For the more conventionally minded, there are cast-stone, aboveground tombs that range in price from about $5,000 for a single to $15,000 for the two-person model.

Caskets honoring the deceased's military service continue to be big sellers, especially as those who fought World War II die in increasing numbers.

Stone monuments remain big sellers, but more modest bronze markets are available for those who prefer to leave the money to the kids or would be embarrassed, even in death, by an ostentatious headstone.

If, like the Chicago Cubs, your team hasn't made it to the World Series in 100 years, you can pay a little extra to have your team's logo on your casket or urn, suggesting that it's possible for sports fans to take a measure of grief with them. If you're a snob (or simply silly) unto death, you can get the logo of major universities on your casket or urn.

Leave it to the sociologists and shrinks to tell us what it all means. Basic theories: Goofy funerals are one last way to flip the bird to death while having a university's logo on the casket is a tacit admission that ego is terminal.

There may be an opening for an entrepreneur who's handy with a chisel to sell headstones pegged to the croaker's occupation. A Wall Streeter's tombstone might read, "Go long death", "Death is still a sure thing," or "The funeral industry is death proof."