Useful or Useless Information

[MirandaH]

I think I'm sorry I started this thread.

It was just that the person I walk with of a morning mentioned to me that his granddaughter had a - Did you know question on a wrapper of something that she was eating and told me about it.

BBM

For some reason I get this a lot, lol! I don't think you should be sorry either. This has been fun, at least for me. And look how much you learned...that you probably didn't want to and never thought you would. I am fascinated with people. Not only what our bodies do, but also all the various things people do, from why serial killers do the things they do to why people would make soap out of their own body to what causes certain children to give away their birthday presents to kids in hospitals. We are a crazy, amazing species and I am determined to learn everything I can about us.

 

[mel z]

Moderators, please delete anything that is inappropriate or inconsiderate. I do not intend to be, but if I delete just my own posts answers will not make sense. I am sorry to ask for the extra work, and most sorry if offensive in any way.

And, MirandaH, I know The Body Farm will not do soap, but would have loads of info. Good for you getting to speak with Dr. Vass! I hope the sniffer idea eventually works out as a Court acceptable science, however, soil chemicals and underground gases may prevent that. I hope he looks closer to the actual crime scene, and narrows that idea.

And, I was trying to avoid all the WWII issues, and the incomprehensible myriad issues with humans and any part of them. I should just shut up now.........

 

[Lin]

Mary Roach was able to visit the body farm when writing Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers. Great book, really the best of all hers imo. Not to be read by the sensitive though.

 

[Derpina Bubbles]

Morbid, interesting, informative and yes, a tad creepy. That's part of humanity though and I for one am not offended by the contents of this thread.

However, I do now have a list of people on here that I never want to tick off. You good looking, intelligent and wonderful folks :shifty:

 

[kryse13]

I'm just relieved I wasn't the only one thinking about if you could make soap from people fat. I thought it was possible just wasn't going to say it out loud

So maybe on the street there was a barber shop, a meat pie shop, and a soap factory? (Sweetney Todd)

 

[DeeAnna]

I am not in the least offended by anything that's been said here. (So, hey, Mel, I'm okay with your posts!)

It's just an unusual and edgy topic that I sometimes have to approach "sideways" and in "little bites", so to speak. Unlike Miranda (and my husband who is also a lawyer), I do not have years of dealing with the worst of human behavior to desensitize me to the issues of mortality and the wide range of human behavior. If I keep my usual somewhat dispassionate engineering curiosity going, it's okay and I can contribute to the discussion, but when I go deeper and think about issues of cruelty and disrespect for life, then I can get a little uncomfortable and have to slow down.

But I still feel strongly that we can and should talk about the edgy aspects of soap making as well as the norm. Thanks, all, for sharing. Been really interesting....

 

[Ancel]

Yes, it's macabre but it's fascinating, probably more so as it's a taboo, or almost taboo subject. As I sit here and ponder my own belly spilling out from the top of my trousers and rue that I didn't get more lard from the butcher . . .

 

[boyago]

Is a "cake" a defined unit?

Bonus question: Are there other soap based unit definitions? Is there a benchmark/standard for a "bar" of soap?

Bueller... Bueller...

 

[grayceworks]

Fascinating.

I love learning stuff. Even if it's kindof morbid. lol

 

[EvilTOJ]

I think the OP figure of 7 cakes is way underestimated. Since I've idly wondered if otherwise useless human beings I know could be more useful rendered down to their constituent elements, I decided to math it up a little.

According to Wikipedia, there's no one standard percentage of fat in a human being. It depends on age, fitness, and gender. Women range between 10% to 31%, men generally range between 2% and 25%.

So assuming you have a human that weighs about 150 lbs and they're American... I mean "average", at 25% fat in the body you get 37 lbs. Since human fat is basically lard or tallow, I plugged in the saponification values for Lard into my spreadsheet. After adding the fat, water and lye, minus 20% water loss, I get 43.68 lbs of soap.

Or, around 139 five ounce bars.

If you were to take a 150 lb male Olympian(which have the lowest percentage of body fat) at 5% body fat, you'd get 8.85 lbs of soap, which is about 28 five ounce bars.

 

[Dennis]

***WARNING GRAPHIC - IF SENSITIVE DO NOT READ OR GO TO LINK***


The Body Farm. You can donate your body. Uumm, it is in Tennessee.................... Probably free for your remains to be transported, not necessarily turned into soap, but you can call and ask.

http://fac.utk.edu/donation.html

Sorry if this is creeping out the sensitive. I used to be, and I forget.

There was a documentary on television concerning the UT forensics program. Most interesting. I'm sure some were creeped out, but it was interesting.

 

[MzMolly65]

Sorry if this is creeping out the sensitive. I used to be, and I forget.

Not creeped out at all .. in fact I bookmarked the link you provided. I've always wanted to donate my remains like that but hadn't gotten around to researching where that could be done and you just saved me looking.

Thank you!

 

[Ijeoma Soronnadi]

i wonder if any soap makers who works at a plastic surgeon office thinks that when they're performing a liposuction.....

I definitely would

 

[shunt2011]

I definitely would

The OP hasn’t been here in almost 5 years.