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Map of the World in Which Countries Are Weighted by the Number of Languages They Have Produced

Wow. Go teams Indonesien and Papua-Nya Guinea.

I think the deal with Papua-Nya Guinea is there's a whole bunch of tribes living in the rain forest completely isolated from each other. Oh wait, the caption confirms this:

Deep valleys and unforgiving terrain have kept the different tribes of Papua New Guinea relatively isolated, so that the groups’ languages are not blended together but remain distinct. While the country is thought to have over 800 living languages, some, like Abaga, are spoken by as few as five(!) people.

My father realized the other day that he has in fact outlived his term life insurance. Any guesses what it costs to insure a 70 year old man with a history of heart attacks? Yeah. So I have a couple of days to figure out what to do about that. He certainly can't afford what they want - even at the old rate it was a struggle on his combo of Veteran's disability, SS, and seasonal part-time job.

Have you checked to see if he can get life insurance through the VA? My dad had a Veteran's policy that my sister and I split after he died. He was a WWII vet, and I don't know if the potential benefits differ depending on when one served, though. Still, it might be worth exploring.

My grandmother was saying recently she had let go of some burial insurance thing she had -- just $5K or something. So she was talking about whatever other insurance she still has, and kept saying, "So I'll get $XX." I was like, NO YOU WON'T GET IT. She was like, "What are you talking about? I get $XX from that, and blah blah blah." Finally, I said, You won't get it because you'll be DEAD! WE'LL GET IT!!" Oh yeah, she said.

In semi-related news, I got a pen in my Christmas stocking from the local funeral home. Thanks, Santa.

I lost sleep over it!

I had a few sleepless moments over it too. Perhaps it is some small comfort to Qi that even now someone shudders over her fate.

Plus! The cops totally exploit the ignorance

Well, if the ignorance is just laying there...

The police also did some good detective work with the CSI unit. Did you know that condoms come in lot numbers? Yep. So an unopened condom can be linked to the box in your bedroom.

takes notes

Calli, thanks, I'll look into that.

It's such a weird thing to be talking or thinking about. But it matters, you know? Obviously, I hope he's with us for a lot longer. His grandfather lived well into his 90s. Given his lifestyle and medical history, he's strong as a horse. But what'll happen with him will happen. And if I can get or keep things set up so that it gets my sister out of her hole? I want to do that. I just don't know how well I can right now.

(And it's not like he's squeamish about it - he bought into a discount funeral club like 10 years ago. Not one of those pre-paid funeral scams - more like a Sam's Club for funerals.He seriously does crack me up sometimes.)

ETA:

In semi-related news, I got a pen in my Christmas stocking from the local funeral home. Thanks, Santa.

See? He would totally do that.

ETA2, funeral weirdness bugaloo:

Did I ever mention here that the funeral director at my mom's funeral home was one of her highschool boyfriends? Small towns, man. I could not make this shit up.

Yeah, we talk about death a fair amount in my family, between one thing and another. (My father used to do a lot of funerals, hence all the pens.)

Oh yeah, I can see how that would be. And honestly, it's better that it's not a third-rail topic. But it's still weird.

Oh yeah, still weird.