From Dust to Dust . . .

Discover Magazine runs a nice series entitled "20 Things You Didn't Know About . . ." -- a list of twenty bits of often fascinating trivia about a wide range of subjects.

The September 1, 2006 column was "20 Things You Didn't Know About Death." Various tidbits include:

• "Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year." (In case you see this as a good argument for cremation, it throws "dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air." Oh well, as Dylan Thomas wrote, "Do not go gentle into that good night.")
• "There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including 'to be in Abraham's bosom,' 'just add maggots,' and 'sleep with the Tribbles' (a Star Trek favorite)."
  
• " No American has died of old age since 1951." (The feds dropped that classification from death certificates in that year.)

If you are depressed about the harmful impact of your corpse on the environment, check out #8 on the list. There's a Swedish company that has it all figured out.

(The image of The Grim Reaper is from The Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy, a series on the Cartoon Network.)

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The Death of Handwriting

Keyboards and keypads surround us. We type memos and reports and blog entries, we send emails, and we tap out text messages.

On the one hand, the rise of the computer seems to have increased the practice of ordinary people putting their thoughts in writing. On the other hand, it has also resulted in a decline of the handwritten word.

Physicians have long been notorious for poor handwriting--particularly on prescriptions like the one above, which is from the MethodistMD website.

In an article entitled "The Handwriting is on the Wall," The Washington Post reported last fall that

When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.

According to the Post, the problem is not just the proliferation of keyboards in our lives. Schools have significantly reduced the time spent on cursive, which was practiced as much as two hours a week in the 1940s and 50s. Susan Bowen points out in "Handwriting: A Key to Literacy" that

For years, colleges of education have largely ignored methodology of handwriting instruction. When more than 200 primary school teachers were asked if they felt prepared to teach handwriting, 90 percent responded that they did not. Very few, if any, colleges of education offer courses in the teaching of handwriting.

The concern from a number of educators is that the ability to write in cursive offers more benefits than simply producing legible handwriting. The Post notes,

The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive opportunity missed. The neurological process that directs thought, through fingers, into written symbols is a highly sophisticated one. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better -- a lifelong benefit.

Perhaps not all is lost, however. The Guardian notes Patricia Lovett, fellow of the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society, says the death of handwriting has been "greatly exaggerated." Maybe so. Britain is now running a National Handwriting Competition.

On the other hand, it's probably a good thing I'm typing this entry. My handwriting is pretty bad.