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.)