Chemistry: Beryllium silicate.
Crystal system: Trigonal; short prismatic crystals; seldom large.
Color: Transparent; colorless, light yellow, pink, greenish blue (rare).
Hardness: 7.5
Cleavage: Indistinct: prismatic; fracture: conchoidal.
Specific gravity: 2.95
Refractive index: 1.65 – 1.67; Uniaxial positive; 0.016
Luster: Vitreous.
Dispersion: -
Dichroism: -
Occurrence: Africa, Brazil, Russia.
Notes
From the Greek word meaning to cheat or deceive; confused for quartz; rarely used in jewelry; one of the few crystal inclusions found in synthetic emerald; doubling; faceted.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sjunde inseglet, Det (The Seventh Seal)
Memorable quotes from the movie:
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): I want knowledge! Not faith, not assumptions, but knowledge. I want God to stretch out his hand, uncover his face and speak to me.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): But he remains silent.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): I call out to him in the darkness. But it's as if no one was there.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): Perhaps there isn't anyone.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): Then life is a preposterous horror. No man can live faced with death, knowing everything's nothingness.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): Most people think neither of death nor nothingness.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): But one day you stand at the edge of life and face darkness.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): That day.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): I understand what you mean.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): I want knowledge! Not faith, not assumptions, but knowledge. I want God to stretch out his hand, uncover his face and speak to me.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): But he remains silent.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): I call out to him in the darkness. But it's as if no one was there.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): Perhaps there isn't anyone.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): Then life is a preposterous horror. No man can live faced with death, knowing everything's nothingness.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): Most people think neither of death nor nothingness.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): But one day you stand at the edge of life and face darkness.
Death (Bengt Ekerot): That day.
Antonius Block (Max von Sydow): I understand what you mean.
Opal Origin
Some experts believe trace element analysis + their ratios by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) could pinpoint opal source (s).
No Two Alike
Good Books: (via Emergic) Here is how Publisher's Weekly (via Amazon.com) summarizes the book, No Two Alike:
Why do identical twins who grow up together differ in personality? Harris attempts to solve that mystery. Her initial thesis in The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do is replaced here with a stronger, more detailed one based on evolutionary psychology. Reading this book is akin to working your way through a mystery novel complete with periodic references to Sherlock Holmes. And Harris has a knack for interspersing scientific and research-laden text with personal anecdotes. Initially, she refutes five red herring theories of personality differences, including differences in environment and gene-environment interactions. Eventually, Harris presents her own theory, starting from modular notions of the brain (as Steven Pinker puts it, "the mind is not a single organ but a system of organs"). Harris offers a three-systems theory of personality: there's the relationship system, the socialization system and the status system. And while she admits her theory of personality isn't simple, it is thought provoking. Harris ties up the loose ends of the new theory, showing how the development of the three systems creates personality.
This is what Scientific American wrote (via Amazon.com):
Where does adult personality come from? Why are we all different? These are the questions energizing Judith Rich Harris's new book. Harris then develops a complex scheme based on "the modular mind," a framework set forth by Harvard University evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker and others. (Harris herself has no doctorate and is housebound by systemic sclerosis and lupus, two autoimmune disorders.) She describes three modules: the relationship system, the socialization system and the status system, and explains how each contributes its part to making us who we are. The relationship system starts in the cradle as infants study and learn the faces and voices of the people around them, collecting information that helps form personality. The socialization system adapts people to their culture. The status system takes all the information collected during childhood and adolescence and shapes and modifies our personalities in accord with our environments.
Harris's last chapter lays out her theory in tabular form, explaining how each module interacts with the others to produce our distinct personalities. It is lavishly footnoted, like the rest of the book, shoring up her strategy of pointing out the failings of other models and then proposing her own. Her goal, she writes, is to explain the variations in personality that cannot be attributed to variations in people's genes.
It's amazing when you try to understand the link between human nature and individuality + the complex mental infrastructure + the distinguishing characteristics. No Two Alike is a fascinating book because it's a story about us and the people around us.
Why do identical twins who grow up together differ in personality? Harris attempts to solve that mystery. Her initial thesis in The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do is replaced here with a stronger, more detailed one based on evolutionary psychology. Reading this book is akin to working your way through a mystery novel complete with periodic references to Sherlock Holmes. And Harris has a knack for interspersing scientific and research-laden text with personal anecdotes. Initially, she refutes five red herring theories of personality differences, including differences in environment and gene-environment interactions. Eventually, Harris presents her own theory, starting from modular notions of the brain (as Steven Pinker puts it, "the mind is not a single organ but a system of organs"). Harris offers a three-systems theory of personality: there's the relationship system, the socialization system and the status system. And while she admits her theory of personality isn't simple, it is thought provoking. Harris ties up the loose ends of the new theory, showing how the development of the three systems creates personality.
This is what Scientific American wrote (via Amazon.com):
Where does adult personality come from? Why are we all different? These are the questions energizing Judith Rich Harris's new book. Harris then develops a complex scheme based on "the modular mind," a framework set forth by Harvard University evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker and others. (Harris herself has no doctorate and is housebound by systemic sclerosis and lupus, two autoimmune disorders.) She describes three modules: the relationship system, the socialization system and the status system, and explains how each contributes its part to making us who we are. The relationship system starts in the cradle as infants study and learn the faces and voices of the people around them, collecting information that helps form personality. The socialization system adapts people to their culture. The status system takes all the information collected during childhood and adolescence and shapes and modifies our personalities in accord with our environments.
Harris's last chapter lays out her theory in tabular form, explaining how each module interacts with the others to produce our distinct personalities. It is lavishly footnoted, like the rest of the book, shoring up her strategy of pointing out the failings of other models and then proposing her own. Her goal, she writes, is to explain the variations in personality that cannot be attributed to variations in people's genes.
It's amazing when you try to understand the link between human nature and individuality + the complex mental infrastructure + the distinguishing characteristics. No Two Alike is a fascinating book because it's a story about us and the people around us.
Fools, Show-offs, And Trophy Hunters
Milton Esterow writes about art thieves in Western Europe + ethnically oriented Balkan bandits + Irish travelers + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1963
Art thieves aren't any different from gem and jewelry thieves. The differences lie in their operating system (s). Gemstones and jewelry are portable, if lucky, easy to liquidate, while paintings require extensive network (s) + the barter culture in certain territories makes it even more complicated.
Art thieves aren't any different from gem and jewelry thieves. The differences lie in their operating system (s). Gemstones and jewelry are portable, if lucky, easy to liquidate, while paintings require extensive network (s) + the barter culture in certain territories makes it even more complicated.
Study Cites Money Laundering By U.S. Diamond Jewelry Retailers
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about Professor John Zdanowicz's views on money laundering (one of America’s top authorities on detecting trade-based money laundering) + analysis and determining abnormal prices + the countries involved + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25674
Best Bling
Hitha Prabhakar writes about anonymous private individuals searching for the world’s most perfect stones (via diamond suppliers, jewelry houses and auction houses, relying on phone calls and word of mouth) + other viewpoints @ http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/09/rare-expensive-diamonds-forbeslife-cx_hp_0209diamonds.html
Odontolite
Chemistry: Fossilized bones and teeth of pre-historic vertebrates; stained blue by vivianite.
Crystal system: Amorphous; may show features of tooth and bone structure.
Color: Opaque; blue, greenish blue.
Hardness: 5
Cleavage: -
Specific gravity: 3 – 3.15
Refractive index: 1.57 – 1.63 variable
Luster: -
Dispersion: -
Dichroism: -
Occurrence: Miocene sediments of Simorre near Auch, France; also associated with fossilized remains of Siberian mammoths.
Notes
Also known as ‘bone turquoise’; imitated by staining calcined teeth with copper sulphate solution (SG: 1.8; RI:1.54; similar to bone or ivory).
Crystal system: Amorphous; may show features of tooth and bone structure.
Color: Opaque; blue, greenish blue.
Hardness: 5
Cleavage: -
Specific gravity: 3 – 3.15
Refractive index: 1.57 – 1.63 variable
Luster: -
Dispersion: -
Dichroism: -
Occurrence: Miocene sediments of Simorre near Auch, France; also associated with fossilized remains of Siberian mammoths.
Notes
Also known as ‘bone turquoise’; imitated by staining calcined teeth with copper sulphate solution (SG: 1.8; RI:1.54; similar to bone or ivory).
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