You could just get away with it
What’s bad news for undertakers is good news for the rest of us. And the good news for the rest of us is that, in the words of the Guardian, Less of us are dying than at any time since mortality data was collected. Good news for the rest of us, but rotten news for […]
Crowdsourcing a Space-Age Distribution Strategy
Posted by Tom Walkinshaw Ed’s note: Tom is an enterprising fellow who has a plan to launch ashes into Space – Space burial, he calls it. He needs your help and expertise to get it off the ground, which is why he crowdsourcing on the blog this morning at our invitation. Alba Orbital are now […]
Dying for a pee
When the inhabitants of Milla Milla, Australia,were told by the council that they couldn’t have toilets in their cemetery because they’d cost too much, they took matters into their own hands. Citizen Pat Reynolds built the toilet you see pictured above in his garage in his spare time. He’s done a proper job, mind, inbuilt […]
Double standards?
There’s a very characteristic Daily Mail story in, of all places, today’s Daily Mail. It describes outrage in the environs of Wisbech concerning the ‘floral tributes’ which adorned the funeral of a notably industrious armed robber, Thomas Curtis. One of the tributes, above, took the form of an ATM machine of the sort that Mr […]
The British way of death
“You don’t mind if I go, do you?” “No, Granny, it’s been nice having you.” Libby Purves’ daughter to her grandmother on her last day.
Introducing the Artisan coffin
Greg Holdsworth makes coffins in New Zealand. He says: We offer a wide range of real and hand-finished options made from sustainable wood, some with native timbers. Our designs are environmentally considered – if there’s a better way to do it we’re probably already doing so – and our appropriately priced caskets meet the highest […]
Compassion fatigue
I vividly remember the first day my medical school classmates and I met our cadavers in the anatomy lab. Large body bags lay on metal tables that had been bolted to the floor. I remember the sheer size of the bags best. No doubt existed in my mind that dead human bodies indeed lay within […]
Wounded knee
Shrapnel retrieved after the cremation of World War 2 vet Ronald Brown. He stepped on a landmine in 1944 and had been carrying it around in one leg ever since. All 6oz of it. Full story here.
Hinterlands between the living and the dead
We didn’t cover the Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead celebrations on 1 & 2 November. Perhaps that was an oversight. It’s a colourful and intriguing festival of great interest to Westerners. Those from cultures influenced by Protestantism tend to be a bit tongue-tied in their relationships with their dead. The Dia […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Daisy Dury A couple of weeks ago, Lyra told me how much she was looking forward to seeing the latest Bond film. With a big smile she claimed that this was nothing to do with Daniel Craig. ‘Can you believe it? Judi Dench is older than us. Living proof that it’s never too […]
