1.  This headline from the “Belfast Telegraph”: German firefighters tackle obese corpse cremation blaze.

Since I don’t want to touch this, I’ll let the Telegraph:

Rising obesity figures in Germany have become a cause of concern for crematorium owners as increasing body weights take their toll on equipment.
Concerns were made public after a crematorium in western Germany failed to control a fire which occurred during the funeral of a man who weighed 440 pounds.  After fighting the blaze for four hours, firemen determined the temperature of the furnace reached some 600 degrees celsius causing damage to the crematorium’s chimney.
Because obese bodies have a higher fat content, they burn for longer reaching temperatures that current crematorium facilities find difficult to control, revealed a German website.

2.  And while you may think the grease fire in Germany is funny, there is someone who does not: LADY GAGA.  Gaga has been spotted wearing veils lately.  ”Why?” you may ask?  Gaga states, “People ask me why I wear veils. I reply, I’m mourning. Mourning what? Well I figure something s—ty must be going on somewhere.”

And that something s–ty definitely just happened in Germany.

3. Mourning and respecting the dead isn’t just a human phenomena.

For instance, have you ever seen two dead squirrels on the road one right next to the other?  I’ve seen it before and didn’t think too much of it until I once drove by one dead squirrel and another sitting right beside the dead one.  I slowed down my car and watched as the living squirrel stood stoically unmoved by my passing car, seemingly mourning the loss of his friend.

Do animals grieve?

This video should make you think.

4.  If the idea of of animals mourning upsets you, this piece of news should cheer you up.

Here’s the deadline: ‘Dead’ hamster digs itself out of grave”.  From Gawker:

“It’s impossible – our hamster is dead,” Dave Eyley told a neighbor who called to tell him Rhino had escaped. Indeed, the Eyleys had buried their pet the previous day, after he was found “cold and lifeless” inside his cage. “He had rigor mortis when I buried him – and now he’s running about,” said Dave.

The family has since renamed their resurrected rodent Jesus. Adds Dave: “He’s a plucky little soul and seems unaffected by being dead and buried.”

5. Mayans.  You were right.  How can we bring in 2013 without Dick Clark?

There was many a good time had with the voice of Clark in the background.  Thanks, Dick.

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