alphalemming: Would there be any less outrage over a really nice cardboard box?

Maybe the boxes came from discarded materials used to build yachts purchased by defense contractor executives.

Impasse: alphalemming: Would there be any less outrage over a really nice cardboard box?

Maybe the boxes came from discarded materials used to build yachts purchased by defense contractor executives.

Oooo, those are the real fancy ones!

Let's put Congress in a cardboard box and bury them. That'll save a ton of money. The vet is dead, he doesn't care. Their outrage is pointless, except as political grandstanding.

Once again, a dead vet is nothing but political ammo for our dear leaders.

NFA: Sadly, American conservatives only truly value our service members once they're dead.

MaudlinMutantMollusk: mr_a: Burying them in a cardboard box? So what, what is the difference?.

How about we worry about them sleeping in cardboard boxes while they are still alive?

^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

SECONDED!

mr_a: Burying them in a cardboard box? So what, what is the difference?.

How about we worry about them sleeping in cardboard boxes while they are still alive?



Its ok for them to sleep in a cardboard box while they're alive. Just don't let them sleep in a cardboard box when their dead.

Its like the conservative opposition to abortion: "We care about their right to life, while the're still in the womb that is. But once they're out of the womb, YEEEEHAAAAAWWWW, pay them minimum wage to go get shot at by brown people in a desert or pump them full of high fructose corn syrup foi gras that gives them heart disease or diabetes by 50. Who cares?

RoyBatty: Cardboard box?

He was lucky. We were dead for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the evening, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale brainz, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a night, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to the sleep of the undead wi' his belt.

LUXURY! We would have LOVED to be buried in a bag in a septic tank! You had it easy! We were buried bare in a frozen bog slathered in lark's vomit! We arose 4 hours before we died, cleaned the bog, worked 28 hours at the mill for a weekly gob of spit in the face before being thrashed by dad and looking at a poorly drawn image of cold brains for breakfast.

You tell kids that these days.... they don't believe you.

NephilimNexus: The Pentagon can't afford actual wood coffins for everyone. They need that money for more important things.

Expensive metal coffins with wings?

A pauper's grave? A soldier had no money so he was buried in a pauper's grave?

Welcome to America.

Surool: they don't believe you.

They won't!

AirForceVet: As I've grown older, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending money for a coffin. I'd be cool with a wicker basket so I would decompose naturally. Why waste fuel to cremate and throw all the carbon in the air?

Had planned on being cremated wearing my only remaining "banker's suit" from my business days, ashes mixed into a batch of livestock feed (they fed me well during the days I worked for a living - should give something back) Younger son (32) pointed out that it was a waste of a good suit.

Mouths of babes and all that stuff.

erewhon: I'm actually ok with this. It seems ridiculous to spend all that money on a farking coffin. Actually you could just put me in a big sack and chuck me in the hole, except it might upset the family.

How about reusable coffin outer shells with cardboard/foofoo liners? Then once the family's gone, you drop the cardboard box in the hole and spiff the shell up for the next guy.

That's not to bad of am idea.
Personally I'd be OK with it except I'd prefer a vertical hole to take up less space. Maybe the end of the false cofin could be hinged. Tip it on end and slide me down into a cardboard tube like the ones they use for construction. Put a cement cap on it, and cover it over with dirt.

It would be interesting if ossuaries would make a comeback. The basic idea is you wrap the corpse in a shroud and put it in a tomb for a few years until the soft tissues rot away leaving a dry skeleton. Then you collect up the bones and put them into a small chest called an "ossuary" -- literally "box for bones". This was common in Roman times and was what was planned for Jesus before that resurrection changed things. The thing about a "borrowed tomb" was quite literal. It wasn't intended as a final resting place.

Love to see those well-placed priorities of legislators. Maybe we'll spend a few tens of millions of dollars on flying people across the country on a months-long Congressional investigation into why this happened. Perhaps work a conference in Vegas into the mix to show the Executive branch that two can play that game.

Maybe he was caught in the back seat trying to pick her locks.

Was he on the voter's list?

Begoggle: Maybe he was caught in the back seat trying to pick her locks.

Now, you better run.

SpaceBison: When I go, I want a sky burial.
Link

O.o
Sensible, yet...can't help but shudder.

mr_a: Burying them in a cardboard box? So what, what is the difference?.

How about we worry about them sleeping in cardboard boxes while they are still alive?

tha'ts soshulizm

J. Frank Parnell: FriarReb98: Couldn't technically happen in Massachusetts; AFAIK your burial site has to be lined in cement to keep your body from polluting the environment.

\and if that's not the textbook definition of stupid, don't know what is.

Anyone who knows what our bodies accumulate over the years would consider it smart.

"Does New York State require the use of a casket or outer interment receptacle?

No, but many cemeteries do require the use of a "suitable container." New York State law allows for the use of an unfinished wooden box or an "alternative container" made of cardboard, pressed wood, composition materials, or canvas or other material. Even though burial vaults or grave liners are not required by law, some cemeteries require them to prevent collapse or sinking of the grave. If you do not want to buy a burial vault, choose a cemetery that does not require vaults."



Read an article about home burials on Nat'l Geo a few years back so I looked into it.

RedPhoenix122: AirForceVet: As I've grown older, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending money for a coffin. I'd be cool with a wicker basket so I would decompose naturally. Why waste fuel to cremate and throw all the carbon in the air?

I would like to be cremated, but have my ashes put in a charcoal grill and let me flavor a bbq in my honor

you're the sorta bastard likes to add that "special touch" when it comes to serving aren't you

many of us alive today will be lucky to get even that. millions of the dead will be just left to rot, or be beyond identification.

Ima4nic8or: I dont mean to sound like a dick or disrespectful in any way but we are talking about a dead body here. The guy doesnt care what he is buried in. Its actually really ridiculous that many of us spend thousands of dollars on pretty wood boxes that go into the ground to rot. Personally I would rather my bits mix with the Earth than be impeded by some wood or metal box. Cardboard would be just fine but I would prefer just a hole.

that's fine, but I don't think this distinguished gentleman had a choice... and if he did, I don't think it was honored.

Begoggle: Maybe he was caught in the back seat trying to pick her locks.

Love this.

Back on subject, the entire funeral industry reminds me of the greeting card industry.

Wasted money on things considered obligatory.

/Although cards are made of cardboard... hmm.

Don't think we're the first, or last, society to care about nothing more than material wealth. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. We're not even sure if we've located the place of his burial. Acts of valor, acts of compassion, acts of love, etc. have nothing to do with how society views us in life, or in death. Fortunately none of that shiat matters if you have integrity. If you live a good life, and leave a better world for those that follow, who cares how some trust-fund brat that never worked a day in his life wants to treat your corpse. What matters is how you lived your life, and nobody can take that from you.

This is pretty much standard practice in most parts of the U.S. When there aren't family members or others willing to step up and purchase a coffin, the federal, state, county, or city governments charged with burying the remains tend to bury folks as economically as possible. I've exhumed individuals who were buried in linens without any kind of casket at all - or in the body bags they were in while curated by a coroner.

NFA: mr_a: How about we worry about them sleeping in cardboard boxes while they are still alive?

Booya Mother F*cker!

Sadly, American conservatives only truly value our service members once they're dead.

We have to let them "mature" to "gun-toting-age" before they can prove their worth of course...

I wanna be crenated...

That's right, throw me in a barrel full of brine!

A cardboard box is more than I want or need. Personally, I want any usable organs to be donated, the rest submitted for medical science and research purposes (body-farm-type stuff, maybe), and when they're done with that, I'd like my remains to be disposed of as medical waste with no chance of recovery. I'm pretty sure that would mean cremation, and I'm okay with that. A memorial, funeral and grave site do nothing for the dead; they only exist for the living. My relatives have cut ties and treated me like hell, so I see no need to burden them with a reminder.

If my friends want to have their own memorial, great. They can drink to my memory all night long, but that's their choice only. Don't expect me there.

My wife and I hope to be tossed into the same hole in the ground together.

That's our entire burial plan. We don't even care if there's a burlap sack involved.

El Pachuco: tossed into the same hole in the ground together

How YOU doing ?

If Phil Ochs isn't obscure, he should be

Twist me up in Big Bambu, fire it up, and don't bogart the joint.

/peace, love, doves, flowers, and karmann ghias

I am pretty darned sure that whoever it was doesn't give a shiat what he was buried in. Why put a body in anything really, just let it go back to nature.

A Non Amos
I hereby declare now and forevermore WTF to stand for What the Florida.

/Who is with me?!
This cemetery is in Florida. It is run by the Federal Government. There are many national cemeteries in the US. I blame Obama.

/Hate clueless Haters
//I hereby declare now and forevermore A Non Amos to stand for clueless dickhead. Who is with me?

I'm torn between traditional Viking funeral, being shot into space, or mummification

ambercricket: I'm torn between traditional Viking funeral, being shot into space, or mummification

Although I have my doubts as to whether it would actually happen, I put myself down for a nice big stone Cairne, with an oak tree planted at my head and perhaps a nice medium boulder carved with my name and the dates. Pine box is plenty for me, I just want to go the Dave Matthews way.

/when you dig my grave, can you make it shallow...
//so that I can feel the rain

robodog: AirForceVet: As I've grown older, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending money for a coffin. I'd be cool with a wicker basket so I would decompose naturally. Why waste fuel to cremate and throw all the carbon in the air?

They now do flash freezing with liquid nitrogen as an alternative to cremation. You still end up as ash, just with a lot less energy used to get you there.

Hmm. Plus, incredibly geeky.
And they can chop off my nose and put it in the freezer.

Representative of the unwashed masses: I was expecting a damn you Obama in here. I do not have one. But cardboard damn... You'd think at least a good plywood box or something sturdy like that?

I plan on never dying myself.

Yeah I remember when I first heard about that dying business I thought "You know, this just isn't for me."

TheMysticS: robodog: AirForceVet: As I've grown older, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending money for a coffin. I'd be cool with a wicker basket so I would decompose naturally. Why waste fuel to cremate and throw all the carbon in the air?

They now do flash freezing with liquid nitrogen as an alternative to cremation. You still end up as ash, just with a lot less energy used to get you there.

Hmm. Plus, incredibly geeky.
And they can chop off my nose and put it in the freezer.

You could be shattered in a terminator pose with the music and everything! Hehe eternity chasing 1993 Linda Hamilton? Yes please.

Following his instructions, Charles Lindbergh was wrapped in his favorite Hudson Bay blanket and buried within an hour after his death on the island of Maui.

AirForceVet: As I've grown older, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending money for a coffin. I'd be cool with a wicker basket so I would decompose naturally. Why waste fuel to cremate and throw all the carbon in the air?

That's exactly how I feel as well. If there is anything left of me to bury. At the rate that tissue/organ transplant technology is advancing, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some use for every part of me by the time my soul leaves this existence

mr_a: Burying them in a cardboard box? So what, what is the difference?.

How about we worry about them sleeping in cardboard boxes while they are still alive?

QFT in case anyone missed all the other times this was quoted.

/ donating my body
// they'll use what they can and cremate the rest
/// just like my mom did
//// yes, I am a vet

mr_a: Burying them in a cardboard box? So what, what is the difference?.

How about we worry about them sleeping in cardboard boxes while they are still alive?

Aaaaaaand done.

Degenz: Outraged because someone got a free cardboard tombstone? Gotdamn freeloaders.

Gotcha!

GoldSpider: Degenz: Outraged because someone got a free cardboard tombstone? Gotdamn freeloaders.

Gotcha!


Came in for Lucky Ducky.

FriarReb98: Couldn't technically happen in Massachusetts; AFAIK your burial site has to be lined in cement to keep your body from polluting the environment.

\and if that's not the textbook definition of stupid, don't know what is.

Embalming fluid can't be that great for the environment.

robodog: AirForceVet: As I've grown older, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending money for a coffin. I'd be cool with a wicker basket so I would decompose naturally. Why waste fuel to cremate and throw all the carbon in the air?

They now do flash freezing with liquid nitrogen as an alternative to cremation. You still end up as ash, just with a lot less energy used to get you there.

That would be awesome flash frozen, then hit with a bat and shattered.

This is why I want to be cremated.