1. The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45 foot long hole in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
2. Never despair: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "be in Abraham's bosom," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (Star Trek favorite).
3. No Americans died of old age since 1951.
4. The trigger of death in all cases, is lack of oxygen that causes muscle spasms, or a phase of "agonal," from the Greek word agon, or contest.
5. Within three days after death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
6. So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol into the ground every year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
7. Or. . . A Swedish company, Promessa, making freeze-dried corpses in liquid nitrogen, pulverize with a high frequency vibration. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
2. Never despair: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "be in Abraham's bosom," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (Star Trek favorite).
3. No Americans died of old age since 1951.
4. The trigger of death in all cases, is lack of oxygen that causes muscle spasms, or a phase of "agonal," from the Greek word agon, or contest.
5. Within three days after death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
6. So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol into the ground every year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
7. Or. . . A Swedish company, Promessa, making freeze-dried corpses in liquid nitrogen, pulverize with a high frequency vibration. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
