# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/61 "2009-02-04T21:58:07Z")
While I really like the principle, I don’t really see how that’s an alternative to cremation - sure, the “loved one”'s ashes are put in something cooler that an urn on the chimney… but it’s still cremation, innit ? You ask me, if you want a really, really cool alternative to burial ? Organ donation. Living again in someone else ! How eternaler can you be ?! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boumama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boumama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boumama)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/62 "2009-02-05T07:10:06Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Meh, November is still warm. I never look at the OP date anyway. On the otherhand, zombie is the ultimate “what I want done with my body when I die” plan. It’s just not technologically feasible. I suppose I could have my body preserved until some form of undeadness is discovered, but really, what is the cheapest way to store your body for reanimation? I wouldn’t say it’s cheap, but, that’s kinda what cryonic preservation always really seemed like to me.😃 ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/63 "2009-02-05T07:28:58Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Forget burning or burial… too wasteful. I want to be _composted_. Let science have its way with my remains, then plant a tree on me too. [You can do it, too (in some states).](http://www.foreverfernwood.com/flash/natural_burial.html) I’d love to do this, but it’s wicked expensive…maybe after I get rich! ---
**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:** [February 5, 2009, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/64 "2009-02-05T12:09:15Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Meh, November is still warm. I never look at the OP date anyway. On the otherhand, zombie is the ultimate “what I want done with my body when I die” plan. It’s just not technologically feasible. I suppose I could have my body preserved until some form of undeadness is discovered, but really, what is the cheapest way to store your body for reanimation? Why worry about preservation? The more rotted your corpse is, the better a zombie you will be! ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/65 "2009-02-05T23:13:24Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > 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… Sadly, it actually \*costs \*money to “donate” your remains to a medical school, although it is cheaper than any other method of (legal) disposal…I think about $150 the last I checked. And this definitely needs to be arranged prior to death. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/66 "2009-02-05T23:35:46Z")
Dress me up in stone age skins an dump me in the Antarctic. That oughtta screw up the archaeologists in 40,000 years. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/67 "2009-02-05T23:41:50Z")
How is this any different than just cremating someone and scattering the ashes in the ocean, though? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/68 "2009-02-06T18:34:20Z")
Reef balls. Hmm. “Mommy, what happened to Daddy?” “Your daddy sleeps with the fishes, dear.” ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/69 "2009-02-06T18:40:30Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How is this any different than just cremating someone and scattering the ashes in the ocean, though? Simply scattering means the cremains become silt on the bottom, as my dad is. The reef balls become protective habitat. The smaller fish that can get through the holes can hide from bigger predators. ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/70 "2009-02-07T23:52:26Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > I want someone to smuggle my ashes into a Cheetoh factory and dump me into a batch of future crunchy goodness, after which I will stick to strangers fingers for days. Soylent Orange is … oh, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/71 "2009-02-17T14:04:05Z")
And now reef balls are making the [news!](http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/17/dying.green/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012/72 "2009-02-17T21:04:25Z")
How cool is that?! Thanks for sharing that article. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eternal-reef-balls-this-is-what-i-want-done-with-my-body-when-i-die/474012.md?page=3)