Accidental Burial

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_alive:

At least one report of accidental burial dates from the thirteenth century. Revivals have been triggered by dropped coffins, grave robbers, embalming, and attempted dissections. Fearing premature burial, George Washington, on his deathbed, made his servants promise not to bury him until twelve days after his death. Patients in the 1890s have been documented as accidentally being bagged, trapped in a steel box, or sent to the morgue. "Safety coffins" have been devised to prevent premature burial.
On 5 December 1882, J. G. Krichbaum received US Patent 268693 for his "Device For Life In Buried Persons". It consisted of a movable periscope-like pipe which provided air and, when rotated or pushed by the person interred, indicated to passersby that someone was buried alive. The patent text refers to "that class of devices for indicating life in buried persons", suggesting that such inventions were common at the time.



A burial vault built c. 1890 with internal escape hatches to allow the victim of accidental premature burial to escape

 Count Karnice-Karnicki of Belgium patented a rescue device in 1897, which mechanically detected chest movement to trigger a flag, lamp, bell, and fresh air. Along similar lines, in the United Kingdom, various systems were developed to save those buried alive, including breakable glass panels in the coffin lid and pulley systems which would raise flags or ring bells on the surface. It is possible that this is the origin of the phrase "saved by the bell". However, this phrase has been used in boxing parlance since at least the 1800s, so this seems the less likely etymology. Without air supply, as in the Italian model, this naturally would be useless without vigilant guards above ground. As such, undertakers were hired to stay in the graveyard at night to watch out for such signals. In 1890, a family designed and built a burial vault at the Wildwood Cemetery in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with an internal hatch to allow the victim of accidental premature burial to escape. The vault had an air supply and was lined in felt to protect a panic-stricken victim from self-inflicted injury before escape. Bodies were to be removed from the casket before interment. In 1995, an Italian coffin manufacturer introduced a model with a beeper and intercom system.

See whole story at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_alive

Origins of Memorial Day-Southern Of Course

I remember being told that Memorial Day started in the South, Winchester Virginia I think, when the women left behind in the Civil War decorated the graves of the confederate dead. The north adopted this tradition and soon claimed it. Memorial Day was made a national holiday in the early 20th century, but the south wouldn't recognize it. Southerns continued to decorate the graves of the their war dead on a different date. I think this was "Decoration Day." We southerners have a long tradition of grave tending. Every week my grandmother and mother would prepare flowers in white vases with scroll handles. They had many graves to tend.
When I was a kid, we held church picnics in the graveyard. We used tombstones for tables and apple crates for chairs. It seemed very comfortable eating on top of family that had been underground 100 before I was even born.
Here is a home movie of one of these picnics at our church: St. James Lutheran Church, Chilhowie VA
Here is a home movie of my grandmother preparing graveyard flowers: Okie Mountain Preparing Graveyard Flowers

Most Haunted House in America

Almost 97 years ago, long before serial killers and mass murders had become a way of life, two adults and 6 children were found brutally murdered in their beds in the small mid-western town of Villisca, Iowa. During the weeks that followed, life in this small town changed drastically.
As residents of this small town reinforced locks, openly carried weapons and huddled together while sleeping, newspaper reporters and private detectives flooded the streets. Accusations, rumors and suspicion ran rampant among friends and families. Bloodhounds were brought in. Law enforcement agencies from neighboring counties and states joined forces. Hundreds of interviews filled thousands of pages. And yet, the murders remained unsolved, the murderer unpunished.



The Dates: June 9th and 10th, 1912
Lena and Ina Stillinger, the daughters of Joseph and Sara Stillinger, left their home for church early Sunday morning. They planned on having dinner with their grandmother after the morning service, spending the afternoon with her and then returning to her home to spend the night after the Children's Day exercises concluded. The girls, however, were invited by Katherine Moore to spend the night at the Moore home instead. Prior to leaving for the exercises, Mr. Moore placed a call to the Stillinger home to ask permission for the girls to stay overnight. Blanche, Lena and Ina's older sister, told Mr. Moore that her parents were both outdoors but she would pass the message along to them.
The Children's Day Program at the Presbyterian Church was an annual event and began at approximately 8:00 p.m on Sunday evening June 9th. According to witnesses, Sarah Moore coordinated the exercises. All of the Moore children as well as the Stillinger girls participated. Josiah Moore sat in the congregation. The program ended at 9:30 pm and the Moore family, along with the Stillinger sisters, walked home from the church. They entered their home sometime between 9:45 and 10:00 p.m.

The following morning, at approximately 5:00 a.m., Mary Peckham, the Moore's next door neighbor stepped into her yard to hang laundry. At approximately 7:00 am. she realized that not only had the Moore's not been outside nor the chores began, but that the house itself seemed unusually still. Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., Mary Peckham approached the house and knocked on the door. When she received no response, she attempted to open the door only to find it locked from the inside. After letting out the Moore's chickens, Mary placed a call to Josiah's brother, Ross Moore, setting into place one of the most mismanaged murder investigations to ever be undertaken.



The Crime
Based on the testimonies of Mary Peckham and those who saw the Moore's at the Children's Day Exercise, it is believed that sometime between midnight and 5:00 a.m., an unknown assailant entered the home of J.B. Moore and brutally murdered all occupants of the house with an axe.



The Crime Scene
Once the murderers were discovered, the news traveled quickly in the small town. As neighbors and curious onlookers converged on the house, law enforcement officials quickly lost control of the crime scene. It is said that up to a hundred people traipsed through the house gawking at the bodies before the Villisca National Guard finally arrived around noon to cordon off the area and secure the home. The only known facts regarding the scene of the crime were:

• Eight people had been bludgeoned to death, presumably with an axe left at the crime scene. It appeared all had been asleep at the time of the murders.
• Doctors estimated time of death as somewhere shortly after midnight.
• Curtains were drawn on all of the windows in the house except two, which did not have curtains. Those windows were covered with clothing belonging to the Moore's.
• All of the victims faces were covered with the bedclothes after they were killed.
• A kerosene lamp was found at the foot of the bed of Josiah and Sarah. The chimney was off and the wick had been turned back. The chimney was found under the dresser.
• A similar lamp was found at the foot of the bed of the Stillinger girls, the chimney was also off.
• The axe was found in the room occupied by the Stillinger girls. It was bloody but an attempt had been made to wipe it off. The axe belonged to Josiah Moore.
• The ceilings in the parent's bedroom and the children's room showed gouge marks apparently made by the upswing of the axe.
• A piece of a keychain was found on the floor in the downstairs bedroom.
• A pan of bloody water was discovered on the kitchen table as well as a plate of uneaten food.
• The doors were all locked.
• The bodies of Lena and Ina Stillinger were found in the downstairs bedroom off the parlor. Ina was sleeping closest to the wall with Lena on her right side. A gray coat covered her face. Lena, according to the inquest testimony of Dr. F.S. Williams, "lay as though she had kicked one foot out of her bed sideways, with one hand up under the pillow on her right side, half sideways, not clear over but just a little. Apparently she had been struck in the head and squirmed down in the bed, perhaps one-third of the way." Lena's nightgown was slid up and she was wearing no undergarments. There was a bloodstain on the inside of her right knee and what the doctors assumed was a defensive wound on her arm.
• Dr. Linquist, the coroner, reported a slab of bacon on the floor in the downstairs bedroom lying near the axe. Weighing nearly 2 pounds, it was wrapped in what he though may be a dishtowel. A second slab of bacon about the same size was found in the icebox.
• Linquist also made note of one of Sarah's shoes which he found on Josiah's side of the bed. The shoe was found on it's side, however it had blood inside as well as under it. It was Linquist's assumption that the shoe had been upright when Josiah was first struck and that blood ran off the bed into the shoe. He believed the killer later returned to the bed to inflict additional blows and subsequently knocked the shoe over.

Had these murders been committed today, it is almost certain that law enforcement officials would have easily solved the crime and brought the murderer to justice. Almost 100 years later, however, the Villisca Axe Murders remain a mystery. The murder or murderers are probably long dead, their gruesome secret buried with them. In hindsight, it's easy to blame the officials at the time, for what could only be considered a gross mismanagement of what little evidence may have remained.
It's important, however, that we also realize that in 1912 - fingerprinting was a fairly new venture, and DNA testing unimaginable. Although a local druggist had the forethought to attempt to enter the crime scene with his camera, he was promptly thrown out.
It is quite probable that even if the crime scene had been secure, the evidence would not have provided any real clues. There was no central database of fingerprints so even if any had been recovered, the murderer would have had to have been apprehended for a comparision. Granted, prints may have either convicted or cleared Kelly and Mansfield. Frank Jones, however, was suspected only of masterminding the plot, not actually committing the murders himself. Fingerprints would not have exonerated him.

This was taken from http://www.villiscaiowa.com/the-crime.php Visit this website for great info about the most haunted house in America.

Strange Story of the Missing Child Johnny Gosch

On Sunday, September 5, 1982, in the suburb of West Des Moines, Johnny Gosch left home for his paper route before dawn. Though it was customary for Johnny to wake his father to help with the route, the boy took only the family's dachshund, Gretchen, with him that morning. Other paper carriers for The Des Moines Register would later report having seen Gosch at the paper drop, picking up his newspapers. It was the last sighting of Johnny Gosch that can be corroborated by multiple witnesses.
However another paper carrier named Mike reported that he and Gosch were approached by a stocky man in a blue two-toned Ford Fairlane with Iowa plates who asked them for directions. Mike later stated that Gosch told him the man had made him uncomfortable. As Gosch headed home, Mike noticed another man following Gosch.^[2]
Gosch was last seen wearing blue rubber thong sandals, warm up exercise pants, and a white sweatshirt reading "Kim's Academy".
John and Noreen Gosch, Johnny's parents, began receiving phone calls from customers along their son's route, complaining of undelivered papers. John Gosch performed a cursory search of the neighborhood around 6 AM. He immediately found Johnny's wagon full of newspapers, two blocks from their home.

The Gosches immediately contacted the West Des Moines police department, and reported Johnny's disappearance. Noreen Gosch, in her public statements and her book Why Johnny Can't Come Home, has been critical of what she perceives as a slow reaction time from authorities, and of the then-current policy that Gosch could not be classified as a missing person for 72 hours. By her estimation, the police did not arrive to take her report for a full 45 minutes.
Police came to believe that Gosch was kidnapped, but they did not establish a motive. They turned up little evidence and arrested no suspects in connection with the case.
Several private investigators assisted the Gosches over the years. Among them are Jim Rothstein, a retired New York City police detective; and Ted Gunderson, a retired chief of the Los Angeles FBI branch.
In 1984, Gosch's photograph appeared alongside that of Juanita Rafaela Estavez on milk cartons across America; they were the second abducted children to have their plights publicized in this way. The first was Etan Patz.
Johnny Gosch quickly became a poster boy for missing children across the nation. Gosch's disappearance became something of a cautionary tale to midwestern youth, Johnny Gosch jokes swept the nation's schoolyards, and dollar bills began turning up with "Help me! - Johnny Gosch" scrawled across them.
The case snowballed into a national interest as Noreen Gosch became increasingly vocal about the inadequacy of law enforcement investigation of missing children cases. She established the Johnny Gosch foundation in 1982, through which she visited schools and gave seminars about the modus operandi of sexual predators. She lobbied for "The Johnny Gosch Bill", state legislation which would mandate an immediate police response to reports of missing children. The bill became law in Iowa in 1984, and similar or identical laws were later passed in Missouri and seven other states.
In August 1984, Ms. Gosch testified in Senate hearings on organized crime, speaking about "organized pedophilia" and its alleged role in her son's abduction. She began receiving death threats. Ms. Gosch also testified before the U.S. Department of Justice, which provided 10 million dollars to establish the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Ms. Gosch was invited to the White House by President Ronald Reagan for the dedication ceremony.

^{This was taken from Wikipedia. You can read the whole entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Gosch}

stockholm syndrome

According to Wikipedia "In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors as an act of kindness." Thanks Wikipedia.

Doesn't everyone suffer from this growing up with their parents? Every one's parents are bat shit crazy to one degree or another, and as a child you have no choice but to endure. You are a hostage because you are too young to leave. Later you are a hostage of guilt. Don't you feel empathy and have positive feelings toward your parents when they are not fucking with you even though they could hurt you beyond all reason at any moment.
Of course, many women suffer Stockholm syndrome with the husbands. If their husbands are mentally or physically abusive, they express empathy and have positive feelings toward their captors. These men abuse them to the point of crushing their self worth. So are captives to their men because they feel they don't deserve any better.
I guess this whole definition hinges on the word "captors." So many horrible situations boil down to linguistics.

Spirit - 10 Minute Writing Exercise

The word spirit has always tasted like gum to me. I don't think it because the word "spirit" and "spearmint" are so similar. The word spirit would taste like gum regardless. Green gum. Small rectangle piece of green gum. The word spirit is also clean. It has no attachments, no worries, no feelings. It just is. It exists I imagine a spirit glowing in the dark and running/floating between trees. Fireflies are very close to spirits. Of course, they are tiny. Spirits are larger, gingerbread man shaped. Now if there was a glowing blob moving in the trees, that would be a phantom. If it moved slowly and had see-through human features it would be a ghost.
I like the word spirit when used about alcohol although I never quite understood it. Is there a spirit attached to it? Does it give you a certain spirit if you drink it?

The Mothman

The Mothman

The following is from Wikipedia

The Mothman is a cryptid reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia from November 12, 1966, to December 1967.^[1] Most observers describe the Mothman as a man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes and large wings. The creature was sometimes reported as having no head, with its eyes set into its chest.
A number of hypotheses have been presented to explain eyewitness accounts, ranging from misidentification and coincidence, to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories

Appearance
Mothman is described as a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) creature with glowing red eyes and wings of a moth. It may have eyes set in its chest. It is also reported to possess an unusual shriek.^[2]

[edit] History

On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, Nathan and Miranda Skaggs, and Steve and Mary Mallette, along with their young cousin, Lonnie Button, were traveling late at night in the Scarberrys' car. They were passing the West Virginia Ordnance Works, an abandoned World War II TNT factory, about seven miles north of Point Pleasant, in the 2,500 acre (10 km²) McClintic Wildlife Management Area, when they noticed two red lights in the shadows by an old generator plant near the factory gate. They stopped the car, and reportedly discovered that the lights were the glowing red eyes of a large animal, "shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back," according to Roger Scarberry. Terrified, they drove toward Route 62, where the creature supposedly chased them at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour.^[3]
A plaque on the Mothman statue provides a version of the original legend: "On a chilly, fall night in November 1966, two young couples drove into the TNT area north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when they realized they were not alone."^[4] Driving down the exit road, they saw the supposed creature standing on a nearby ridge. It spread its wings and flew alongside the vehicle up to the city limits. They drove to the Mason County courthouse to alert Deputy Millard Halstead, who later said, "I've known these kids all their lives. They'd never been in any trouble and they were really scared that night. I took them seriously." He then followed Roger Scarberry's car back to the old Ordnance Works and found no trace of the strange creature. According to the book Alien Animals, by Janet and Colin Bord, a poltergeist attack on the Scarberry home occurred later that night, during which the creature was seen several times.

The plaque on the Mothman statue

The following night, on November 16, several armed townspeople combed the area around the TNT plant for signs of Mothman. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley, and Mrs. Marcella Bennett, with her infant daughter Teena, were in a car en-route to visit their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Thomas, who lived in a small house near the igloos (concrete dome-shaped dynamite storage structures erected during WW-II) near the TNT plant. The igloos were now empty, some owned by the county, others by companies intending to use them for storage. They were heading back to their car when a figure appeared behind their parked vehicle. Mrs. Bennett said that it seemed like it had been lying down, slowly rising up from the ground, large and gray, with glowing red eyes. While Wamsley phoned the police, the creature walked onto the porch and peered in at them through the window.^[3]
On November 24, four people allegedly saw the creature flying over the TNT area. On the morning of November 25, Thomas Ury, who was driving along Route 62 just north of the TNT, claimed to have seen the creature standing in a field, and then it spread its wings and flew away, and Thomas sped toward the Point Pleasant sheriff's office. He then reported the incident that he had seen.^[5]
A Mothman sighting was again reported on January 11, 1967, hovering over the town's bridge, and several other times that same year. Fewer sightings of the Mothman were reported after the collapse of the town's bridge, the Silver Bridge, when 46 people died. The Silver Bridge, so named for its aluminium paint, was an eyebar chain suspension bridge that connected the cities of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, over the Ohio River. The bridge was built in 1928, and it collapsed on December 15, 1967. Investigation of the bridge wreckage pointed to the failure of a single eye-bar in a suspension chain due to a small manufacturing flaw. There are rumors that the Mothman appears before upcoming disasters and seems to try to warn people of them. Mothman was never again seen in Point Pleasant after the demolition of the Silver Bridge.^[6]

Anonymous Appalachians-AA-10 Minute Writing Exercise

Anonymous Appalachians-10 Minute Writing Exercise:

Anonymous Appalachians (the AA) are the scariest people on earth because, unlike other groups with names, they really don't want to be seen or heard. When they strike, it is fast and on target. You never know what cause they may take up. But be assured that when they collectively make up their minds, they will accomplish anything be it legal, illegal, cannibalistic, mystic. It will be quiet. They will take off their shoes and wear soft gardening gloves. You won't hear them coming, but one day you will notice something spectacular about your life, or you will miss something you never knew you loved. You can't prove anything was stolen from your brain pantry. And there will be no law to call. Nobody can help. You will just feel eyes. They are not good or evil, but they do fight for fairness and balance in hollows. Nobody ever talks about them and I'm taking a big risk here. But if I'm supposed to survive, I figure they know best.

'You Light Up My Life' composer kills self, police say

I find this story really creepy. "So many nights, I sit by my window...."

 

By Alan Duke, CNN

May 22, 2011 7:31 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- The man who composed the pop hit "You Light Up My Life" ended his own life Sunday, New York police said.
Joseph Brooks, 73, was facing charges on 11 alleged rapes and sex assaults, New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The Oscar-winning songwriter was found dead on a couch in his Manhattan home by a friend with whom he was supposed to have lunch at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Browne said.
A plastic dry cleaning bag and a towel were wrapped around his head, with a tube connected to a helium tank attached, he said. A suicide note was found nearby, he said.
Brooks' son, Nicholas Brooks, was charged in January with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
The bruised body of swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay, 33, was found at a chic New York hotel last December, police said.
The song, which was written as the title track for a movie, won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy for Brooks.

Debby Boone's recording of "You Light Up My Life" was the number one song of 1977 on the Billboard pop chart.

CNN's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.

Paying Bills

I love the feeling of paying all the bills. I feel clean. It makes me want to clean out more corners. Every month when I pay bills, I want to clean the house, throw things away that we never use. Empty the basement,closets and shelves of junk. It would feel so good. All this piled up junk stands between me and true cleanliness. I don't think you can truly have a clean soul unless your physical space is clean. I have only really accomplished this a couple of times in my life. It didn't last long.
I believe the clean wish is the same as the losing weight wish to a lot of women: "If I could only loose 50 pounds or clean out the garage and basement..." Both of these desires are interchangeable on some level. I would love to have an empty space to make sparkle. But it's getting to the empty space, like getting the weight off and getting down to the bones. You have a new chance. Once you are devoid of boxes and pounds, you can take on the anything. THEN you can start living your life. I think so many of us are waiting for our lives to start.

DUMB

I don't know if I'm just getting old or if people are really getting dumber. It seems like I.Q.s drop monthly. I saw a woman on a political talking head show and she said companies are hiring engineers from China and India because they are smarter than Americans. The schools here are so bad that we can't produce any skilled labor. We are in serious fucking trouble. Even if they decided that education was a priority and started tomorrow, we wouldn't see any results for 20 years.
Now I have to ask myself: Am I over reacting or is this real. Everybody hits a point when they start bitching about the state of things. I remember old members of my family bitching in the 70s and 80s about how the country had gone to hell on a railroad.
I wish it was just me getting old but I don't think so. We are in for it. And what's worse, we did it to ourselves.

Exploding Watermelon Problem

Watermelons are exploding in China and nobody knows why.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13421374

Balloon Fetish -10 Minute Writing

What would start this? Could it be those balloon rooms that kids play in? Are there child molesters that actually do sick shit to kids with balloons? Are there just a few men that molest kids with balloons that have made this widespread? Maybe it was just one man. So many diseases are spread by just one guy. But if this was spread by just one guy, what happened to him? Did he start masturbating with balloons? Was a balloon taken away from him? Did he associate breasts with balloons?
Aside from the sexual aspect, I wonder if there are people who just like to pop balloons. When they see them, do they have to hold themselves back? Are there people who have rushed a balloon vendor in a city park and attacked his balloons? Were they arrested?

Balloon Fetish

A person with a balloon fetish is called a "looner."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_fetish

Would-Be Cannibal

This is a crazy story. I think the oddest detail is the pepper. Does pepper keep the body fresh? Is it just black pepper or some kind of special eastern european pepper?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42990831/ns/world_news-weird_news/

Serial Killers on Cape Cod?

Serial Killers on Cape Cod?

Notes from the Outer Cape...

Cape Cod is hypnotic with its constant tides and wind. I believe it is more peaceful here then in the woods of Southwest Virginia. Perhaps because I believe someone will come charging out of the woods with an axe and kill me there. I don't fears serial killers on Cape Cod. It seems so unlikely a place to be decapitated or to discover random body parts thrown around. I suppose this is completely illogical on my part because it would be easy to get rid of a body on Cape Cod. I don't know all the ins and outs a fisherman would, but it seems you could just drag a body to the ocean and roll it in. Or better yet, if you are a fisherman, you could take a body out on the boat with you, and dump it in the ocean, maybe tie something mildly heavy to it to keep it from floating. The waters are teaming with life. A corpse would be gobbled up in no time. For that matter, if you are one of those fishermen who have the cold chambers on your boat, like sword fishermen do, you could take someone out on the boat with you and kill them in the ocean at the remote location of your choosing at just the right moment. So simple. Even someone like me, who loves and respects the natural ways of the Outer Cape, but is ignorant of them, even I could learn quickly the best way to dispose of a body here. The catch is I would have to look it all up on the Internet. There is nobody to ask. The natives are friendly enough, but even the most hardened New Englander squinting in the sun as he does magican's tricks with ropes and star navigation just doesn't seem interested in murder. People on the Cape don't appear to have any reason to kill each other.
At home in Southwest Virginia, people talk about how they would kill somebody all the time. Another favorite conversation topic is what to do with a dead body if presented with one, from your best friend or a family member. What if THEY killed someone and, for whatever reason, you had to help dispose of the body?
The oyster men with wooden rakes scraping the beach seem so calm. But I bet when one of these guys goes bad, it is off the charts of serial killer measurement. Is there a study?

Belonging The 7th Sense-10 Minute Exercise

A sense of fucking belonging. Does anyone ever really feel this? The only time I feel a true sense of belonging is when I have been sold some kind of membership or product. VW is great at this and when I bought my purple Beetle (years ago), they kept saying it was like being in a club, and "you just have to own one to understand." That is a great skill to have, making people "feel" like they belong. Other than buying your way into a sense of belonging, you can never be sure if it's really true. If someone says "You belong here," what are their motives? They are probably trying to sell you something. The worst feeling in the world is when you feel like you belong and some asshole pulls the rug out from under you. You were never welcome, only tolerated. It's no accident that "belonging" is mostly made up of the word "longing." And what about the phrase, "a sense of belonging"? A sense? It's not concrete. It is only perceived. It is up to you how far you will let people make you feel accepted. Maybe the word "sense" is used like one of the five senses. Perhaps this is the 7th sense (after psychic ability). The 7th sense, the sense of belonging. If you have a weak 7^th sense, you feel accepted by everyone all the time; you are a fool. If you have a strong 7th sense, you have the ability to detect bullshit better than the average person.  

Tongue-10 Minute Writing

They say it's a muscle. I say it is another entity connected to our body that has its own brain. Maybe something left over from when aliens created us. Notice when you move your tongue, it's automatic. You just eat. Your tongue just knows to run over your teeth or keep fucking with that sore on the roof of your mouth so it won't heal. Of course, the tongue’s sexual uses are legendary. There is nothing like a tongue, nothing to compare it to. I know it is mentioned frequently in poems and sayings, but there is nothing really like it. Maybe there is something internal that really looks like a tongue, something only students of anatomy know of.
The only time you REALLY get to see a tongue is in the meat counter. Cow tongue for sale. I have never known anyone that has eaten a cow’s tongue. I have never seen it on the menu of any restaurant. Maybe people don’t eat it at all. Maybe they buy it for witchcraft or to make some kind of homemade medicine.

Anasi Nin Quote Writing Exercise-5 Minutes

 “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ~ Anais Nin

At the flower hospital, there are millions that lay on stretchers paralyzed. Everyone can still talk, and the "Unbloosmed Emergency Room" is so noisy, that the flower nurses and doctors have to wear headphones. It is rare that they can't blossom for medical reasons. 99% of the time it’s just psychological. They scream out of unhappiness and disappointment. It is unbearable to the point that their water vase is taken away. And they wilt, still shut tight, cursing the sky they cannot see.

"Crumble" - 5 Minute Writing Exercise

Crumble
It would be simple to file it under the food category, but I think that's too simplistic. It's ancient ruins. When we visited Mycenae, we actually walked on pottery. It took out weight but it crumbled a little. The crumble was all around us. It was just more visible in Greece. Greece is it's poster child. We are the very definition of crumble. When something has crumbled, you can't fixed it. Crumble is a slow degradation with microscopic pieces, or worse, just dust. There is no gluing it back on to your life. You can't even fixed a crumbled cookie. You might have a chance if it's broken. Just broken might be only two pieces to deal with. But crumble is ancient Greece, Egypt, ancient texts, beliefs. Crumble is so much more effective than "break" because crumble happens so slowly, quietly, you don't know it.

"Instance"- 3 Minute Writing Exercise

Instance is a clinical term for time. When there is an instance of an event, it is a disease on the clock.
"There are more instances of cancer where apple orchards used to be."

Instant is such an adorable word so closely related, and so much more loved. Everything that can be done in an instant is generally good. Cooking is done in an instant. Instant rice, grits, pancakes and such. An instant is as long as any of us can wait anymore.

The word dismiss in a close cousin to those words also. All three words taste like a yellow moon pie. Dismiss tastes the best of all. I have never thought about it in a miltary sense. It is a word that has always meant "official" freedom. Bells ringing. Going. Changing wheather you want to or not. No clinging.  It's being where you have to be then walking through the doorway. Halfway through the doorway, you taste that fresh moon pie. So strong, its fragrance goes up your nose. All these words are time keepers.

America At Denny's - Warrenton, Virginia

On any weekday morning you can find America at Denny's in Warrenton, VA. Most of the clientele are over 60. They sit at different tables but still talk to each other loudly about politics, churches, health, and family. They hobble from table to table visiting friends. I have even witnessed one of these old people go up to a complete stranger and engage them in some conversation about politics. And the recipients of the conversation are more than polite: they are happy to be included, to be part of the scene. Everyone is invited to this party at Denny's. There is a feeling of comradery. Community. It is safe.
The men are much more vocal than the women. Come to think of it, there are many more men than women that turn out for breakfast. This morning an old man wearing a camouflage rain hat walked from table to table checking in on everyone he knew. One table talked to him about a hysterectomy and an absent friend who couldn't eat because he was getting a blood test. The man in the hat stood over them, nodding in genuine concern. Another man, a little younger than the average age, sat at a table with three other men discussing Osama Bin Laden's death. He wore a blue St. Louis Rams shirt and playfully sent his muffin back to the kitchen because it was "drowned in butter."

When I got up to leave, the old man who had been sitting behind me with his friends said smilingly to me, "I'm sorry young lady that you had to sit with old men and put up with our jokes." Everyone laughed including two men my age sitting nearby that were not part of the old man's crew. One of the younger men smiled and winked at me when the old man spoke. It was an acknowledgement that we are all here together. We are all in this together. I feel more American in that Denny's than I do at any Fourth of July parade, or watching fireworks, or hearing the "Star Spangled Banner." The place makes me feel human.

Osama Bin Laden - Burial At Sea

It's completely appropriate that the U.S. dumped Osama Bin Laden's body in the ocean. The last thing anyone needs is an Osama Bin Laden grave where people would sell t-shirts and hatch more horrible plots. And I'm sure people would try to dig him up and take him god knows where. But what I find odd about the whole "burial at sea" is the use of the word "burial." How can you be "buried" in the water? Shouldn't it be called "dump in the sea" or "plop in the sea"?