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Virginia May Help People Pay For Space Burials
PolygamousRanchKid writes "Want to be buried in space? Virginia would help pay for it under proposed legislation that aims to boost the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.
The bill, which the General Assembly will debate next year, would provide a Virginia income tax deduction up to $2,500 a year for such burials. Proponents hope the measure will provide revenue for the spaceport, which is expanding because NASA decided to cancel the space shuttle program. The facility, which describes itself as a 'full-service, FAA-licensed spaceport,' is located at Wallops Island on Virginia's coast."
If they are in space then they will become space ghosts because GOD can't get to them there, like it says in the BIBLE GOD does not exist outside of the Ionosphere that is the line of the Italians who will drink all our water from space with dead people. Besides, they smell and PASTA need I SAY MORE!!!!
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now we need to survive on bullshit! what a waste of government time instead of finding a real solution
They want to encourage development of the space port. That's a reasonable goal I guess.
Doing so by subsidising what is surely the most pointless reason to launch something into space and also the most wasteful way to dispose of a human body is just stupid.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Perhaps if you'd taken the time to RTFA before rushing to get first post, you'd have realized they're cremated first.
Screw that. I want my meat-sack like body launched whole into space when I'm dead!
Om, nomnomnom...
Who "buries" cremated remains anyway? And more curious than that, who even reads TFA on /.?
My father was cremated and was buried next to my mother who was not. Can't be that unusual. Maybe.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
I haven't found a state or province that will allow my family to burn my body on a traditional pyre. I have written the specifications for how the funeral pyre is to be constructed and the protocols to be observed.... yet, all of it, should it be played out can only be done in secret... possibly in the deserts of california (we're working this out as I type.)
The people of Virginia may be forced to waste their money on a stupid pork project.
And how exactly does this make them not space junk?
Because the overall volume of ashes is much smaller than the volume of a human body. I am okay with this as long as they the remains are let loose into empty space, instead of being sealed in a voluminous container.
Who gets to make the tax deduction? And if it's on the dead guy's estate, why per year? I mean, how many times to they expect a person to die in Virginia, anyhow?
"$2500 a year" it says. Just how many times will they allow a dead person to be shot into space?
"Today, we say farewell to Uncle Bob's left arm. We're all thankful knowing it will be joining his torso and the rest of his limbs in heaven. Amen"
"Psst! Aunt Sally, no more tax breaks, please. We're all sick of driving out here to see yet another funeral/blast off."
I'm with you there puddin pop.
Planetes, anyone?
Lets give them more garbage to work on!
ID: the nose did not occur naturally, how would we wear glasses otherwise? (apologies to Voltaire)
Great, lets release hundreds of thousands of bits of dust and small particles into space.
At nearly 30,000kph its still more than enough to ruin space craft.
NASA is shuttering their space program, and the Virginia government wants to repurpose the spaceport to make some money by shooting dead people into space?
for the heart of the sun.
A friend of mine helped with just such a pyre.
Even fine cremation ashes at orbital velocity can damage satellites.
Are you sure you've researched this? You seem to have missed a lot.
it's a delayed cremation on re-entry...
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
The deduction is not continuous. It applies to the year the person dies and/or the "space burial" is paid.
That's like saying it's okay to junk-up our orbit with space debris. "It's just for a little while", yes, then, people will pay more and expect justice from their government when they demand to be put into a stable orbit. "You condoned it for them, so me, too!" Burial in space should necessitate being put on a tracjectory that would actual take you into OUTER space, not in orbit around the Earth.
Okay, I would accept one stipulation: your container has to be highly magnetized. Whilst in orbit with the rest of the junk, you will have to do some sweeping up and junk collection on behalf of a grateful Earth. Then, when you re-enter, you can bring the junk in with you and you can all incinerate together.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
I want to be cremated by the very atmosphere that sustained me!
-- no sig today
Don't just dump me in some random orbit around earth. I wanna rise from the ashes on Ganymede.
Support for a budding enterprise might be worthwhile, but what socio-economic benefit is there from disbursing cremated ash in space? If I was a VA taxpayer I'd be wondering what I'm paying for.
Presumably the spaceport is primarily for putting up satellites, which can be useful infrastructure.
Why subsidise a frivolous use of rocket fuel instead of satellites?
To bury someone means to place their dead body underground, in the earth or a tomb. Being launched into space is pretty close to the opposite of burial.
So then I guess we should rename "burial at sea" to just plain simple "body dumping". Burial now has the common connotation of any type of interring of a body in any location: sea, land, or space. Could you have been any more pedantic?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Isn't that roughly where these guys were headed?
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden
We need them for new life...
I hope to be the first American to die in space. That would be enough to be notable for Wikipedia I think.
oh WTF, never mind:die short and prosper
Development is programmable; Discovery is not programmable. (Fuller)
I can just about comprehend dead people paying taxes. But the thought of them coming back to life and, umm, redying on an annual basis has got me confused and a little disturbed.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The article doesn't talk about it, but such cremated remains are encased in a small capsule.
Have gnu, will travel.
While a must admit as a SciFi fanboy and an Uber Geek I love the idea of being buried in space, I don't think that a tax break for doing so in in the best interest of Virginia or anybody really. In a honesty I believe that all tax breaks are unfair. I think that on of the biggest problem with the American economy is the convoluted tax system but, I have a SOLUTION. Here goes let me know what you think! Flush the entire tax code down the toilette, then implement on tax rate for everyone. 10% income tax on all income earned over $45,000. So, if you earn $60,000 your tax liability is $1500. this applies to every one married, single and corporation. so a 10 billion dollar business will pay $999,995,500 in taxes. no exception. period. This would replace FICA, medicare/medicaid all other federal taxes period. How did I come up with 10% you ask. Well if you have ever attended a church you will know that in most christian sects you are expected to tithe 10% to the church. I figure that if "god" can get by on 10% so should uncle Sam!! why set the cutoff for paying taxes at $45000? Well again it is kinda arbitrary. for a family (two wage earners and any number of children) that would allow for up to $90000 tax free. and save for a few places like NYC, and LA you should be able to live on that a year just fine. if you do live some place with outrageous cost of living Move! OK flame on and tell me how stupid you think I am but please give a good wel thought out reason.
So, this is how a former blue state, now red, looks at fiscal responsibility?
Am I the only one that's worried about losing all of this bio-mass from the earth?
A tax deduction does not mean the government is helping you pay for something. It means they're going to take less money from you if you buy a certain product or service.
by Cyphase ( 907627 )
Burial now has the common connotation of any type of interring of a body in any location: sea, land, or space.
Unfortunately for your argument, "interring" means "covering with earth".
Could you have been any more pedantic?
I certainly hope not. What you deride as "pedantic", I consider "accurate".
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
But the thought of them coming back to life and, umm, redying on an annual basis has got me confused and a little disturbed.
Dead folks vote in elections in every state of the Union. In each election, they tend to vote early, and vote often. Dead folks also cash their social security checks.
They are a very influential part of the electorate, so I'd be mindful of talking kindly about them . . . them being dead, and all.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I guess that now the subject of space junk will be an awkward thing to talk about?
I misread the headline as:
Viagra May Help People Pay For Space Burials
It's yet another sham in a long list of shameful activities where the people's money is squandered to prop up the corporations that seek to oppress us.
They aren't spending any of "the people's" money - they're letting people keep some of their OWN money IF they spend it on a space funeral instead of an impermeable crypt buried in the ground. No different than deductions for "green" energy, hybrid cars, having children, etc. Not sure how a company that launches ashes into space is "oppressing" anyone.
Anything that keeps more money in private hands and out of bureaucrats' control is a good thing, IMHO. Less money for those that not only seek to oppress us, but also have heavily-armed police, national guard troops, and armed bureaucrats to do it with.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Realeasing the ashes is worse than having them in a container, a tiny fleck of paint once punched a hole 3 inches deep into the space shuttles 4 inch thick windscreen.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
To bury someone means to place their dead body underground
...or place their live body under a large volume of paperwork.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
The State of Viagra obviously knows a good plot when they see it, but that one's taken ... Terry Southern, Johnathan Winters "The Loved One" 1965 ... so funny you could break a rib. Go on, you deserve it ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loved_One_(film) ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Cmu-_bA48
Two of my grandparents are buried like that. Cremated first, then buried.
Not sure why. I guess it's not as creepy as keeping the ash in an urn over the fireplace, and not as trite as scattering them somewhere.
Personally, I'll take whatever option is cheapest.
You are defending social parasites. When people or corporations use publicly funded resources and don't pay a fair share, they are freeloaders. It is a form of stealing. It is no different then putting enough money in a newspaper vending machine to open it and then taking multiple copies, or going into a field and stealing produce. Your are getting something for nothing and the burden falls on those who do pay what they owe.
Why is Snark Required?
Pork pork porketty pork pork.
Is there a Ralph's around where you live? I hear coffee cans are great for transporting ashes.
You are defending social parasites. When people or corporations use publicly funded resources and don't pay a fair share, they are freeloaders. It is a form of stealing. It is no different then putting enough money in a newspaper vending machine to open it and then taking multiple copies, or going into a field and stealing produce. Your are getting something for nothing and the burden falls on those who do pay what they owe.
Note that I didn't "defend" anything, other than reducing taxes in general. And what you have said you can also say about food stamp recipients, people who qualify for AFDC, and home owners that take a mortgage interest deduction. In fact there are thousands and thousands of state and federal tax deductions for all kinds of activities. I'm assuming you put Michael Moore in the same category, for taking a refundable tax credit from Michigan for filming there?
I agree with you though that people like Al Gore and GE are major freeloaders. It's a major problem with the tax code - lots of complicated code and credits and deductions going to wealthy people and businesses. Guess who is promoting major tax reform to simplify the tax code? No one. Financial tyranny is simply too useful a tool for the corporate/government elitist oligarchy.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
That sounds nice and conservative, but while we all personally hate taxes, this it just government picking winners and losers and thereby encouraging certain behavior. Deductions for "green energy" and "space burial" are both overreaches of government.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
That sounds nice and conservative, but while we all personally hate taxes, this it just government picking winners and losers and thereby encouraging certain behavior. Deductions for "green energy" and "space burial" are both overreaches of government.
Yea, I have to agree with that. I had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the claim that somehow this was supporting an "oppressive corporation". But you're right that this just amounts to more government intervention in what should be a free market.
If they're going to be coming up with new deductions and credits, I'd much prefer they get behind something like the Universal tuition tax credit than this "space burial" idea.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
When you bury something, you place it beneath the surface of the earth. Sending a thing into space would seem to be the exact opposite (plus several orders of magnitude).
That struck me as funny too. After all, if they cremate someone, on a pyre or in a furnace, they cremate them, they don't "bury" them unless they specifically bury the ashes. If someone's ashes are on the mantle in a vase, or scattered to the winds, they aren't referred to as "buried".
We should come up with a new term maybe. (I like latin: Corpus dispositum)
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