Allowing people to be embodied into certain buildings or places could hold symbolic importance. City leaders such as governors could be embedded into the steps of the capital, and judges' bones could be shaped into the handles of gavels. Likewise, convicts with life sentences would be incinerated and spread into the courtyard, or mixed with concrete to build walls or whatever. History contains life's lessons for society, and the more we're reminded of our past, the less likely we are to repeat past failures. Knowing that certain buildings, roads or objects contain those who were of great importance (or detriment) will remind us of their deeds and the lessons we can take from them.
-- twitch, Sep 20 2010

Introspective Memorial Block Introspective_20memorial_20block
This idea, but for everyone [Loris, Sep 22 2010]

Baked by Stalin http://en.wikipedia...ighway_%28Russia%29
[pertinax, Sep 26 2010]

Also here according to, I think, Solzhenitzyn http://en.wikipedia...%80%93_Baltic_Canal
... but, I admit, this wikipedia article doesn't seem to mention the bones in the concrete mix. [pertinax, Sep 26 2010]

//City leaders such as governors could be embedded into the steps of the capital, and judges' bones could be shaped into the handles of gavels.//

So...the 'governors' of each city get imbedded in the steps of the 'capital'. Um...the 'capital' of what, exactly?

The convicts get tossed into the courtyard and the walls, but the those of great importance get buried *waaay* up there...on the steps, or maybe get turned into hammer handles? Sweet. [-]
-- Boomershine, Sep 21 2010


"capital"? You mean like money?
-- baconbrain, Sep 21 2010


//City leaders such as governors //

Could this be done while they are still alive ? If so, [+].
-- 8th of 7, Sep 21 2010


//Could this be done while they are still alive ?//

Ooh. That's thinking outside the box (coffin), [8th]!
-- Boomershine, Sep 21 2010


I believe the Mafia already uses the highways and bridges systems.
-- xandram, Sep 21 2010


//Um...the 'capital' of what, exactly?//

Um, capital of the state, country, whatever? I keep looking at "capital" and fail to see the error.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 21 2010


In American, "capitol" is the top governmental building or city, "capital" is more about money. Although the biggest city can be called the capital city in the state, the capitol city of the state has the state capitol building in it. Capisce?

We capitalists like to pretend there is a difference between money and government, and we certainly know which comes first, and I don't mean just in the dictionary.
-- baconbrain, Sep 21 2010


Ah. Well, this is the sort of trouble you find yourself in when you start using patois on an internotional website.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 21 2010


// patois //

That's that sort of Belgian meat paste stuff, isn't it ?
-- 8th of 7, Sep 21 2010


//..internotional website//

This is the most internotional website I've ever visited.
-- Boomershine, Sep 21 2010


Well my bad on the "capitol" mixup. Ya'll get the idea though. At least this idea didn't include references to poo.
-- twitch, Sep 22 2010


//At least this idea didn't include references to poo//

Politicians almost get there.
-- infidel, Sep 22 2010


Make me into my own headstone. I call that a bargain. [+]
-- subatomicsushi, Sep 23 2010


There's a Chinese fable about a giant bell that was cast and recast but never sounded right. A young woman jumped into the crucible of molten metal. They cast the bell again and it sounded perfect.

So baked, bronzed or cast, it has been thought of, sort of. But I notice the idea doesn't specify if the people are volunteers, or if they are dead before the process starts ... or even after it ends.
-- baconbrain, Sep 23 2010


Chinese bells NEVER sound right, to Westerners.

Traditional Chinese music is written in a different tonal system to Western music, so it usually sounds disastrously out of tune to Western ears.
-- infidel, Sep 23 2010


// Make me into my own headstone //

You should post that, [sub], it's a good one.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 23 2010


as to the point of death, i'll leave that up to the parties interested. It's the symbolic effect that is desired, and that's it.
-- twitch, Sep 23 2010


In many cases, it's the death that's desired, the symbolism can go hang.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 23 2010


Was the young woman OK?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 23 2010


She wasn't bad. Shame, really.
-- infidel, Sep 25 2010


wow infidel, you really are,... um.. an infidel.

I was thinking, what about bone architecture and fixtures? How about a skull chandelier in the courthouse made of the skulls of old judges (which have already died).
-- twitch, Sep 26 2010


Why, thank you.
-- infidel, Sep 26 2010


// which have already died //

"who have already died", or if you're Jewish, "who have died, already."
-- 8th of 7, Sep 26 2010


Actually, the inhabitants of several of the South Pancreatic Islands used to rely on bone as a building material, since they had very few resources and no tools with which to work stone.

Human bone, ground to a fine powder and mixed with sand (of which there was, of course, no shortage) and concentrated seawater undergoes a reaction involving silica plus carbonates from the seawater, to create a sort of cement. It's remarkably durable, and some of the remnants of their buildings still stand.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 26 2010


Odd, this seemed gross at first but has quickly turned into a rather nifty idea, I think atleast.
-- blissmiss, Sep 27 2010


//who have died, already//

I think the original "which" was intentional, rather than merely solecistic, the intention being to de-humanise the judges in question.

<obligatory>
"We have found a 'which'; may we burn it?"
</obligatory>
-- pertinax, Sep 27 2010


//...the inhabitants of several of the South Pancreatic Islands...//

I believe that practice continues on one of those islands, the Isle of Langerhans.
-- Boomershine, Sep 27 2010


There are a lot of those islets in the archipeligo, [Boomer]
-- infidel, Sep 27 2010


What 'ave we found 'ere?
-- Jinbish, Sep 27 2010


Indeed. The Langerhanians are a very insular people.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 27 2010


That's about all they do. You can take an informed guess as to when they will expire and when they die a bet I see made must be honoured.
-- infidel, Sep 27 2010


Nowadays, they don't use bone as a binder, the use glue, coz intolerance to the old practices is on the rise.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 27 2010


So is bullshit.
-- infidel, Sep 27 2010


Makes sense. Bullshit is a great binder for ideas here at the HB. Look how long some of them stick around.
-- Boomershine, Sep 30 2010



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