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Would you rather be cremated or buried?

Me? The thought of worms crawling in and out of my eyesockets gives me the heebie geebies! LOL!

Neither, why deprive the world of the chance to bathe in my glory forever ?

Cremation for sure! The idea of wasting a bunch of money on a big wooden box to stick in the ground sounds very silly. Additionally, I have no desire to have 500 people walk past an open coffin looking at my dead body while they cry or thank God that I'm dead.

cremation.

Green deathmatch: burial vs. cremation

by Josh Loposer
Jan 11th 2008 @ 2:00PM

Where will you go when you die? Most likely, you'll either take a dirt nap or float out the chimney of some crematorium. While green burials are fast becoming the hip new way to celebrate your commencement into the afterlife, you're still far more likely to take a more traditional approach. So, here are some things you should know about the big 2.

While it takes a lot of energy to cremate a body, roughly equivalent to driving 4,800 miles, you might be surprised by the level of carbon emissions released from burning your mortal remains -- in terms of pollution, you will burn cleaner than a Big Mac. Measured in unburnt particles per hour, a restaurant cooking burgers releases .46 lbs/hour, the cremation process only emits .08 lbs/hr. Not only that, but many crematoriums have even begun to use a series of filters to catch your toxins as they try to float away.

Burials, on the other hand have many environmental downsides -- partly stemming from the ton of work done on your body just to get you looking good for the big day. Embalming fluids that are used to preserve your stone-dead corpse, a somewhat wasteful practice, contain chemicals like formaldehyde, methanol, phenol -- which can seep out and eventually make their way into the groundwater. An estimated 827,000 gallons of embalming fluid are buried in the US each year.

Take that and add it to the coffin, yet another kinda unnecessary funeral accessory. While there are eco-friendly alternatives, traditional coffins are often built out of rare woods and are sometimes coated with toxic sealants or paints. It's like buying a small car, and immediately burying it -- all to protect your absolutely lifeless body from the elements -- what a racket.

No offense morticians.

At this point burial sounds better to me than cremation. It bothers me to think of it otherwise. Maybe that will change.

My wish is to be cremated. My trainer, however, wants to be plastinated, and I witnessed his signature on his plastination body donation form. I would love to see my trainer's plastinated body, so all I gotta do now is outlive him.

I'd prefer cremation.


and by the way... I HATE WORMS. The cartoon kinds are ok, but gummy or otherwise, worms are icky icky icky and scary.

Cremation arrangements already made.

paradox saidMy wish is to be cremated. My trainer, however, wants to be plastinated, and I witnessed his signature on his plastination body donation form. I would love to see my trainer's plastinated body, so all I gotta do now is outlive him.

Sounds much like the technique they use for the 'Bodies' exhibit.

Cremation for sure. I don't want to be confined to one place after it's all over, I want the wind to take me where it may!

I'm surprised how many people here want cremation, though. Maybe it's a reflection of different religious values in the gay community? I may be wrong but I assume that most religious people want to be buried....

My grandpa did both. He was cremated and then we buried his ashes in a small cemetery in the Adirondack mountains.

Neither one for me.

I wrote about this on my blog a few months back. REALLY freaked my family out. Here's the reader's digest version:

STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH

I want to be mulched or composted. I want a green burial. I want to push up daisies and be worm food. Why are we so arrogant to think we deserve to be exempt from the circle of life? Why....WHY would you want your body to be preserved with potentially harmful chemicals and take up valuable space on our shrinking planet for many many years? Or, the other alternative: cremation. It takes the energy one person uses in an average MONTH to cremate a body. Nope, not for me. Put me through a chipper. Ever see Fargo? Like that.

I'm not intimidated or scared of my death, everyone does it.

No one gets out alive!

Now that I've freaked everyone out, I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled debate.

Love you!!

Just dig a hole and role me in it. No chemicals please. Somewhere on the family farm in one of the back valleys would be nice.

Buried. I'd like to be fossilized and studied in the future please.

Cremated.

Cremated.

Extra crispy.

Hint: You won't care when you're dead.

I won't care but I think environmentally that cremation is the most green thing to do. Over the next several generations as we die off our dead bodies will take up too much space.

So easy. Paper work has already been submitted.

Cremation, in cardboard box.
No service at all!

Don't come cry for me when I'm dead, as you should of been laughing with me while I was still alive.

Don't come see me now. You have left it way to late. I'm now gone forever.

Way to much enforces is put on a person when they are dead. Why not do it, while they still be alive.

Buried in a pine box.. If you knew what does not end up in the cremation urn you would agree.

I'm not concerned where my ashes go. They can flush them down the toilet for all I care. I think there is a liberating experience to be had from the soul and the body by cremating it to ashes. Just my beliefs. That's all I'm concerned about.

I would like my neutrons to be stripped out and scattered through a large metropolitan area.

Mighty Q stole my response, my ideal burial is to be composted turn me into dirt and plant some tulips please. I actually would lke some of the dirt to be thrown into the ocean though, this way I can become coral as well!!

chungo44 saidMighty Q stole my response, my ideal burial is to be composted turn me into dirt and plant some tulips please. I actually would lke some of the dirt to be thrown into the ocean though, this way I can become coral as well!!

Coral? Nice. Me too!

It won't matter...I'm taking you all with me. MUAHAHAHAHA!

if they lock me up first, though, I'd like my atoms to be split individually so that I can provide power to the people for the next thousand years...

I'm with Mighty, but first harvest all the organs you can use to provide life for others: eyes, liver, kidneys, etc. then give me some med students to learn on. After all that, off to the compost heap. I believe the soul is really "who" we are and it leaves when we die, so they physical body is only a host , and not worth much after death.

Burial is such a stupid, wasteful concept. Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars for a casket, plot, flowers, service and all the shit that goes with it.

Put me on the rack and light it up! Then take those ashes and put them in a dildo-shaped urn or scattered them at the best sex club you can find... LOL....

I told my partner to take the money saved by not having a "burial" and have one huge ass party...

Jim I thought you would go for the plastination .route.

I'd prefer a viking funeral where my family and friends shoot flaming arrows into a Bier and then party on the beach as I burn off the coast. My best friend just wants to be buried in the woods we grew up in, in a burlap sack and a Pin Oak planted on top of him so the roots grow into him.

Or hell just throw me in a bonfire lol. It's only my body.

I want to be cremated and my ashes buried under a weeping willow tree. Not sure where yet

Suppose if I say 'stuffed and mounted' you boys will take it the wrong way.

The concept of a green burial is pretty intriguing. I saw a documentary on this several years back. Limited places to do it back then. Perhaps the idea will catch on.

http://www.greenburials.org/

Mighty_Q saidNeither one for me.

I wrote about this on my blog a few months back. REALLY freaked my family out. Here's the reader's digest version:

STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH

I want to be mulched or composted. I want a green burial. I want to push up daisies and be worm food. Why are we so arrogant to think we deserve to be exempt from the circle of life? Why....WHY would you want your body to be preserved with potentially harmful chemicals and take up valuable space on our shrinking planet for many many years? Or, the other alternative: cremation. It takes the energy one person uses in an average MONTH to cremate a body. Nope, not for me. Put me through a chipper. Ever see Fargo? Like that.

I'm not intimidated or scared of my death, everyone does it.

No one gets out alive!

Now that I've freaked everyone out, I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled debate.

Love you!!

I like your idea too

i want to be creamated and then taken one step further by becoming part of a coral reef:

Then the fish will freak out and say "OMG I swear I just saw a ghost, did you see that too Nemo?"

Burial


Having worked in a funeral home and assiting with the imbalming and other prepwork. I just can't get passed one part of the cremation process. I have no problem with the burning part, but your body does not completly burn up. Your larger bones are still in large fragments. So when you are finished with the "toasting" part of the cremation, your remains are placed in an industrial sized grinder. That as you can guess grinds up what is left. So for me its going to be burial. Does not have to be a fancy funeral, just toss me in a box, kick me in a whole in the ground and plant a tree with a park bench beside it. That way family and friends can come by to toss back a cold one when they feel the need to talk to someone who is just gonna listen and not give them an answer they don't want to hear. LOL.

Cremation for me. I let my family know a long time ago.
Simple reason really - I don't want to wake up in a coffin. I know these days it's nearly impossible for that to happen, but it's the 'nearly' part that scares me.
I'd rather be burnt alive than wake up and die by suffocation.
Very simple for me. I hate the idea of embalming. I want to go whole - apart from organ donation if all are viable. I imagine that for cremation I wouldn't get embalmed anyway (I hope). Wouldn't all those chemicals be a little TOO flammable?
Autopsy: not concerned. Work away. If I'm poisoned I hope they get the bastard. Hehe.
Death doesn't scare me. I tried suicide once so i think it would be hypocritical for me to be scared. Are any of you afraid? I do have one friend that is terrified of dying. What scares me most about dying is other people going before I do.

XXX

Death would be just the next step in my master plan




Ghen-ra, The Ever Living

burial, as a former funeral director I feel somewhat obligated. Subject to change without notice however, you guys do whatever you want with me! LOL

Cremation

paradox saidMy wish is to be cremated. My trainer, however, wants to be plastinated, and I witnessed his signature on his plastination body donation form. I would love to see my trainer's plastinated body, so all I gotta do now is outlive him.

Hate to break it to you, but unless he has a tragically short life, that great body he has now isn't going to look all that great by the time he dies.

Cremation is the way to go. When we scattered my Dad's ashes, my brother and sisters and I each picked out a bone fragment. Mine is displayed in an empty Miller Beer bottle (his favorite).

A burial plot is the most expensive real estate you'll buy and you'll never even get to enjoy it.

In no way do I want my family spending one more dollar than necessary to dispose of me. I want to be cremated, and although the law doesn't allow for it, I'd prefer it to be on a big bonfire on the family's land.

I dont care what happens. I would say go with cremation becuase its cheaper. Why buy an expensive box to put in the ground?

I choose not to die.

I'd prefer to be buried, but it's probably wiser to just be cremated. I'm not sure if I want my ashes spread though. I may just want the urn buried [with the ashes]. It's certainly a good compromise. If I do choose burial when I have a partner to consider all this with, as my mother will do what she wants anyways, I just want a simple pine box - nothing extravagant.

The ashes scattering scene from The Big Lebowski has some appeal. Hopefully I get blown into the eyes of some relatives that I never liked.

I'm kind of claustrophobic. Burn and then scatter me.

Cremation. I'm not sure where I want the ashes to go, but really... I'll be dead so I hardly think I'll care.

Sky burial.

Creamated, my father was and all I can say is I will never just look at the 17th hole water hazard on the TPC in Sawgrass in PVB the same way again. It will always make me remember him. Maybe my brother also, though I seriously doubt it.

Bronzed!

GuiltyGear said
I choose not to die.

I just made some hash brown cookies to die for.

cremated and my ashes left on the white sand beach for the ocean to wash me away.

Hmmm, good question.

I think I would rather be cremated than buried. I don't want to come back as an undead zombie and start eating someones brains, unless he was hot. Plus that way my ashes can pollute the air and be one with nature

fitguymike saidBronzed!

How about gilded?

My favorite by far are the Fore and other tribes in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya.

And just for the Eew factor.

I read recently about a new idea that has some appeal,the body has all the liquid removed by a process like freeze drying,then it can be buried in a shallow grave with or without a coffin where in a short time it becomes dust.

There should not be objections from any of the major religions as this is just speeding up events that take place naturally.


Cremation and any other method of disposing of the remains that are in use today appear to me to be wasteful ,we should have something better for the 21st Century.

Cremation please! I don't want my body consuming excess land.

I don't want a funeral either. Knowing I'm dead, my spirit may not want to know who did or did not attend.

Besides, I don't like all that attention.

Bunjamon saidCremation for sure. I don't want to be confined to one place after it's all over, I want the wind to take me where it may!

I'm surprised how many people here want cremation, though. Maybe it's a reflection of different religious values in the gay community? I may be wrong but I assume that most religious people want to be buried....

My grandpa did both. He was cremated and then we buried his ashes in a small cemetery in the Adirondack mountains.

Cremation is currently the most popular (atleast on the west coast). Regardless of religion, people are getting cremated way more. My dad owned a funeral home for 30 years, and his business was about 75% cremation, the first fifteen years it was the other way around.. The older generations tend to be buried, but thats changing as well.

As for me.. 100% buried.. This may sound morbid, but I have my casket, vault, and grave picked out lol. IThe casket is mahogany. lol (this is what happens when you grow up in a funeral home)

When I was in northern Spain years ago and walked a pilgrimage which stretched basically the entire width of the country I passed quite a few cemeteries. They are ridiculously lavished raised grave sites with all these fancy granite boxes. It's really a waste of land. I can't express that enough.

Most people in Singapore are cremated, since there is a general lack of land in the country. In fact, old cemeteries get exhumed here. Then again, while cremation saves space, it is not too green either, since it uses a lot of fuel. I wonder if I can be composted...

Composting a human body would be like a temporary burial. It takes a long time for a human body with bones to decompose completely. I don't think that would be a good idea.

I will be cremated after they have harvested all usable tissues and organs, hopefully I won't get creamed by a bus or anything that makes organ donation no longer an option.

Provided we're in decent condition (not turned to hamburger in a car accident or something), the hubby and I are both going to float around in a vat of formaldehyde for a few months.

Then, we'll get plopped onto a metal box at GW Medical School for some lucky medical student to slice and dice, discovering the wonder of what we traveled this planet in for a few years.

Once they're done, the bits and pieces will get sent off for cremation.

I thought about donating my body to science in the same way but I don't believe that they will respect my ultimate wishes for being cremated. So I opted out of that possibility.

Yeah, they might bring you back to life and give you to me.

Gigadu saidProvided we're in decent condition (not turned to hamburger in a car accident or something), the hubby and I are both going to float around in a vat of formaldehyde for a few months.

Then, we'll get plopped onto a metal box at GW Medical School for some lucky medical student to slice and dice, discovering the wonder of what we traveled this planet in for a few years.

Once they're done, the bits and pieces will get sent off for cremation.

That's great Gig.. both my parents signed up for body donation to the medical school at Wayne State University in Detroit.. they keep your body for 6-12 months and then cremate your remains and send them back to the family..they have my dad's body right now ( he died in February), also they are so incredibly happy to get these donations since we've heard that not too many people donate themselves and it really important for medical students.
I've already signed on as an organ donor and you can'tdo both.. otherwise I would donate the leftovers to the school.

Cremation.

I would like cremation myself in the style of my body placed in a boat and then sailed off in which archers would shoot their arrows and light me up. That's one way which I know would be really expensive as hell. The other way is for people to place my body in a boat out in Miami and let me sail the ocean. So my body would be in a cruse that would say the ocean until I found a home somewhere in a new world. That's some of my ideas. If those don't work out, then I'll just donate my body to science.