You Can't Keep Your Relatives' Skulls • Hacker News Board

Re: You Can't Keep Your Relatives' Skulls

#21

Post by jfengel » Mon, Sep 16, 2019, 1:47 PM UTC

I'm a bit disappointed to hear that. There is a magnificent plotline on the TV show Slings and Arrows, attempting to get a friend's skull made into a prop for use as Yorick in Hamlet. That's based on real life: various skulls are passed down in the theater tradition as possibly belonging to famous actors[1]. (On the show, they ended up using a disreputable taxidermist.)

I had a vague notion that some day my own skull might become part of the properties of my own theater troupe. It's probably a very bad idea and it's more than half a joke, but it's a bit disappointing to hear that it's not really possible.

[1] http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/782717/display

Re: You Can't Keep Your Relatives' Skulls

#22

Post by rtkwe » Mon, Sep 16, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

justinclift wrote: post #11

> “I will argue with you all day long,” she told me, “that it isn’t legal in any state in the United States to reduce a human head to a skull.” If that's the case, then how do Skulls Unlimited (US based company) do their thing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skulls_Unlimited_International They've been around for 30+ years, and reduce human heads to skulls.

They're probably working with remains that have gone through the 'donation to science' route. That line should be taken in the context of the entire article being about keeping your own relatives skulls not just about skulls period.

Re: You Can't Keep Your Relatives' Skulls

#23

Post by rtkwe » Mon, Sep 16, 2019, 5:32 PM UTC

shkkmo wrote: post #14

throwaway744678 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems far-fetched, at best. Freedom of speech guarantees your right to say that you want this, but does not force anyone to actually comply with it. Especially if it requires breaking a law.

Who said anything about forcing people to comply? I am talking about the constitutionality of certain laws that that make it illegal to comply with an individual's last wishes (when those wishes would not impinge of the freedom of others) The point is that an act that is explicitly authorized in a will should not qualify as abuse of a corpse, not that no laws should apply to the disposal of a corpse. If your will sti…

> Death rituals are incredibly personal and tied up with cultural and religious mores. It seems that freedom of religion and freedom of speech should protect such a personal and significant choice.

There's a lot of leeway in enforcement of all laws and if you could present evidence that the treatment the corpse received was consistent with a religious practice you'd probably be fine, though there would be levels where the conduct is limitable (eg: public display of the corpse as it decomposes for example).

For all the language of "shall make no law" or "shall not infringe" there are many laws that make limitations on freedom of speech, religion, and bear arms. It's hard to imagine any law standing up to a maximal interpretation of freedom of religion for example because a religion can be anything and hold any precepts.

Remains treatment laws were actually addressing a need and harm at the time where corpses were being dug up for medical study against the wishes of the deceased and the restrictions work because they're largely in line with the majority of religions especially in the US. It hasn't really been challenged because very few people actually want to do something against the law with their relatives corpses.

Re: You Can't Keep Your Relatives' Skulls

#24

Post by justinclift » Mon, Sep 16, 2019, 6:04 PM UTC

_archon_ wrote: post #20

justinclift wrote: post #11

> “I will argue with you all day long,” she told me, “that it isn’t legal in any state in the United States to reduce a human head to a skull.” If that's the case, then how do Skulls Unlimited (US based company) do their thing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skulls_Unlimited_International They've been around for 30+ years, and reduce human heads to skulls.

They may purchase previously-reduced skulls and profit on arbitrage.

The wikipedia page shows part of their setup for reducing heads to skulls, using the beetles mentioned in the article.

Re: You Can't Keep Your Relatives' Skulls

#25

Post by wodenokoto » Mon, Sep 16, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #9

wodenokoto wrote: post #5

It appears not to be impossible in Europe. A common "Today I learned"-frontpager on reddit is about composer Tchaikowsky's skull, which was donated to be used in Hamlet, described on Wikipedia here: After reading TFA I wonder how they got him deboned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Tchaikowsky#Skull

Deboned or defleshed?

Well, either way you are gonna separate bones from flesh.

But I guess deflected is the right term in this context