Gagosian The Great

Economist writes about Larry Gagosian, the king of the art world + his unique way of doing business + his ability to win the trust of both artists and collectors + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9673257

New Mountains Of Transparency

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about diamond and jewelry industry specific Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance programs + data collection constraints + administrative burdens and costs + the impact on worldwide diamond pipeline @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25103

Diamonds Are A Guerrilla's Best Friend

Ray Fisman writes about Angola's diamonds + Israeli diamantaire Lev Leviev + tragic mismatch between the social imperative to end war and the business imperatives of incumbent firms to maintain their entry barriers + other viewpoints @ http://www.slate.com/id/2172333

Fillers For Emerald Treatment

In the trade, gem chefs (dealers/treaters) use different types of fillers for emeralds. Ideally the fillers should be colorless and stable within the emerald, but treatments are always full of surprises. Here is list of fillers that are frequently used by gem chefs to improve color or clarity of emeralds from different sources.

- Araldite 6010 prepolymer resin
- (Merck) Cedarwood oil
- Unhardened Opticon
- (Schroeder) Paraffin oil
- (Sigma) Canada balsam mixed with Cedarwood oil
- (NOA) Norland Optical Adhesive, type 65
- Surface-hardened Opticon 224 prepolymer resin
- Green Opticon
- Joban oil
- (Grooms) ExCel
- Gematrat
- Permasafe

Can You Identify This Stone?

(via The Canadian Gemmologist, Vol.III, No.4, Spring, 1982) Strongly pleochroic, with an R.I of 1.66 – 1.68, I can be green, yellow, or lilac colored, and occasionally a very beautiful and rare emerald green. Monoclinic with deeply etched crystals, I often have rutile needles in me, and am indeed sometimes mined more for my rutile than for my merit of my own. What a let down. What am I?
Answer: Spodumene

Greatest Films

The films I like:

The Great Dictator (1940)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Annie Hall (1977)

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Green Mile (1999)

Platoon (1986)

The Graduate (1967)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Gandhi (1982)

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Big Bang: The Origin Of The Universe

Good Books: (via Emergic) Simon Singh’s Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe is an interesting read.

Here is what the Publishers Weekly has to say (in a review on Amazon’s site):
It was cosmologist Fred Hoyle who coined the term "big bang" to describe the notion that the universe exploded out of nothing to kick-start space and time. Ironically, Hoyle himself espoused the steady state theory, positing that the universe is eternal and never really changes. Former BBC producer and science writer Singh (Fermat's Enigma) recounts in his inimitable down-to-earth style how the big bang theory triumphed. Readers will find here one of the best explanations available of how Cepheid stars are used to estimate the distance of other galaxies. Singh highlights some of the lesser-known figures in the development of the big bang theory, like Henrietta Leavitt, a volunteer "computer" at the Harvard College Observatory who in 1912 discovered how Cepheid stars can be used to measure galactic distances. Singh shows how the creation of the heavier elements was a major stumbling block to widespread adoption of the big bang until Hoyle (once again boosting the theory that he so fervently opposed) proved that they were created in stars' nuclear furnaces and strewn throughout the universe via supernova explosions. Readers who don't need a review of the early development of cosmology may wish that Singh had adopted a somewhat less leisurely pace. But his introductory chapters hold a lot of worthwhile material, clearly presented for the science buff and lay reader. There's no better account of the big bang theory than this.

His personal website has more info.

ReviewsOfBooks quotes Scientific American:
Singh spins out the drama with verve and wit. We meet scientists who are shy and retiring and others with a flair for contention, epic discoveries made serendipitously and beautiful theories shot down by intractable facts, a pooch named Kepler and a persistent pigeon that made its home in the Bell Labs telescope. This is a perfect book for anyone who wants to know what science is all about.

Premier Guy Verhofstadt Declares HRD Board As “Illegal” In Belgian Version of “West Wing” Soap Opera

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the real life drama between the premier of Belgium and HRD (I believe the problem has been solved, but it's an interesting spin; it could happen elsewhere) + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25166

HRD’s Choice: Globalization Versus Nationalism
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25132