LifeGem: Diamonds from Human Ashes

[Ivan Seeking]

Diamond memories of the dead

To some, it's the perfect way of remembering a lost loved one.

To others, it borders on the morbid and tacky.

But bosses at LifeGem - the first UK firm to offer to turn cremated human remains into diamonds - say it all comes down to personal choice.

The company, operating in Hove, Sussex, but with a US parent, charges up to £11,000 to take a sample of ashes, extract the carbon and create a "memorial" diamond.[continued]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/3389493.stm

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I don't think it's a bad idea. What I think is morbid is having someone slowly rot in a grave.

 

[one_raven]

Originally posted by Greg Bernhardt
What I think is morbid is having someone slowly rot in a grave.

Why is that bad?
It is one of the few things that humans can do to actually benefit the Earth (unless, of course, you place the person in a airtight, stainless steel, Ziploc® casket that will rob mother nature of the one benefit we have to offer her).

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Originally posted by one_raven
Why is that bad?
It is one of the few things that humans can do to actually benefit the Earth (unless, of course, you place the person in a airtight, stainless steel, Ziploc® casket that will rob mother nature of the one benefit we have to offer her).

I never said it was bad, just not the way I'd want to be. Do you really think it adds much to the earth? Anyway, I'd rather have my ashes spread over the ocean or something, so it's really the same difference.

 

[Zero]

I have one word for you about human remains...barbeque!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Remind me not to invite you to any funerals.

Zero; PF mentor, guitar player, ambulance chaser...fork in hand.

 

[Tsu]

Originally posted by Zero
I have one word for you about human remains...barbeque!

Mine is...COMPOST!
(Which, I guess, means, I agree with one_raven. 'Course, a diamond is ALWAYS nice... )

 

[Evo]

The diamond thing is a neat tribute.

Personally I want a Tibetan Sky burial. I saw it on a Discovery Channel special about Tibet. Preferable to rotting or being incinerated.

Plus that sound those monks make is so cool!

 

[one_raven]

Originally posted by Evo
Personally I want a Tibetan Sky burial. I saw it on a Discovery Channel special about Tibet. Preferable to rotting or being incinerated.

Plus that sound those monks make is so cool!

What is that?

 

[Shahil]

Thats quite kewl eh?

I new i was precious.

<Lame joke of the day>

So doesn't that mean that we have now found the key to immortality coz "Diamonds are forever" aren't they??

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Originally posted by Greg Bernhardt
I don't think it's a bad idea. What I think is morbid is having someone slowly rot in a grave.

It is sort of a problem that they don't rot fast enough, cemetaries have space limits too, vertical (stacking) limits...but I prefer the burial method, for myself, "choice"...for everyone else...

 

[Gara]

they're not forever if you put them in the oven.

 

[Njorl]

"Now when I die now don't think I'm a nut
Don't want no fancy funeral just one like old King Tut " - Steve Martin

Njorl

 

[skywise]

Tsunami, hey cool... We're on the same page.. I want to be composted too! Ever read the Humanure Handbook?

But the diamond thing is verry interesting. Sounds like a nice second option for me...

 

[Monique]

I want to become a tree, I just decided an oak would be nice..

 

[Njorl]

I want to be stuffed and put on display at the Smithsonian. They could pose me sitting at a PC in a cubicle, with a half-dozen empty diet Coke bottles laying around. In the future groups of schoolchildren could come by and gawk at me, wondering how I could live in such primitive conditions.

Njorl

 

[Monique]

oh! oh! how about those plasticifisized people in musea?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Do you mean like this?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/corpse_artist

I think I'd rather be buried and rot away slowly!

Really the diamond idea is pretty neat. I don't see anything morbid about that. Anyway, Tsunami has agree that if I go first she will have my head frozen so that she can keep it in the freezer. That way she can still talk to me...and I can watch out for freezer burn on the other meats as well.

 

[LURCH]

Originally posted by Monique
I want to become a tree, I just decided an oak would be nice..

That has always been my desire. I wanted my remains to be placed in a shallow grave with no vault and no casket. Then a tree would be planted just above my body. The idea was that the roots of the tree will tunnel through my corpse and absorb me as a nutrient source. I would be lifted up into the tree and become a part of its body. The ideal situation would be if children would occasionally come to climb that tree and play among its branches.

It truly urks me that this is illegal. The law in the U.S. demands that you must be placed in a casket, sealed inside an airtight vault. IOW, it is mandatory that you become non-biodegradable waste.

So I guess I'll go with my second favorite choice; donating whatever organs some living person might find useful, and the remainder of my cadaver to be used for medical research.

 

[motai]

I guess a diamond of a loved one is much more valuable than a corpse

 

[Evo]

Originally posted by Evo - Personally I want a Tibetan Sky burial. I saw it on a Discovery Channel special about Tibet. Preferable to rotting or being incinerated.

Plus that sound those monks make is so cool!

Originally posted by one_raven
What is that?

When you die, the monks take you up into the mountains to a special stone slab where you are cut up into small pieces so that the waiting vultures can consume you and carry you up into the sky.

You become a part of the birds, and by feeding them, you have saved the lives of many innocent little animals. Then the birds "naturally" scatter your remains through the beautiful Tibetan mountains.

You are food, fertilizer and save little animals.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Hummm interesting that some seem to think that dealing with their dead body is the same as dealing with them, "something is missing"...I would respectfully suggest...

 

[zoobyshoe]

Frozen Dead Guy Days

Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
Anyway, Tsunami has agree that if I go first she will have my head frozen so that she can keep it in the freezer. That way she can still talk to me...and I can watch out for freezer burn on the other meats as well.

You and the little missus should make arrangements to attend this year's annual celebration of Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, Colorado.

Frozen Dead Guy Days - Nederland CO Colorado Area Chamber of Commerce
Address:http://www.nederlandchamber.org/FrozenDeadGuyDays/

Coming up next month, so hurry to make your travel arrangements.

This celebration grew out of a strange history of do-it-yourself-cryogenics, body resting place shuffling, and citizenship controversy. It includes pancake breakfasts and coffin races. Complete info at the site.

I first learned of it when I saw a man wearing a Frozen Dead Guy Days T-Shirt at a Starbucks here in San Diego and asked him to tell me the story.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Ya, but Zoob, you forgot to tell us if they vote!

 

[Monique]

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Nederland, Colorado.

there are cities called Nederland? Cool How did you get to that website anyway..?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by Monique
there are cities called Nederland? Cool How did you get to that website anyway..?

All I could recall from the guy's T-Shirt was "dead guy days" so I googled that, and the site was the first that came up.

The town was probably settled originally by ex-netherlanders, hence the name. It certainly isn't because of the altitude.

 

[Monique]

I find it funny, since any time I mentioned the Netherlands in the US.. no one had a clue what kind of country that was, until I mentioned Holland. That is probably why they never changed the name of the city Nederland into Netherland :)

 

[skywise]

whoa.. It's weird to come here and find you all talking about Nederland.. or Ned as the locals call it..
I wouldn't call it a city.. It's more of a sleepy little mountain town.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by skywise

whoa.. It's weird to come here and find you all talking about Nederland.. or Ned as the locals call it..
I wouldn't call it a city.. It's more of a sleepy little mountain town.

Whoooaaaa! What do you know?

Tell us about the Frozen Dead Guy Days? Any fun?

 

[skywise]

I hear it's fun... This is my first season in Ned so I haven't attended yet. I will definately check it out this year and give the full report back here to y'all.