Dog saves owner from death
A happy dog story for those of you who like happy dog stories. It’s from The Times (£) A German shepherd in the South of France has kept its owner from committing suicide by knocking aside the rifle that she was about to use to shoot herself in the heart. The dog’s owner, 63, had […]
Crowdfunding for funerals?
We don’t do crowdfunding for funerals in this country. It would be a great way of helping people who can’t afford one. In the US there seems to be a much stronger tradition of appealing to the wider community. Hence the website above, GoFundMe. On it is the appeal pictured above by a British couple […]
Gong With The Wind
A Musical Tribute & Dedication for ~ Mrs Emily H Levine~ July 13, 1924 – February 18, 2013 Gong & Original Music “Coming Sun” Performed and Composed by ~ David Leclerc Location ~Myakka River Park~ Sarasota, Florida February 2013 Natural burial grounds: you need one of these.
MAB matters
The good people at the Memorial Awareness Board (MAB) have written to tell us all about their latest, very successful excursion. Here is their account: The Memorial Awareness Board (MAB) campaigns for memorials in stone and is the voice for all UK Memorial Masons. Exhibiting for the first time this year at the Who Do You […]
Basket cases
Here’s an interesting claim from The Co-operative Group: “The Co-operative has a long tradition of leading the way on fair trade and the launch of the first-ever Traidcraft endorsed fairly traded coffin range at our funeral homes is a natural, if unusual, progression.” This first-ever status is endorsed by Traidcraft: Larry Bush, Marketing Director, Traidcraft, […]
You want a physicist to speak at your funeral
You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in […]
Oscar’s
“Oscar Wilde’s grave vies with that of Jim Morrison as the biggest tourist attraction in this graveyard of the great and good (Balzac, Chopin, Delacroix, Ingres, Molière, Piaf, and the lovers Abélard and Héloïse among others). It is regularly covered in red lipstick kisses and is both a lovers’ rendezvous and a rallying point against […]
Cancer pain is uncontrolled in most of the world
To state the obvious: 1) most advanced cancer patients have pain, and 2) we have excellent pain medications which can effectively treat more than 90% of cancer pain. Therefore, most patients with cancer receive proper prescriptions for pain. Obvious, yes? True? No. In Europe, Australia and North America narcotic analgesics are widely available, and frequently […]
I was smiling so long as I was next to you
In case you missed it, there was one of those stunning, magical moments on the radio on Sunday. On Broadcasting House, Emilie Blachère, a reporter for Paris Match, read a love letter/poem to her partner Rémi Ochlik, who died in Syria alongside Marie Colvin last year. Hear her read it on the BBC iPlayer. Go to 54 mins […]
Origins of sayings #1 – Everyone wants a piece of him
A number of popular sayings derive from death and funerals. One such is the saying ‘Everyone wants a piece of him’. This is a surprisingly ancient saying dating back 800 years. Here’s how it happened. When Richard I (Lionheart) died, his entrails were interred in the central French town of Chalus, where he died in a […]
