I found out today that the U.S. military has a title for the people who are sent to deliver bad news to the family of a soldier killed in combat. The official title is "casualty technician." Say it a couple of times - either aloud or silently. The awfulness of it should hit you after the third or fourth time.

I work in web publishing, a world dominated by the technocrat. So almost nothing surprises me. But good gawd, who came up with that for a title?