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Video Tombstones

Rio writes "A new company plans to unveil new high-tech tombstones with embedded flat screen monitors that would allow visitors to play memorial videos of the deceased. Joe Joachim, who says he wants to be the Walt Disney of the funeral business, plans to show the Vidstone this year at the annual funeral directors convention. The solar-powered Vidstone will play a video of the person's life at the touch of a button."

18 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm... by Musteval · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is the feed live from inside the coffin?

    --
    Note to mods: I'm probably being sarcastic.
    1. Re:Hmm... by CrazyTalk · · Score: 4, Funny

      Funny, but even funnier would be to have a video playing on continuous loop of someone trying to claw their way out.

    2. Re:Hmm... by zephc · · Score: 4, Funny

      even FUNNIER: "I've heard of a 'dead pixel', but this is ridiculous!."

      Isn't that right, Hecubus?

      Yes, Master!

      --
      "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
    3. Re:Hmm... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Dunno... I think the whole idea is kind of creepy. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter worth a shit what the dead guy wants, cause hey, he's dead. Going to a graveyard should be a sombre experience, and having brightly lit videos of the person who's in the ground in front of you running around and talking is kind of, well, crass. It sounds like something Ricky and Julian would think of.

      Any man who wants to be called the Walt Disney of the graveyard seriously needs to go get some medical attention.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  2. Fun to be had by all... by mopslik · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Purchase plot, headstone
    2. Make video of you screaming, clawing at the lid of coffin
    3. ???
    4. Horrify others!
    1. Re:Fun to be had by all... by zoomzit · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wonderful. Now mom can nag me from the grave.

  3. Free LCDs! by Taevin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hmm let's see. Large areas of land with little or no lighting and little or no security, filled with LCD screens... Sounds like the perfect opportunity for latenight theft.

    More seriously:
    "It could be offensive to some. I don't think it's appropriate or it's been tried enough on the grounds." Mt. Elliott Cemetery Association spokesman Michael Chilcote said.

    I personally find it a little odd too but who is going to be offended by this? With all the religions and traditions in our society you'd think people would be more understanding and accepting of differences. Offended by an LCD screen on a tombstone? That's as rediculous as me being offended at someone wasting flowers by placing them around a grave instead of in nice vases and pots where, you know, the living can enjoy them.

    Maybe it's just that I've always found societal views on death odd. I don't understand why people sit around crying about the fact that someone has died. Why not celebrate the life they lived? If anything, it seems like these LCD screens could do that well. Short clips of happy times, playing with their children and whatnot would be a great way to paint a nice picture of the person's life. I guess that's offensive though, nevermind.

    1. Re:Free LCDs! by gatkinso · · Score: 4, Informative

      >> but who is going to be offended by this?

      You have got to be kidding, right? There are some people who are offended by others wearing hats indoors, use of the word "niggardly", and by the presence of children in church... ...andI haven't even scratched the surface of uptightness/ignorance.

      --
      I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
    2. Re:Free LCDs! by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
      > Hmm let's see. Large areas of land with little or no lighting and little or no security, filled with LCD screens... Sounds like the perfect opportunity for latenight theft.

      No Id Name
      1 54550 Tackhead died in Graveyard. Killed by a Granite Block.

      My vidstone will consist of a clip of Admiral Ackbar, with a voiceover saying "I told him it was a trap."

  4. if it runs Windoze... by TheLevelHeadedOne · · Score: 5, Funny

    It will give a whole new meaning to Blue Screen of Death when the machine dies

    Thank you...thank you...thank you very much...I'll be here all week!

    --

    Twin or more? ITA
    Apache/Spring/La
  5. TombSTONEs by funny-jack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems to me that there's a good reason that tombstones are one thing that hasn't changed much at all with thousands of years of advancing technology.

    Stone lasts a very long time. Can the same be said of LCD video displays?

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    1. Re:TombSTONEs by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pimp my tombstone!

      --
      And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
  6. Top Tombstones by markov_chain · · Score: 5, Funny

    I call dibs on watching Jenna Jameson's tombstone!

    --
    Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
  7. If I'm ever buried under one of these things... by devorama · · Score: 5, Funny

    please make sure the aspect ratio is correct on my video! Did anyone see the picture from the article? Wow, what a cherubic baby! It drives me nuts (in life) to see everyone one watching stretched video on their LCDs all the time. Imagine having your pet peeve playing over your former corporeal existance for eternity.

  8. Timeless by BaudKarma · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The cemetary by my house has headstones from the 1890's that are still in good condition and quite readable. I'm sure that in the year 2120 these LCD screens will still be working perfectly informing visitors all about the deceased.

    This is one of the stupidest ideas I've seen in a long time. The only way it'll go anywhere is if some funeral home directors manage to guilt and manipulate grieving relations into buying the damn things.

    --
    It's the land of the brave, and the home of the free
    Where the less you know, the better off you'll be.
  9. Well I know what *I* want on my tombstone by BlackCobra43 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Porn. Imagine the confusion and shame of passerbies getting stiffies in a graveyard. It would delect me from beyond the grave.

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  10. Can you imagine the massive pilgrimage... by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and discarded Kleenexes around Ron Jeremy's tombstone?

  11. Re:WARNING, PARENT POST IS PORN!!!!!! by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Next time, can you please indicate that it is shock porn, a disturbing image, or just basically a troll? You just yelled "free porn!". What do you think everyone's here's going to do? Not look?!?