"Ashes, ashes we all fall down"

Until today, I did not know that a Kansas City area company is at the epicenter of a growing business involving the delivering of ashes to exotic locations around the world. The International Scattering Society in Lee's Summit is described as a sort of "travel agency for the cremated dead" that handles (for a fee) all the paperwork and logistics required in scattering the ashes of their clients loved ones in the location of their choosing.

As the number of cremations grow - 32 percent of U.S. deaths led to cremation in 2005, compared with 21 percent in 1996, according to the National Funeral Directors Association - the demand has risen among friends and family seeking out companies and organizations that can help them deal with the remains, either fulfilling their loved one's wishes or finding a final resting place more exotic than a family urn.

That all sounds very nice but it also seems pretty expensive . . . Luckily, both Keith Richards and a few area stoners have already shown us the way: If you're stuck with the ashes and a loved one and you want to find an exotic way to honor them, there's no need to ship them off to some fancy location . . . You can simply smoke them and the goofy story will be with you till your dying day. NOTE: TKC doesn't condone of any kind of smoking but clearly rock stars are a little bit more influential than this lowly blog.