Egg-shaped burial pods feed the trees and turn cemeteries into forests

[gmeneaud]

lay me out on the fell for the animals to eat

[fergusonforestry]

lay me out on the fell for the animals to eat

 

 

sky burial

[se7enthdevil]

i wouldn't want just a simple cremation but can someone tip me in to erta ale in ethiopia please.

 

 

i plan to make my own coffin.

[the village idiot]

I have on occasion pondered the possibility of using my retort kiln to turn the deceased into charcoal which could then be added to the soil (biochar) to aid the growth of whatever was then planted.

Judging by my experiments with other carbon-based lifeforms the body would emerge from the kiln as a perfect, almost pure carbon, recognizable representation of the client, although they would break up when prodded.

The grieving family could also have the option of utilising grandma to cook their sausages over,although I suspect there may be a rather limited uptake on this one.

[MATTMOSS]

I have on occasion pondered the possibility of using my retort kiln to turn the deceased into charcoal which could then be added to the soil (biochar) to aid the growth of whatever was then planted.

Judging by my experiments with other carbon-based lifeforms the body would emerge from the kiln as a perfect, almost pure carbon, recognizable representation of the client, although they would break up when prodded.

The grieving family could also have the option of utilising grandma to cook their sausages over,although I suspect there may be a rather limited uptake on this one.

 

Now your scaring me :lol:

[ArthurBottlesworth]

I have on occasion pondered the possibility of using my retort kiln to turn the deceased into charcoal which could then be added to the soil (biochar) to aid the growth of whatever was then planted.

Judging by my experiments with other carbon-based lifeforms the body would emerge from the kiln as a perfect, almost pure carbon, recognizable representation of the client, although they would break up when prodded.

The grieving family could also have the option of utilising grandma to cook their sausages over,although I suspect there may be a rather limited uptake on this one.

 

Fantastic, absolutely love it....

[openspaceman]

I have on occasion pondered the possibility of using my retort kiln to turn the deceased into charcoal which could then be added to the soil (biochar) to aid the growth of whatever was then planted.

 

Should be doable but probably fall foul of the waste regulations. Have you ever seen the form you have to sign when collecting someone's ashes.

 

Human body approximately 70% water, probably 5% ash so 25% dry matter with the fat pushing up the calorific value to say 20MJ/kg.

 

I don't know the regulation but generally incineration requires all products leaving the device to be held at a high temperature for a couple of seconds, I think 850C is the figure. Big problem would be from amalgam fillings.

 

Would the body have to reach this temperature? Because you won't manage that in a retort but might in a kiln. However with just 25% of the mass to use as fuel and the need to reach 850C the char yield would drop to about 3% of the wet mass. Whilst there would be enough energy there to evaporate the water it would be released at the wrong time to do any good. This is why the engineering department at Cardiff worked on 2 chamber crematoria that were preheated in the morning by gas and then bodies added sequentially so one burning body predried the next one. This minimised the used of the gas support fuel and I am a bit surprised about the comment of high gas bills because once the chamber was up to temperature only a small amount of gas would be necesary to guarantee everything exited at 850C

[TGB]

So how many average sausages can one cook per grandma?

[ArthurBottlesworth]

My wife designed crematoria back in 1980's and was told then that during burning process bodies move, so that if your watching you might suddenly see them sit up .....

 

Apparently very spooky to see.....

 

A mate who is hindu had to actually see his mother burn so it was his duty to go behind the curtain and watch the process - his view was that no one should have to do that .....he hated it......

[the village idiot]

So how many average sausages can one cook per grandma?

 

An important and intriguing question.

 

Obviously not all Grandma's are of equal mass. Let's say for arguments sake that a Granny weighs 60kg. If we go with Mr openspaceman's calculation of a 3% char yield to wet mass, then Grandma should provide us with around 2.2 kg of charcoal. This is plenty for your average family bbq and should produce enough heat to cook around 12 portions of meat.

I would be most disappointed if my meat ration at a cook up didn't extend to at least 6 sausages, so if we multiply 12 portions by 6 sausages we find that Granny should have enough oomph to cook 72 sausages- give or take a chipolata.

It would be remiss of me not to point out that you will have the best chance of reaching the higher levels of sausage numbers if your Granny was British. As I'm sure you are aware British charcoal burns hotter and longer than charcoal of exotic origin.