Diamond Rivers

(via The Diamond World, 1981) David Koskoff writes:

In Diamond Rivers (1977), an educational film produced for television by Bill Benenson, one old-timer, one of the last one-man Brazilian diamond diggers, tells about himself and what impels him and small diggers everywhere:

'I think I was born looking for diamonds. My father was a prospector and he died without having anything. And I, as old as I am, I don’t have anything either. But I have never stopped looking. Not for long, anyway. Why do I do it? Because I like it, and it is what I know best. If I was lucky, when I went to town and got money I would buy good clothes, a good hat, good boots, a good revolver to put in my belt, and then I would go party. Beer, wine, cognac, and sing and dance and party some more, and then, when the money was gone, I would come back to the river and look for more. Where is the prospector who invests his money, buys land or a house? They do not exist, I tell you. He is a man without future, only living for the day...There were some good days...'

How true! It's sad, but that's the way it is.

Google Vanity Ring

(via Technovelgy) Google Vanity Ring is a special piece of net-ready jewelry that provides a concrete number for your ego googling.

Here's how it works. Rather than a precious gem, the ring displays something even more precious - the number of hits you get on Google when you check for reference to your name. Every night, you put it in its little cradle connected to your computer. Then, you type in your name in the application window; the application then googles you and displays the number of hits - also called 'attention carats' - on the face of the ring.

I really liked it.

Pearl

It has been reported that the first International Pearl Convention will be held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai (November 18, 2007), in order to highlight the country's pearling tradition and cultural identity with pearl seminars, films, fashions, cultured pearl displays and an Arabia pearl exhibition.

A unique highlight will be the world's second largest natural pearl + the 30-millimeter 'Rosebud' pearl + 13-millimeter 'Golden Dome Oriental' pearl + the two strand 'Oriental" necklace' + 18th century button pearl and gold jewelry.

I think the objective of this convention is to connect pearl collectors and investors worldwide + provide a platform to revive the once-famous pearl market of the Middle-East.

Gregory Peck

I am a huge fan of Gregory Peck + he is percieved as Hollywood royalty, one of the screen's great patriarchs, well-respected and universally adored + he knows how to present audiences with good stories of intensity and character.

(via www.imdb.com) Useful links:
Moby Dick (1998) Father Mapple
The Portrait (1993)
Cape Fear (1991)
Other People's Money (1991)
Old Gringo (1989)
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)
The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
"The Blue and the Gray" (1982) Abraham Lincoln
The Sea Wolves (1980)
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
MacArthur (1977) Gen. Douglas MacArthur
The Omen (1976) Robert Thorn
Billy Two Hats (1974)
Shoot Out (1971)
I Walk the Line (1970)
Marooned (1969)
The Chairman (1969)
Mackenna's Gold (1969)
The Stalking Moon (1968)
Arabesque (1966)
Mirage (1965)
Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
"The Dick Powell Show" - Project X (1963)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Atticus Finch
How the West Was Won (1962)
Cape Fear (1962) Sam Bowden
The Guns of Navarone (1961) Capt. Keith Mallory
On the Beach (1959)
Beloved Infidel (1959)
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
The Big Country (1958) James McKay
The Bravados (1958)
Designing Woman (1957)
Moby Dick (1956) Captain Ahab
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
The Purple Plain (1954)
Night People (1954)
Boum sur Paris (1954)
Roman Holiday (1953) Joe Bradley
The Million Pound Note (1953)
The World in His Arms (1952)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
David and Bathsheba (1951) King David
Only the Valiant (1951)
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) Capt. Horatio Hornblower, R.N
The Gunfighter (1950)
Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
The Great Sinner (1949)
Yellow Sky (1948)
The Paradine Case (1947)
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
The Macomber Affair (1947)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
The Yearling (1946)
Spellbound (1945)
The Valley of Decision (1945)
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
Days of Glory (1944)

Eastern Promises

The Economist writes about ancient and contemporary Islamic art from the Arab world and Iran + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10006873

The Next Frontier

Eileen Kinsella writes about contemporary Western American art + the thriving high end market + works by the best-known artists like, Howard Terpning, Kenneth Riley, Tom Lovell, and John Clymer + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1316

More On Burmese Gemstones

(via JCKOnline/Gary Roskin) Here is an interesting clip via CNN's Jonathan Mann:
"Myanmar Gems; Trade keeps military junta amply funded in Myanmar" + Jeremy Woodrum's U.S. Campaign for Burma + Jewelers of America's initiative asking the US Congress to amend the Burmese Freedom & Democracy Act of 2003

I really don't know how it's going to work. If there aren't any co-operation from India, China, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, it's just talk-talk with no results. I think the Americans have made the first (good) move, followed by the Europeans. You have got to find a way to educate consumers, not only in America and Europe but in Asia to highlight the plight of the Burmese. I hear Tiffany and Cartier have decided not to purchase Burmese gemstones. Good deed, but for how long? What about the jewelry stores in other parts of the world, especially Asia? That's where the action is. Till you mobilize the big market, gemstones will still be arriving via Burma with dubious identification reports. May be gem testing laboratories like the Gubelin, GRS, SSEF, AGTA and Collectors Universe could go the extra mile to help the industry because bulk of the Burmese origin reports are issued by these labs for the trade, collectors and consumers.

Biomimicry

Designs: Janine Benyus's book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature not only explains how to copy nature's time-tested, non-polluting room-temperature manufacturing and computing technologies + but also warns about our highly unnatural and exploitative technologies that could create a boomerang-effect + a real challenge for technophiles and environmentalists. A must-read book.

Book description (via Amazon):
This profound and accessible book details how science is studying nature's best ideas to solve our toughest 21st–century problems.

If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature – taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R\'9126D since the first bacteria. Biomimics study nature's best ideas: photosynthesis, brain power, and shells – and adapt them for human use. They are revolutionising how we invent, compute, heal ourselves, harness energy, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus names and explains this phenomenon. She takes us into the lab and out in the field with cutting–edge researchers as they stir vats of proteins to unleash their computing power; analyse how electrons zipping around a leaf cell convert sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they get sick; study the hardy prairie as a model for low–maintenance agriculture; and more.

Here is an excerpt from the book:
It's not ordinary for a bare-chested man wearing jaguar teeth and owl feathers to grace the pages of The New Yorker, but these are not ordinary times. While I was writing this book, Moi, an Huaorani Indian leader whose name means "dream," traveled to Washington, D.C., to defend his Amazonian homeland against oil drilling. He roared like a jaguar in the hearings, teaching a roomful of jaded staffers where real power comes from and what homeland actually means. Meanwhile, in America's heartland, two books about aboriginal peoples were becoming word-of-mouth best-sellers, much to their publishers' surprise. Both were about urban Westerners whose lives are changed forever by the wise teachings of preindustrial societies.

What's going on here? My guess is that Homo industrialis, having reached the limits of nature's tolerance, is seeing his shadow on the wall, along with the shadows of rhinos, condors, manatees, lady's slippers, and other species he is taking down with him. Shaken by the sight, he, we, are hungry for instructions about how to live sanely and sustainably on the Earth. The good news is that wisdom is widespread, not only in indigenous peoples but also in the species that have lived on Earth far longer than humans. If the age of the Earth were a calendar year and today were a breath before midnight on New Year's Eve, we showed up a scant fifteen minutes ago, and all of recorded history has blinked by the last sixty seconds. Luckily for us, our planet-mates- -the fantastic meshwork of plants, animals, and microbes--have been patiently perfecting their wares since March, an incredible 3.8 billion years since the first bacteria.

In that time, life has learned to fly, circumnavigate the globe, live in the depths of the ocean and atop the highest peaks, craft miracle materials, light up the night, lasso the sun's energy, and build a self-reflective brain. Collectively, organisms have managed to turn rock and sea into a life-friendly home, with steady temperatures and smoothly percolating cycles. In short, living things have done everything we want to do, without guzzling fossil fuel, polluting the planet, or mortgaging their future. What better models could there be?

Janine Benyus was honored by Time Magazine as a hero of the environment. Read the article here.

Luck Logic And White Lies

Good Books: (via Dailyspeculations) The book "Luck Logic and White Lies" by Jorg Bewersdorff is one-of-a-kind book, an encyclopedia of strategy and solutions to almost every game + a great exercise in logic and decision making + a guide for how to have fun with your family. I enjoyed the book.

The New Gold Rush

Eileen Kinsella writes about the works by Remington, Russell, Catlin + the Western art’s improved standing in the art market + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1315

Emerald

Ronald Ringsrud writes on emeralds (translated/published in the Rivista Gemmologica Italiana in Rome, Italy) @ http://www.emeraldmine.com/rivista.htm

Antwerp Diamond Conference

Members of the industry + government officials + bankers who attended the Antwerp Diamond Conference discussed with experts their views/concerns + the pros and cons of beneficiation in Africa and elsewhere + at the end of day it was all about business. I think Alrosa's President Sergey Vybornov said the truth without any fracture-filling, i.e economic viability vs. populist measures. The diamond business will fail with generous subsidies--period.

(via idexonline) To read the full text of Vybornov’s speech, click here

Useful link:
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?id=28497

Burmese Ruby: Local Systems Of Grading And Nomenclature

Kothway: Pigeon’s-blood red: The finest deep vibrant crimson with slight yellowish overtones.
Yeong-twe: The second best color; literally ‘rabbit’s blood, a slightly darker and more bluish red.
Bho-kyiet: The third best color; an intense and very deep hot pink color.
Ley-kow-seet: The fourth best color; literally bracelet quality ruby, a light pink color.
Ley-kow-seet: The lowest grade; a very dark red color; the phrase literally meaning crying Indian quality.
Ka-la-ngoh: Supposedly so named because even an Indian would despair at such dark-toned stones.

Wild Play

Travel:(via Dailyspeculations/Michael Ott) Visit Wild Play for a unique experience. You learn of a bit of everything.

Trading Floors

(via Dailyspeculations) Conde Nast Porfolio has some great pictures of trading floors around the world.

How To Hug A Tree

Ann Landi writes about teaching performance art + the impact (s) + unique ways of looking at cultural history + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1295

Symmetry Is Really Sexy

(via Telegraph) The article was interesting, it was actually on 'beauty spots' + the link by the experts of the 'turn on' effects of symmetrical face/body, whatever your culture.

In the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences, research by Dr Anthony Little of the University of Stirling, working with colleagues Coren Apicella at Harvard University and Frank Marlowe Florida State University, shows that symmetry transcends racial and national boundaries: a lopsided face is less attractive to both Hadza (one of the last hunter gatherer cultures) and Britons, so that the age-old idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is a romantic myth + the mounting evidence that our appreciation of beauty has a deep-seated biological explanation: the attraction of a face gives a profound insight into whether our intended will efficiently pass our genes on to future generations + symmetry has been shown to be important in mate-choice in many animals.

In my view, the experts should have worked with diamonds and colored stones, to evaluate the beauty of well-proportioned, symmetrical, polished, both standard and fancy cuts, to understand the visual effect (s) + the impact (s) on human. In fact they are sexy too. They are like human. They evoke passion, and you may go crazy when you see a beautiful stone screaming at you.

Useful link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml;jsessionid=MOVHSQGV5HNRRQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/10/10/scisym110.xml

Moonlight Spurs Corals To Spawn

(via Sciencemag) Researchers led by Oren Levy of the Center for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland, Australia report that corals (Australia's Great Barrier Reef) are able to sense changes in light — especially blue light — and respond to them. The experts think they may have found out how reef-building corals manage to coordinate their sex lives in moonlight bay.

According to the experts corals contain ancient proteins called cryptochromes which react to light. Cryptochromes have also been found in mammals and insects where they effect the circadian clock that regulates the daily rhythms of life.

Useful link:
http://www.sciencemag.org

A ‘Bloody’ Court Case In Switzerland

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the controversy surrounding Swiss and Belgium authorities over two Belgians accused of dealing in questionable/uncertified rough diamonds + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Burmese Ruby Grade And Size Classification Terms

1. Top quality stones of deep rich crimson color
- Anyun: 2 carat and above
- Lethi: 1.75 carat average weight
- The-bauk: (haibauk) Average weight 0.75 carat
- Saga-the: Average weight 0.50 carat
- Ame-the: 0.20 carat average weight, or 5 stones to the carat

2. Second quality: stones of a bright crimson hue
- Ani-gyi: 2 – 6 carat in weight

3. Third quality stones
- Ani-te or Bombaing: As they were favored in Bombay, India
- Ante-te: 2 – 6 carat in weight

4. Fourth quality
- Ahte-Kya: Literally meaning fallen from the top. Mixed stones of the better grades, but of slightly defective clarity, color or shape.

Also included in this grade are:
Kyak-me: Very dark stones sold mainly to the Indian market in Madras.

There are many grades of inferior quality stones based on clarity, cut and color. Other terms of interest are:
Pingoo-cho: First quality star rubies; literally ‘spiders thread’.
Pingoo-sa: Silky rubies with or without a star.
Apya: Flat stones of fine quality.