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.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
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
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.
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.
- 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.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Importance Of Inclusions
Edward Gubelin and John Koivula are considered god fathers of inclusion studies + their views should be an inspiring note (s) for newcomers in the field of inclusions studies.
Edward Gubelin / John Koivula writes:
From the tiny grains of beach sand the pebbles under out feet…to the glittering gemstones found decorating museums worldwide…..they all have something in common. They have a story to tell. The story of earth formation.
Through the microscopes this story unfolds as the kaleidoscopic world of gemstone inclusions comes to life. Solid crystal inclusions, glowing under polarized light, blink and change color as their host is turned in the field of view. Trapped in voids of crystallization called negative crystals, gas bubbles, propelled by thermally generated convection currents, shrink, swell, and even disappear as they dance about in small volumes of liquid, millions or even billions of years old. These solid and fluid inclusions, together with such additional internal features as twinning, cleavage, fracture, zoned growth and strain, like the components of a complex puzzle, help inclusionists to piece together a gemstone’s life history.
The study of gemstone inclusions is a fascinating and highly educational tangent in the field of gemology. A great deal of information on the paragenetic birth of a host gem can be learned from a single microscopic inclusion. Often times, to a trained eye, an internal inclusion pattern will yield valuable information on the physical and chemical environment of the host at the time of its growth. This will lead in turn to a greater knowledge of that particular type of gemstone deposit, and other localities at which the host has been found. Information on gemstone environments gleaned from the study of inclusions may lead eventually to the discovery of new gem deposits.
In many cases, inclusions in certain gemstones from particular localities are characteristic for that gemstone and locality. Natural and synthetic stones can often be identified by their characteristic inclusions. Many possess inclusions common only to them. If these inclusions are recognized the gem can be identified and often times, if natural, even the locality may be determined.
Mineral formational sequences at a particular locality may also be learned from a study of the inclusions found in the gems from that locality. Thank to research work on crystal and fluid inclusions, one can for instance exactly identify the inner and outer generational paragenesis of quartz from alpine clefts, of emeralds of hydrothermal origin from Colombia, and of metamorphic rubies from Mogok in Burma.
Since the advent of synthetic materials in the gemstone market, inclusions have been playing a major role in the field of gemstone identification. This role is becoming increasingly important as new and better synthetics, simulants and treatments are discovered, commercially developed and placed on the market. However, in spite of their importance, many gemologists still consider inclusions as undesirable flaws, and do not recognize the true beauty of mineral inclusions or the important information they provide.
In the world of gemology, thousands of dollars may hand in the balance where the identity of an inclusion pattern as to natural or synthetic—or even as to its source—is the only deciding factor. A knowledge of inclusions is vital in the jewelry industry today.
The gemologists of the future will be greatly dependant on a very strong knowledge of inclusions. As the synthetic materials become more sophisticated, and the laboratories find that they can duplicate nature very closely, the microscope will become the gemologist’s first line of defence, and a sound working knowledge of the various types of inclusions in gems will be of utmost importance.
Edward Gubelin / John Koivula writes:
From the tiny grains of beach sand the pebbles under out feet…to the glittering gemstones found decorating museums worldwide…..they all have something in common. They have a story to tell. The story of earth formation.
Through the microscopes this story unfolds as the kaleidoscopic world of gemstone inclusions comes to life. Solid crystal inclusions, glowing under polarized light, blink and change color as their host is turned in the field of view. Trapped in voids of crystallization called negative crystals, gas bubbles, propelled by thermally generated convection currents, shrink, swell, and even disappear as they dance about in small volumes of liquid, millions or even billions of years old. These solid and fluid inclusions, together with such additional internal features as twinning, cleavage, fracture, zoned growth and strain, like the components of a complex puzzle, help inclusionists to piece together a gemstone’s life history.
The study of gemstone inclusions is a fascinating and highly educational tangent in the field of gemology. A great deal of information on the paragenetic birth of a host gem can be learned from a single microscopic inclusion. Often times, to a trained eye, an internal inclusion pattern will yield valuable information on the physical and chemical environment of the host at the time of its growth. This will lead in turn to a greater knowledge of that particular type of gemstone deposit, and other localities at which the host has been found. Information on gemstone environments gleaned from the study of inclusions may lead eventually to the discovery of new gem deposits.
In many cases, inclusions in certain gemstones from particular localities are characteristic for that gemstone and locality. Natural and synthetic stones can often be identified by their characteristic inclusions. Many possess inclusions common only to them. If these inclusions are recognized the gem can be identified and often times, if natural, even the locality may be determined.
Mineral formational sequences at a particular locality may also be learned from a study of the inclusions found in the gems from that locality. Thank to research work on crystal and fluid inclusions, one can for instance exactly identify the inner and outer generational paragenesis of quartz from alpine clefts, of emeralds of hydrothermal origin from Colombia, and of metamorphic rubies from Mogok in Burma.
Since the advent of synthetic materials in the gemstone market, inclusions have been playing a major role in the field of gemstone identification. This role is becoming increasingly important as new and better synthetics, simulants and treatments are discovered, commercially developed and placed on the market. However, in spite of their importance, many gemologists still consider inclusions as undesirable flaws, and do not recognize the true beauty of mineral inclusions or the important information they provide.
In the world of gemology, thousands of dollars may hand in the balance where the identity of an inclusion pattern as to natural or synthetic—or even as to its source—is the only deciding factor. A knowledge of inclusions is vital in the jewelry industry today.
The gemologists of the future will be greatly dependant on a very strong knowledge of inclusions. As the synthetic materials become more sophisticated, and the laboratories find that they can duplicate nature very closely, the microscope will become the gemologist’s first line of defence, and a sound working knowledge of the various types of inclusions in gems will be of utmost importance.
Will Diamdel Become A Mini-Enron?
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about a potential Enron-type situations at Diamdel + behind the scene actors at De Beers + Mark Colao + revision of policy decisions at De Beers + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
Everything Is Miscellaneous
(via Emergic) Rajesh Jain writes:
Cory Doctorow wrote in a review of the book:
David Weinberger's "Everything is Miscellaneous" is the kind of book that binds together innumerable miscellaneous threads and makes something new, coherent, and incontrovertible out of them. Weinberger's thesis is this: historically, we've divided the world into categories, topics, and hierarchies because physical objects need to be in one place or another, they can't be in all the places they might belong. Computers and the Internet turn this on its head: because a computer can "put things" in as many categories as they need to be in, because individuals can classify knowledge, tasks, and objects idiosyncratically, the hierarchy is revealed for what it always was, a convenient expedient masquerading as the True Shape of the Universe.
It's a powerful idea: from org charts to science, from music to retail theory, from government to education, every field of human endeavor is tinged with hierarchy, and every hierarchy is under assault from the Internet. One impact of this change is that it reveals the biases lurking underneath the editorial carvery of our systems. From the Dewey Decimal system's laughable clunkers (mentalist bunkum gets its own category, but Islam has to share a decimal with a couple competing "Eastern" faiths) to the Britannica's paring away at "old" biographies to make way for the new, Weinberger makes a compelling case for a new kind of knowledge that more faithfully represents the messy, glorious hairball of the real world. ... Weinberger's conversational style, excellent examples, and extensive legwork (the places he visits and people he interviews can best be described as wonderfully miscellaneous) give this the hallmarks of an instant classic. And unlike many business/tech books, whose simple thesis could be stated in a single New Yorker article, but which are nevertheless expanded to book-length for commercial reasons, every chapter in Everything is Miscellaneous brings new insight to the subject. This is a hell of a book.
Here is an excerpt from the book's prologue:
-The alternative universe exists. Every day, more of our life is lived there. It’s called the digital world.
-Instead of atoms that take up room, it’s made of bits.
-Instead of making us walk long aisles, in the digital world everything is only a few clicks away.
-Instead of having to be the same way for all people, it can instantly rearrange itself for each person and each person’s current task.
-Instead of being limited by space and operational simplicity in the number of items it can stock, the digital world can include every item and variation the buyers at Staples could possibly want.
-Instead of items being placed in one area of the store, or occasionally in two, they can be classified in every different category in which users might conceivably expect to find them.
-Instead of living in the neat, ordered shelves we find in the Prototype Labs, items can be jumbled digitally and sorted out only when and how a user wants to look for them.
Those differences are significant. But they’re just the starting point. For something much larger is at stake than how we lay out our stores. The physical limitations that silently guide the organization of an office supply store also guide how we organize our businesses, our government, our schools. They have guided—and limited—how we organize knowledge itself.
From management structures to encyclopedias, to the courses of study we put our children through, to the way we decide what’s worth believing, we have organized our ideas with principles designed for use in a world limited by the laws of physics.
Suppose that now, for the first time in history, we are able to arrange our concepts without the silent limitations of the physical. How might our ideas, organizations, and knowledge itself change? ... As we invent new principles of organization that make sense in a world of knowledge freed from physical constraints, information doesn’t just want to be free. It wants to be miscellaneous.
I liked it.
Cory Doctorow wrote in a review of the book:
David Weinberger's "Everything is Miscellaneous" is the kind of book that binds together innumerable miscellaneous threads and makes something new, coherent, and incontrovertible out of them. Weinberger's thesis is this: historically, we've divided the world into categories, topics, and hierarchies because physical objects need to be in one place or another, they can't be in all the places they might belong. Computers and the Internet turn this on its head: because a computer can "put things" in as many categories as they need to be in, because individuals can classify knowledge, tasks, and objects idiosyncratically, the hierarchy is revealed for what it always was, a convenient expedient masquerading as the True Shape of the Universe.
It's a powerful idea: from org charts to science, from music to retail theory, from government to education, every field of human endeavor is tinged with hierarchy, and every hierarchy is under assault from the Internet. One impact of this change is that it reveals the biases lurking underneath the editorial carvery of our systems. From the Dewey Decimal system's laughable clunkers (mentalist bunkum gets its own category, but Islam has to share a decimal with a couple competing "Eastern" faiths) to the Britannica's paring away at "old" biographies to make way for the new, Weinberger makes a compelling case for a new kind of knowledge that more faithfully represents the messy, glorious hairball of the real world. ... Weinberger's conversational style, excellent examples, and extensive legwork (the places he visits and people he interviews can best be described as wonderfully miscellaneous) give this the hallmarks of an instant classic. And unlike many business/tech books, whose simple thesis could be stated in a single New Yorker article, but which are nevertheless expanded to book-length for commercial reasons, every chapter in Everything is Miscellaneous brings new insight to the subject. This is a hell of a book.
Here is an excerpt from the book's prologue:
-The alternative universe exists. Every day, more of our life is lived there. It’s called the digital world.
-Instead of atoms that take up room, it’s made of bits.
-Instead of making us walk long aisles, in the digital world everything is only a few clicks away.
-Instead of having to be the same way for all people, it can instantly rearrange itself for each person and each person’s current task.
-Instead of being limited by space and operational simplicity in the number of items it can stock, the digital world can include every item and variation the buyers at Staples could possibly want.
-Instead of items being placed in one area of the store, or occasionally in two, they can be classified in every different category in which users might conceivably expect to find them.
-Instead of living in the neat, ordered shelves we find in the Prototype Labs, items can be jumbled digitally and sorted out only when and how a user wants to look for them.
Those differences are significant. But they’re just the starting point. For something much larger is at stake than how we lay out our stores. The physical limitations that silently guide the organization of an office supply store also guide how we organize our businesses, our government, our schools. They have guided—and limited—how we organize knowledge itself.
From management structures to encyclopedias, to the courses of study we put our children through, to the way we decide what’s worth believing, we have organized our ideas with principles designed for use in a world limited by the laws of physics.
Suppose that now, for the first time in history, we are able to arrange our concepts without the silent limitations of the physical. How might our ideas, organizations, and knowledge itself change? ... As we invent new principles of organization that make sense in a world of knowledge freed from physical constraints, information doesn’t just want to be free. It wants to be miscellaneous.
I liked it.
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