What To Do With The Dead

I just read that 75% of all people who die are still buried somewhere in the world in caskets in the ground. With only 25% being cremated I wonder if there will eventually be no more

room to bury everyone who wants a casket. The world population is over 6 billion now, which is more people than have lived previously in all the time humans have been on earth. But there does seem to be a trend away from burials. And I wonder if being buried is really the best way to remember those who die.

If you ever visit cemeteries (most people bury and then rarely ever return to the burial site of their loved one) you know first hand that most graves are neglected or altogether forgotten. It's not because of a lack of love or thought about those who have died. I think it's probably because visiting often would make us feel sad and not allow is to move forward with our lives. Too much grief is a psychological killer for the living. Humans must live in the present and future or they wilt in the past.

I also think people today are too busy to deal with death in the ways we dealt with it the past. We have lost the privilege and convenience of "doing nothing" because there is so much stimuli for us to deal with every day . Just like not being able to stay home on Sundays and lazily rocking on the front porch or rocking in a hammock in the back yard, today our lives are governed by the forces and demands of modernity. We no longer have time to pay homage to the dead the way in which it has traditionally been done.

But humans must remember those who came before them. We do it more with our thoughts about them than via our cemeteries anyway, so perhaps changing the ritual from burial to cremation is a tend that is not so bad. But technology gives us a a better way for honoring those who have died that might make the departed longer a part of the living world . It might be better to stop burying and start recording ourselves or gathering written records left behind by the deceased. Why can not a written and recorded journal about our lives be an alternative to burying and forgetting the deceased?

It's frustrating for anyone who wants or needs to know his or her family genealogy. Other than my daughter, who has no interest in family history, I am the last survivor of my family, and what records, pictures, documents and words from long gone family I have is an incomplete one. I think most people have a similar gap in their own family histories. But the power of

modern communication makes it easier to avoid that gap. Even something as insignificant as what I write here is a revelation about this author that could be a posterity more noticeable than a grave site. Whatever record we leave behind gives us evidence of who we are and that can influence the living still.

We need to know our roots in order to have a stable foundation. Cemeteries are good reminders of those roots, but are insufficient in revealing the branches that make the family tree. Perhaps we should replace those graveyards with a written and recorded cemetery.

Checking Out At The Grocery Store

I was at my local grocery store the other day looking for a fast check-out line and dismayed at the unavailability of any short ones. But when I found one of the long ones that I decided to settle into, it gave me the time to think about and to evaluate check-out areas in grocery stores. You may think they are all alike, and in substance and form they are. But some interesting things can be discovered by examining the who, what and when of check out lines.

The first thing I noticed that day is that civility is a some-time thing when a shopper is looking for a check-out line. People don't give up their spot in a check-out line when a little old lady arrives as they usually do when offering a seat on a bus to an old lady. You can feel guilt free as you hold your place in line and let granny wait like everyone else, because society says there is no age rule in grocery stores. Waiting in a grocery line is an egalitarian ritual.

I also noticed that the kind of person who tries to check out 30 or so items in check-out express lanes of grocery stores that clearly say they are for only 10 or fewer items, have no guilt about their practice of ignoring the rules and inconveniencing those who are truly eligible for the 10 or fewer items. I think they probably have other character defects too. Maybe they cheat on their spouse or steal mail from someone's mailbox. They just look like unctuous reprobates. They have the "I am better than you and deserve to be served first" air to their manner and expressions.

Too, neither many clerks nor many customers in the line ever tell the jerks invading the express item line with too many times, "Can you read? This is for 10 or fewer". Grocery check-out workers are usually told not to challenge line cheaters because the store doesn't want a commotion that will upset the other customers and keep them from returning to shop at the store. But those few, brave customers who do challenge them often get into ugly arguments with the line cheaters. The average customer probably doesn't challenge line cheaters because he or she knows it is impossible win that battle.

I also notice that when people check out groceries and don't pay with their own money (the welfare crowd that gets food stamp coupons) usually buy more junk and care little about cost than those who pay with their own money. Often food stamp customers buy more expensive convenience foods rather than the the cheaper commodities like flour or butter that they could use themselves to make the finished good they desire. They also whip out cash to pay for items not covered by food stamps, tobacco and alcohol being the most common. This proves the 'law of entitlement' that says those who receive freebies have little respect for the taxpayers who work hard to give them the free food that is supposed to used to feed themselves and their families in the most efficient way possible.

The method people pay for groceries is always varied. The traditionalists pay cash or write checks, while the high tech crowd swipes credit or debit cards. But usually the low tech traditionalists keep the check-out lines moving faster than the high tech crowd. This is because the high tech payers are often chatting on their cell phones instead of following the clerk's admonitions to pay, or because those credit cards and debit payments are always very slow to process. This proves the theory that high tech methods often are slower to execute than traditional ones.

Another thing I notice in check out lines is that when shopping at grocery stores consumers buy too much of a "sale priced" item. I am not sure what a customer will do with 5 liters of milk, a perishable item. But if it's on sale they will buy too much and wind up throwing out the spoiled remains of some of what they bought. Those discount bulk buy stores are populated with people who buy too much of something only because it is sold at a lower price. No doubt they have 10 liters of olive oil stored somewhere in their kitchen, and most of it is so old it is rancid and unusable.

I also notice it's a bad idea to grocery shop with a small child if the child is a spoiled brat. When that kind of child is in a check-out line I need not look in the mom or dad's grocery basket to know that it is loaded with junk the child has whined hard enough to influence the parent or grandparent to put in the grocery cart. It's always filled with things that would never be bought by the adult if the brat had been left at home. Conversely, kids who shop with their parents or grandparents and have managed to put few or none of those wasteful things in the cart are probably the kind of children who are never any trouble for the parents when they also away from the grocery store.

I hope I haven't ruined your next grocery trip with these observations. Good luck finding a fast check-out line.

Great Advice

I have a quote to talk about today and thought I would pass this on because it is a useful quote and because, well, I couldn't have said it better myself in describing the danger of too much technology and the excess of information it gives us. It comes from an unlikely source, the Pope. Too, this pope, Pope Benedict, has not been the most quoted of all the Heavenly Fathers. In fact, he's been virtually ignored since stepping into his role as head of the Catholic Church.

When giving a sermon recently on the excesses of the internet and the other electronic technologies we are addicted to, he urged Catholics and anyone else who might hear his words to practice less logging on and more "contemplation and silence". Oh no! He wants humans to start thinking for themselves again! It may be too much at this stage in civilization since at present we are so wired to electronic gadgets. But I think it a great idea to turn off the noise and contemplate more.

Benedict said, "People today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they never asked and to needs of which they were unaware." That may be the most insightful explanation of how technology is both rotting our brains and estranging us from the basic questions life gives us but that now seem to be drowned out by excesses of the electronic technology age. Too much information can be as fatal as to little.

The media we use today is in non stop chatter mode and we can't get enough of it. But as Pope Benedict pointed out in his speech, more attention should be paid to the various types of web sites, applications and social networks which can help people today find the time for authentic questioning". Uh, this could mean turning off the gossip web site in favor of the more philosophical one, disconnecting that virtual farm you love and planting real plants in a scenic are ripe for real contemplation about the cogent questions every thinking human should address.

Too, by communicating with each other in a meaningful way we share our common goal of understanding the real world, not the virtual fantasy we create with our electronic gadgets.

Gossip Is Good

Can you believe it? A university of California study has just revealed that gossip is good for most people. The study even concluded that there is evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social order. This is all according to study involving several hundred people who were put into four different gossip situations. (I swear this is true and not just my gossiping to you).

They found that gossip can be therapeutic. Study participants' heart rates rose when they saw someone behaving badly, but the increase was moderated when they were able to tell others about what they had witnessed. Spreading information about the person whom they had seen behave badly tended to make people feel better, quieting the frustration that drove their gossip So let the gossip begin....just don't gossip about me!

I'm not a scientist and don't have studies to verify my opinion about gossip, but I have some observations...err..gossip about the subject to rant about. In the bible it says in Proverbs 11:13 – “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.” have you found any trustworthy people lately? Our whole communication devices and usage are gossip oriented, from Yu tube postings of people caught off guard, to malicious postings on line about enemies, to rumors spread in the established media in order to increase sales. It used to be that people spread gossip and rumors, mostly harmless, because their own lives needed spice and better to provide excitement at others' expensive. I think men and women gossip equally, but probably about different topics. We expect gossip in our daily lives simply because it gives us something to talk about.

But now mainstream mediums use gossip/rumor as their staple for communicating their "news". How many times have you read a gossip story in a newspaper that gives as its source "undisclosed sources"? Surely, all people gossip, some even spread positive gossip, but when the media functions with gossip as its cue, the gossip undermines informing us of truth. The "news" becomes gossip, people are confused or can be convinced that the gossip is the truth and react wrongly because of it. I am not sure if people today can as easily distinguish gossip from news. It's because our gossip is emanated so often from what is purported to be "news" mediums. As communication has moved from simple face to face talk to complex and assorted electronic devices the truth more and more often gets lost amidst the gossip.

Anyway, I hope I have given you some information which you can use to gossip today.............................

The Best Temperature

It seems to me that the reaction people have to temperature is as much a relative as a physical one. It must be, because two different people entering two showers flowing water that is the same temperature are as likely to have opposite reactions to whether it feels hot or cold. I think most people anticipate whether they will be hot or cold and convince themselves they are right about it. That's why they like hot or cold more or less. (Put me down for liking cold temperatures far more)

My E mail friends in hot and humid Indonesia, for instance, will say it's "cold" if the temperature drops below 22 C or so, as it rarely does there. But those I know who live in Finland will go out in short pants and T shirts to celebrate the hot spell when it is 22 C. There is a physical conditioning to temperature that allows us to fool ourselves and imagine hot and cold differently than others. I'm sure that the Indonesian who complained about it being cold at 22C would change his or her perspective and think that temperature hot if he or she moved to and lived in Finland long enough to re- condition to the temperatures there.

So how come we can't adjust as easily to things other than temperature? We adjust to temperature but not, for instance, to personal dislikes. I hate to dance and refuse to do it, so that's why there is not adjustment to it. If I am out and people are dancing I'll watch, but never dance. No matter how many times I am there I won't dance because I already have determined that dancing is not interesting. You may hate sports or a particular sport and refuse to watch it. If so, no matter how many times "the game is on TV" and you are in the room where it is showing, you won't watch. Temperature is an external stimuli. We can't refuse to adjust to it, but much of what we do is under our own internal controls. Those things that give us a choice in adjusting we don't adjust to well at all.

Age or experience also often keeps us from adapting to new things or differences. Older people invariably are "old fashioned" because they simply reject any accommodation to newness...unless (as in the case of adapting to temperature) they are forced to adapt. When we are used to an experience we have had regularly over time, we more often resist change because we see change as a threat to the comfort we take in what we already like. On the other hand, the younger or less experienced person is much less set in a routine and the less likely to resist adaptation to the new. It's why Lady Gaga is the flavor of the month for the young while Frank Sinatra is the flavor of life for older adults.

Anyway....it's getting hot in here. I will open the window and enjoy the cold breezes.

Artisan Labels

I'm seeing way too much "organic" and "artisan" labeling these days when in a grocery or food vending store. The term "artisan" used to connote quality and suggest that the product is less likely to be mass-produced. But most of the artisan labels that I see today are on chain made, mass produced products. "Artisan" also suggests the product may be less processed and perhaps better tasting and maybe even be better for the person eating it. It implies that it is handmade and without processed ingredients.

Hmmmm At one store recently I even saw some imported food products with the artisan label. So the foreigner producers are getting in on the scam train here too, knowing that labeling something as artisan when it is not means higher sales.

I think the reality of most artisan products is that the label an excuse to charge more money for the same product. The research firm Datamonito says that more than 800 new food products have christened themselves artisan in the past five years, most of those being chain food producers like the Frito/Lay Tostito tortilla chip. They slap on the artisan label, but make the product the same way at a smaller size and higher price. And yet it sells better that the usual offering. It is testimony that consumers are not known for making the wisest choices.

This also suggests that the "organic" label scam that started years ago and has been so successful that anything labeled organic has given birth to the artisan sales pitch. Today what the consumer can count on is that the product that is artisan is always more expensive and not necessarily a healthier or better tasting one. So after seeing the suckers throw their money away on organic food companies asked themselves, why not transfer that same mentality to the artisan label? Many more producers are now doing so. Just mention the words "organic" or artisan" when in a grocery store and the consumers will all say it must be better than the ordinary non organic alternative.

Well, thank goodness Mc Donald's hasn't started labeling it's hamburgers as artisan. There are limits for using the term, points where even the least reflective consumer will not believe the artisan scam. Mc Donald's might be the litmus test for it. Uh, perhaps they should just label Ronald Mc Donald as an artisan clown and leave it at that.

Calling a mass produced food item "artisan" is just as idiotic as companies promoting themselves as "green", but people believe it, because when they buy artisan they feel better about themselves. It's the "save the planet" mentality on a personal comfort level. Well, it's just another reminder of how dumbed down society is becoming in this confused age of technological innovations that make us communicate more than we really should. Oh, by the way....just in case you didn't know...my diatribe today was an "artisan" one.

Unhealthy Foods

I am reading about eating "unhealthy", or in this case, "fatty" food. There is an hysteria in the United States about what we eat today. Political correctness has clearly taken over in the American kitchen, so that foods are labeled as either "healthy" or 'not healthy". This idea is ridiculous and focuses on the content of the food rather than amount eaten. In reality, it is not what we eat that matters. It is how much of it we eat. (But I confess to eating both "unhealthy' and too much). Eating too many carrots, for example, can cause problems for the body

At any rate, the article that I am reading lists the six worst fat offenders. They are in order of "offensiveness":
6) Hamburgers
5) Steak
4) Mexican food
3) "Unhealthy salad"
2) "Healthy" fish
1) Pasta

With the exception of the unhealthy salad (that refers to salads loaded with fatty meat and sugars) I would die if refused the other five. Why is it the food police assume that the human body can not assimilate all kinds of foods when eaten in moderation? I see some of the "healthy eaters" at restaurants shoveling so much healthy dishes' in their mouths they can hardly walk away from the table when finished. Surely that is more stressful for the body than one who eats an "unhealthy" normal sized hamburger.

Minimal amounts of unhealthy foods won't cause health problems. it's over consumption of unhealthy products that contributes to chronic disease, obesity and other negative health effects. labeling foods as completely good or completely bad is at best an over reaction. Sometimes the "bad" foods are good for our souls if not for the body. But feeding the soul is extremely important too.

Hmmm I think I'll have some soul food now... maybe an "unhealthy" hamburger and milkshake now...