As discussed in [1] placing all of core.js as a body script is a problem, when the functions are needed earlier, as it is the case for acs_Focus(). For the other functions the later loading is apparently fine. To address this issue, i've added acs_Focus() inline to the HEAD part of blank-master and removed it from core.js. If someone sees a problem with this or other functions in core.js, please speak up.
This change is in HEAD, the designated oacs-5-9 version; i've rolled back the change in the oacs-5-8 branch to the old behavior.
[1] https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=4266448
[2] http://fisheye.openacs.org/changelog/OpenACS?cs=MAIN%3Agustafn%3A20150521095538
