A Gem Miner's Tip

The golden rule on mine dumps is to look for the spots where the grass and weeds are growing undisturbed. Those are the best places to search for gems.

Life’s A Gamble, But Worth The Risk

I think Bob is right. It's a unique reflection when you realize how impermanent our world is. A minute you are Mr Somebody, and the next minute you're gone.

(via NationMultimedia) Bob Kimmins writes:

As you drive to work every morning, are you aware that your chance of dying in a crash is 84 to 1? This means that anyone placing a Bt 100 bet on that untimely end would stand to win Bt 8400. Life is a gamble, and everything we do involves some sort of risk, from high-chance favorites such as road accidents and disease to long shots like choking on a banana.

And I wonder what the odds would have been in 1923 when jockey Frank Hayes died of a heart attack during a horserace, with his mount, Sweet Kiss, finishing first and Hayes still in the saddle. Perhaps it’s uncertainty in life that leads people into gambling—a subconscious effort to overcome fate. Anthropologists agree that gambling was in evidence 4000 years ago in China, India, Egypt and Rome. Dice dating back to 1500 BC were found in Thebes, and related writing were discovered on tablets in the Pyramid of Cheops. Thailand, too, has a rich history of gambling.

More than 1000 years ago, bean guessing was probably the earliest game of chance in the Land of Smiles, and in the 1800s King Rama III legalized gambling to generate tax revenue. That decision led to widespread debt and bankruptcy and increased crime, however, so King Rama V outlawed it again.

In a turnabout decision, just after World War II, the Finance Ministry became responsible for running legal casinos—only for the well to do. But the law was flouted by allowing all comers to play, and the resulting debts and decline in social values prompted the ultimate clampdown.

Robert Redford

I can't think of anything outside of having the gift yourself and creating yourself. I can't think of the next better thing to do than being able to put it back. Creative expression, I think, is vital to the success of any society. ... A society without art will die.

Less Troubled Waters

The Economist writes about detergents that can be switched on and off, a new spin-off in chemistry with wide applications + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9677960

It would be interesting to explore how it works in gemstone cleaning + treatments in the future.

Cultured Pearl Terminology

There are many interpretations on cultured pearl (s) terminology in the industry.

(via Gems & Gemology) According to H A Hanni, a leading expert in gemology, all cultured pearls are tissue nucleated.

The terms bead nucleated and tissue nucleated are often used. The combination of these two terms creates the idea that a cultured pearl is nucleated with either a bead or a piece of mantle tissue, and the term nucleation suggests that there is something in the center of the cultured pearl, either a bead or tissue graft. However, the former does not lead to a cultured pearl if no tissue is added.

And, since all cultured pearls start with a piece of mantle tissue, this expression does not adequately differentiate between the two types. It is thus confusing and of no use. Further, the term tissue nucleated causes people to think that the grafted tissue is in the cultured pearl. However, research has indicated that tissue cells from the transplant become part of the pearl sac and do not remain as a residue in the center of the pearl. They do not form a nucleus. The X-ray visible dark structure in the center of these cultured pearls is often a void and preliminary precipitation from the growing surface of what will become the pearl sac. The transplanted mantle-tissue cells that produce the nacre grow into a pearl sac by multiple cell division, making a small pocket. This pocket produces an initial crust of a CaCO3 on its inner surface, but this crust does not completely fill the space, leading to the cavity in the center of a beadless cultured pearl.

H A Hanni proposed the following suggestions to CIBJO commission:
- Omission of the terms nucleus, nucleation, bead nucleated, tissue nucleated.
- Use of the term grafting for the introduction of mantle-tissue cells (with or without a bead).
- Use of the term beading for the introduction of a material that gives the shape to the pearl sac (to grow or already present), regardless of the shape of that bead.
- Use of the terms beaded-cultured pearl and non-beaded (beadless) cultured pearl for the resulting products.

CIBJO have included the above proposals for their Pearl Book.

The New Serenity

Steven Litt writes about the incredible visual experience created by architects + the cultural expressions and financial opportunities + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1696

India’s Import Duty Exemption: Curse Or Blessing?

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the Indian diamond industry + the tax methodology + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Francis Ford Coppola

Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.