Monday Miscellany - Odds, Ends and Personals

Readers write . . .

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Byter Leo M sent me the following email:

I like this idea. I'd like to be a tree.

I looked into it a bit more and found the following from the website selling the urns:

Biodegradable Urns Will Turn You Into A Tree After You Die

Trees are the lungs of our planet. The more trees we plant, the cleaner our air for generations to come. Instead of cutting down trees to make way for more cemeteries, instead of burying our loved ones using poisonous embalming fluid, a growing number of people with environmental concerns are choosing green burials, which could instead increase the number of trees and fertilize the land. 

As a general rule, green burials avoid the use of embalming fluid and cement burial vaults, and can be considerably less costly than traditional burials, ensuring that grieving loved ones are not pressured into high-priced caskets they can’t afford. 

Let’s Start Converting Cemeteries Into Forests 

A nonprofit organization in Toronto, Canada (PreventDisease.com) is now offering the Bios Urn, a funerary urn made from biodegradable materials that will turn you into a tree after you die. Inside the urn there is a pine seed — or a maple, or oak, or ash — that will grow into a memorial tree to commemorate your loved one. Bios Urns use the natural cycle of life to transform death into growth. 

The Heart of The Bios Urn 

The top part of the Bios Urn is especially designed to allow the seed to sprout. Before you bury the urn, you will need to mix the components with some dirt from where you want your tree to grow. The components will naturally facilitate germination of the seed when mixed with soil.

The urn’s structure keeps the seed separate from the ashes, until the urn itself begins to degrade. The lower capsule is where you store the ashes, while the tree grows in the upper compartment. The entire urn becomes part of the sub-soil and a fertilizer for the tree.

The upper capsule is a sealed unit to ensure the good condition of the seed until it begins to sprout. There is no expire date as long as it is kept in a cool dry place.

PreventDisease.com offers a choice of Pine, Ginko, Maple, Oak, Ash, Beech, or Cypress, for $159.99 with free shipping for both North America and Europe. 

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/biodegradable-urns-will-turn-tree-die/

I like the idea too.

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From Byter Jenny F in respect of the life lessons when letters are given numerical values:

Hi Otto

As usual enjoying your blog, very entertaining, but in the value of the word "b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t" is missing the value of the letter "b"? So the value should be 105%? 

Cheers 

Jenny 

Jenny is absolutely correct. It was written as: 

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T 21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103% 

B = 2 so it should have been 105%. 

Well done, Jenny!

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From Byter Sandra B in respect of the Gypsy Vanner horses pics:

From a non animal lover, those horses are unreal.

Sandy

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From Byter David B in respect of Quentin Crisp, whose quote “You fall out of your mother’s womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave" was a Quote for the Day:

I remember watching a documentary on BBC television, possibly for his eightieth birthday. He summed up his life by saying: "I have become one of the stately homos of England"

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From Byter Steve M:

Enjoyed the Henry Ford stuff Otto. Have an awesome biography on his life. His neighbours called him Crazy Henry when he was growing up, as he was an apprentice watchmaker but spent a lot of his youth trying to build a car in his parent's garage. He and his brother got their first 'car' together, started it with a push start (they lived at the top of a hill) and rolled it away downhill. When they got to the bottom the bloody thing didn't have enough power to get them back up again! So many great stories. I have also just read Walt Disney's life story - another amazing story. All these massive empires and corporations around the world and a lot of them started in back rooms and garages! Astounding. Maybe a subject for a Bytes some time? 

Loved the dunnies too!

Some excellent stuff lately.

By the way.... love Kate’s car. 

Note: This refers to my joking about Kate having purchased a Fiat 500. It looks a bit like this:

Continuing Steve's email:

She told me that the truth is, it is your car, not hers. They say that men drive cars that reflect the size of the genitalia, so of course I could do nothing other than believe her! Mind you....... I drive a massive, heavy, giant Range Rover as you know....... dream on Otto old mate, dream on!

Steve’s reference to penile size is to my having told him years ago that men who are lacking downstairs drive BFG’s (Big Cars), a well known psychological fact. Steve has always driven big cars whereas I am happy with a Toyota Camry.