Chicago Murders Top 700 Annually for First Time Since 1990s

CHICAGO—Murders here surpassed the 700 mark Thursday, a somber tally not seen since the drug wars of the 1990s as the police department continues reforms aimed at regaining public trust.

from the Wall Street Journal  

Chicago is just the right spot

if you like to bleed quite a lot.

A murder a day

keeps mere boredom away;

make sure that you bring your slingshot. 

Bob Dylan Is Blowin’ Everybody Off, But Minnesotans Don’t Mind

There was an old singer named Dylan
who turned out to be so unwillin'
to pick up his mail
that without much fail
out of the mailbox it's spillin'.

Beaver walks into Md. store, finds only artificial Christmas trees, and proceeds to trash it

The beaver was apprehended at a dollar store in Charlotte Hall, Md., the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, apparently after browsing the selection of artificial Christmas trees and trashing the place.

from the Washington Post 

There once was a curious beaver

who got in a furious fever

to find that his meal

was not very real;

 he wrecked the store of the deceiver. 

Genetically Modified Pigs Could Ease Organ Shortage

There are more than 120,000 people in the U.S. waiting for an organ transplant and not enough donors. The dire shortage has led some researchers to consider an unusual solution: They are breeding genetically modified pigs whose organs could be compatible for human transplant.

-- from the Wall Street Journal  

There was an old man from Milwaukee

whose liver was bloated and balky.

He went to the store

to buy a fine boar;

now he goes 'oink' and feels cocky! 

Light the World #2

 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.    Exodus 10:23 

Darkness comes to each and all, despite our best intent.
It thickens round our intellects and makes our eyesight bent.
It can be called from heaven by a Moses, or appear
as part of Nature's dark side which we always have to fear.

But if our lamps are filled with oil, as told in scripture story,
we need not let the darkness overcome the Lord's bright glory.
As children in His loving care, Jehovah will provide
each and all with what they need to check the darkened tide.

Are there Big Macs in Heaven?

Jim Delligatti, Who Created the Big Mac, Dies at Age 98.

In heaven they say there’s no beer;

I wonder if Big Macs appear?

Or must we all eat

Them down in the Heat,

Where burgers so readily sear?

Restaurant Review: Rice King. Provo, Utah.

SPOILER ALERT: I am becoming more and more disenchanted with Chinese American cuisine. The last time I had an authentic Chinese meal was in Bangkok, about 7 years ago. Since then I have sampled nothing but American versions of Chinese dishes prepared by overworked possibly illegal aliens who think frying in rancid oil improves the flavor of everything from gristly pork to shoe laces masquerading as noodles.

Okay, I got that off my chest.

Rice King is on Center Street in downtown Provo. When I was working for Nomen Global down the street I dropped into Rice King several times for their $7.89 lunch specials. But now that I have retired from the hurly-burly of the workaday world and can devote myself to literary maundering about cuisines, I decided to order from under the column marked 'Chef's Specials'.

The place, by the way, is so narrow that you cannot go inside and say "Fried Rice" -- you are only able to manage "Stewed Prunes". And I think I would have been better off ordered stewed prunes.

I ordered the mu shoo pork. Here it is:

It came with thin cold pancakes, which were tough and flavorless, so I ordered some white steamed rice. It came in an open bowl with no cover, so before I could finish my lusterless meal it also was stone cold. The mu shoo was nothing but stir fried cole slaw -- all cabbage and grated carrots, with nary a whisper of a mushroom. The whole shebang, mu shoo, pancakes, rice, hot and sour soup, came to $10.29. I'm not recommending it. I give the place Two Burps.
But what do I know? While I struggled to get down my drudge a half dozen people came in for big  takeout orders. So the place is popular. Go figure.

Light the World #1

And I, God, saw the light; and that light was good. And I, God, divided the light from the darkness.   Moses 2:4.


Light and darkness mingle in a smother that is ill,
giving neither warmness nor providing soothing chill.
No stars or moon or sun distinct the canopy display;
the virgin Earth lays torpid with no sense of night and day.

But such is not the state that the Creator deigns to keep.
His voice of power overrides the great and vasty deep. 
The light comes forth, the darkness stays -- obedient to His word;
The wall between the two no longer tepid, thin, or blurred. 

Come to the light, come follow bright, come to the warming glow!
The Lord provides a beacon that the blind may even know.
Good light, pulled from the darkness long ago by God's decree,
gives hope and love and comfort to the likes of you and me.

Bring light!

. . .  and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.
Alma 28:14.

Bring light! Each life to start anew.
Bring light! Our faults to see right through.
Bring light! To make us blind to hate.
Bring light! To keep our travels straight.
Bring light! All sorrow to upend. 
Bring light! To follow Christ our friend. 

Sonshine

 . . . for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.  3 Nephi 1:15 


The Light is come and blazes forth
from tropic South to frigid North;
The brooding night is held at bay
as with the Son we spend each day.
No darkness can withstand the Lord;
in heaven He has bathed His sword.
The setting sun will give its light
to celebrate our chief birthright.
Let others find in darkness bliss;
it's murky joys I shall dismiss.
In wonder I will bow my head
as Sonshine melts away my dread!