In Repose Blog

ADC?

It is estimated that 60-120 million Americans - 20-40% of the population of the United States - have had one or more After Death Communication (ADC) experiences.

Are you one of them?

Death Tax Factoid number 3.

What is the history of estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes?

        The Death Tax was initiated in 1916 to fund World War I. It was maintained in the tax code through the 20’s and 30’s to help prevent the concentration of wealth. Since that time, anti-trust laws have eliminated those concerns, but to date the Death Tax remains intact.

Death Tax Factoid number 1.

What country has the highest rate of Death Tax?

Japan has an inheritance tax of 70%, but after credits and exemption it  is an effective tax rate of 30.3%. The United States has the highest rate of estate tax in the world at the rate of 55% and an effective rate of  44%.

Cremation Factoid

31% of Americans who died in 2005 were cremated.

In 2005, the highest rate of cremation was in Nevada (65%) with the lowest rate being in Mississippi (9.6%).

Introducing Guest Blogger: Jamie Sue

Wow!  Look!  It's a guest post by Jamie Sue!

Since this is my first post... I am going to play it safe and deposit some trivia knowledge onto the blog. Discover magazine has a great list of  "20 Things you Didn't Know About Death." Discover is an awesome magazine.  I've been reading it since I was a teenager and have collected an outstanding number of useless facts while doing so.  This makes me very good at Jepordy, Trivial Pursuit, and You Don't Know Jack.  However, it makes me very bad at social mixers, group outings, and community functions.  I like to think that there is a tiny geek living in each and every one of us that loves to be fed a bit of trivia now and again.

My favorite fact has to be number two on the list: "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)."

But the most disturbing bit of knowledge I gained debunked one of my previously loved trivia facts. The body does not lose 21 grams at the moment of death. Which has taken away from me endless hours of enjoyment pondering those 21 grams.  I was even hoping to have the debate worked into my own eulogy, but I suppose that's no longer an option.  I guess I'll just have to be more conventional in my final arrangments than I originally intended.

I can see it now...   At my Star Trek funeral they will say...

"Alas, our Jamie Sue...  we loved her sense of humor and her nerdy ways.  But, she has gone to a better place now...  to that great Federation in the sky... to sleep with the Tribbles..."

Moscow Opens First Pet Cemetery

Photo of Baba and Raven coutesey ccgart.com

The  new complex also includes a pet hotel, veterinary clinic, a visitor's center and crematory. The cemetery has space for 30,000 pets and prices start at 20 dollars.

Israel's Lone Crematorium Destroyed by Arsonists

Wednesday Alei Shalehet, the only Israeli mortuary to offer cremation, was set ablaze, presumably by religious zealots opposed to the alternative to burial.

Doctors and Hospitals, US third leading cause of Death

The Journal of the American Medical Association reports recently that doctors and hospitals cause 250,000 deaths in the United States every year. This is about six times the number caused by auto accidents, and comes in behind heart disease and cancer, the number one and two causes of death.

Here are some additional numbers.

• 12,000 deaths from unnecessary surgery
• 7,000 deaths from medication errors
• 20,000 deaths from other hospital errors
• 80,000 from infections in hospitals
• 106,000 from non error, negative effects of drugs
• Total 250,000 deaths from a physician's activity, manner or therapy.

Gee, with numbers like this, who needs to call Kevorkian?

See more about this subject and the JAMA report from Dr. Joseph Mercola HERE.

In Repose Blog, 100th post

Today marks the event of my 100th entry to this blog.

Looking at my statistics we have had as few as 10 readers and as many as 314 readers in a single day. Our average is a bit lower than that high number, but it is a LOT higher than that lower one! And we are gaining readership steadily.

I have met some interesting people and made some nice friends since beginning to write here. I have also learned a lot, from researching for blog entries and writing various articles, to comments and suggestions from readers and fellow bloggers.

To my regular readers and supporters, THANK YOU. To those that leave comments, a very special thank you for participating in the conversation, because that is why this medium is so very special. It is a two way communication! I appreciate your contributions so much.

To those of you who read and reply to me in only in private, I thank you as well, I am glad you have stuck by me. (Maybe someday you will find yourself adding your voices to the others.)

I hope you have found In Repose Blog informative and interesting, and occasionally even humorous. I hope you come back for the next 100 posts.

(I'd like to say one more special thank you to Ronni Bennett of Time Goes By, her advice when I was getting started was invaluable. Ronni's blog is "What its really like to get Older.")

Mother's Milk Saves Babies

The Mother's Milk Bank in Austin Texas says Tammy Duclow is their top donor. Over 6 years she donated 1562 gallons of breast milk to help save babies' lives.

Premature and sick babies are 6 to 10 times more likely to contract life-threatening intestinal infections when fed formula rather than human milk. Last year the Mother's Milk Bank had 280 donors and sent more than 57,400 bottles of milk to 30 hospitals.

Not only do breastfed babies derive greater health benefits throughout their lives, so do their mothers, who enjoy a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month.

"I will never be a brain doctor or save anyone that way," says Tammy. "But this was one time I could say, 'I'm helping save a life.'"

Good job Tammy, I bet you helped save a lot more lives than just one.