# Eternal Reef Balls! THIS is what I want done with my body when I die! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012 "2008-11-22T18:16:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/21 "2008-11-23T01:32:47Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I, too, spend too much time thinking about what will happen to my remains when I shuffle off this mortal coil. I found a different solution, though. [I’m going to be made into diamonds.](http://www.lifegems.com) I’ve told my husband that I want him to use the diamonds to make a wedding ring for his second wife. I, personally, find this hilarious. For some reason, he doesn’t. Ha! After a particulary vitriolic letter from the second wife where she stated the intent to dance on the first wife’s grave, my friend - the first wife - has written into her will that “a suitable musical accompaniment should be provided at her (the first wifes) funeral for those desirous of dancing”. . ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/22 "2008-11-23T01:53:41Z")
I did a thread not too long ago on [Green Funerals](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=467298), a chemical process that allows you to pour your loved one down the drain. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/23 "2008-11-23T02:00:11Z")
Cremation seems such a waste of energy - can’t they make a slightly bigger reef ball and just fold me up into it? - it would give the crabs something to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/24 "2008-11-23T02:11:22Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Id rather they just throw me overboard and give the crabs dinner. Why do they always have to cremate first for these alternatives? If they do it over the Mariannas trench in the middle of the ocean, it’s not like I’ll wash up on shore anywhere. If they’d done that to you some years back, there might have been a couple of guys who came down and saw your corpse. Only for about 20 minutes or so. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/25 "2008-11-23T03:26:21Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > This site is a spoof, right? No business would publish something with such atrocious spelling and grammar, right? I think the FAQ gives it away. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/26 "2008-11-23T03:28:36Z")
Full fathom five, thy father lies Of his bones are coral made Those are pearls that were his eyes Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange sorry, couldn’t pass up an opportunity to quote this little bit from The Tempest ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/27 "2008-11-23T05:43:46Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Full fathom five, thy father lies > Of his bones are coral made > Those are pearls that were his eyes > Nothing of him that doth fade > But doth suffer a sea-change > into something rich and strange > > sorry, couldn’t pass up an opportunity to quote this little bit from The Tempest Bravo. I’m surprised they don’t have it on their website! ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/28 "2008-11-23T10:09:12Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Have you been reading up on the so-called “Mike” apples from Eastern Connecticutt of a few years ago? ([Link](http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9400E2DB163EEF33A25754C2A96E9C94629ED7CF) goes to a .pdf - it’s the fourth story down.) Ooh! That was awesome, thanks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/29 "2008-11-23T10:30:35Z")
> [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](#): > > personally, I want my ashes lifted in to low orbit, then stragecally released to make a meteort shower over a night time wake attended by my friends… It can be done for just 500 tons of carbon added to the atmospere… but what do I care.. I will be dead… > > regards > FML Is it bad that this gave me a picture of your ashes raining down onto your unsuspecting friends? And is it bad that image makes me smile as I imagine the looks on my friends’ faces if I did that to them? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![timbicile59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@timbicile59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timbicile59)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/30 "2008-11-25T01:37:13Z")
> [@Walpurgis](#): > > I want to have the process where you get freeze-dried into a small pile of biological matter, put into a cardboard box and they plant a tree sapling on top. I think I’d like to be an apple tree. With the added bonus of bearing… special fruit. Ive told My wife bury me standing up put an acorn on my head im oak tree fertizer ---
**Author:** ![timbicile59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@timbicile59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timbicile59)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/31 "2008-11-25T01:38:17Z")
> [@timbicile59](#): > > Ive told My wife bury me standing up put an acorn on my head im oak tree fertizer fertilizer doh ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/32 "2008-11-25T09:16:34Z")
Chopped into odd sized chunks, placed in zip lock bags, and sent to addresses chosen randomly from random metropolitan phone books. I bet this is illegal in several ways. But what will I care? Just gotta find someone crazy enough to do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/33 "2008-11-25T09:53:33Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Typical pseudo-environmentalist BS. Sure, one or two reefballs has no measurable impact, but aggregately these new reefs will raise the sea level and flood coastal cities! All for vanity. > > People. That is never going to happen. From[here](http://www.eternalreefs.com/reefs/products.html), the Nautilus product weighs between 1200 and 1500 pounds, which assuming the upper limit and rounding slightly gives about 680kg. Assuming it’s made of concrete (density = 2400kg/m3) then we have a volume of about 0.283m3. From[here](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/SyedQadri.shtml), we get the volume and area of the worlds oceans. Area ~ 361 x 10^3km2 = 361 X 10^9m2. Using archimedes principle the volume of the reef ball will displace a similar volume of water. So 0.283/area of worlds oceans gives increase in depth per unit reef ball. = 7.839 x10^-13m. So even if everyone currently (~6.5billion) alive had one the mean ocean level would only rise by about 5.096 x10^-3m. Nothing much to worry about. Plus reefs would have a positve effect on coastal erosion. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/34 "2008-11-25T16:05:19Z")
Need to get your snerk-detector checked **Walker**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/35 "2008-11-25T18:40:35Z")
A full Viking funeral! (Actually, the diamonds thing sounds kind of neat. Maybe I could get a whole necklace out of me–now _that’d_ be a keepsake.) ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/36 "2008-11-25T18:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=pepperlandgirl] I, too, spend too much time thinking about what will happen to my remains when I shuffle off this mortal coil. I found a different solution, though. I’m going to be made into diamonds. I’ve told my husband that I want him to use the diamonds to make a wedding ring for his second wife. I, personally, find this hilarious. For some reason, he doesn’t. [/QUOTE] I think that’s neat, too, except I tell my husband that that’s what I’m going to do with _his_ remains if he goes first. Then I’ll have the diamonds set into a ring that I wear, and terrorize our grandchildren with it. “Hi kids! Come here and let me give you a big hug. Now, here, give grampa a kiss!” 😃 He doesn’t think this is funny at all. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/37 "2008-11-25T19:07:24Z")
I always thought the ol’ “Viking funeral” would be the way to go…body on top of a funeral pyre set on a raft, lit up and sailed out to sea… probably illegal in most counties though… Frankly, I really don’t care what anyone does with my body after I die, because I won’t be using it at that point. I’ve told \*\*Rhiannon8404 \*\*that she should try to sell me to a medical school for research purposes, then she can use the funds to pay for my wake… ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/38 "2008-11-25T19:07:40Z")
Ok, I just looked at the Compacted Dignity site…it’s a joke, right? right? I mean, that head… and then this quote (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Our state of the art methods of compacting utilize the latest technology in compaction and dehydration preservative treatments. If you go with out competitors, whose name we will not state, you will not only devalue your best postmortem planning’s, but also **defile the very immortal souls of your departed loved ones.** Our machinery is cutting edge, and unlike our competitors, does not extrude tissue and organs from the seams, but rather conserves the lasting bits, kibbles and tids of bit unto the edges of our patented, twenty-ton press machinery. ETA: Ok, ok, definitely a joke. (man, I feel silly. :p) ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/39 "2008-11-25T19:31:30Z")
I don’t think I’d want to be a reef, all lonely down in the ocean. I wonder if they could make me into a driveway or a sidewalk? A retaining wall? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/40 "2008-11-25T20:50:19Z")
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