now that's some fine jewellery!

Sent in to us by roving reporter Emma Niedzwiecki (I don't want to tell you what site she got it off of cause the rest of the site is creepy and disturbing, but if you really want to know, you can use my cryptonomicon below to translate this web address: www.r tten.c 0).

The cutting edge of crematory jewelry is an innovation designed by a British company called LifeGem. Like Superman crushing a piece of coal, LifeGem will compress your loved one's remains under high pressure and heat until it fuses into a shiny new synthetic diamond. According to the company:

A LifeGem is a certified, high quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique and wonderful life.

The LifeGem provides a way to embrace your loved one's memory day by day. The LifeGem is a special and timeless memorial for creating a testimony to their unique life.

We hope and believe that your LifeGem memorial will offer comfort and support when and where you need it, and provide a lasting memory that endures just as a diamond does.

Not to mention the unique resale value of your LifeGem on eBay. Don't leave your dearly departed lying around the house unattended, however, as he or she may present a choking hazard for children under four. The diamonds come in various shades. "The elements and impurities in your loved one's carbon directly affect the resulting color of your LifeGem(s)," the company explains. So after a lifetime of grim-facedly enduring your departed's impurities, you can continue to savor them after death. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Thanks Em! [Toronto-21-November-2005]