In parts of India where Zoroastrianism is still practised they "bury" their dead in a similar manner. They believe a corpse is corrupted by a demon and is thus made unclean. Burial means poisoning the ground with this corruption, and cremation means poisoning of the air so they dispose of their dead with the help of vultures. They leave their dead on a flat roof of a building called a Tower of Silence. The vultures take everything but the bones, the bones are left to be bleached by the Sun and gradually disintergrate after which they are washed out through coal and sand filters to the sea.

I quite like this religious tradition because it kind of makes sense ecologically. Vultures are incredibly important in the ecosystem and it seems strange that this bird has a reputation for being dirty or unclean when it is them that helps prevent the landscape from being covered in putrefying corpses. In the 90s vulture populations nosedived due to a drug used on cattle finding its way along the food chain. Something like a 99.5% population decrease. Sadly this burial tradtional pretty much went with them. Where previously corpses were stripped in a matter of minutes they now sat and rotted. Animal corpses also literally piled up, scavenging stray dog population exploded which had knock on problems, even shit like an increase in Tiger attacks (Tigers would venture into populated areas to hunt the Dogs).

Long story short I'd much rather have my body picked over by vultures than rot in a coffin or get turned into polluting gas. You know, assuming my organs weren't good for anything else.

I know this is dipping into conspiracy theory here, but the thing that stuck out in my mind after reading that article was "...Risks of ingesting fluoride include Chronic Kidney Disease, Thyroid Disease, reduced brain development in children, reduced IQs, dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, and increases in hip and other bone fractures. ..."

Paired with the fact that 'They' want us to drink more and more water per day under the guise of 'General Health and Wellbeing' just adds more fuel.

>> ^Sagemind:

"ANOTHER LOOK AT FLUORIDE IN THE WATER SUPPLY"
http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/fluoride.htm


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The water-table-effect is scary as well, guaranteeing that humankind as a whole is affected, rather than just civilized/urban areas. Why stupify 50% of the population when you can get 100%?

</tinfoil_hat>

Seriously though, potentially scary stuff... Pharmaceuticals in the water table are cause for a lot of *fear as well. I can't wait until literally everyone with a penis is walking around with a permanent hardon due to the massive amounts of Cialis, Viagra, and Levitra being dumped into the world-water-supply. Funny shit.

And no one will be depressed, but they may all be potentially suicidal.

I wonder about birth control as well. Surely 100% of the medication isn't being metabolized, so it would gather in waste water also. Population decrease, lower IQ, and perma-stiffy's the world 'round.

population is cyclical...

Too many people, not enough resources, the population decreases

population decreases, renewable resources renew, population is allowed to grow again.

Here is a parametric predator-prey model to show what I mean

http://www.videosift.com/video/60-Minutes-on-the-missing-bees
http://www.videosift.com/video/Flower-pollinaton-endangered-as-bee-populations-decrease
http://www.videosift.com/video/An-Unfinished-Story-Colony-Collapse-Disorder

>> ^marinara:
lol the irony.... americans can only care about bees if its explained with haagen das.

uhm..

BBC
British Broadcasting Corporation