"They are the scavengers of the American culture, taking the discarded and forgotten and making it their own, getting that last bit of nourishment or life from it when we have decided none could be found."

From Frugal For Life

The Zen KittenI really like this post ( Read more... )

"When it has chowed itself down all the way to its head (which is, itself, doing the chowing-down) it will very closely resemble my lifespan."

Anyone happen to know where the fuck this quote comes from? I swear I found it on the internet, but a google search turns up nothing.

Head's buzzing again ( Read more... )

From "A Modern History of Japan" (loaned to me by gloomychap :D):

"The main outcaste group was called eta (literally, "much filth," today a pejorative term). This was a hereditary group of unclear origins. Its members lived in scattered communities, where they performed tasks deemed unclean by mainstream society, such as burials, executions, and the ( Read more... )

I've been making an effort to find more books on the anthropology of rituals surrounding death. Needless to say, it's a topic that strikes close to my heart. I was quite surprised when I read "The Archaeology of Death and Burial" and found that secondary treatment of the corpse is actually quite common.

From "Celebrations of Death: The ( Read more... )

"The central characteristic of the hellhound is its intermediary position at the border of this world and next, between life and death. The dog is perfectly suited to this role - it is the quintessential domestic animal, the tamed carnivore that stands midway between beast and human, the wild and the civilised ( Read more... )

( Another one of those days when it seems that hellhounds/black dogs/ferals/pariah dogs/etc have decided to take over my head again. )