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POPSAfterbirthers demand to see Obama's placenta "Keyes said that if Obama did not soon produce at least a bloody bedsheet from his conception, Afterbirthers would push forward with efforts to exhume the president's deceased mother and inspect the corpse's pelvic bone and birth canal."
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POPSWhat We Can't Accept "A corpse is a stark reminder that human beings are inescapably embodied creatures, and that a life is the sum of what has been performed and spoken by the body — a mixture of promises made and broken, deeds done and undone, joys evoked and pain inflicted. When we lift the heavy weight of the coffin and carry the dead over the tile floor of the crematory or across the muddy cemetery to the open grave, we bear public witness that this was a person with a whole and embodied life, one that, even in its ambiguity and brokenness, mattered and had substance. To carry the dead all the way to the place of farewell also acknowledges the reality that they are leaving us now, that they eventually will depart even from our frail communal memory as they travel on to whatever lies beyond. People who have learned how to care tenderly for the bodies of the dead are almost surely people who also know how to show mercy to the bodies of the living."
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POPSDisplays of the Dead Some of these sites result from a phenomenon that has naturally (or supernaturally?) mummified the dead, while others consist of artful arrangements of bones and skulls done by a creative monk in his spare time. In addition to such collections of human remains, many saints whose bodies have been miraculously preserved are on display in churches. (There's also a Buddhist example of the miracle in Siberia.) Such displays of the dead certainly appeal to travelers with a taste towards the macabre, but they can also provide reflective travelers with a powerful reminder of the impermanence of life. Whatever your reason for checking out the dead on display, the sites below are widely recognized as among the best in the world. Also listed are individual preserved bodies of saints and other famous figures. More info here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/02/sicily-crypts/gill-text
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POPSEdgar Allan Poe finally getting proper funeral
If you are a fan of E.A.Poe, as I am, this entire article is a must read. ~~~ "When they dug up Poe's body in 1875 to move it, it was mostly skeletal remains," Jerome said. "I've seen remains of people who've been in the ground since that time period, and there's hardly anything left." Instead, Jerome commissioned local special-effects artist Eric Supensky to create an eerily lifelike — or deathlike — mock-up of Poe's corpse. "I got chills," Jerome said Monday upon seeing the body for the first time. "This is going to freak people out." The body will lie in state for 12 hours Wednesday at the Poe House, a tiny rowhome in a gritty section of west Baltimore. Visitors are invited to pay their respects. Following the viewing will be an all-night vigil at Poe's grave . Anyone who attends will have the opportunity to deliver a tribute. On Sunday morning, a horse-drawn carriage will transport the replica of Poe's body from his former home to the graveyard for the funeral.
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POPSThe 10 worst sexy Halloween costumes Looking at costumes like these makes me want to dress as a mummy for Halloween. The old-fashioned kind, wrapped head to toe in bandages. No T&A, no midriff, just MUMMIFIED ANCIENT CORPSE, baby!
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POPSThe Strangest Things Pulled Out of Peat Bogs more: Murder wasn’t all that happened out on the bogs. Multiple trepanated skulls, that is to say, skulls with holes drilled in them, have been found. Based on the use of the procedure in medieval times, one hypothesis is that the “operation may have been performed to remove a blood clot or a less-tangible thing like a spirit” from an individual. Even now, there’s still a small number of people who think drilling holes in their skulls is therapeutic. While we don’t know much about the people who wandered these bogs thousands of years ago, analytical chemistry has helped identify substances that make them seem startlingly modern.One corpse’s hair appears to have been coated with primitive hair gel, made from “vegetable oil mixed with resin from pine trees found in Spain and southwest France.” The man lived around 300 B.C.
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POPSTibetan Sky Burial - DO NOT LOOK!! if you are sensitive believe that a person re-incarnates after dying the body serves no real purpose. There is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel. Birds may eat it, or nature may let it decompose. The body is cut in specific places, and left on a mountain top, exposing it to the elements. According to Buddhist teaching, this makes it easier for the soul of the deceased to move on from the uncertain plane between life and death onto the next life. So as barbaric as this might look, there is an actual purpose to this.
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POPSColossal 1,000 lb Squid 
These scientists could be called real cut-ups. 1,000 Pound Colossal Squid Thawed in NZ y Calimari-sicles for 10,000, please. Scientists from New Zealand have begun the process of thawing and dissecting a squid corpse that they’ve kept in a freezer for the past year. It is huge, weighing in at half a ton. The mysterious “colossal squid,” (the larger cousin of the giant squid), was caught last year by fishermen, who were obviously quite shocked to see such a beast in their nets. This specimen, at 26 feet long and 1089 pounds, is a far cry from what scientists project to be a full size for the species– over 15m long. The researchers, are planning to remove the beak, stomach, and sex of the animal before putting it on display in a tank of formaldehyde. Scientists are excited about the possibility of having found the fist-ever male of the species, and the largest colossal squid to have been examined to date. Last year they were able to dissect a 660-pound female, the first
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POPSThin-Lipped, Milquestoast, Cream-In-The-Coffee Cadaver Called Out 
But in a ray of light shining on his fetid, animated corpse he is actually in trouble for re-election. Thankfully so are many other members of the Socialist Democratic Party. There are many reasons for him to get on with his long-deserved dirt nap, but this has to rank pretty high up there. Sherman Frederick of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes. On Wednesday, before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Reid joined the chamber's board members for a meet-'n'-greet and a photo. One of the last in line was the Review-Journal's director of advertising, Bob Brown, a hard-working Nevadan who toils every day on behalf of advertisers. He has nothing to do with news coverage or the opinion pages of the Review-Journal. Yet, as Bob shook hands with our senior U.S. senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting, Reid said: "I hope you go out of business." Later, in his public speech, Reid said he wanted to let everyone know that he wants
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POPSUnclaimed dead stack up in Wayne County morgue Things like this truly sadden me, I don't blame people for not claiming them. As is stated ""Some people really have to make a choice of putting food on the table or burying their loved ones." What is really to blame is this crash/ recession which was engineered by the banks as it was in 1929. To think that they caused people to even have considered that decision is criminal.
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POPSDecomposting the Dead :eek: Walrus Magazine: Decomposting Bodies: What's the Greenest Way to Dispose of Human Remains? (Photo by hubb-a-dubbs via Flickr/Creative Commons)http://www.nhpr.org/node/25846
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