Director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, Joshua Slocum has some words of advice to help us all avoid funeral hassles.  He knows all about mortuary mythology.  Rather than get the low  down on death, dying, funerals and dead people from private providers i.e. the funeral industry, this article by Slocum offers an unbiased opinion:  http://lifehacker.com/you-dont-have-to-spend-a-ton-on-a-funeral-heres-why-509099464