noticed it then. Perhaps we did not have the time to dwell on all that, with the distractions offered by the comings and goings that we observed over the steaming hot cups of tea.
Two rows of steel pillars now lines the row where Smokey's and the Shanghai Bookstore was.
Tea was always served piping hot there, in the thick walled kopi-tiam (coffee shop) cups and saucers of old, complete with green motifs and hairline cracks in the baked porcelain that appeared through the glazing. This offered us the opportunity to observe world within the confines of the white tiled walls of the coffee shop, across the marble table tops and wooden chairs typical of the coffee shops of old.
Further down the row, perhaps at the end of Victoria Building, was the Shanghai bookstore, with its two storeys of Chinese books, smelling as a bookstore of those days did – a smell that I can still recall to this day. The second floor of the shop had a stationery section where many of the white uniformed boys of SJI could be seen, cooling off in the coolest part of the air-conditioned bookshop.
The Shanghai Bookstore was a popular hangout.
A few doors away from the bookstore, the Victoria Hotel stood. Next to the lobby on the ground floor of the hotel, there was another place that offered respite from the heat – one of the few air-conditioned chicken rice restaurants in those days, the Victoria Restaurant, which was quite popular with Singaporeans, seeking an cooler dining alternative from the more popular Swee Kee Restaurant on nearby Middle Road.
The Victoria Restaurant on the ground floor of the Victoria Hotel was popular for its Chicken Rice and Air-conditioned premises.
The Victoria Restaurant was located on the ground floor of the Victoria Hotel.
The stretch where the Shanghai Book Store and the Victoria Restaurant was.
Further along, there was the Hotel New Hong Kong, which became the Hotel Tai-Pan when I went to school. This is where the Allson Hotel now stands. Next door to this is the rectory building of St. Joseph's Church and the entrance to the compound which holds the Church, St. Anthony's Boys School and St. Anthony's Convent, before the junction with Middle Road.
The rectory of St. Joseph's Church along Victoria Street.
St. Joseph's Church as seen from Victoria Street.
St. Anthony's Convent (see here from Middle Road with the National Library in the background) used to look across Victoria Street to the Empress Hotel.
The view of St. Anthony's Convent in the 1950s from a similar vantage point.
My own memories of the area on the other side of the road, where the brand new National Library building now stands, are rather vague and on this I have been helped out by a reader Greg Lim, who lived in the area in the 1950s, as well as by my mother who was a boarder at St. Anthony's Convent in the late 1940s and the 1950s. There was the Empress Hotel which stood at the corner, which was apparently known for its mooncakes. My mother describes a sign that she remembered, standing out of the hotel building, proclaiming that the "Queen of Mooncakes" was sold there. My mother describes the hotel as being a rather seedy place, to which the nuns at the convent forbade the boarders and orphans whose windows in the boarding house across the street from the hotel faced, to look at. Greg also mentions that the six storey Empress Hotel was also notorious for being a location that was popular with people attempting to commit suicide.
The National Library Building now dominates the area bounded by Middle Road, Victoria Street, North Bridge Road and Bain Street and stands where the Empress Hotel, Lorong Sidin and Holloway Lane once stood.
Holloway Lane in 1958 (Source: Ray Tyers Singapore Then & Now).
Moving on this side of the street back towards Bras Basah Road, there were two streets there which have since disappeared, Lorong Sidin and Holloway Lane, still within the parcel of land on which the National Library is built on. Both were lined with rows of shophouses. The area is described by Greg as being referred to as the Hylam streets, a reference to the Hainanese families and businesses that dominated the area. The area also featured many furniture shops, and my mother says that an uncle of mine had bought his first set of furniture from the area.
Bain Street today - devoid of the vibrancy that the area was once know for.
Bain Street on which Greg lived, which is still there, running along Bras Basah Complex, as Greg describes was dominated by a four storey building named Victoria Court, at the junction with Victoria Street. On the ground floor, there was a furniture shop called Comfort Furniture and on the opposite corner, there was a shop that made mattresses. Bras Basah complex, which was built in 1980, was built in the area between the once vibrant Bain, Cashin, Carver and Miller Streets that were known for bookshops and hawker food. The complex itself housed many of the bookshops and watch dealers that were moved out of Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road areas. Greg mentions that most shops along Victoria Street were furniture shops. Bain St as Greg notes was famous for Hainanese coconut pastry and beef noodles in black sauce. Miller Street is dominated by the Siakson building and with Carver Street, served as the main access for many of us heading to Odeon Cinema which was along North Bridge Road – that was where I watched Star Wars in 1977.
Bras Basah complex, which was built in 1980, was built in the area between the once vibrant Bain, Cashin, Carver and Miller Streets that were known for bookshops and hawker food.
The Siakson Building dominates Miller Street.
The spiral staircase of the Siakson Building.
Past Miller Street, right at the end of this stretch of Victoria Street at the junction with Bras Basah Road, where the Carlton Hotel now stands, was the well known red painted shophouse that housed the popular Red House Bakery and Cafe which was popular which many students for the reasonably priced set meals on offer.
The corner where the Red House was.
Added on 14 April 2010:
Victoria Street c.1981. The four storey building would be Victoria Court which was at the corner of Victoria and Bain Streets. The HDB block of flats in the background is Bras Basah complex (Photo courtesy of Peter Chan).
Tags: 1970s, Bain Street, Central Medical Hall, Chicken Rice, Empress Hotel, Forgotten Places, Holloway Lane, Lorong Sidin, Lost Streets of Singapore, National Library, Old Singapore, Old St. Anthony's Convent, Queen of the Mooncakes, Red House Bakery, Shanghai Book Store, Shanghainese Furniture Shops, St. Joseph's Church, Victoria Court, Victoria Restaurant, Victoria Street
Categories : Civic District, Forgotten Places, Growing Up, Schooldays, Singapore, SJI


Gold has ticked lower in the Wednesday session. In North American trade, the spot price for an ounce of gold is $1324.62, down 0.14% on the day. On the release front, consumer spending was a disappointment, as Retail Sales declined 0.1%, missing the estimate of 0.3%. On the inflation front, PPI dipped to 0.2%, but still beat the estimate of 0.1%. On Thursday, the US will publish employment claims and the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index.
Gold has been drifting for most of the week, continuing the trend which marked the base metal last week. One reason for the lack of movement is that investors are trying to get a handle on what the Federal Reserve has planned under new chair Jerome Powell. The Fed is expected to continue to raise rates gradually, but a strong economy and the massive tax cuts could mean that the hikes will of greater size and frequency in the past. Any hints about rate policy will likely impact on gold, which moves inversely to interest rate levels.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates next week. According to the CME Group, the odds of a quarter-point raise stand at 89 percent. What can we expect from the Fed during the year? The pressing question is how many rate hikes will we see in 2018. The current Fed projection remains at three hikes, but the superb nonfarm payrolls report last week has raised speculation that the Fed could accelerate the pace to four hikes, which would be good news for the US dollar. Investors will be keeping a close eye on key US data, especially inflation indicators. If these numbers improve, we're likely to see four rate hikes in 2018.
XAU/USD ratio is showing little movement on Wednesday. Currently, long positions have a majority (55%), indicative of trader bias towards XAU/USD reversing directions and moving higher.


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Corman's World
Corman's World Trailer
Follow Martin Scorsese
Director: Alex Stapleton
Genre(s): Documentaries
American director Roger Corman is one of the film industry's most influential directors. Born in 1926, he is best known for the numerous low budget B movies which he has directed. Not only is he influential to many of Hollywood's great directors, Corman has also launched the careers of William Shatner; Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro, to name but a few.
Some of Corman's best known films include The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), which starred a young Nicholson; The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) which starred Vincent Price and the more recent Death Race (2008) which starred Jason Statham. Today, Corman is still making B movies and his more recent titles include Sharktopus; Dinoshark and Supergator.
The documentary details how Corman took a different view to those of his fellow directors when it came to making movies in Hollywood. The aforementioned Robert De Niro; Jack Nicholson and William Shatner recall their tales of Corman, as do actors Al Pacino and David Carradine and directors Catherine Hardwicke and Quentin Tarantino.
People Appearing: Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Quentin Tarantino, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, William Shatner, Traci Lords, Eli Roth, David Carradine, Eric Balfour, Clint Howard, Brett Ratner, Pam Grier, Catherine Hardwicke, Paul W S Anderson, Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Joe Dante and Marky Ramone
Starring: Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Quentin Tarantino, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, William Shatner, Traci Lords, Eli Roth, David Carradine, Eric Balfour, Clint Howard, Brett Ratner, Pam Grier, Catherine Hardwicke, Paul W S Anderson, Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Joe Dante, Marky Ramone
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Filmmakers Index: 0 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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By ABC News | February 11, 2022
The Allman Brothers Band's classic album 'Eat a Peach' was released 50 years ago this Saturday
Mercury Records/UMG
This Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Allman Brothers Band's classic fourth album, Eat a Peach.
The record, a two-disc set that includes a mix of studio tracks and live performances, is the band's last album to feature founding slide guitarist Duane Allman, who died in a motorcycle crash at age 24 on October 29, 1971, not long after the sessions began.
Although Eat a Peach had no hit singles, it features what became many of The Allman Brothers Band's most popular songs, including "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" and "Melissa," both written by lead singer/keyboardist Gregg Allman; "Blue Sky," penned by singer/guitarist Dickey Betts; and a memorable cover of blues great Elmore James' "One Way Out."
The live tracks — "One Way Out," "Trouble No More" and the epic "Mountain Jam" — were recorded at the same run of 1971 New York City shows that yielded the band's At Fillmore East album.
"Mountain Jam" is a 34-minute-plus improvised instrumental based on British folk-rocker Donovan's 1967 hit "There Is a Mountain." To fit the jam onto the album, it was split into two parts and took up two full sides of the double LP.
Eat a Peach peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200, The Allman Brothers' highest-charting album up to that time, and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for 1 million units sold in the U.S.
In 2020, Eat a Peach was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Here's the album's full track list:
"Ain't Wastin' Time No More"
"Les Brers in A Minor"
"Mountain Jam" (live)
"One Way Out" (live)
"Trouble No More" (live)
"Stand Back"
"Little Martha"


Here we demonstrate a 40% increase in the nonlinearity, or electro-optic (EO) coefficient, of the nonlinear optic (NLO) polymer SEO100 with the addition of a thin guanine nucleobase buffer layer deposited between the NLO polymer and the cathode electrode. We suggest that the high lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of guanine flattens the field distribution at the high injection barrier reducing leakage current during poling. This has the potential to realize higher EO coefficients without the need to synthesize new NLO polymer materials, as well as an increase in device yield due to less failure during poling.


When you purchase from designmybeat.com or affiliate/partner resellers, you will be required to ACCEPT the End User License Agreement from the licensor.
When you purchase a Beat, Virtual Instrument, or download sound samples and/or any products from designmybeat.com or partner/affiliates reseller, you are NOT obtaining OWNERSHIP of the sound samples - you are in fact purchasing a LICENSE to use the beat and/or virtual instruments within your musical compositions, whether or not your compositions are released commercially. The original producer of the beat or samples and/or virtual instruments will always retain OWNERSHIP of the beat and/or virtual instruments .
How can I use the beat and/or virtual instruments?
You may use the sound samples and/or software in combination with other sounds within your musical compositions. You may release such compositions commercially (see below regarding Not For Resale [NFR] use), without payment of any further fees or royalties for such usage. For example, if you are the original purchaser of a Sampling CD, Virtual Instrument, or download sound samples and/or beats from designmybeat.com or Partners internet sites, and you use the sound samples to create, or partially create, the soundtrack of a television commercial or a track on a music CD; regardless of how many CDs are sold or how many times the television commercial is broadcast, you would never have to pay the producer of the sound samples any additional royalties or license fees, because you already purchased a license to use the sound samples commercially indefinitely.
What can't I use the sounds for?
You cannot use the sounds in isolation (i.e. when they are not used within musical compositions) as part of a commercially released project. For example, you cannot use the sounds to make another Sample CD, Virtual Instrument, or include them as individual sound samples on a multimedia CD, CD-ROM, DVD, gaming machine, or toy, that is commercially distributed. You must add substantial instrumentation to any loops* (*loops are compositions that contain a combination of sound samples that can be repeated to form a continuous piece of music). You cannot upload or download the sound samples and/or software to any database or server, unless they are used in a musical composition (in combination with other sounds) created by you.
Loops must be used in a musical context with at least two other instruments that contribute significantly to the composition.
The entire loop cannot be left exposed at any time in the composition.
NOTE: The exception to this restriction is 'multi-sampled instruments', where users play all of the notes (for example, a multi-sampled piano library).
Not For Resale (NFR) licensed versions cannot be used for any commercial purpose unless permission is granted in writing by the licensor. A commercial purpose is any revenue generating activity that includes the use of the sound samples and/or software.
Who else can use the sounds on the media that I have purchased?
Nobody, unless they also purchased the same Sample CD, Virtual Instrument, or downloaded the same sound samples. Only the ORIGINAL PURCHASER has the right to use the sound samples and/or software. This means you CANNOT SELL or give the sound samples and/or software to anyone else. If you do, and they use the sound samples and/or software within a commercial release, they, or anyone associated with the distribution of the music, may face legal action from the licensor of the sound samples and/or software. There are significant financial penalties for illegal use, and a conviction will most likely ruin the reputation and future job prospects of the composer. It is simply not worth using the sounds 'illegally'.
Can I sell my Sample CD/Virtual Instrument and/or Software to someone else?
No, the license you are purchasing is NOT TRANSFERABLE at any time. Use of an 'illegally' sold copy may result in legal action from the licensor of the sound samples and/or software. For this reason we caution our customers not to purchase copies of our sound samples and /or software from 'online auctions' or 'trading sites', as these are often illegal copies in violation of the End User License Agreement.
Do I have to credit the use of the sound samples on my CD sleeve, credits, etc?
In most cases this is not required, but is always appreciated (you would credit any musician that played on your track, wouldn't you?).


Mysore District Court Recruitment 2019 – Apply Online for Peon Posts: Mysore District Court (Mysore District Court) has advertised a notification for the recruitment of 46 posts of Peon vacancies. Eligible candidates can apply online from 18.02.2019 to 20.03.2019. Other details like age limit, educational qualification, selection process & how to apply for Mysore District Court Jobs are given below.
Selected candidates will get Rs.17,000–400–18,600–450–20,400–500–22,400–550-24,600-600-27,000-650-28,950 by the Recruiting Organization.


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Turmi este un oraș din Etiopia. În 2005 avea 1.087 de locuitori.

Vezi și
 Lista orașelor din Etiopia

Orașe din Etiopia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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The best selling games on 3DS and Wii U
NewsNintendo
Leo Stevenson
As part of its financial report yesterday, Nintendo revealed the top 10 list of best-selling games on both 3DS and Wii U.
Even though you'll probably be able to guess the lists, we're going to publish them below anyway. It's not like you can stop us.
The best selling game for Wii U overall was Mario Kart 8 with 8 million copies sold. On the 3DS it was unsurprisingly Pokémon X & Y with 15.64 million copies sold taking out the top spot. As part of its financial report, Nintendo revealed that revenue had declined in concert with a slackening of Wii U sand amiibo sales.
Despite the decline, Nintendo still posted a profit and President Tastumi Kimishima announced that he expects the company to ship 2 million Switches during March 2017.
The full list of top selling software is as follows;
Wii U:
Mario Kart 8 — 8 million
New Super Mario Bros. U — 5.45 million
Super Mario 3D World — 5.19 million
Nintendo Land — 5.13 million
Super Smash Bros. Wii U — 4.99 million
Splatoon — 4.57 million
Super Mario Maker — 3.73 million
New Super Luigi U — 2.74 million
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD — 1.98 million
Mario Party 10 — 1.94 million
Nintendo 3DS:
Pokémon X & Y — 15.64 million
Mario Kart 7 — 13.94 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire — 13.18 million
Super Mario 3D Land — 10.98 million
New Super Mario Bros. 2 — 10.6 million
Animal Crossing: New Leaf — 10.34 million
Super Smash Bros. 3DS — 8.35 million
Tomodachi Life — 5.3 million
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon — 5.03 million
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D — 4.52 million
Pokémon Shining Pearl Review (Switch) – Remember...
Reviews December 8, 2021
Nintendo announces Big Brain Academy launching for...
News September 3, 2021
Australians now have access to Niantic &...
News April 19, 2021
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury...
Reviews February 11, 2021
Leo Stevensonhttps://powerup-gaming.com/
I've been playing games for the past 27 years and have been writing for almost as long. Combining two passions in the way I'm able is a true privilege. PowerUp! is a labour of love and one I am so excited to share.


We sold Fezywig in June 2015. Please take a tour of the boat we miss with all our hearts.
We loved having four cabins. Everyone had a space where they could go for some privacy, peace and quiet. Each cabin includes huge amounts of storage space beneath each berth, shelves at the foot of each bed and lockers on both sides of the cabin. Hatches above and on both the outside and inside walls let in tons of light and are great for letting in all that fresh air. The starboard and port cabins are mirrors of each other.
The two shower/head combos (one port/one starboard) make for comfortable living with a full crew aboard.
We installed a high capacity water maker—30 gallons per hour!—with an installation that makes operation and maintenance easy. A supply of additional filters and fluids is included.
We installed 4 brand new house batteries, 2 new engine starter batteries, and a Honda EU2000i Companion generator for reliable power, with quick charge times thanks to 2 in-line battery chargers.
We replaced the original fridge (which used a high energy-consumption compressor) for a stainless steel, high capacity, 12V, energy efficient fridge. We also installed a new VHF radio with AIS receiving capability and MMSI broadcasting capability (for emergency/distress broadcasting). We replaced the mast-top VHF antennae and cable as well as the mast top wind indicator. If we ever got into trouble, we knew help was only a radio-call away.
The new 2014 18hp Tohatsu outboard, along with heavy duty chain and lock, can be attached to the tender of your choice.
The Yanmar 3YM30 diesel engines were rebuilt and reinstalled right in front of us, to assure safe, reliable motoring and battery charging as needed.
Again, we sailed her safely and comfortably with our five children over 2,500 miles from St. Maarten to Manhattan.


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ELAW Fellows Program
The Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide has hosted more than 200 environmental professionals from all over the world. ELAW Fellows are committed advocates who help the world's most disadvantaged communities protect the environment through law.
ELAW Fellows have gone on to do outstanding work and become respected leaders. Seven ELAW Fellows later won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, including 2016 Goldman Prize winner Zuzana Caputova. Ms. Caputova was a 2007 and 2017 ELAW Fellow and elected President of Slovakia in 2019.
ELAW designs each Fellowship to meet the Fellow's needs. We provide one-on-one training with ELAW Staff Attorneys, Scientists, and development staff, and reach out to other experts in the U.S. and around the world to help ELAW Fellows meet their training objectives.
ELAW Fellowships may include the following, and more:
One-on-one work with ELAW staff
ELAW Annual Meeting and Public Interest Environmental Law Conference
Collaborating with organizations in the Pacific Northwest
Meeting with government agencies, and attending court and public hearings
Tours of water and waste management facilities, and visits to protected areas
Intensive English study at the University of Oregon's American English Institute
Environmental law and other classes at the University of Oregon
Public presentations and press interviews
ELAW Fellows gain skills and build strong organizations that will work to protect communities and the planet for years to come. ELAW Fellows also enrich the Eugene community and share lessons learned from their environmental challenges and successes.
If you are a Eugene area resident and wish to host an ELAW Fellow, or for any questions, please contact Maggie Keenan, ELAW Fellows Program Coordinator.


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« Discussions of criminal justice supervision and collateral consequences that merit extended conversations | Main | Exploring what neuroscience may mean for criminal justice »
Could enhanced FIRST STEP Act get more than 90 votes in the Senate if even brought up for a vote?
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this Hill piece from late Friday headlined "Sentencing reform deal heats up, pitting Trump against reliable allies." Here are excerpts (with emphasis added):
Negotiations on a criminal justice reform bill are pitting President Trump against some of his closest allies on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a public warning shot to the White House this week, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Trump should not support a "jailbreak" by reducing mandatory minimum sentences. "That foolish approach is not criminal justice reform. … [It would] undercut President Trump's campaign promise to restore law and order," Cotton wrote.
Besides Cotton, other reliable allies of the White House, including Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), are opposing the administration's approach, which would combine a House-passed prison reform bill with changes to sentencing and mandatory minimums that have wide, bipartisan support in the Senate.
Supporters say completing the bill would give the administration a needed win heading into November's midterm elections. Cotton argues it would make Trump and the GOP look weak on crime.
White House officials and supporters of a deal have been talking with Republican holdouts to try to convince them to back the proposed compromise, which they say would add roughly four sentencing reform provisions into the House bill, which currently focuses on recidivism and not sentencing laws. The pending agreement is expected to add into the House bill lower mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug convictions and more exceptions for judges on applying mandatory minimums. It would also let judges avoid doubling up on convictions for drug offenders facing simultaneous charges, and retroactively apply the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, which is aimed at reducing the disparity between cocaine- and crack-related offenses.
A senior White House official said they had received largely positive feedback and have 30 to 32 locked down "yes" votes among Republican senators. The official offered hope that the number of GOP supporters could eventually grow as many as 40 to 46. "We're hopeful that we'll be able to bring everybody together to get this to a place where we have ... most of the Republicans ready to vote for it," the official said...
Supporters are moving forward and trying to build support within the GOP conference, signaling they view Cotton as a surmountable outlier. "I view it like the handful of people who are trying to obstruct are kind of giving it their best shot and, again, at the end of the day, I think facts usually overcome scare tactics," the senior White House official said.
If Cotton's op-ed was meant to build opposition to the potential deal within the Senate Republican Conference, officials suggested it appeared to have backfired. The senior White House official said that nearly a dozen Republican senators had reached out in wake of the Wall Street Journal article to say they didn't agree with Cotton. A second White House official confirmed the outreach.
But opposition from a small, but vocal, group of critics has been a years-long roadblock for criminal justice reform in the Senate, where GOP leadership has been reluctant to put a spotlight on intra-caucus fights.
In addition to Cotton, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) threatened to do everything within their power to block a 2015 criminal justice reform bill, which had the support of the White House. Hatch has since come on board with criminal justice legislation, and Sessions is now attorney general. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has warned him to "stay out" of the negotiations....
Republicans won't be able to pass a criminal justice deal on their own. A separate Senate bill, spearheaded by Grassley and Durbin, has the support of 32 senators, including Democrats like Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Cory Booker (N.J.). The White House is hoping electoral politics won't get in the way of them supporting the pending agreement. "[If] people vote against it, I think it would just be really bad vote for them because this bill does a lot of good things," the senior White House official said of potential Democratic opposition....
Trump held an event on prison reform last week, and at a White House meeting earlier this month signaled support for criminal justice reform. The senior White House official said that while negotiations are ongoing and no final decision has been made, "there is a very strong chance" the president will support the final package.
"[That] means that a lot of the people will want to be with him on it," the official said. "And again, they know that the president's very tough on crime and if he's supporting something then they know it's not going to be a soft on crime bill."
But Cornyn appeared skeptical that Trump, despite his deep popularity with GOP voters, would be able to change the dynamics in the Senate. "I don't think people are going to change their strongly held positions on the sentencing reform part," he said. "So my goal is to achieve what's possible."
Riffing on the quote from Senator Cornyn, it seems quite possible that 45 Senators or more from both parties will be inclined to support whatever version of the FIRST STEP Act gets to the floor of the Senate with the President's support. As I said in a recent post here, and as this article confirms, the problem now is not getting enough votes in support of reform but rather on getting congressional leadership to settle on the particulars of a bill and finally allowing a vote on the Senate floor.
As the GOP heads into a challenging mid-term election, I think and hope that many members would see the FIRST STEP Act as an opportunity to demonstrate bipartisan leadership. And maybe, as he headline of this interesting Bustle article suggest, Prez Trump could have another one of his kids involved in advocacy efforts here: "Tiffany Trump's Georgetown Work Shows She Has An Interest In Criminal Justice Reform Too."
Some of many prior recent related posts:
House Judiciary Committee approves FIRST STEP Act by a vote of 25-5 after lots of discussion of amendments
FIRST STEP Act passes US House of Representatives by vote of 360-59(!), but its fate in Senate remains uncertain
Interesting new US Sentencing Commission analysis of possible impact of Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017
Five prominent congressional Democrats write in opposition to federal statutory prison reform without broader sentencing reform
Prez Trump pledges to sign prison reform that will be "best in the world"
An (encouraging?) update on the state of federal criminal justice reform in US Senate
Disconcerting update on Senate's (lack of) progress on federal statutory criminal justice reforms
Large group of former prisoners urge Senate leaders to move forward with FIRST STEP Act
Intriguing comments about the politics and persons around FIRST STEP Act and federal criminal justice reform efforts
An interesting political pitch for the FIRST STEP Act
Encouraging news from DC about prospects for prison reform with sentencing reform getting enacted in 2018
White House emails "startling facts about America's prison system"
Could a version of the FIRST STEP Act with sentencing reforms pass the Senate in a matter of weeks?
FAMM provides detailed review of SRCA sentencing provisions most likely to be added to FIRST STEP Act
Senator Cotton delivers faulty arguments to prop up faulty federal sentencing system
Will Trump White House soon "deploy its assets ... to stump" for federal criminal justice reform? It may be critical.
August 19, 2018 at 08:29 AM | Permalink


Serial # 53 077002, 1981, Extremely rare "one of a kind" Hagstrom Swede guitar. This is probably the only Hagstrom Swede guitar made in the rare Volvo grey finish! This guitar was most likely modified by Falu Musikverkstad according to specifications from the Swedish guitar player Sven Olson, known from the TV show "Gomorron Sverige" in the late 70's and early 80's.
The condition is very good and all the original parts are in place. The original Hagstrom hard case is also included. This is, for sure, a "once in a life time" opportunity to own an Hagstrom guitar in a unique color/ finish and with a unique history.


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Parti indépendant (Argentine)
 Parti indépendant (Danemark)
 Parti indépendant (Uruguay)


Personal finance, like life, is about trade-offs. If you spend a little more here, you have to cut back a little and save money there. In the zero-sum game that is budgeting, a dollar you spend is one that you can't put in your savings account for a rainy day.
So it's not surprising that you'd eye your purchases to see if you can spend less, without sacrificing much in terms of quality.
In general, brand-name products are better than generic products. Or at least their marketing is. This concept isn't really disputed because if generic vs. brand-name items were priced the same, you would go with the brand name every single time.
In reality, they're not priced the same, so you ultimately have to decide whether quality is worth the extra cost or if you should opt for the savings generic products bring. In some cases, it makes sense -- in others, it doesn't.
I used to work for H.J. Heinz, so I'm biased, but I know I like Heinz ketchup. I don't like most generic ketchup products as much because they're too tangy. Heinz has the sweetness and consistency that I like. I buy Heinz rather than generic products, because I buy very little ketchup and 50 cents saved over six months is not worth it to me and my budget. That's the trade-off.
For example, medication is regulated and so I feel confident that a generic version of an over-the-counter drug will deliver the same results as the branded one. I'd feel comfortable strolling into a Walgreens or CVS Pharmacy and picking up a bottle of store-brand cough syrup.
Over-the-counter medication: Drugs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and over-the-counter medication is required to list the active ingredients right on the box. All you need to do to compare brand-name products against their generic versions is look at the packaging information on the side. Pick up a box of Claritin and you'll see that the active ingredient is loratadine, which you can also buy as a generic drug for a fraction of the price. Zyrtec's active ingredient is cetirizine, also now available in a generic version.
Electronic cabling: This topic has always been a source of a good laugh, as some companies have the audacity to charge big bucks for a $2 HDMI cable.
Finally, I go with generic products when I just don't care about what I'm buying. It doesn't make sense to spend more on something, especially if I can't tell the difference and won't appreciate the quality.
4 types of saving addicts: Whichone are you?


#Naija4Life: Are you 100% Naija or counterfeit?
How Nigerian are you? Watch this episode to test your Naija card.
#IntoTheStreet – Should Corps Members still be used as INEC ad hoc staffs?
#Naija4Life – Person wey sey GARRI na CASSAVA FLAKES is that one a Nigerian?


All around me there are hurting people. One of my friend's is undergoing cancer treatment. Another lies seriously ill in ICU. Others are dealing with grief that wraps its icy fingers around their hearts long after those around them have forgotten and moved on. Some are facing the betrayal of a spouse; others are struggling to overcome childhood hurts and abuse.
My own struggles are not this big, but—even then—navigating everyday life leaves me feeling lost and depleted sometimes.
Today I came across a beautiful encounter in the Bible. It spoke to me of just what we should do when we are struggling with illness, loss, or even just making sense of it all. The first part of it is found in Matthew 8:2.
Does something surprise you in that text? Jump out at you as astonishing? It did for me. Before the leper says a word, before Jesus has done anything to change his situation, the man worships Jesus. This is what spoke to me today. It's easy giving God glory and praise when we have the answers to our prayers or when we have our healing from God. But do we spend time worshiping God before that, while our situation remains unchanged?
Jesus touched him. "I want to," he said. "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
The man worshiped, and Jesus touched. He touched an unclean leper; the one others gave a wide berth to. I have experienced this same touch when I come to Him. In this instance, Jesus' touch brought healing. For me, Jesus' touch brings healing in other ways. It's brought peace into turmoil and understanding into confusion. It imparts a new perspective or direction. It fills me with patience or love in a relationship I'm struggling with, or gives me a promise to cling to when I'm feeling hopeless. Jesus' touch is gentle but powerful, and even though it is unseen, it leaves lasting changes.
So today I just want to encourage you–no matter what you may be struggling with, go to Him boldly, worshiping Him, and then expect and receive His life-changing touch.
Tagged Faith, Jesus, leper, Matthew, touch, worship.
I just love the way you have with words. I miss you at FW but am blessed by your words today (This week the challenge topic is Blessed and this piece is a perfect fit) It is easy to forget to go to God when things are going good and sometimes to praise him when things are tough. Thanks for the wonderful reminder.
Thanks for this insight Joan. The last ten days have been dark, but filled with constant prayers……I shall start worshiping before I pray!


Broadband MP4 vietnamese_bb.mp4 (11.8MB), suitable for iPods and computer downloads.
This clip sees Lindy struggling with her identity and sense of belonging. We learn that while she is happy to be found by her biological father, there are problems associated with this new relationship. Her adoptive parents, and Lindy, fear that Le will want to take her away from them as he had never signed the adoption papers. Lindy and Le meet for the first time at the airport. While he recognises her, she cannot remember him. As Lindy and her adoptive father settle Le into his accommodation, Lindy is torn between the two of them. The scene in the lift is evident of this; Lindy is positioned between her two fathers.
In the swimming pool scene, Lindy and Julie discuss Lindy's feelings about Lindy's approaching first meeting with her biological Vietnamese father. What do we learn from Lindy's words, and from the water imagery, about her situation and state of mind?
The clip reveals that Julie's family situation in Australia has some similarities with Lindy's family situation. Explain why. Do you have anything in common with Lindy or Julie? If so, what are the commonalities?
In the airport scene, we see a close-up shot of Lindy letting go of her adoptive father's hand at a particular moment. What does this symbolise? Find a current web-news report of a family reunion at an Australian airport, which has come about because of a family separation or refugee situation. In pairs or small groups, share this report.
Lindy's adoptive father is honest with her Vietnamese father when he says he has mixed feelings about his visit. Is his honesty wise? Why?
How do we see Lindy manage being with her two fathers who use two different names for her – Lindy and Mai?
In the hotel lift scene Lindy asks her Vietnamese father about her birthday. What is his answer? What is her reaction? Quote from the dialogue in your response.
What are the differences and similarities between Lindy's two fathers? Consider their personalities, their life histories, their cultural identities and their attitudes to family. Show this in a Venn diagram. Doe we feel optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the relationship between the two men? What evidence is there for your opinion?
Imagine if Lindy (Mai) had grown up in post-war Vietnam, instead of in Sydney. Research information about Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). In 1975, this is the city where most Vietnamese adoptees were flown from to Australia. Find images of Ho Chi Minh's nearby Mekong River settlements and the cities of Hue, Nha Trang or Da Nang to obtain similar visual information. Then, using images and text, imagine a place where Lindy was actually born. Label and describe the setting of Lindy's likely home and streetscape – or riverscape – or coastalscape. Point out similarities and differences between her home in Sydney and her home in Vietnam.


Cento was founded in Philadelphia in 1963, as a distributor of ethnic Italian food specialties servicing the surrounding tri-state area. Passion and experience led management to a deep understanding of the intricacies of food development and ultimately drove Cento to produce a superior Italian food product under its own label in 1982. Each Cento product is produced to our precise specifications and with the finest ingredients available. While preserving the culinary heritage of old world authentic Italian style food products, Cento continues to stay abreast of the food industry's rapid technological advances and has become the premier Italian food distributor, importer, and producer in the United States today.


Steve Torrence won Top Fuel for the seventh time in 2018, while Robert Hight (Funny Car), Tanner Gray (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all captured wins at Gateway Motorsports Park.
TOP FUEL ROUND 1 (11:26 a.m.): Nobody ran quicker than Antron Brown, who defeated Doug Kalitta in slightly more fiery fashion than he planned. His 3.728-second pass earned him lane choice over the No. 2 qualifier, Clay Millican, in a vital matchup with championship implications. Steve Torrence easily got past Bill Litton, but he has a second-round rematch with Mike Salinas. That's because Salinas took down defending Top Fuel champion Brittany Force with a 3.758-second run. Leah Pritchett smoked the tires in the first round but advanced because Scott Palmer broke the throttle cable when he tried to fire the car. His pain was her gain – she'll race Blake Alexander for the third time this season.
FUNNY CAR ROUND 1 (11:50 a.m.): Tommy Johnson Jr. ran the quickest time lap of the first round, which may come as some consolation to Don Schumacher Racing's Funny Car department since he's the only driver to advance to the second round. Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and Matt Hagan all fell in the first round, while John Force Racing sent all three of its Funny Cars into the second stanza of racing. Bob Tasca III also advanced with a 3.999 on a holeshot, defeating Jonnie Lindberg by cutting a solid reaction time. Cruz Pedregon upset Capps on a holeshot with a 3.992-second pass, which could have huge Countdown implications.
PRO STOCK ROUND 1 (12:02 p.m.): The top eight qualifiers in Pro Stock all advanced to the quarterfinals and they also happen to be the top eight drivers in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Jason Line was the quickest with a 6.536 in his Summit Racing Chevy however Lines' advantage over the rest of the field is slim since every other winner in the round ran 6.579 or quicker. Tanner Gray, Vincent Nobile, Drew Skillman, Bo Butner and low qualifier Jeg Coughlin all ran 6.54. The slowest winner of the round was four-time champ Greg Anderson, who was the first driver out, ran a 6.579 in his win over Deric Kramer, who shook the tires and shut off.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE ROUND 1 (12:19 p.m.): Two huge upsets changed the dynamic of the points battle in Pro Stock Motorcycle after leaders Eddie Krawiec and Hector Arana Jr. were both ousted in the first round. Krawiec red-lighted by a thousandth of a second against Joey Gladstone's Yellow Corn Buell while Arana Jr., fresh off a win in Reading, lost when his Lucas Oil EBR stalled on the starting line. Losses by Arana and Krawiec was good news for fellow contenders LE Tonglet, Andrew Hines, and Matt Smith, who each advanced. Tonglet made one of the best runs of the round with a 6.83 in his win over Jimmy Underdahl while Smith used a 6.88 to nip Scotty Pollacheck's Suzuki. In another big upset, Angie Smith used a holeshot to take a 6.87 to 6.84 win over Steve Johnson's Suzuki.
TOP FUEL ROUND 2 (1:14 p.m.): It's hard to imagine who breathed deeper after their second-round win: Clay Millican or Pat Dakin. When the Great Clips / Parts Plus Top Fuel Dragster fired up, it didn't have any oil pressure. Following the world's shortest Top Fuel burnout, the oil pressure came right back up and Millican got past Antron Brown to book a spot in the semifinals against Pat Dakin. Steve Torrence will get a shot at Leah Pritchett on the other side of the ladder after defeating a tire-smoking Mike Salinas. That should be a lot of fun, too.
FUNNY CAR ROUND 2 (1:22 p.m.): Tommy Johnson Jr. continued to lead the way in terms of performance as the Make-A-Wish Funny Car laid down a 3.95-second pass to move into the semifinals. He'll race Robert Hight with lane choice and a chance to move past teammate Ron Capps with a victory. On the other side of the ladder is a rematch of the Dodge NHRA Nationals final as Tim Wilkerson will battle J.R. Todd with lane choice. Wilk took down Courtney Force by running 4 seconds flat against the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro.
PRO STOCK ROUND 2 (1:25 p.m.): Erica Enders threw a perfect .000 light at Tanner Gray but it wasn't enough as the current points leader padded his total following a close 6.56 to 6.59 victory. Gray is joined in the semifinals by Drew Skillman, Jeg Coughlin Jr., and Vincent Nobile. Gray entered the event as the points leader with Nobile second, Skillman fifth, and Coughlin in the No. 6 spot. KB Racing teammates Bo Butner and Jason Line each succumbed to tire shake in their respective matches against Skillman and Nobile.
Semifinal round pairings (lane choice first): Drew Skillman vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Tanner Gray vs. Vincent Nobile.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE ROUND 2 (1:37 p.m.): Matt Smith is in a prime position to take over the points lead in Pro Stock Motorcycle after reaching the semifinals on his EBR-bodied entry. Smith rode to a 6.869 to defeat Joey Gladstone's Buell in the quarterfinals. Smith won't have lane choice, however after Chip Ellis rode to a 6.863 in his win over Angelle Sampey. On the other side of the latter, White Alligator Racing teammates Jerry Savoie and LE Tonglet will meet. Tonglet entered the weekend as the class' fourth-ranked rider while Savoie, a two-time St. Louis champ, was sixth when the weekend began.
TOP FUEL SEMIFINALS (2:36 p.m.): Steve Torrence only slowed by a thousandth of a second in the semifinals, that's going to get him into his second-straight final round, keep him in first place in Top Fuel and get him lane choice against Clay Millican. Torrence defeated Leah Pritchett handily despite getting off the starting line second by .005 second. Millican defeated Pat Dakin, who got off the throttle at about 300 feet, and ran a 3.857 to get a shot at his third final round of the season. He won't have lane choice, which means he'll likely be in the right lane for the third round in a row.
FUNNY CAR SEMIFINALS (2:41 p.m.): Tim Wilkerson got his revenge against J.R. Todd and raced into his second final of the season. That will have massive points implications, especially after Robert Hight took down Tommy Johnson Jr. with a 3.945-second pass. That will give the driver of the AAA Chevy Camaro lane choice over hometown racer Wilkerson in the final, for what that's worth. More importantly: Hight is in first place heading into the final at Gateway Motorsports Park. Wilkerson enters the final in third place and is hungry to take as many points as possible to Dallas.
PRO STOCK SEMIFINALS (2:44 p.m.): Tanner Gray reaffirmed his spot atop the Mello Yello Pro Stock standings with a clutch win over Reading winner Vincent Nobile's Mountain View Camaro. Gray got off the starting line first by .03-second and held on for a 6.57 to 6.59 victory. Gray will take on Reading runner-up Drew Skillman in the final round. Skillman, who is also racing in the Stock Eliminator final, used a 6.58 to beat low qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr., who shook the tires and slowed to a 6.778.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE SEMIFINALS (2:49 p.m.): After losing the final round in Reading last week, Matt Smith will have a chance to pick up a crucial Countdown win thanks to a 6.879 to 6.901 win over Chip Ellis' Harley-Davidson. Smith will take on LE Tonglet, who defeated his teammate, Jerry Savoie in an all-Suzuki battle. After the semi's, Tonglet and Smith engaged in a bit of trash taking with Tonglet all but guaranteeing a win over Smith's EBR, and what he called it's "space shuttle bodywork". Smith quickly replied that he planned to "go fishing" int he final against the Nitro Fish Suzuki.
E3 SPARK PLUGS PRO MOD FINAL: Fresh off a win at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, Stevie "Fast" Jackson wheeled his Bahrain1 Camaro to a second straight win in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod series. Jackson won the final round over Chad Green, who fouled. Jackson, racing his Shadow 2.0 drag radial car after crashing his primary Pro Mod car earlier this year, finished the rout with a 5.759, 250.88. With two events remaining, Jackson is in a position to challenge leader Mike Janis and Rickie Smith for the Pro Mod Series title.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE FINAL (3:44 p.m.): By the slimmest of margins, a scant .0006-second, Matt Smith claimed a crucial Countdown win aboard his EBR-bodied V-twin. In a rematch of the Chicago final, Smith left first against rival LE Tonglet, .008 to .018 and won on a small holeshot, 6.877 to 6.867. Smith also won the Chicago final and now has 20-wins in his career. Smith is now the points leader with four events remaining in the Countdown to the Champonship playoffs while Tonglet has moved from fourth to second in the standings.
PRO STOCK FINAL (3:47 p.m.): Tanner Gray entered the St. Louis race as the No. 1 seed in Pro Stock and padded his lead with his sixth win of the 2018 season. Gray left with an almost-perfect .004 reaction time and drove his Camaro to a 6.567 after opponent and teammate, Drew Skillman, shook the tires and slowed. Minutes earlier, Skillman had won the Stock Eliminator title in his Cobra Jet Mustang. Gray now has 11 wins in his two seasons in the Pro Stock class.
FUNNY CAR FINAL (3:48 p.m.): Robert Hight captured his third win of the season in spectacular fashion as the AAA Funny Car blew up in the lights. Hight ran a 4.036 to defeat Tim Wilkerson while the body lifted off the flopper. The driver was able to exit his car under his own power.
TOP FUEL FINAL (4:14 p.m.): Steve Torrence is now two-for-two in the Countdown for the Championship. That's one more race than he won in the playoffs a year ago and just one fewer than he won all last season. Torrence defeated Clay Millican by .068 second after getting a .04 jump at the starting line and tightened his grasp on first place with the victory.
TOP FUEL WINNER STEVE TORRENCE: This is going to be a hard-fought war and I couldn't have a better group of guys to fight it with. I feel like "Braveheart" out here and we're just chopping away at it, trying to kill everybody at it with Hoagie and Bobby. I put my faith in them and they give me a great race car every time and I try to not drop the ball. We were low e.t. of nearly every session and I'm very confident going forward. This is all we could have asked for to start the Countdown with back-to-back victories. Clay Millican and David Grubnic are going really hard right now, and you show you're bad when you're beating the baddest and we're doing that right now.
PRO STOCK WINNER TANNER GRAY: "Throughout qualifying we didn't run as well as we thought we should have. We made some nice runs but never got aggressive enough. Today, we got our heads on straight. We fought back. That [semifinal] round against Vincent [Nobile] was huge. I feel like all of us did a good job of taking it round by round and not really thinking big picture too much. We just focused on what we had to do. I was super proud of everyone on our team. Everything is coming together and it's really neat to see. The only think I do over there is driver so it's really gratifying to see the work these guys put in pay off.
Coming into today I had the same mindset that I had last year. Last year in Charlotte, even though I won, I felt like I was racing scared. I felt like I was racing scared in Reading, too. you just can't do that. You have to lay it all on the line when you're in the Countdown and if it works out in your favor it works and if not you know you gave it your best. I felt like it showed as far as my reaction times go. I was consistent and I'm pretty proud of that. I'm super happy to be here and really excited to see what the rest of the year holds. End of the year I'm going to be proud of what we accomplished.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE WINNER MATT SMITH: "We started the year on a Suzuki and it fell apart. I had to pull my bike out in Charlotte qualified well and went to semifinals there. Sometimes that [adversity] makes you work harder.
Tony Schumacher runnered up at the Dodge NHRA Nationals and moved into second place in the Top Fuel standings as a result. He followed up that performance with a stellar run of qualifying with the help of crew chief Mike Neff. The U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster made four-straight 3.70 passes and is qualified No. 6 with a matchup against Richie Crampton in the first round.
Those cars he's referring to, at least chiefly, are the ones driven by Steve Torrence and Clay Millican. Schumacher fell to Torrence in the final in Reading and watched both Torrence and Millican make 3.60 runs at Gateway Motorsports Park. Those have come at a premium this year, something Schumacher is well aware of.
With that said, Schumacher's average e.t. is right behind Torrence (3.789 to 3.793) and the U.S. Army dragster is one of the most consistent in the category. If Schumacher hasn't put up the big numbers during the hero sessions, the team has at least avoided stubbing its toe. That's a recipe for success in the Countdown.
The loss to Torrence in Reading was a setback, but there's still time to bounce back. That starts Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park.
There's a lot of competition for most consistent Top Fuel Dragster at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, but Leah Pritchett threw her hat into the ring with four-straight 3-second passes. She qualified fifth with a 3.718 and averaged a 3.781, booking her a meeting with Scott Palmer in the first round.
"Coming into St. Louis, we made some very large wholesale changes," said Pritchett. "We have stayed committed to them and it's very pleasing to see the car cooperating to the changes. We went out in Q4 to run a 3.71 and that's exactly what we did. Picking up six one-hundredths when it counts. We're just chipping away at it.
Tuner Todd Okuhara talked about the strategy for the team all season: Get ready for the Countdown. Pritchett scored a win at the NHRA Southern Nationals Powered by Mello Yello, but the real goal was to be ready for the playoffs. Based on her performance this weekend, it appears she's there.
Pritchett entered Gateway Motorsports Park in fourth place needing 101 points to catch Steve Torrence. A win just outside of St. Louis would do a lot of good for the Don Schumacher Racing driver.
Mike Salinas threw the rods out of his Scrappers Racing Top Fuel Dragster motor in the process of defeating Brittany Force in the first round but fear not: He'll have no problem returning for his second-round matchup against Steve Torrence.
Salinas made it to the second round to start his first Countdown to the Championship but fell to Torrence by .003 second. The dragster is moving in the right direction, averaging 3.819 seconds and a success percentage of 50 percent following qualifying. That's only a couple hundredths behind Torrence, whose success percentage is 68.8 percent.
The win over Force kept Salinas in seventh place, a win against Torrence would move the San Jose, Calif. native into sixth after Doug Kalitta lost to Antron Brown in the first round. All that after Salinas snuck into the Countdown on the final day of the regular season at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. One thing's for sure: No matter the result, Salinas will be hungry for more.
Robert Hight earned his third No. 1 qualifier of the season with a stout 3.844-second pass, the quickest since NHRA implemented new track preparation following the NHRA SpringNationals. He will start from the pole and race Dale Creasy at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals while trying to make up ground on Funny Car leader J.R. Todd.
That consistency is a step in the right direction for Hight, who now has a success percentage of 60.2. That means the AAA Funny Car is getting down the track quicker than 4.19 seconds slightly better than 60 percent of the time, which is better than the class average of 52.3 percent. Hight also leads the class with an e.t. average of 3.995 seconds.
Hight turned on the red light during the Dodge NHRA Nationals, costing him a shot at moving up the standings. That was his first foul start of the season in 46 attempts. He still leads the Funny Car field with a reaction time average of .069 second. That's a recipe for success as the defending champ searches for his third title.
Matt Hagan has not had the season he wanted yet. There's still time to turn that around, but back-to-back races qualified in the bottom half of the field isn't exactly what the Mopar Funny Car team dreamed up. The numbers tell one story – Hagan's average e.t. is 4.018 seconds and he's getting down the track 62.5 percent of the time -- but they're trending in the wrong direction.
Hagan now drives the sixth-quickest Funny Car in the field, behind teammate Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr. The Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is a thousandth quicker than Jack Beckman, but slightly less consistent. A year ago, Hagan and crew chief Dickie Venables took advantage of killer conditions at Gateway Motorsports Park like they've done many times in the past. That's proved more difficult under new track prep conditions.
Hagan hasn't let that get in the way of his driving. He's averaging a .070 reaction time, fourth best in the Funny Car field and remains one of the best at making moves down track. If the Mopar team solves the track prep, it remains a threat for a championship. Hagan has his work cut out for him: he faces Tim Wilkerson in the first round.
Tim Wilkerson already moved into a tie with a Courtney Force by advancing to the semifinals for the second-straight event on the Mello Yello NHRA Drag Racing tour. He's attempting to do even better than that by defeating J.R. Todd for the second time in his Funny Car career and reach the final for the second time this season.
Winning in St. Louis could put Wilkerson at the top of the standings if Robert Hight falls to Tommy Johnson Jr. on the other side of the ladder, but no matter how you slice or dice the points, this has been an excellent race for the Funny Car veteran. It's coming off a season-long progression for the Levi, Ray and Shoup team that has the Funny Car averaging runs of 4.039 seconds.
That's still below average in the class (4.026), but it's a vast improvement in terms of consistency. Wilkerson gets down the race track 55.7 percent of the time after spending most of the season below 50 percent. He's not quite at the top of the pack (60 percent and above seems to be where the "elite members" reside) but the car owned and tuned by Wilkerson (with a lot of help from Richard Hartman) is peaking at the right time.
There's still work to be done, and getting by Todd has been difficult for Wilk all year – whether there's any magic or voodoo in it has yet to be determined by our resident witch doctor. Banking another 20-40 points at Gateway Motorsports Park would put the team right on track for its first ever Funny Car championship. There's still a long way to go, but so far, so good for the team that feels like it could.
Charlie Westcott doesn't measure his success against other drivers, only against his own standards and to that end, he's pleased with the recent progress of his Ford-powered Pro Stock Mustang. Westcott is the only driver in Pro Stock who is still developing a Ford engine and his busy schedule makes him a part-time racer, at best. Still, he was pleased to run a personal best 6.733 at 205.36 mph. Westcott is qualified 13th and has a round one race against two-time world champion Erica Enders.
Westcott admits that he's been accepted by almost every member of the Pro Stock community, many of whom have offered valuable advice and tuning assistance. He singled out two-time world champ Jim Yates as someone who has helped him with chassis tuning.
A 6.568 for Kenny Delco represents not only his best run of the season, but also a big step up for the veteran driver, who won his lone Pro Stock event in 1990. Delco qualified 12th in the tough field, but is only .05-.06 second behind the pace set by the lead cars. That's a credit to engine builder Frank Iaconio, who won the first 500-cid Pro Stock event at the 1982 Winternationals.
"Every now and then we can still bust one off," said Delco. "We just haven't done that in a while. I don't want this to come out the wrong way but that .56 was a good run, but we should have run quicker. I hit the [rev-limiter] chip and it was far from perfect. Frank's engines peak at 10,300 rpm [below the mandated 10,500 rpm limit] and it's easy to hit the chip. The car was still pulling but you lose a hundredth or two.
Heading into the first round of eliminations at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, Angelle Sampey is hoping that the third time is the charm. Sampey, the No. 9 qualifier after her impressive 6.871 effort in Saturday's final qualifying session, is slated to race recent Reading winner Hector Arana Jr. Sampey has raced Arana Jr. twice this season, in Sonoma and Brainerd, and both of them have been blowout losses. Competing in her 234th event as a pro, Sampey is hoping this time it sill be different.
Sampey lost a close battle to Angie Smith in the opening round of the Countdown last week in Reading so she's mired in tenth place in the points standings. While a run at a fourth Mello Yello series championship is almost certainly out of the question, she's optimistic about her chances to improve during the last five races of the season.
Sampey also benefitted from some kind words from her new teammate, Joey Gladstone, who has replaced team owner Reed for the balance of the 2018 season. Gladstone also qualified on the last session with a 6.896.
LE Tonglet ran a 6.812 to qualify No. 3 in the stout Pro Stock Motorcycle field but he's not exactly thrilled to be five-hundredths behind the pace set by qualifying leader Chip Ellis and the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team. Tonglet trails both Ellis and his teammate Andrew Hines, who ran a 6.782. He's also wary of Matt Smith, who has been the top qualifier at several events recently with his EBR-bodied V-twin.
Despite his objections, Tonglet remains one of the riders that no one wants to face on race day. The 2010 world champ enters eliminations in St. Louis with a 22-8 win loss record this season and he's got just two round one losses on his record. Fourth in the Mello Yello standings, the Nitro Fish rider is very much in contention for his second title.
The oft-used drag racing term "crew chief by committee" perfectly defines Steve Johnson's Pro Stock Motorcycle operation these days. Johnson has always received tuning help from people within the Pro Stock Motorcycle community, specifically the Vance & Hines team that supplies his inline four-cylinder engines. Lately, Johnson has accepted help from other sources, and while he doesn't want to name them specifically, one of them is Pro Stock racer Chris McGaha, who has spent his share of time at Johnson's trailer lately.
Throughout his career, Johnson has often noted that the time he spends marketing his team has taken away from the competitive aspects of his Suzuki. More recently, he's changed his mindset in an effort to get back to the winner's circle for the first time since the 2014 season-opener in Gainesville.
UPDATE: Johnson lost in the first round on a holeshot when his 6.849 lost to Angie Smith's 6.879 by just .002-second.
All in a line for JEGS.com.


Leading EPAO (End Point Assessment Organisation) in England for reformed apprenticeships (Trailblazers) with the most Government approvals to deliver apprentice End Point Assessments (EPA) in a range of key sectors.
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National Cupcake Day™ for SPCAs & Humane Societies would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors.
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David Grace
Best ranking event performance: Semi-finals
2008: Wins the European Championship amateur event.
2015: Enjoys a marvellous run to the semi-finals of the UK Championship in York. Beats the likes of Jack Lisowski, Peter Ebdon and Martin Gould before losing 6-4 to Liang Wenbo.
2016: Reaches the quarter-finals of the Paul Hunter Classic.
2017: Qualifies for the final stages of the World Championship for the first time. Loses 10-6 to Kyren Wilson on his Crucible debut. Quarter-finalist at the Shoot Out. Climbs into the world's top 48.
2019: Regains a tour card via the Challenge Tour (having dropped off in 2018), winning two events and finishing second in the rankings.
42017 UK Championship Last 128
2017 Shoot Out Quarter-final
2016 Paul Hunter Classic Quarter-Final
@daveg147
I don't think the EPL is ready for us 💙💛💙 https://t.co/y74rmXGAyW


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You are here: ESA home / Awards / Aviva Ireland Safe To Dream Campaign
Aviva Ireland Safe To Dream Campaign
Ireland's insurance industry is highly competitive with 192 companies, meaning customer acquisition and retention are key for Aviva. Understanding that Irish consumers believe insurance companies should do more, sponsorship is key to enabling how Aviva showcase its commitment to customers to contributing to a brighter future. Well known for their long term sponsorship of Aviva Stadium, home of Ireland's men's football & rugby team, it was Aviva's support for grassroots initiatives for girls and boys that was identified as the real opportunity to bring this commitment to life, particularly amongst their target market of 25 to 50 year olds. These grassroots initiatives also provided an opportunity to showcase Aviva's commitment to diversity and inclusion in their offices, in communities, the sports they support and at the stadium. Acknowledging the changing media consumption habit of their target audience, the increasing influence of athletes particularly, on societal issues, uncertainty around the traditional platform of live sport, Aviva identified that female and male talent from both sports should play the central role in their sponsorship leverage programme. We identified female athletes from rugby and football along with rugby legend, current coach and Dad of five, Ronan O'Gara with a passion for the issues Aviva wanted to support. Corroborated by proprietary analysis tools on media interest and their influence, we built a year-long activation focused on a building a better sporting future for all maintaining affinity and driving consideration particularly, amongst the extensive portion of the population that are football and/or rugby fans.


I've read a number of articles regarding the investigative report regarding the Penn State scandal and its legal implications, but if you only have time for one, read Michael McCann's article on SI.com. McCann breaks down the report, and discusses the legal issues involving the Paterno family, Penn State and the NCAA.
Should the NCAA Sanction Penn State?
Mark Dent of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via the Sports Law Blog) has an interesting piece on whether the NCAA should sanction Penn State, including interviews with attorneys Don Jackson and Alan Milstein, as well as Alan Sack of the University of New Haven.
Michael Muskal of the Los Angeles Times writes that the investigative report provides those planning to sue Penn State with information that they otherwise could never have obtained, or afforded to obtain. Daniel Filler, a professor at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University, is interviewed and opined that the report provides plaintiffs' attorneys with a "road map" of a case against the university.