the buzz log

As dictators like Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il age, news of their illnesses throw searches into tumult: Il's online profile has popped 5,725% in the past week. Among the many concerns, one question sinks below the rest: What to do with the remains?

To grossly exaggerate, the practice of more democratic nations allows a viewing period in which the esteemed figure lies in state, before the body reaches a well-entombed resting place. In the case of Communist leaders, they get preserved ... even pickled, as one San Francisco Chronicle writer puts in an article about visiting the Mao Zedong mauseleom.

The author explains how deceased leaders get a semi-regular chemical spa treatment at a "secret Moscow lab at the Research Center for Bio-structure." The article, which describes the etiquette of visiting Mao, also lists where else embalmed communist leaders lie. Sounds like a travel tour whispering to be made.