Live and Let Die (more or less)

I went to the local beer festival the other day which was held in the arts centre leerstand nutzen. The name arts centre is a bit misleading because actually it's an old church. it describes itself as a building that "has been erected as a church, was used as a church, abandoned as a church, used as a cultural centre within a church, and when this isnt any more it will be ruins of a church." (Something like this were written on a board, but i cant remember the exact wording..beer festival) anyhow, the festival was quite fun and i managed to taste a couple of real ales. here is a picture (by courtesy of dave)

4 different ales, two continents, one aim of research

This was shortly before we started a discussion of social constructivism and biological determinism (with some comments on neurological issues by some other guy). The one on the left is Ian who seemingly loves the word cunt. at least it comes up in every other sentence and i cant remember any time where it wasnt used.

but i wasnt drinking all the time. i did some 'research' as well. i had a look on the gravestones inside the former church. there were two different kinds. one half was from the early 19th century and the other was from the late 19th century. one thing was very interesting: on the early ones, people died at the age of 30ish. on the late ones, at the age of 60 plus. health increased apparently a lot during this time. its only a couple of years but life expectation doubled. maybe its really because of fish and chips. i mean, there are thousand of books on the impacts of the industrialisation on people's lives. but with these gravestones i could actually see how it looks like. they are 'talking' mute witnesses of a time period. i saw the same thing somewhere else. it were park benches that could be donated and there were plates on it like 'in memory of my beloved friend Jim 'The Eagle', 1954-1999' or whatever. the people to whom the benches were donated died in the age between 50 and 60. and in the late 20th century. it was a bit confusing as the benches were in canada and one could assume that life expectancy in 20th century canada is around 80ish. so why did people die so relatively young then? there wasnt any clue on the plates. but something must going on there, these deaths cant really be natural.
there are many other examples for such witnesses, i guess. graveyards in general are like story tellers. but also other sites. just look around.