The great eighties countdown week 10.1

Sorry about the interruption.  God thought we might like a taste of the "good old days."  Frankly, I only minded the heat, especially between 2 and 7 PM.  And Laurie had her iPad that she charged at my son's place, so she was good once I bought battery lights and fans.  BTW, entrepeneurs out there, I think there's a market for battery fans that are too big to hide in your armpit, just sayin'.  And now, back to our countdown.

120- A Life Of Illusion, Joe Walsh, #34, #1 mainstream rock, 1981.  One of those lines that my mind often hears in times of crisis: "Pow, right between the eyes, Oh, how nature loves her little surprises..."

119- Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House, #2, 1986.  Tell me you never sang along with "hey now, hey now..."

118- Kiss On My List, Hall And Oates, #1, 1981.  Especially when the play the long version that leaves in the entire guitar solo by Jeff Southworth.  Why cut that out in the first place?

117- Twilight, ELO, #38, 1981.  Not an era of ELO's history that I'm very fond of, but this one's stood the test of time for me.

116- No Control, Eddie Money, not released, 1982. The autobiographical title track of one of the best rock lps ever.

115- Any Way You Want It, Journey, #23, 1980.  A new generation learns this as an insurance jingle.  We old farts remember Rodney Dangerfield on the golf course in Caddyshack.

114- Breakfast In America, Supertramp, #62, 1980.  And the live version hit #62 the next year. WTF?

113- In A Little While, Amy Grant, unreleased, 1982.  The lead cut off the fantastic Age To Age lp.

112-  Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, #3, 1981.  Really established her as one of the tough female vocalists of all time.

111-  Another Brick In The Wall, Pink Floyd, #1, 1980.  A lot of kids wanted this to be our graduating class song.  I doubt we were alone.

110- Somebody's Baby, Jackson Browne, #7, 1982.  Can't stand the dude's politics, but he's a great musician.

109- Highwayman, Kristofferson/Jennings/Cash/Nelson, #1 country, 1985.  I played this tape into the ground.  As of about a month ago, I have the CD.

108- King Of Pain, the Police, #3, #1 MSR, 1984.  No other band had the ability to be so consistant in sound but so innovative.

107- Eye In The Sky, Alan Parsons Project, #3, 1982.  The one big popular hit they had, but still pure APP.

106- Rock On, Michael Damian, #1, 1989.  Hey, you already knew I was a big The Young And The Restless fan.  Is it a shock I'd like Danny Romalotti's one big hit?

105- You Make My Dreams, Hall and Oates, #5, 1981.  Back then, this would have been a LOT higher.  Of course, back then the eighties were a year and a half along.

104- Miss Emily's Picture, John Conlee, #2 country, 1981.  One of the most immediate tear-producing songs for me.

103- Tweeter And The Monkey Man, Travelling Wilburys, #41 MSR, 1989.  Really puzzled that MSR only had this at 41. Our msr station played the crap out of it.  Dylan at his best.

102- Boys Of Summer, Don Henley, #5, #1 MSR, 1984.  On the "karaoke's greatest hits" or whatever it was they played at work, they changed, "Out on the road today, I saw a Dead Head sticker on a cadillac" to "...a blck flag sticker..."  Talk about losing the entire meaning of the song in one shot!

101- Passing By The Graveyard, Eddie Money, Unreleased, 1982.  The story of John Belushi's death, from No Control.

Next week, we hit the top 100 at last.  See you then!

A lot of thises and thats

Story number one: I think I know why the bucks led us on a merry chase the other day.  On the morning of the 4th, we saw a less-than-day-old fawn, still walking like it was wondering how these damn legs work, going into the trail out our back door.  Later, we went out and saw where mama had made a bed that night just off the trail.

Story number two: The phone interview I had went very well.  In fact, the lady pointed me to a different posting she just put up that was more up my line and paid two dollars more.  That position led me to an in-person interview today.  That also went well, but this is a place that has the whole gang interview you one at a time, so I'll be waiting for the next call.

I had to bail on the in-person Thursday.  The dude gave the impression that your work week was going to normally fall between 20 and 35 hours, with an outside range of 10 on the low and 39 on the high.  Plus, you get raises the faster you work (which means the more you're paid, the less you get).  Did meet a very nice lady there, and had to chuckle at how the five of us in the interview followed instructions:  You were supposed to be in "business casual", and be there 10-15 minutes early.  The lady I mentioned was at a "need the money to get the clothes" point.  The next girl was dressed BC like me, but the fourth dude was a young'un in a button-down long sleeve with a tie.  The last guy was 5 minutes late.  And me?  I had to go to Meijer twice for black no-skid shoes (once to buy them, once to retreive them from the shopping cart in the parking lot where I forgot them).

Story number three: I haven't been doing a lot of my scam e-mail posts lately, mainly because the scammers haven't really hit anything clever lately.  Another Benin Republic through DHL that rode in through somebody's account on Multiply.com; one hitting $1.8 million on the "Commonwealth Lottery Board";one that starts out, "Hi My name is Eddy alexzardar. I am a private lender who give out loan to private and corporate individuals. " and wants to loan me money at 3% interest; another couple claiming to be comcast, one saying our account was "on hold", and another trying to convince me I needed to get with them to remove a virus; an old Nigerian standard, with 10.8 million waiting for me from "The National Central Bureau of Interpol enhanced by the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation";  One from "Miss Candy Rosin" telling me I won 3/4 of a million pounds in the BBC One Lottery; a really chincy one that is only offering a "free iMac, iPhone, or iPad"; One from a "Christian" in Nigeria who just HAD to tell me someone was sitting on my funds over there.

I did get one kinda original one, back in April, that went like this:

 Dear Sir/Madam,

This is to notify you that you have been chosen by the Board of THE ICC Cricket, U.K as one of the final recipient to receive

cash grant/donation for economic development, and poverty alleviation. new year award. 2012 THE ICC Cricket U.K ,is giving

out £500,000.00 (Five hundred thousand Pounds Sterling ) to 5,international recipients worldwide for Business

development, charitable work, and poverty eradication.
Now, I'll leave it to you which is more surprising: whether I (who is currently unemployed) should be thr recipient of a grant to alleviate poverty, or that the UK's governing body for the sport of cricket is giving it out.  But a week or so ago, I really got a prize winner. 

(THE CHURCH OF REDEMPTION) INDIA.

ADDRESS; LOCATED ALONG THE ROAD

Church Town Near New Housing Colony II

Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu 635001 INDIA.

Ph:+919953637028 Email; church-of-redemtion@hotmail.com

MOTTO ;

GO YE THEREFORE INTO THE WORLD PREACH AND TEACH ALL THE NATIONS, BAPTISM THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. [ Matt. 28;19]

1.25 MILLION DOLLARS CHURCH BUILDING PROJECT [ FOUND RAISING ]

We hereby plied in the name of the lord to the general public and to whom all the work of God is concerned, in helping us raising the sum of above mentioned money in building our church for God , the good work of God in Asia, India requires the help of all churches, private sectors and those that believe that there is God, should please help us in raising this fund for our new church building projects. [Hosea 10;12,psalm 29;1-2] sow to yourself in righteousness and ripe in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the lord till he come and reign righteousness upon you. You can partake in this wonderful project for our lord Jesus Christ by donating whole heatedly, whatever you have in your pocket for the lord of host [ Luke 6;38] give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom, for with the measure that ye mete withal it shall be measure to you again.

This is to have a convenient place of worship for the lord in India and around the whole some Asian continent, for donation contact the general sec. and treasurer on this mail: redemtionchurch@gmail.com for the pay in from all around the world,God loves cheerful givers.

GEN. SEC.

Mrs Gloria wisdom.

redemtionchurch@gmail.com

I would think that Mrs. Gloria Wisdom might be a little more particular about her "found raising" tactics, but I gotta admit, building a Church as a scam is different...

Story number four: last night I had a dream about the plant closing again.  It ended up with the start of an ELO tune, one that sounded like a blend of Strange Magic and the best cuts off Out Of The Blue.  So, at 6:30 this morning, I wrote the lyrics to the tune, trying to make them fit both MY emotions of the dream and dreams about lost romances.  So, without further ado...


LIKE SUMMER IN SEPTEMBER

We move along just like nothing ever ended
go through the motions, ignore emotions
We refuse to see the signs all around us
The carpet's worn; just dig up the floor

I try to pack away the day, the night always comes
just like old realities, it seems, are my dreams
We huddle just like kids 'round the dregs of the fire
and scream a bit... find something to hit

And it fades just like a summer in September
and it dies just like it always did before
the leaves are brown and blown around by the weather
           and I wake up
           and it's all gone...

God, I don't want to dream the end every evening
to see it all again, participate in yet another end
How many times must I watch the same old nightmare
Lord, it seems so wrong, why can't you just let her
be gone...

And it fades just like a summer in September
and it dies just like it always did before
The sheep are in the wool, the cattle in the leather
        and I wake up...

And the chorus fading...
and the chorus fading...
Packed up and gone away
I don't want to dream that dream one more time
can't you just
say, Goodbye...

Time Machine week 23

I wondered, as I flipped aimlessly around the TV last night, is Thursday always this devoid of anything good to watch?  This morning on our walk, it hit me- I was supposed to be getting Time Machine ready and scheduled last night! D'oh!  So today you get a live version, and at this point as I type (8:15 AM), I have just ONE thing ready- but at least its pretty cool.  So no teaser today, sorry!

Just to get you in the mood of July 6th, 1970, I did my usual look around for what happened that day- but most of my sources listed stuff that, upon investigation, either happened much earlier in the year, or not for a couple of weeks.  Not sure why it is that when you google July 6, 1970, you get answers like "What happened on July 10th (or 12th), 1970", but whatever.  Here's one tidbit- the Manson family trial begins in 9 short days.  Here's another: the annual convention of the Universal Unitarian Church passed a resolution recommending that the war in Vietnam be PRIVATIZED, and mercenaries be hired to replace US troops.  Chew on that one for a moment, folks.

I counted ten debuts on the hot 100 this week, and noted two of them as something I know.  The Who's version of Summertime Blues comes in at #80.  And speaking of Vietnam, the coming-home song Yellow River by Christie comes in at 89. Christie had nothing to do with Lou Christie; instead, it was an Englishman named Jeff Christie who ran the outfit.  This song he offered to, of all people, the Tremeloes, who hadn't scored a hit in the states since 1968 (although they were much bigger in the UK, scoring 11 top tens).  The Trems did a backing track, then bailed on it and gave it back to Jeff, and the rest will be history.

That brings us to birthday song time!  Turning 30 this week. we have the aptly-timed Vacation by the Go-Gos; a hit by Kenny Rogers you may just have forgotten about, Love Will Turn You Around; and the late Laura Brannigan's semi-operatic hit Gloria.  Reaching 35 years old this week, Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop (that's right, it did NOT spring full-blown from the mind of Bill Clinton in 1996); Bob Seger's Rock'n'Roll Never Forgets; Heatwave's Boogie Nights; and another little gem you might not remember- BJ Thomas' wonderful cover of the Beach Boys' Don't Worry Baby (with less cars and more romance).  Turning 40 this week, we have the Carpenters' Goodbye To Love; the Stones (with Keith Richards' first lead vocal), and Happy; Eric Carmen and the Raspberries' Go All The Way; the O'Jays with Backstabbers; and Everybody Plays The Fool by the Main Ingredient.  One of my favorites turns 45- Bobby Vee and the Strangers with Come Back When You Grow Up. Turning 55 is another of my all-timers- Debbie Reynolds and Tammy.  And finally, turning 60 this week is poor old Johnny Ray, backed by the Four Lads, with Cry.  Blow out the candles...

The big dropper this week is Tommy James' former WATN featuree- Come To Me, dropping 29 spots to #65.  The big mover- in fact, the four biggest movers- are in the top forty.  Speaking of the Where Are They Now feature, this week's victim, on it's way down from the top ten and pausing this week at 50- is CCR's Up Around The Bend.
CCR was all about the talent- and unfortunately, the ego- of John Fogarty.  While the ego broke up what was for a short time "the best band in the world" (according to Melody Maker magazine), the talent has carried him on, and in October he is expected to release an album called Wrote A Song For Everyone, with old songs redone with new friends, such as: the Foo Fighters on Fortunate Son; Bob Seger on Who'll Stop The Rain; Kid Rock on Born On The Bayou; and Alan Jackson on Have You Ever Seen The Rain. 
Brother Tom died in 1990 from blood-transfusion-acquired AIDS complications. Stu Cook and Doug "Cosmo" Clifford kept in touch, and still perform the old hits as Creedence Clearwater Revisited  (despite an injunction by John that was lost in court).  Though John has hinted in later years that he wouldn't be all that adverse to a reunion someday, these two have a different take on things:
 "...Cook and Clifford both stated in the February 2012 edition of Uncut Magazine that they aren't interested in a CCR reunion. "Leopards don't change their spots. This is just an image-polishing exercise by John. My phone certainly hasn't rung," Cook said. Added Clifford: "It might have been a nice idea 20 years ago, but it's too late."


Looking through a raft of Almost But Not Quite notations, I see Tony Burrows and the Brotherhood Of Man are spending the first of 3 weeks they will be at their peak of #13 with United We Stand; the Moody Blues are stalled at 19 with Question; and in one of the most amazingly low peaks for something I thought went much (ironically) higher, The Family Stone slides from 40 to 41 with (I Want To Take You) Higher.  Ike and Tina also see their version drop, from a peak of 66 to 84 this week.  Speaking of songs with 2 versions on the chart, remember a few weeks back when I noted that both the Fortunes and a one-hit-wonder bunch called Pickettywitch had hit with a song called That Same Old Feeling?  The Fortunes begin the road down, dropping from 59 to 74.  PW is still climbing, though, up 4 spots to 47. 


We got seven debuts to the top 40 this week, and as I said, they include the four fastest climbing songs in our countdown!  John Phillips is not one of those, but the former leader of the Mamas and the Papas comes in at 40, up 6, with Mississippi.  The fourth-fastest mover this week, up 25 spots to #39, is Bread with Make It With You.  Then comes a would-be WATN from a few weeks back, Marvin Gaye's The End Of Our Road, up 3 to 38.  Alive And Kicking takes the Tommy James composition Tighter, Tighter up 12 to #31.  Our third-fastest mover this week is Crosby Stills Nash and Young's Ohio, up 31 spots to 24.  Stevie Wonder claims second fastest, moving 35 spots to #23 with Signed Sealed, Delivered, I'm DiGiornos Yours.  And the highest and fastest debut flying from 56 to #18 this week, The Carpenters and (They Want To Be) Close To You.  WOW!

Two songs come in to the top ten, two fall out- one of which will lead us to that special feature I mentioned.  The one that doesn't is My Baby Loves Lovin', falling from 10 to 12.  The other, dropping from 7 to 11, is a song that was kept out of the top dog spot by the Beatles' The Long And Winding Road- Which Way You Going, Billy? 

This got me thinking, how many songs DID the Beatles keep from hitting #1?  On the Cashbox charts, I found 12- and two of those were also Beatles songs!  Leslie Gore's You Don't Own Me was stopped two weeks by I Want To Hold Your Hand, and a third when She Loves You passed her into second.  The Four Seasons' Dawn (Go Away)  got caught up in this logjam as well, spending three weeks behind those two, plus two more trailing those two PLUS Please Please Me and Twist And Shout.  Please Please Me also fell victim to the numbers game, spending the one week at third behind She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand, and another in fourth when Twist And Shout passed it.  Our fourth victim was Bobby Vinton's Mr. Lonely, spending one of its 2 weeks at #2 behind I Feel Fine.  The Temptations are #5, spending one of their weeks at #2 behind Eight Days A Week.  Eight Days also kept out our next victim, The Birds And The Bees by Jewel Akems.  James Brown was kept out one week by the Beatles when I Got You couldn't clear We Can Work It Out.  Hey Jude claimed our next victim; The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown's Fire.  Get Back held off Mercy's Love Can Make You Happy for three weeks, and CCR's Bad Moon Rising for another.  Come Together actually held off its own b-side, Something.  And Which Way You Going Billy? makes it an even dozen.

Elvis creeps up one notch into the top ten with The Wonder Of You.
Freda Payne's Band Of Gold leaps up 9 spots to #9 this week.
The aforementioned Beatles slip to 8th, down 5, with The Long And Winding Road.
Rare Earth drops from 2 to #7 with Get Ready.  And that brings us to the six degrees victim.

Vanity Faire falls from 4 to 6 with Hitchin' A Ride.  Hitchin' was written by veteran songwriters Mitch Murray and Pete Callander.  Mitch was the guy that wrote How Do You Do It? for George Martin to be the Beatles first big single, but they didn't like it and it became the first big hit for Gerry and the Pacemakers instead.  Years later, he teamed with Pete on a succession of big hits, and launched the career of British act Paper Lace.  We here in the US of A know them for The Night Chicago Died; but they were first known in the UK for the Murray-Callander song Billy Don't Be A Hero.  This was their big hit in the UK, but it got overrode here by the cover by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.  The Heywoods' other hit here was Who Do You Think You Are (AKA the first single I ever bought), which had been written by Clive Scott and Des Dyer, the leaders of the group Jigsaw.  You know Jigsaw from the big hit Sky High, which was even bigger in Japan than here. In fact, it is still at #13 on Japan's all time foreign language list, tucked neatly between the Carpenters' Yesterday Once More and the Beatles' Let It Be (which had to be re-released in 1980 to get here).

Jigsaw performing in Japan, 1976.

Blues Image moves from 8 to #5 this week with Ride Captain Ride.
Melanie and friends climb 2 more to #4 with Lay Down (Candles In The Rain).
The Temps move up 6 big notches with Ball Of Confusion, landing at #3.
Three Dog Night march up 3 to the runner-up spot with Mama Told Me (Not To Come).
ANNNNNND.... #1 for a second straight week-

The Jackson Five with The Love You Save!!!

After last week I'm hesitant to say this, but tune in tomorrow for what I hope will be the eighties countdown!  Gday, Y'all!

Laurie's 4th of July bash...

...went very well, even with 18 people (2 of them little kids) and a Booogle all in basically one room with temps at 104 (peak around 3 PM) outside.  No grilling allowed onsite, so hot dogs were boiled, just like the sweet corn.  But still good, plus plenty of desserts, potato salad, friendship dip (Remind me to have Laurie do a guest-recipe) crackers out the yin-yang, a large bowl of M&Ms (the culinary star of the show), and some nice cold PBRs to keep me from getting claustrophobic.

The attendees:  sis-in-law Mary and brother Chuck, sister Mary, our lovely hostess, my firstborn, niece Danielle (DJ), sis in law Linda, bro-in-law Jack.

Jack, photogenic even upside down.

The four-footed brigade...

Action Jackson, his mom Katie by the door

Brother Paul's nose, brother Art, Mary, Jack, soon-to-be-Mrs.-Art Tracy, and Chuck

Tracy's young'uns

After a good feast and several rounds of Draw Something (in which Chuck astounded), it was off to the fireworks.

The gang heading toward the spot we staked out (Insert whistle from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly here...)

Just to annoy her- my favorite task

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the grand finale...

4th of July on Mount Rushmore

"Wake up, gentlemen,"  Theodore Roosevelt shouts through the stone of his mustache. "It's a glorious day to be alive!"
"Technically, " says Thomas Jefferson, "we aren't alive.  We are manifestations of our ideals and mythologies carved into the granite of...
"Yes, yes, Jefferson, we understand," George Washington says, slightly annoyed.  "Theodore, what are you on about?"
"Why, it's the 4th of July, George!  Independance Day!"  T.R. responds.  "I feel like I could lick a bear on the Fourth!"
"You feel like that every day, Roosevelt," Abraham Lincoln grumbles, with just a wry twist to the corner of his mouth.  "It's not as easy as it sounds."
"What, have you all hearts of stone today?" T.R. says in mock shock.
"Actually, yes," Jefferson replies.  "You see..."
"THOM- assss...." Washington hums.
"EH-Hem..."
"Today, the mortals celebrate in fireworks and hot dogs what we built in lead and blood so many years ago," T.R. says.  "A wonderful legacy to what we accomplished."
"We?" Washington says with an upturned eyebrow.
""All you accomplished," Jefferson said, "was running up some silly, malaria-infested hill after Spaniards who didn't know a bullet from a button.  George over here is the one who froze his ass off fighting the Hessians and so forth."
"Yes, and Thomas scripted the Constitution that made it all worthwhile," Washington added.
"Hence the long-windedness," T.R. muttered under his breath.
"Yes, George, but you left something out, " Lincoln said.  "A mess left to me to clean up."
"Ah, the slavery thing again," Jefferson sighed.
"Excuse me, but I had messes of my own to clean up," T.R. interjected, but nobody was listening.
"Listen, you son of a wood-splitter," Washington growled, the lava coming to his cheeks.  "You wouldn't have had a nation to keep together, had we not made compromises to form it!"
"And really, had your people just treated their slaves properly..." Jefferson chimed in.
"Oh, by taking them to bed?" Lincoln retorted.
"What about what I did to the trusts?" Roosevelt tried to make heard over the clamor.  "The pure Food and Drug Act?"
"That's never been proven!" Jefferson shouted.  "Besides," he added softer, "One shouldn't disparage something he hasn't indulged in."
"WHAT?!?" Lincoln roared.
"Don't knock it till you try it," Roosevelt translated.
"I know what it means, you pompous concoction from a dime novel!" Lincoln shot back.  "And, " he went on, turning to Jefferson, "We are on the face of this mountain because we had a certain dignity in life.  Don't despoil it with your tawdry innuendoes."
"Bully," T.R. agreed.
"I wasn't talking to you, Roosevelt," Lincoln spat.  "Frankly I don't know WHAT your up here for."
"Oh, go stake a vampire," T.R. shot back.
"And that's another thing,"Jefferson said.  "How do YOU manage to get a Tim Burton movie?"
"He wanted someone athletic and heroic," Lincoln said.  "That leaves you out on both counts.  And frankly, George put on a few pounds as the years went on."
"I BEG YOUR PARDON?!" Washington shouted, pyroclastic flows trickling from his ears.
"Hey, I'm athletic and heroic," T.R. interjected.
"And intelligent," Lincoln added.  "I forgot to mention intelligent."
"Besides, you were in Arsenic And Old Lace," Jefferson retorted.
"That weasn't me, that was a crazy person who THOUGHT they were me!" Roosevelt protested.
"Your point being?" Jefferson sneered back.
"All right, this has gone on long enough," Washington sighed.  "Can we get to the point of this?"
"Very well", said Jefferson, turning to us mortals below.  "From all of us to all of you..."

"Happy Independence Day!!!"

Andy Griffith 1926-2012

Updates and pics

I thought I'd update a couple of news stories from the past.  But first, My first actual interview- such as it is- is with an inventory-taking outfit the day after the 4th (commonly known in other countries as the fifth).  In preparation of this, I have eliminated half of my non-jean slacks as no longer making the full orbit around Planet Stomach, and will have to go out later and get black shoes that aren't best left for ballroom dancing.  Also, I have become sufficiently versed in what "business-casual" is  (thus the five pairs of slacks that have become "business casualties").

Also, planning goes apace for Laurie's big 4th-o-July blowout; unfortunately, at this point our experience with the Rug Doctor could use the same pic for "before" and "after".  I guess in our case, "Steamin' mad at dirt" was more like "mildly miffed".  I'm thinking we could pass out a pamphlet explaining "small dark stains" as "spill targeting areas" and hope for the best.

Okay, anyway, here are those updates.  Remember the Chinese-Korean guy that raped, tortured, and dissected the girl while the Suwon PD tried desperately to hide the fact the lost their heads up their butts?  He got sentenced the other day:

Wu Yuanchun was sentenced to death, followed by orders to wear electronic anklets for 30 years and his personal information to be known for 10 years. Even though he was sentenced to death, South Korea has not carried out the death penalty since 1997. The electronic anklets are just in case his sentence is commuted, which is highly likely.

The court looked at several things which influenced their decision:

1) All his testimonies turned out to be lies, he was never truthful from the beginning, refused to answer many of the questions leading to suspicion that he refuses to come clean.  (You don't say?)

2) He was remorseless, did not show any regret.

3) The body was carefully cut up into hundreds of pieces with a kitchen knife and carefully preserved in their own bags (like how you cut up a large chunk of beef to preserve it in freezer). He did not use a saw which he could have used, he used a kitchen knife. Leading to suspicion that his goal was to preserve the meat for sale or consumption.

4) The victim's organs were also carefully cut out and preserved in ice packs, leading to suspicion that his goal was to sell the organs to unknown underground trade, with many people pointing fingers at China's flourishing illegal organ trade. (Another good reasons the Koreans don't like the Chinese...) The court acknowledges that this is a possibility.

The Korean civic groups are not satisfied with the investigation, and they are rallying to urge the police to reinvestigate the case for possible other murders committed by this person, and a possible flourishing trade in human flesh and organ in Korea's Joseonjok communities and China. They point out the recent smugglings of human flesh pills from China which made big headlines, and they say there is a link there that needs to be investigated. They also point out that Wu's skills at knife work and his cool and calm way of slicing up the victim's body suggest that he has done this before many times.

Human flesh pills?  Read on:

SEOUL: South Korean customs said it had confiscated more than 17,000 health capsules smuggled from China that contain human flesh, most likely extracted from aborted foetuses or stillborn babies.
The Chinese Ministry of Health said it had been investigating allegations that capsules were being manufactured from human remains but had found no evidence.
The South Korean customs agency said pills had been smuggled into the country through parcels and luggage carried from China. The pills were composed of ''ground stillborn foetus or babies that had been cut into small pieces and dried in gas ranges for two days, then made into powders and encapsulated'', the report said.



Among some traditional healers in South Korea and China, unborn infants, and particularly placenta, are believed to have medicinal properties.
''Human flesh pills are similar to a bizarre invigorate-seeking culture where people search for items such as seal's genitals and bear gall bladder in hopes for boosting one's stamina,'' Dr Ha Il-hyun at Seoul's Konkuk University Hospital told the newspaper Chosun Ilbo. ''If there's anyone who claims he benefited from the pill, it would only be a placebo effect.''


I really can't add anything to that.  Every culture has its things that seem odd or weird.  I praise God I was not born into one that believes in THAT.

Moving on....

Remember the Rikuzen Takata "miracle tree", the only one that survived the tsunami?  When I checked in the spring, I thought they were declaring it lost.  Apparently not...

A single pine tree that survived after an entire forest in the city of Rikuzentakata was swept away by last year’s tsunami is now dying due to severe damage from the disaster. But the local authorities are seeking funds to save it.
The so-called “miracle pine” is the only survivor among some 70,000 pines which were taken away by the tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The local government will now open a Facebook page to ask for donations to preserve the tree. According to the authorities, the project may require Y90 million ($1.1 million). It would provide the tree with an antiseptic treatment.
Rikuzentakata is still trying to recover more than one year after the disaster. The surviving tree is now seen by the local community as a symbol for resilience in a city where about 1,500 people were killed last year by a tsunami wave of up to ten metres.

My understanding is that they will open the Facebook page on interview day (weren't you paying attention?  July 5th).  I'll try to remember to check on that.

And now, this morning's pics.  Remember the buck who grabbed his buddy and split the other day?  This time they decided to play tag with us all over the woods.

Later on, I told a jogger headed that way where to watch.  He must have run into them, because about 5 minutes later they came tearing across the south end of the woods as we were on the ravine trail.