by Laura Conaway

Two pieces on a recession indicator that there's just no escaping:

First, in the category of glass half-full, "Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative." Grieving families tell the New York Times it's more intimate to lay someone to rest in the backyard, and cheaper. "I think with our economy being the way that it currently is, and it's getting worse, that many people who may not have chosen to do these types of things may be forced to because of the finances," said Verlene McLemore, of Detroit, who held a home funeral for her son, Dean, in 2007.

And in the category of glass half-empty, "More bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs." The Los Angeles County coroner's office handles murder victims and suspicious deaths, and it's reporting that 36 percent more cremations were done at taxpayers' expense. At the county morgue, which handles cremation of indigents, the spike is 25 percent. "The families just tell us flat-out they don't have the money to do a funeral," Lt. David Smith, a coroner's investigator, tells the LA Times.

(Thanks, @reneerico, for the LA link.)