Hurricane Predictions

Hey You There...Pay Attention!

As I’ve said many times before, I'm a self proclaimed rocket scientist, not a professional weather forecaster. I also often state that if I were 18 years old again and could start over in college I would consider studying meteorology instead of engineering. Then I could run around with the likes of Jim Cantori and make a fool of my self in front of a TV camera—all the time enduring 100 MPH winds.

Having made that admission, I have my own forecast for Wilma’s path and it doesn’t match the computer models. I’ve been wrestling with publishing my prognostications for a couple of days now, but I was afraid of looking STUPID so I’ve held my tongue and kept my fingers off of my keyboard regarding this issue. The only one I've told so far is my girlfriend, and she's getting all nervous as a result.

Here is what I think Wilma is going to do this weekend.

I think that she is going to continue on a north north-west track for longer than the forecast models are predicting. South florida is only in trouble if she makes a very abrupt turn.

As she moves further west, she is also going to delay the predicted turn back to the east. The further north she moves, the harder it is going to be for her to threaten the Florida Keys.

The result?

I think that Wilma will make landfall closer to Tampa than Naples. She might even move as far north as Cedar Key and the Suwannee River inlet up in the “big bend” area of Florida.

Why do I think this?

The jet stream--their whole predictions are based on where the jet stream is this weekend. That's bad news for the northern Florida pennesula because because the jet stream hasn’t behaved the way they were predicting it to behave earlier this week.

Here is the current Jet Stream forecast:

See how the jet moves from running across northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia on Saturday to passing over Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio on Sunday?

That isn’t what they were predicting earlier this week. The jet was supposed to dip low over the southern US, even dipping into the Gulf of Mexico, thereby grabbing the storm and slinging it off across south Florida and into the Atlantic to die.


Since the Jet Stream isn't as far south as predicted, I also think that Wilma will continue to move along rather slowly, so landfall could be late Monday or possibly sometime Tuesday, depending on how far north she moves.

As to the actual strength when Wilma finally makes landfall in Florida, I agree that it’s anybody’s guess—probably a 2 or a 3. A landfall further north could be a "double whammy" for all of the people from the Keys and the Ft. Meyers/Naples area that have already evacuated into central and norther Florida.

Can you imagine what a pisser it will be to have to move AGAIN for the same hurricane?

All I know is that I take a great deal of personal comfort because of all of the land that exists between the west coast of the Florida Panhandle and the south Georgia coast. The worst we could see here if she comes our way is a strong tropical storm or a very weak hurricane.

Remember, Y'all--you heard it here first.

(I'm gonna remind you too...)

Herman Pumpkin

Halloween Pumpkin Contest Entry

I've always admired the complex pumpkins I've seen carved using the 3 dimensional technique of both cutting holes and removing the skin of the pumpkin to produce various lighting levels when lit from inside.

I finally decided to figure out how to do it, based on instructions found on this web site.

I took this photo that I
found on the web:


And this pumpkin I bought
from the store:























I ended up with something that
looked like this in the daylight:



And it looked like this in the
dark with a candle inside:
























Not bad for a beginner, huh?

Stop by over at Leanne's Blog and take a look at all of the entries to her Pumpkin Carving Contest.

If you like my work, I'd appreciate your vote for MY entry.

Meanwhile, I'm going to start work on another pumpkin once I figure out what image I want to do..

Disastrous Aid

As I wrote earlier in Let The Taxpayer Gouging Begin and Let The Taxpayer Gouging Begin Part II, FEMA is continuing to spread our tax money over the countryside with wreckless abandon.

Spending on things like $350 per night motel rooms and $3,500 per week cruise ship accommodations for workers and displaced citizens are continuing and the excess money will never be recovered.

Then there is the matter of scumbags misrepresenting themselves as storm victims in order to receive illegal cash loans and grants from FEMA.

What's the opposite of kleptomania? Giftomania? Santamania?

Whatever the affliction is called, FEMA's got it, and it's got it bad: an irresistible impulse to give away taxpayer money for no good reason.

In a series of investigative reports, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has documented that the Federal Emergency Management Agency over a five-year period gave more than $330 million nationwide to people who had not experienced disasters. Last year it wasted $31 million on Miami-Dade County residents for relief from a storm that missed the county.

You'd think FEMA would learn. But the same thing happened after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast this year. Once again, for thousands of Americans, Christmas came early.

A week after Katrina hit, FEMA began issuing $2,000 checks and debit cards, which were supposed to go to displaced people. Payments were to be limited to one per household. But the Sun-Sentinel has found that in three parishes in Louisiana, the agency issued more checks than there were households, costing taxpayers at least another $70 million. In a total of 36 parishes and counties in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, the agency gave $102 million to at least 51,000 more applicants than were displaced by the storm.

So when is FEMA going to learn?

Probably never, but the good news is that they are attempting to find these scoundrels and when they do they’re prosecuting. You can read about it here, here, here, and here.

The maximum fine for making false claims for relief funds is FIVE YEARS in prison and a $250,000 fine. They aught to hang a giant sign out front of the temporary FEMA offices stating the penalties. The should also make every single person that applies sign a separate form that makes them acknowledge the potential penalties.

I believe that most people aren't willing to risk five years in the slammer for taking two thousand bucks, and I think that FEMA could cut the level of fraud in half with very little effort.

FEMA...we're waiting...

Saddam Speaks

Hey Judge...pull my finger...

Obsolete and Outdated

And Easily Predicted

There has been a great deal of ink devoted to news stories about “outsourcing” and the Bush administration’s apparent propensity for “shipping jobs overseas.” The loudest culprits in this uproar are the former holders of skilled manufacturing jobs and high tech support positions that apparently all ended up in China and India.

Of course the media loves to trumpet the fate of “working families” caught up in what is actually a natural evolution of employment and manufacturing, but I wonder about the large number of middle and upper management that suffer the same fate.

While I have every sympathy for people that have lost their jobs within a few years of retirement or are finding themselves unemployed in mid-career, I also have to point out that these individuals many times bear a good deal of the responsibility for their position (or lack thereof) based on decisions made years ago.

Employment availability in any given area of business or industry in not only highly cyclic on a short term monthly or annual basis, but it is also, like a life threatening disease, subject to longer term trends that usually reveal themselves in the form of subtle symptoms—visible years before the changes could be considered fatal.

All you have to do to see the trend coming is to pay attention.

Most people don’t. Historically they have relied on their trade union or the government to isolate them from the inevitable. Sometimes it works, many times it doesn’t.

For instance, think about the plight of the makers of horseshoes and buggy whips in the early 1900’s. Henry Ford’s invention, the Model T, pretty much spelled the end of their careers in a fairly short period of time. The horseshoe makers either learned how to make engine blocks and steel tire rims, and the buggy whip makers started making auto seat upholstery, or they hit the unemployment lines and soup kitchens.

Life was a bitch back then, and it still is today.

Yesterday Eastman Kodak just announced a $1.03 BILLION dollar loss for the third quarter of 2005.

Wondering why?

Because digital photography is kicking their butts, that’s why. They’re still screwing around trying to adapt to a market that is rapidly going digital, and they’re losing big time.

New York - Photography company Eastman Kodak Co.(EK) posted a quarterly loss of $1.03 billion on Wednesday after a $900 million charge related to efforts to transform itself into a digital products and printing services provider.

The world's top maker of photographic film also missed analysts' revenue forecasts as film sales tumbled, and its shares tumbled 9 percent.

The quarterly loss was the third in a row for Kodak, which has spent the past two years cutting manufacturing and jobs and making acquisitions in hopes of beefing up areas such as digital cameras.

While the market for classic film based photography will probably never go away entirely, in another ten years it is basically going to be a novelty used by old farts that refuse to update and professional photographers that still appreciate the art of the classic methods.

Hopefully someone will manage to retain the film manufacturing and developing capabilities in an economically viable form, but the days of walking into every single Eckerd Drugs or Fox Photo to get your film developed are probably numbered.

Polaroid, the company that owned the instant photo market since the 1940’s and successfully sued Kodak in the 1980’s over patent infringement, also missed the boat in the Digital Camera Revolution. Polaroid filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001, but like Kodak they are still struggling to offset the business advantage that their patent provided them.

In my considered opinion, everybody out there should take a good look at what they are doing today and consider where their company is going tomorrow--lest they end up featured in next month's or next year's feature article discussing a declining industry.

Are YOU Obsolete and Outdated?

Latest Satellite Photo...

Sucking instead of blowing? 

Wilma Develops An Attitude

Fred, come get your wife...

At about 2:30 AM this morning I sitting here minding my own business when I opened an E-mail from the National Weather Service that said this:

000
WTNT64 KNHC 190629
TCUAT4
HURRICANE WILMA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
230 AM EDT WED OCT 19 2005
DATA FROM A RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT HURRICANE WILMA
HAS BECOME AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. THE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE MEASURED
175 MPH WINDS AND ESTIMATED A MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 892 MB. THIS IS
THE LOWEST PRESSURE OBSERVED IN 2005 AND IS EQUIVALENT TO THE
MINIMUM PRESSURE OF THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE IN THE FLORIDA
KEYS.

FORECASTER AVILA

I had to sit up and take notice because a lot has to happen before we know where Madam Wilma is actually going. Here is the latest map showing the 5:00 AM forecast track:


Wilma's pissed off...


At first glance you’d probably say that we can breathe a sigh of relief here on the Georgia coast, and that I can stop worrying about my mother sitting on her farm in South Alabama.

You’d be wrong if you did.

See, in my opinion we’ve all gotten complacent about the weather service’s ability to forecast the track and intensity of these storms. It’s not like we’re talking about a Delta Airlines flight schedule here people. You can’t expect an arrival in a specific city on an exact time and date. (Actually, on second thought Delta might be less reliable example—sorry.)

Really, we take this stuff for granted these days. Several things have to happen yet and until they do the people in Cuba and Mexico need to be paying close attention over the next couple of days and EVERYONE from Galveston, Texas to Key, West Florida had better be warming up their tarps and generators because Wilma could actually end up almost anywhere next Sunday.

Yes, there is a great possibility that the jet stream will grab Wilma as she enters the Gulf of Mexico and send her spinning off to the east across the Florida peninsula.

Exactly where she crosses Florida is still a matter of wild speculation, and until she makes the predicted turn it's anyone's guess.

Now where did I put my plywood and nails???

They Need To Get A Grip...

Another Case Of "Too Much Time On Their Hands"

The Australian “activists” are at it again. This time they’ve got their boxers in a bunch over a toy chicken.

SYDNEY, Australia -- A chicken toy that squawks and flaps its wings when strangled is "grossly irresponsible" and sends the wrong message to young children, a spokesman for a leading animal welfare group said Tuesday.

The toy is manufactured by a Taiwanese company and is widely available in toy and electronics stores across Australia. It is marketed for children over 3.

A product description on the Web site of Jaycar Electronics, a major Australian importer of toy, says: "Grab him by the neck and he will squawk and cluck like mad, flapping his wings and feet wildly as if he is really being choked."



Cluck Cluck Cluck...

I think that this toy is hilarious, but of course the “activists” have another take on the matter:

But Michael Beatty, a spokesman for the Queensland state branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the toy was "grossly irresponsible" and sent the wrong message to young children.

"What's next? Burn a cat? Shoot a dog?" Beatty said. "Children of that age are likely to turn around and try the same thing on their pet bird or even the cat or dog. Then they're going to wonder why the animal fights back."

This same group of morons would probably have a problem with kids watching Warner Brothers cartoons showing the antics of characters like Foghorn Leghorn:


More fun than a barrel full of monkeys...

Funny thing...I didn't spend much time as a kid bombing the neighborhood dogs with dynamite as a result of watching old Foghorn--you know what I mean?

If the "activists" have a problem, instead of stopping production of the toy, how about letting parents that DON'T LIKE IT exercise their option to NOT BUY IT for their kids.

Problem solved...

It’s About Damn Time…

Homeland security chief Michael Chertoff announced today that all illegal aliens will be expelled from the US.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department aims without exception to expel all those who enter the United States illegally.

"Our goal at DHS (Homeland Security) is to completely eliminate the 'catch and release' enforcement problem, and return every single illegal entrant, no exceptions.

"It should be possible to achieve significant and measurable progress to this end in less than a year," Chertoff told a Senate hearing.

I just hope that our illustrious Senators and Representatives put our tax money where Chertoff’s mouth is.

Wilma Changes Her Mind

I spoke too soon

Yesterday I said that Wilma couldn't get to the east coast...boy was I wrong.

Look out Naples and Ft. Lauderdale

Sunnis Appear To Fall Short On Iraq Vote

American Media In Mourning

The Associated Press and the rest of the mainstream media are crying at the outcome of Saturday’s election in Iraq. The title to this posting “Sunnis Appear To Fall Short On Iraq Vote” was the title of Sunday’s AP article on the election.

You just can’t make stuff like this up, I swear:

“Opponents failed to secure the necessary two-thirds "no" vote in any three of Iraqi's 18 provinces, according to counts that local officials provided to The Associated Press. In the crucial central provinces with mixed ethnic and religious populations, enough Shiites and Kurds voted to stymie the Sunni bid to reject the constitution.”

Just which side is the AP on here anyway? Obviously not that of the US and the Iraqis.

It seems to me that the AP hates it when anything happens in Iraq that could even remotely be called a success. I can assure you that the majority of the American media idiots were hoping that the Sunnis would succeed in vetoing the new Constitution so they could bash President Bush over the head with the outcome.

Even with the apparent success, they can’t help pointing out that the Sunnis are screaming sour grapes slogans and that they resent losing forty years of strong armed leadership under the tactics of Saddam. They are afraid of retaliation--and I think they're right.

“But the outcome could further divide the nation, with many Sunnis fearing the new decentralized government will deprive them of their fair share in the country's vast oil wealth. Large numbers of Sunnis voted "no," and some of their leaders were already rejecting the apparent result.”

And who exactly are the “leaders” that are rejecting the referendum outcome? Why Terrorist Leaders, of course:

"If the constitution was passed, the attacks will definitely rise against the occupation forces, and the security situation is going to be worse," said Sheik Abdul-Salam al-Kubaisi, a prominent cleric with the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, which government officials accuse of links to the insurgency.”

So I suppose we are to believe that if the new constitution had failed the good Sheik and his followers would have gone back to sewing on their robes and ministering to weary Iraqi souls rather than building roadside bombs and shooting at the coalition troops? Bullshit.

But not to worry…there’s still hope for failure because now the media is screaming “Voter Fraud”:

“Iraq’s election commission announced Monday that officials were investigating "unusually high" numbers of "yes" votes in about a dozen provinces during Iraq's landmark referendum on a new constitution, raising questions about irregularities in the balloting.

Word of the review came as Sunni Arab leaders repeated accusations of fraud after initial reports from the provinces suggested the constitution had passed. Among the Sunni allegations are that police took ballot boxes from heavily "no" districts, and that some "yes" areas had more votes than registered voters.”

I guess that the Iraqis are learning more from us Americans than we estimated. It looks like they might have been studying election procedures in Ohio and Minneapolis where similar accusations were made after the 2004 election.

All I know is that the mainstream media couldn't be more transparent in their desire for failure in Iraq--today, tomorrow, and forever. They believe that the outcome of our own 2006 and 2008 elections hinge on bad results in Baghdad, and the media will make every effort to ignore good outcomes, spin the news negatively, and even outright make up stories if that is what it takes to get liberals elected.

Hunter's Moon

Did you see it?


Hunter's Moon

The mosquitos almost ate us alive, but we managed to hang out by the marsh long enough to watch this evenings "moonrise" about 6:59 PM.

Hurricane Season Encore

Yabba Dabba Doo...


Where's Fred Flintstone when you need him?

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, WILMA has to come along. She likely won't bother us here on the Georgia coast, but I get to spend the next week worrying about my mother in south Alabama.

Of course the media will jump on the bandwagon, unbutton their collars and loosen their ties, and beat us to death with the same old time worn stories. The weather channel reporters are gassing up the satellite trucks and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagen is probably feeling every orifice in his body tightening up uncomfortably.

FEMA will be loading up another truck load of dynamite and the Nation of Islam leaders are buying new microphone cords and polishing the lenses on their TV cameras in anticipation of denouncing the ill prepared, racist response to this next disaster.

We're all gonna die. AAAAAAHHHHHHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

What Were They Thinking?

They weren't...that's the problem.

Did you see what happened in Toledo, Ohio on Saturday?

Based on what I saw I can honestly say that black people in this country have a real problem, and there is nothing that the laws and government can do for them with quotas and racial preferences to solve it. There is nothing that the white population can do for them either, because the problem comes from inside black culture (or the lack of culture.)

The problem I'm addressing is the mentality of more than a small minority of the black population. They can bitch and complain all day about racism and prejudice and "social injustice," but believe me when I say that the TV pictures showing that out of control mob in Toledo is not doing much for the image of inner city blacks in the public relations department.

I'm not talking about ALL black people here, so don't start sending me E-mails talking about me being a bigot or a racist because I'm not saying this about ALL blacks.

All I know is that WHITE people are expected to allow Lewis Farahkan and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to drag a rag tag crowd of "activists" into the mall in Washington DC or downtown Macon, Georgia and no one is allowed to complain--and in 2005 we don't.

They (the so called "black leaders") can stand around all day publicly talking about how bad white people are and spout conspiracy theories about oppression and blowing up the levees in New Orleans and we're expected to somehow learn our lesson from their rantings. White people don't run out and loot and burn the surrounding neighborhoods down in response to a "Million Mind March" or a "Million Man March" or any other ethnic "March du jour."

Yet if the Toledo Mayor lets a bunch of stupid assed skin headed Neo-Nazis wander out to a BLACK neighborhood and try to walk down the street looking like the idiots that they are on TV, the blacks respond by injuring 12 police officers, burning a bar, and looting surrounding businesses.

They were throwing bricks at ambulances, for Gods sake.

The ambulance drivers were there to help, right?

And most damning thing is the fact that they CANCELLED THE MARCH before the rioting started. They claim that they rioted because the Toledo Mayor was going to allow the march in the first place.

Is that a screwed up complaint or what?

And what responsibility did the business and home owners have in the melee that would cause the blacks to believe that they deserved to have their homes and businesses destroyed?

Can you say NONE?

I'm telling you there is a double standard here that is unfair to the black community, and as long as it exists blacks are going to continue to be their own worst enemies--not white racists.

If several hundred whites had gone out and rioted and busted Jesse Jackson and his fellow "black leaders" in the head with bricks and trashed the surrounding neighborhood there would be a federal investigation and the "hate crime" task force would be out in force and CNN would be broadcasting live from the scene 24 hours a day for the next month.

Instead, since it was "black folks" that were "misbehaving," all we get is a few short news stories and headlines saying that "Neighbors believe that the Neo-Nazis had no RIGHT to march."

The story dissappears almost overnight. Just watch...

And the "black leaders"--where are they in the end of this story? Are they out there chastising the behavior and attempting to remedy the mentality that allows these kinds of events to occur?

No, the "black leaders" are too busy blameing the "authorities" and apologizing for these black animals that believe that they can hide in a crowd and wholesale break the laws and violate the standards of behavior in a civil society.

"It's not their fault--they are oppressed and they have been discriminated against and we have to tolerate their behavior..."

Well, I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY HERE ALSO.

I say "sorry", but I also say a hearty "tough shit" to the "neighbors" that are saying the the Neo-Nazis don't have the RIGHT to march and that are blaming the events on the marchers.

I say that if I have to listen to the lunatic ramblings of anti-white black leaders like Lewis Farahkan three times a day; they have to put up with idiots like the Neo-Nazis yelling their hate filled stupidity on the streets of their neighborhoods. The Neo-Nazis no more represent the thinking of all white people (and certainly not my thinking) than Farahkan's verbal bullshit represents all black people.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your politics,) after all is said and done, we do live in the United States of America, and the last time I checked it was still a free country.

All of the Blacks, Negros, and African Americans "activists" need to just suck it up and get over themselves like the rest of us do...

Hunter’s Moon

More nerdy stuff…

What are you doing at 6:59 PM Monday night?

Nothing? Well, I have a suggestion.

I’ll be standing outside with my camera watching the full “Hunter’s Moon rising in the twilight sky. Weather permitting, this should be one of those full moons that rises with a golden fall hue and looks as big as a dinner plate while it is close to the horizion. Of course the exact time of the moon rise varies slightly based on your geographic position.

If you are a night owl and live on the US Pacific coast there will also be a partial eclipse of the full moon viewable about 5:00 AM this morning. (Sorry, but if you’re reading this at work on Monday you already missed the eclipse.)

Wear a sweater...it's chilly that time of the morning...

So You Were Sleeping In Again?

Well, here's what you missed...




I drove over to the mainland in time for a 7:29 AM sunrise this morning. That faint blur on the horizion is St. Simons. The "land" in the middle is part of the salt marsh that extends between Brunswick and our island.

Time to go make a Quiche for breakfast...

Boldly Going Where No Man Few Have Gone Before

Bang...zoom…to the moon…Alice

I just heard about James Doohan’s remains being shipped into Earth orbit later this year.

What an interesting idea.

Being an original “Trekkie,” I wrote about the death of Star Trek’s “Mr. Scott” when Doohan passed away this past July. At first glance it seems fitting that Doohan’s family would honor his request by placing his remains in orbit, but upon viewing The Space Services Website, I hate to tell you that it would appear that ALL of Mr. Scott won’t be orbiting the earth in a single container.

Maybe they made special arrangments to supersize their order or something.

You see, Space Services, which specializes in launching the cremated remains of your dearly departed loved ones into orbit, seems to be set up to send only a small part of a person’s remains into orbit or beyond.

My question is: “exactly what part of your body is being launched?”

Further: “Can I choose which part?” “If no, why not?”

Most people would pick their heart and/or brain, I guess.

Space Services charges $995 to launch one GRAM of your ashes into orbit. They charge $5,300 to launch 7 grams of remains, including a slightly expanded list of accutriments like scattering the rest of the remains at sea near the launch site.

Shouldn't they call this option the Space Shuttle Challenger option? (sorry…a crude reference, but I just couldn’t resist…)

Any way, if they are launching only one gram or seven grams of my remains, I want to know how much my butt would weigh after cremation because if I chose to employ Space Services, I want them to launch my entire lumbering ASS into orbit and have the unique opportunity to add yet another “MOON” to Earth orbit.

What a truely universal gesture of good will. I'll publish orbital tables and charts and school children can take astronomy class and look at the remains of MY REAR END in orbit from now on. Maybe I should wax....never mind.

I'll finally be famous...

For the slightly more money Space Services will allow you to buy the following services:

The $12,500 Lunar Service:

Launches a 1g sample of the cremated remains to either lunar orbit or to the lunar surface, and is deemed complete upon insertion into the moon’s gravitational influence. Includes:

The participant’s name is inscribed on a special plaque included in the spacecraft

Family, friends, and loved ones are invited to attend the launch and to participated in the on site memorial service;

A professionally produced video or DVD of the launch and associated activities is delivered after the launch event;

A biography and photo of the participant are posted on the website as a permanent virtual memorial;

A commemorative plaque suitable for use as a keepsake urn includes a launch photo, launch date and time information, and a replica of the flown Flight Module complete with participant’s name and flight message;

For the $12,500 Voyager Service:

Places 1 gram of cremated remains into deep space. Includes:

The participant’s name is inscribed on a special plaque included in the spacecraft

Family, friends, and loved ones are invited to attend the launch and to participated in the on site memorial service;

A professionally produced video or DVD of the launch and associated activities is delivered after the launch event;

A biography and photo of the participant are posted on the website as a permanent virtual memorial;

A commemorative plaque suitable for use as a keepsake urn includes a launch photo, launch date and time information, and a replica of the flown Flight Module complete with participant’s name and flight message;

* Performance assurance means that in the event the orbit is not reached, you will have the option for a priority re-flight, at no additional cost, on the next scheduled Space Services Inc. launch.

I, personally, have been considering another unique option for burial once my days on this planet are over with. Being a former scuba diver, I like the program offered by Eternal Reefs.

For a couple of thousand dollars they will cast ALL of your ashes into a concrete artifical reef module and place the module in a known location in the Atlantic ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. They then publish the GPS coordinates of your remains and YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY CAN COME VISIT YOU--IF THEY ARE SCUBA DIVERS.

I like the idea, myself. It seems very practical since it doesn't require taking up any real estate and hey--with all of the fish swimming around you can have pets from now on.

Do you have a better idea?