Yay! A weekday comic! When you said “all or nothing” my mind went somewhere else… You see, there was a myth that you don’t get all of the “cremains” back after cremation… So, I naturally thought that was where you were going. The truth is… no matter how “seared” they did my cremains… my wife would send it back to the “kitchen.” đ
You donât get the whole body, I know that. Most is burned off fairly efficientlyâonce you reach the kindling point of fat, you turn into a candle essentially. The âashesâ are really ground up bones, the only part to not burn up. It is unlikely that they get all the bones. Many are small, many are hard to identify even among professionals, and many of us have small seismic bones (think knee caps, only smaller) somewhere in our bodies, which may not be recognizable. Lots of fun studies have been done regarding the ability of experts to identify bones when they are not inside humans.
Interestingly, cremated remains preserve better in the archaeological record than normal bones. No one really knows why, but they think it has something to do with phase changes in the phospho-apatite in the bone at >800 C, which allows for greater uptake of minerals from the ground. I have often wondered if certain fossiliferous formations have so many fossils because of forest fires. I know they had firesâyou can see the ashâbut whether that helps preserve the bone is something I canât figure out how to test.
Probably more than you wanted to know. đ I spent…..too much time researching this a few years back. Learned that if you read a book on how to dispose of bodies at lunch on a construction site people leave you alone!
In my case it was a book on archaeology of human remains. Fascinating topic, but yeah, it boils down to âAnd here is another way to get rid of a corpse.â Once you know what conditions preserve remains, you know what conditions make them disappear. The book was relevant for my job, but many people found it creepy.
Cuts a little too close. My wife passed last summer and I had her cremated.
You CANNOT, by law (at least in New York) get implants and other non-combustible bits back. My wife had a titanium replacement knee, and they could not return that to me.
Back in the 1930s and 40s, there’re was an outfit that was trying to get rich on gold teeth from cremains. The world took a VERY dim view on that activity.
Yay! A weekday comic! When you said “all or nothing” my mind went somewhere else… You see, there was a myth that you don’t get all of the “cremains” back after cremation… So, I naturally thought that was where you were going. The truth is… no matter how “seared” they did my cremains… my wife would send it back to the “kitchen.” đ
You donât get the whole body, I know that. Most is burned off fairly efficientlyâonce you reach the kindling point of fat, you turn into a candle essentially. The âashesâ are really ground up bones, the only part to not burn up. It is unlikely that they get all the bones. Many are small, many are hard to identify even among professionals, and many of us have small seismic bones (think knee caps, only smaller) somewhere in our bodies, which may not be recognizable. Lots of fun studies have been done regarding the ability of experts to identify bones when they are not inside humans.
Interestingly, cremated remains preserve better in the archaeological record than normal bones. No one really knows why, but they think it has something to do with phase changes in the phospho-apatite in the bone at >800 C, which allows for greater uptake of minerals from the ground. I have often wondered if certain fossiliferous formations have so many fossils because of forest fires. I know they had firesâyou can see the ashâbut whether that helps preserve the bone is something I canât figure out how to test.
Probably more than you wanted to know. đ I spent…..too much time researching this a few years back. Learned that if you read a book on how to dispose of bodies at lunch on a construction site people leave you alone!
There’s an instruction book on how to dispose of bodies?
Yes, there are laws and regulations governing the disposal of the dead, along with recommended practices for funeral homes.
Yes, but none of these cover the disposal of bodies on a construction site, be it at lunch time or midnight.
In my case it was a book on archaeology of human remains. Fascinating topic, but yeah, it boils down to âAnd here is another way to get rid of a corpse.â Once you know what conditions preserve remains, you know what conditions make them disappear. The book was relevant for my job, but many people found it creepy.
That’s basically what the ancient egyptians did.
Soups of the day?
Cuts a little too close. My wife passed last summer and I had her cremated.
You CANNOT, by law (at least in New York) get implants and other non-combustible bits back. My wife had a titanium replacement knee, and they could not return that to me.
Back in the 1930s and 40s, there’re was an outfit that was trying to get rich on gold teeth from cremains. The world took a VERY dim view on that activity.