How will people know you're dead?

[drizzle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11039196

"Because I didn't have money for a funeral, I didn't report her death," the Sankei Shimbun newspaper quoted him as saying.

The AFP news agency reported that he told police: "I laid out her body for a while, washed it in the bath, then broke up the bones and put them into a backpack."

I don't know what to say... Shouldn't the government afford a funeral for those who can't?! Or at least bury/whatever those dead bodies?

 

[BobG]

The AFP news agency reported that he told police: "I laid out her body for a while, washed it in the bath, then broke up the bones and put them into a backpack."

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office... and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life.

I guess he took that motivational speech literally.

 

[BobG]

I think my adviser would notice if I was dead. As soon as she found that all of her extraneous tasks weren't being performed she'd coming looking for me. Actually, come to think of it she would probably send one of her other grad students to come looking for me.

This is actually quite a coincidence. I'm reading a book about a couple of guys that only have a week to find a dozen eggs during the siege of Leningrad. Not only are they on a quest nearly as difficult as your professor's grad student, a frozen dead body used as a sign post causes them some confusion since he's standing in the snow.

 

[mugaliens]

I think people that live alone need a way to ensure they're found before their dogs get hungry.

Generally speaking, the smell would be substantial...

Something like:Instead of an "xxxx is out of the office" reply, your e-mail will send out a "xxxx is dead" reply...[/quote]

That would be very upsetting to my relatives and friends!

And, finally, a wipe command will be sent to your computer 24 hours after the cease of health signals...

I wouldn't mind wiping a certain portion of my hard drive containing financial information, but realistically, my finances are fairly simple. Besides, if my folks don't hear from me for two days, they're calling. In three days they're knocking on the door. I do the same with them. Should they find me demised, they'd simply obtain a death certificate and send it to the financial institutions with which I do business. They have a list in a secure location. Should they predecease me, I'd do the same with my aunt and uncle. After that, it falls to my cousins.

If I didn't have relatives in town, I would partner with a trusted friend.

As for wiping my hard drives, there are a lot of digital images of friends and family over the last decade, and I think they'd want them. I certainly know my son would. After those are copied, then he'd run a program which wipes the drive.

 

[turbo]

I have a ton of research material on my HDs, BUT almost in its entirety, it is duplicated on PCs in another state and in a Scandinavian country. As for the rest, it would be nice if my wife got help extracting the images of our friends, family, etc. The rest could be wiped. What would I care? I do not entrust my finances to on-line/electronic routes. My IRAS, money-market account, etc can only be accessed by mail. I don't pay any bills electronically, since that would entail giving power company, phone company, etc electronic access to my liquid accounts. That ain't going to happen!

My brother and a very close friend have the combinations to my safes. It would have to be a pretty horrible coincidence to take all 3 of us out at one time, since we associate separately. We have never been in the same vehicle at the same time, or even in the same building at the same time, IIR.

 

[BobG]

As for wiping my hard drives, there are a lot of digital images of friends and family over the last decade, and I think they'd want them. I certainly know my son would. After those are copied, then he'd run a program which wipes the drive.

Ooh, very good point. I'm running way behind in archiving those to CD. The program would have to know which directories should be copied and which directories (and e-mails) should be deleted.

And maybe the e-mail notifications aren't that important. In fact, I'm beginning to rethink the whole idea. Maybe this is a better attitude:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEPMlSpMQQU

I still need to someone to dispose of that inflatable sheep in my closet if I die.

 

[turbo]

I still need to someone to dispose of that inflatable sheep in my closet if I die.

And someone to dispose of the high-top boots.

Though if the sheep is inflatable, the boots may not have been necessary, absent a need for historical accuracy.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I leave my Obama calendar to Russ.
My Bibles, Book of Mormon, Bhagavad Gita, and other religious texts, go to Zapper and Berke.
Astronuc can have all of my philosophy books.
To Greg I leave my Sci-Forums membership
I leave my Hawaiin miles to MIH
To Evo, I leave my cats.

 

[Evo]

To Evo, I leave my cats.

Awwww! <sniff> They are welcome here.

Who gets Tsu? Can I have Tsu? Huh? Can I, Can I?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Awwww! <sniff> They are welcome here.

Mwahahahaha, you have no idea what you're getting into. My cats are all evil.

Who gets Tsu? Can I have Tsu? Huh? Can I, Can I?

You, Mih, and Tsu, should just go live in Hawaii. MIH will have the Hawaiin miles to get you there.

But don't expect a wild time. When Tsu went with my aunt, they picked up two gay guys. Somehow I don't think Tsu has this extramarital stuff figured out.

 

[Math Is Hard]

You, Mih, and Tsu, should just go live in Hawaii. MIH will have the Hawaiin miles to get you there.

That's very generous of you, Ivan. We can scatter your ashes over a volcano if you like.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I want to be incorporated into a surf board.

Btw, Tsu says it a no-go on the Mormon thing.

 

[Evo]

Mwahahahaha, you have no idea what you're getting into. My cats are all evil.

There is no cat too evil.

You, Mih, and Tsu, should just go live in Hawaii. MIH will have the Hawaiin miles to get you there.

Thank you Ivan!

But don't expect a wild time. When Tsu went with my aunt, they picked up two gay guys. Somehow I don't think Tsu has this extramarital stuff figured out.

Gay guys - all of the fun, none of the headaches.

I want to be incorporated into a surf board.

Be sure you give us specifics, once we start drinking, you might end up as a knick knack.

Btw, Tsu says it a no-go on the Mormon thing.

Hell no! One man and multiple women? Pfffttt!

 

[rootX]

I leave my Obama calendar to Russ.

 

[drizzle]

I leave my Obama calendar to Russ...

OMG, that's the best one!

 

[lisab]

Gay guys - all of the fun, none of the headaches.

*snork*

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Be sure you give us specifics, once we start drinking, you might end up as a knick knack.

Okay, Tsu and I were talking about this, and I decided that I want to be preserved and hardened in a bodysurfing posture, and used an an Ivanboard. I should handle well due to the huge skeg [fin].

Hell no! One man and multiple women? Pfffttt!

Oh come now, that's the one thing that the old-school mormons got right!

 

[cristo]

I don't pay any bills electronically, since that would entail giving power company, phone company, etc electronic access to my liquid accounts. That ain't going to happen!

That's pretty paranoid. By paying bills electronically you are not giving anyone access to your account in the same way that by paying a cheque over a counter you are not giving them access to your account. I pay everything electronically now, since it's just way more simple, and you usually get discounts for doing so.

 

[dlgoff]

Okay, Tsu and I were talking about this, and I decided that I want to be preserved and hardened in a bodysurfing posture, and used an an Ivanboard. I should handle well due to the huge skeg [fin].

Oh come now, that's the one thing that the old-school mormons got right!

Now I know how people are loosing keyboards around here. :drying keys:

 

[brainstorm]

If somehow your corpse mummifies and doesn't attract any attention, what would it matter that you had died? If no one needed your apartment, it could just serve as your tomb. If your automatic deposit income covered all your automatic bill payments, you could become pure fiscal stimulus spending without any purpose but to boost revenues, create jobs, and increase GDP.