Around the Internet

• Let the Corpses Decay: Readers of the Daily Dish object to modern burial practices. I agree with the sentiment — I don't find embalming particularly respectful of the dead. See Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death for more on this subject.
• New Life in U.S. No Longer Means New Name: Sam Roberts of the NYT writes that fewer immigrants feel the need to Anglicize their names when they arrive in the U.S. I'm not sure I agree entirely — he doesn't really account for Asian immigrants who use English first names (sometimes informally, sometimes legally) or Latino immigrants who alter surname traditions so that all members of the family have the same surname (I saw this with many of my students in CA). As far as I know, my grandparents' families did not alter their names when they arrived in America, but they did take some steps to Anglicize their first names. My father, Mark, is named for his grandfather, Americo, and my grandmother goes by Angeline, though she was named for her mother, Angiolina. One branch of Pete's family came from Norway in the 1840s and abandoned their patronymics for the surname "Hill."
• Dissolving Your Earthly Remains Will Protect the Earth: New Scientist brings us a new option for green burial — aquamation. Thanks, Pete!
• A Quest to Make the Morgan Seaworthy: Restoration efforts are underway to make Mystic Seaport's 170-year-old whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan, seaworthy once more.