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I’ve done some pre planning and am going for a direct cremation in what the crematory guy insisted on calling “an alternative container” but let’s be realistic, it’s a cardboard box. I had considered picking up one of the several caskets offered at extremely reasonable prices on Costco.com, but then there’s the whole internment and such and it just started to get complicated. Dust thou art, and to dust returneth; this seemed like the quickest route.
Cremation actually seems the best, since then you can keep the remains right there in your home for the memories.
That’s why I never dust. It might be someone I knew.
I’d be okay with that so long as my friends and family didn’t have to see it.
Yeah, there’s a lot to be said for cremation. And you can scatter the ashes almost anywhere, since they aren’t a health hazard.
There’s someone under my bed either a-comin’ or a-goin’.
Have you considered seeking therapy for this instead of indulging the futile need to preserve the dead body?
Moderator Note
The OP clearly does not believe the effort to be futile. As such, this comes off as a rather insensitive threadshit. Do not do this again.
Short of mummification or the budget that goes into Lenin’s corpse, rotting away is inevitable. It’s perfectly natural. Once buried, you never see the body again. Let nature take its course.
I guess the burial of a letter seems less involved/costly than trying to stave off the inevitable decomposition. It gives you comfort to think of the dead body in the ground in as pristine a state as possible? Or do you think something like the spirit will need the body …
When my MIL died, wife and sibs had her embalmed, and went on about what she would wear, and whether she would have shoes on. When they dropped the casket, my sole thought was of how creepy it was to have this plasticized body, all dressed up, 6 feet under.
The idea of natural/green burial has far greater appeal to me. But different strokes.
In an earthquake, caskets are giant underground maracas.
Re. mummification: I have seen a modern experimental mummy at the museum, so for sure this is theoretically possible and it works, but as long as it is not a commercial service offered by embalmers I do not see how the average person could get it done. If money were literally no object, you could maybe hire the proper experts. Even in Egypt, middle-class and poorer had to settle for cheap mummification and no sarcophagus.
ISTR reading how efforts to seal caskets and stave off decomp actually result in a - uh - ickier process than just letting nature take its course.
Cremation takes a bunch of energy. For me, I’ll be kicking back at the body farm - unless composting becomes legal around here. 
Not exactly. There are laws and regulations.
Has anyone mentioned cryogenic storage? The goal is actually to bring the dead person back to life in the future, but anyone with a clue realizes this ain’t happening. Your body would be really well preserved until the corporation goes out of business and tosses your body into a landfill, or something goes awry and you canister thaws out and your body undergoes some sort of horrible decomposition.
I said “almost”
Yes, there are rules. But as the article you link reports, most places are okay, as the ashes aren’t a health hazard.
If you are interested in this sort of thing, you should listen to this awesomeThis American Life - Mistakes were Made.
To “safeguard” human remains, soak the body in epoxy.
To immortalize the person, bury in a simple wood box so they remain in the chain of life.
While it is true that you can scatter ashes in most places, saying so without mentioning that to do so legally requires some form of permission nearly everywhere might lead people to think that they can just go out and scatter Gramps’ cremains anywhere anytime. This is decidedly not true.
In the case of private land (which accounts for roughly 75% of all land in the U.S.) you are supposed to ask permission of the owner before scattering ashes. Most government-owned lands, such as national and state parks, seem to require some form of permission from park staff. In either case, failing to obtain permission is a misdemeanor in most jurisdictions. (I have no idea how onerous getting permission in National Parks is, or whether it is routinely granted or denied.)
According to Federal law, scattering at an oceanfront beach (public or private) is specifically not allowed: you have to be at least three miles out, and also file a form with the EPA within 30 days!
There may be no health risk to scattering ashes, but it seems to me that the restrictions in place are mostly because of the perceived ickyness. People don’t want to be downwind and get a faceful of ashes, or be swimming through Uncle Ed’s remains.
Now, the chances of getting caught or penalized if you discreetly toss some ashes to the wind are probably quite small. But it is wrong to imply that people can legally scatter ashes anywhere they want, just because it doesn’t pose a health hazard.
Whatever you do, do NOT scatter the ashes in Disney haunted mansion. They watch for that, and they take it very seriously.