Quartz Crystals

(via National Geographic Magazine) Quartz Crystals vibrate when electricity is applied. Thin plates of the mineral, vibrating at precise rates, keep radio transmitters on proper frequencies. Such crystals, tuned to different frequencies, separate simultaneous calls on the same telephone channel. Twisting or squeezing quartz produces an electric current.

The Great Dictator

Memorable quote (s) from the movie:

A Jewish Barber (Charles Chaplin): I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!

Mr. Jaeckel (Maurice Moscovitch): Hannah, did you hear that?

Hannah (Paulette Goddard): Listen...

Liberian Diamonds

The European Union has lifted its embargo on Liberian diamonds, after the UN Security Council became satisfied that the trade in the so-called blood diamonds had been stemmed.

What Is The First Known Piece Of Gold Jewelry?

(via Commodity Online) Rediff writes:

The earliest gold jewelry dates from the Sumer civilization in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq around 3,000 BC. A major archeological find of early jewelry was in the Royal tombs of Ur, in Mesopotamia, dated to around 2,600 BC where gold articles made by lost wax casting included a wild ass on the rein ring of a chariot. Copper and bronze inlaid with gold also date to this period, demonstrating the craft skills in metalworking that existed. A beautifully modeled bull cast in gold dating to 2,300 BC was found in the Caucasus in Eastern Europe. In Egypt, gold jewelry and other artifacts have been found in Pharoah's tombs dating to around 1500 BC and later.

Looking Back At the Future

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the lack of liquidity in the diamond industry, bankruptcies, lack of success in the development and financing of branded diamonds + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=26653

How To Identify Lechleitner Synthetic Hydrothermal Emerald

Lechleitner emerald-coated beryl (Emerita - first marketed in 1960 by Austrian Johann Lechleitner in 1960, Austria). Produced hydrothermally by growing a coating of synthetic emerald over an already faceted specimen of natural colorless or pale colored beryl.

Detection
- Crazed effect in overcoat layer with cracks intersecting at 90°.
- Generally poor polish (repolishing may cause bald patches); some small back facets left unpolished to enhance depth of color.
- Dark rim of overgrowth area (best seen when stone immersed methylene iodide).
- Overgrowth area may fluoresce (weak to moderate red (LW & SW).
- Depending on the type of beryl used for the core (e.g., pale pink beryl or aquamarine), S.G. and inclusions noted might be wrong for emerald.

Lechleitner sandwich
Composite of natural or synthetic colorless beryl with overgrowth of dark green synthetic emerald. The sandwich type was first produced in 1964. Seed plate is of natural or synthetic beryl upon which a plate of emerald is grown. This may be subsequently enlarged by growing on synthetic colorless beryl. Multiple sandwiches have also been produced.

Detection
-Magnification: typical hydrothermal inclusions (and physical constants)
- Structure is only exhibited when viewed from the side or when immersed in a suitable liquid.
- Nail-like growth tubes may be seen streaming away from the seed crystal.

Lechleitner types

- Type 1
Thin hydrothermal synthetic emerald skin grown on a faceted natural colorless beryl seed. The skin displays a characteristic checkerboard-like appearance of narrow cracks. Thickness of the overgrowth varies from one facet to another, resulting in obvious differences in the depth of color on different facets. Natural inclusions may be found in the seed.

- Type 2
Sandwich-like consisting of a thin slice of natural colorless beryl surrounded by hydrothermal synthetic emerald. The colorless seed generally is found at the girdle and runs parallel to the table. Inclusions are the same as in type 3 & 4.

- Type 3 & 4
Full hydrothermal synthetic, featuring nails-like, unidentified tiny black and red specks, straight color zoning, etc.

The stones are rare. They are found only in a few gemological schools and gem research laboratories for study purposes.

Jewelry Information Center Launches Vlogs

The Jewelry Information Center (JIC) has launched a series of video blogs (vlogs) on its website www.jic.org to reach out to manufacturing and retail members + educate consumers in a simple format.

Which Are The Famous Films About Gold?

- Goldfinger

- The Italian Job

- The Maltese Falcon

- The Lavender Hill Mob.

Tax Amnesty: Veni, Vidi, Vici

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the concept of inventory revaluation introduced by the Diamond High Council (HRD) and the Belgian government + the accounting practices applied in the diamond sector between second world war and 1995 + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=26738

How Doctors Think

Most physicians already have in mind two or three possible diagnoses within minutes of meeting a patient. Jerome Groopman writes about the concept of cognitive dimension of clinical decision-making—the process by which doctors interpret their patients’ symptoms and weigh test results in order to arrive at a diagnosis and a plan of treatment @ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/01/29/070129fa_fact_groopman

It is interesting to analyze the similarity of clinical decision making by doctors with gem identification. The experts have a sweet way of describing the process. Gem identification is a logical process of deduction or alternatively of elimination. The gemologist performs a series of observations and tests upon a particular stone and with each test will eliminate some of the possible identities of that stone. Finally through step-by-step testing only one identity will fit the stone in question. This is the end point of the exercise, to identify an unknown material in terms of its mineralogical group, species and variety.

How To Identify Lechleitner Synthetic Ruby

The veteran Austrian crystal grower Johann Lechleitner is the genius behind the production of synthetic corundum in a variety of colors by the flux process. The experimentation began in 1983. As with Knischka, Lechleitner uses seeds as a focus for growth. His production can be divided into two types depending on the type of seed used.

- Type 1
Growth on Verneuil seeds. These are grown in a variety of colors (red, pink, orange, blue, yellow, green and colorless) with the color of the seed usually matching that of the overgrowth. Inclusions are characteristic of both the flux method of growth (reminiscent of Kashan and Chatham synthetics) and of the Verneuil seed (gas bubbles, curved striae and color banding). This is a characteristic and easily recognized assemblage of inclusions.

- Type 2
Growth on natural corundum seeds. This type of Lechleitner synthetic requires much closer attention. The synthetic overgrowth will adopt the crystal habit of the seed underneath and reproduce growth structures identical to the natural material (i.e. an overgrowth on a Thai ruby seed will produce a tabular crystal of identical habit to the natural crystal). Repeated twinning found in the seed will continue out into the overgrowth.

Inclusions in the seed portion can easily confuse the eye, especially if the identification is hasty. Features typical of flux-growth corundums should be seen in the overgrowth. The best method of detecting type 2 corundums would seem to be with immersion in high RI liquid, but even with this technique it may be difficult to see the boundary between the seed and the overgrowth (this should be present as a narrow colorless layer at the junction). Unfortunately, the growth process seems to use such high temperatures that the surface of the seed may be actively dissolved by the flux, making the junction between seed and overgrowth harder to detect.

The cutting process may also remove much of the overgrowth, in which case the inclusions within the seed would be more noticeable than the flux inclusions left in the vestiges of the seed. One consequence of using a natural seed will be the difference in fluorescence between the two 'components' of the stone. Under longwave ultraviolet light the natural seed will glow a much weaker red than the overgrowth, which will fluoresce bright red.

The stones are rare. You may find the specimens only at a few gemological schools, gem research laboratories and among private collectors.

China's Gemstone Market Booms

Chen Nan Yang writes about the total size of the jewelry, colored stones including jade market @ http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/mar07/china.cfm

The Naked Face

Malcolm Gladwell writes about reading people's thought by looking at them + Paul Ekman's techniques + Facial Action Coding System @ http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_08_05_a_face.htm

The concept might be useful in the gem and jewelry trade where you meet ninety five five's (ninety five percent bluffs + 5 percent truth) a lot + with Facial Action Coding System you may be able to weed out the crooks.

White Moonstone Simulant

Heat treatment causes some of the alumina to crystallize out as corundum, which causes a diffuse reflection effect in the form of a moonstone-like sheen. The imitation moonstone synthetic spinel features a mirror-like coating on the back of the cabochon. The schiller-like effect is caused by exsolution of excess alumina which produces multitudes of tiny needles and can even produce star phenomena. The material is rare.

Russia: In Search of a Future Without De Beers

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the fate of Supplier of Choice + the Russian influence + Kremlin's control over the diamond business through federal agencies + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=26759

Sintered Cobalt Rich Blue Spinel

This has been produced (1954) as a lapis lazuli imitation. The material is sintered under heat and pressure from spinel powder + suitable coloring matter. Flecks of gold or gold-colored metal are included to imitate pyrite.

For detection, magnification is the best. Look at the granular structure and also check under Chelsea Color Filter. Under the Chelsea Color Filter the material appears red while natural lapis lazuli tend to appear dull red/brown. Also look for the cobalt spectrum.

Make Money Doing What You Love

An interesting perspective on new ways of making money and enjoying what you love.

Rediff writes:

Answer this honestly: Do you work because you have to? Or because you want to? The majority of us would, reluctantly, have to plump for the former. However, an increasing number of Indians are finding the perfect balance on the work-life ratio concept by converting a passion into a paying proposition. It's not easy, but look at it this way - you don't need to work ever again.

All fun and games
Like Vishal Gondal, 30. Hooked onto computer games since a very early age, gaming became a full-blown obsession by the time he was in his teens. One day, when he was barely 20, he walked into the Pepsi corporate office in Mumbai and persuaded their head honcho to check out a game he had developed. It involved shooting down simulations of bitter competitor Coke's cola cans. "It was music to their ears," Gondal grins.

The young entrepreneur sold the game to Pepsi for Rs 60,000, and went on to create games for brand names like Colgate, Kellogg's and Hindustan Lever. In 1999, the Kargil war prompted him and a handful of associates to come up with a computer game, where the objective was to shoot down enemy soldiers. The game, called I Love India, was a huge hit. He then launched Indiagames, now a 350-people company with offices in Mumbai, Beijing and Los Angeles and a 2006 turnover of $5 million.

Sounds like a fairy tale? The happy ending - not that the success story's over - perhaps had something to do with the founder's complete belief in his idea. "There was no real market research or business vision behind the venture," says Gondal. "I launched Indiagames simply because it was what I loved."

After the initial tunnel vision, though, the entrepreneur has shown exemplary business sense. After venture capitalists bought into the idea, funding Indiagames with Rs 3.5 crore (Rs 35 million), Gondal diversified into mobile game publishing, game distribution in India and online, on-demand gaming.

At the same time, Gondal retains his childlike enthusiasm for gaming. "From the very beginning, I believed that if you are passionate about your dream, the money would follow. Even today, I play all day at office and then play some more when I get home on my XBox and Nintendo game consoles."

The sound of Rock
If Gondal's family once despaired of a son who flunked his B.Com finals, people even today would find it incredible that the six-member Parikrama can make a living out of music that is not Bollywood. One of the biggest English rock band in India, however, prefers to call their occupation "a hobby that pays well".

Says bassist-turned-keyboardist Subir Malik, 36, who formed the band back in 1991: "We have dedicated our entire lives to rock music. I told the band in 1991 that this is one thing I would never compromise on. So even today, we do what we love - play rock and roll - and on our own terms."

Parikrama's first paid gig was at Father Agnels School, New Delhi, on Independence Day in 1991, for which they were promised Rs 500. "But the organisers really liked what we did and gave us Rs 500 each," says Malik. Since then, the band has only gotten bigger as rock music in India grew in popularity. Parikrama now earns around Rs 200,000 per concert and most band-members nurture music-related jobs to ensure they "don't turn into Indipop artistes for want of money". Guitarist Sonam Sherpa, for instance, runs the Parikrama School of Music in Delhi, while others have launched studios and artist management set-ups.

"The going is not as difficult now as it was during our initial years. Careers in rock music are more feasible now, with the genre winning the patronage of pub-owners and event-organisers," says Malik. "Today, there are a million bands and they're all playing good music. I have never seen so much talent in my entire career!"

So does running a band cost the earth? Surprisingly, no. The band's overheads are minimal since the organisers pick up the tab for most of the costs. And things will only get better, as Malik says: "We're going to celebrate our 16th anniversary in the UK. We have been invited by Rod Smallwood (rock group Iron Maiden's legendary manager) to play nine shows in the UK, including the 3-day Download Festival. After that, you can be sure we'll hike our fees."

Soul secrets
But money isn't the only objective for hobby-hunters; pure altruism, too, can be a driving force. Take Sajid Peerbhoy, 62-year-old veteran of the advertising industry and a spiritual teacher. The man who started Speer Communications (later taken over by Ogilvy & Mather) in 1979 is today known as 'Karmajyoti' by his disciples.

Peerbhoy's spiritual awakening began after he met a Sufi spiritual guru in 1969. Though drawn instantly to Sufism, he had to keep it a secret since "other people could not know about it". The corporate life and Sufism, he says, just didn't mix.

For close to 30 years, Peerbhoy disguised his spiritual leanings with the trappings of the life of an advertising bigwig. Eleven years ago, however, he sold Speer to O&M and devoted himself and all his savings to helping individuals. At his ashram Nyasa in Alibaug, near Mumbai, he teaches meditation and self-awareness techniques to a corporate clientele and individual disciples.

Because the residential programme is entirely free of cost, Peerbhoy realised his savings would run out before his students would. But, so far, voluntary donations and corporate fees have taken care of the monthly expenses, which run to anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000.

"If it hadn't been for the donations," says Peerbhoy, "every month would have been a struggle."

"But I've never had a fraction of a moment's doubt about my decision to quit advertising," says the ad guru-turned-soul guru. "People once mocked me, but my sense of fulfilment came from showing people a better way of life."

For Peerbhoy, the sense of 'giving back' far outweighs any monetary loss he might have made.

Food for thought
There's soul food and then there is, well, sinfully good food. As with Gondal or even Parikrama, money was never the motivation for Madhu Menon's decision to quit a seven-year career in IT for a leap into the unknown of the restauranting business.

"All I knew was that Bangalore, my base, needed a good, affordable Asian cuisine restaurant, and that I, as a chef, could deliver," says Menon, 31.

But the computer science graduate was also aware that the lack of professional training could be a huge handicap. "There was no way I could acquire the skills and knowledge required to run a restaurant in a short time. I think one of the best decisions I made was to hire an experienced and knowledgeable manager. After all, a good businessman must also be able to hire smart people."

Menon's timing was important as well. He launched Shiok Far-Eastern Cuisine while he was in his 20s, knowing that he would be able to take and bear higher risks at that point than at any later stage in life. "Though we never borrowed money from banks, we had a Rs 500,000 overdraft facility that we used frequently in the initial year-and-a-half," says the geek-turned-chef. "Now I'm about a year away from breaking even."

Walk the wild side
Maybe Menon's lack of entrepreneurial experience proved a handicap. But T.G. 'Tiger' Ramesh broke even in his new venture, Cicada Resorts, within a matter of months. After all, each entrepreneur has a different story.

The big idea struck Ramesh, 41, during a trip to Africa. "I realised that eco-tourism could help protect the environment in many ways. So, in May 2005, I left India's first remote IT infrastructure management company, which I had helped set up, to launch Cicada Resorts."
With $2 million from investors like Phaneesh Murthy of PM Ventures and H B Jairaj of the HRB Group, Ramesh set forth to involve the local community in resort operations on the banks of the Kabini river in the Nagarhole National Park, 220 km from Bangalore. Local involvement, he believes, will promote the local economy and reduce their dependence - and consequent pressure - on the forest.

With Cicada Resorts attracting 700 guests a month, Ramesh is dreaming of investing an additional $13 million on expansion. "Budgets aren't a problem. But adequate loss buffers are essential. A simple oversight can cost time and money a start-up can't afford," he points out. And the pay-off? "The biggest satisfaction is that I go on work to the forest instead of going on vacation."

There are two ways to have fun at what you do. One is to find something and derive pleasure from it. The other and, perhaps, easier option is to take something that gives you pleasure and commit your career to it. The really important thing is clarity of thought and the willingness to forgo the comfort of a monthly cheque.

Word of caution Some words of caution from Laura A. Parkin, executive director, National Entrepreneurship Network, Wadhwani Foundation:

Understand what kind of business you want to go in for. For example, if you are thinking of converting your love for cooking into a business, do you see yourself working part-time, perhaps by opening a catering service? Or, do you see yourself investing 18-hour days to build a large business, such as a chain of restaurants? It's important to consider your vision for life - not just business.

One works on hobbies because one loves to spend time at the endeavour, not because one is trying to meet a customer's needs. One needs to be careful to ensure that there is, indeed, a market for one's product.

A good idea is to minimise investment while trying to determine whether other people like your services. Adjust your investment to match your success and your choice of lifestyle. In other words, don't judge whether your hobby is a good business simply by your own love for your endeavours - other people will have to love it for you have a business.

More info @ http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jun/20job.htm

My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the regulators who enforce anti-money laundering laws in Antwerp and New York + the Monstrey Worldwide Services courier case + the diamantaires who profited from the fraud perpetrated by the courier companies + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=26921

The Ghost Map

(via Emergic) Rajesh Jain writes:

Jason Kottke wrote in a review of the book on his blog:

The Ghost Map is a book about:
- a bacterium
- the human body
- a geographical map
- a man
- a working friendship
- a household
- a city government
- a neighborhood
- a waste management system1
- an epidemic
- a city
- human civilization

You hooked yet? Well, you should be. As the narrative unfolds around the 1854 London cholera epidemic, author Steven Johnson weaves all of these social, geographical, and biological structures/webs/networks into a scientific parable for the contemporary world. The book is at its best when it zooms among these different scales in a Powers of Ten-like fashion (something Johnson calls The Long Zoom), demonstrating the interplay between them: the way the geography of a neighborhood affected the spread of a virus, how ideas spreading within a social context are like an epidemic, or the comparison between the organism of the city and the geography of a bacterial colony within the human colon. None of this is surprising if you've read anything about emergence, complexity, or social scale invariance, but Johnson effectively demonstrates how tightly coupled the development of (as well as our understanding of) viral epidemics and large cities were across all of these scales.

The New York Times wrote in a review:
There’s a great story here, one of the signal episodes in the history of medical science, and Johnson recounts it well. It centers, figuratively and literally, on the infamous Broad Street pump. That pump, which was public, free and previously considered a safe source of drinking water, drew from a well beneath Golden Square, home to some of London’s poorest and most overcrowded people. In the last week of August 1854, many residents of Golden Square suddenly took sick and began dying. Their symptoms included upset stomach, vomiting, gut cramps, diarrhea and racking thirst. Whatever the cause, it was fast — fast to kill (sometimes within 12 hours of onset) and fast in spreading to new victims. “Hundreds of residents had been seized by the disease within a few hours of one another, in many cases entire families, left to tend for themselves in dark, suffocating rooms,” Johnson writes. Seventy fatalities occurred in a 24-hour period, most within five square blocks, and hundreds more people were in danger. “You could see the dead being wheeled down the street by the cartload.”

Johnson goes beyond the immediate details of the 1854 epidemic to consider such related matters as the history of toilets, the upgrading of London’s sewer system, the importance of population density for a disease that travels in human excrement, and the positive as well as negative aspects of urbanization itself. Never before Victorian London, Johnson reminds us, had 2.4 million primates of any species lived together within a 30-mile perimeter.

By solving the cholera mystery, Johnson asserts, John Snow and Henry Whitehead helped make the world safe for big cities. And cities are “where the action is” (he really does use that phrase, alas), being “centers of opportunity, tolerance, wealth creation, social networking, health, population control and creativity.”

A final word from Fred Wilson:
Woven into the story is a textbook on cholera, microbes, biology, society, urbanization, epidemics, sewers and cesspools, and much more.

It is the way I love to learn—by stories that mean something as opposed to dry textbooks or lectures that put me to sleep.

Useful link:
www.theghostmap.com

If you are fascinated by technology and its impact on society, you should read this book.

Common Opal

Common opal refers to opal which shows no play of color. There are many different varieties, but few are ever seen in jewelry and are cut mostly for the sake of collectors.

- Cachalong opal
This variety is very porous, bluish white in color and similar in appearance to porcelain.

- Chrysocolla in opal
A blue material with finely scattered chrysocolla which gives it its color.

- Geyserite opal
A porous glassy opal which forms near hot springs and geysers.

- Girasol opal
A type of opal which is almost transparent and which shows a moving billowy light effect. The body color is milky white or very light tones of other colors.

- Hyalite opal
A transparent colorless, white or gray variety with a glassy appearance.

- Hydropane opal
This variety is light colored and usually opaque. It is extremely porous and will stick to the tongue. When immersed in water it shows play of color and becomes transparent.

- Jasper opal
An opaque reddish brown opal which resembles jasper.

- Liver opal
A variety which is opaque and gray to brown in color.

- Menilite opal
An opaque gray to brown opal with a concretionary structure.

- Moss opal
A white to brownish variety which contains dendritic inclusions.

- Potch opal
Common opal of any color.

- Prase opal
A translucent to opaque yellowish green or green variety which is similar in appearance to chrysoprase or jade.

- Resin opals
A transparent to opaque yellowish or brownish variety which is similar in appearance to resins.

- Rose opal
A translucent to opaque pink opal.

- Tabasheer opal
A variety of common opal which has formed in the joints of bamboo.

- Tripoli opal
Fine-grained, powdery masses of opal. It is often used a polishing compound.

- Vermilion
An opaque, red variety of common opal.