Mark Loren Designs Blog

Mark Loren Designs Blog

Articles in July 2016

July 1st, 2016
Welcome to Music Friday and the first day of July. With a nod to this month's official birthstone, we present Jackson Browne's "In the Shape of a Heart," a 1986 ballad that uses a ruby necklace to convey the pain the artist feels when he learns his lover has gone. Rolling Stone called it "one of Browne's finest love songs."

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Browne, who tragically lost his first wife Phyllis Major to a drug overdose in 1976 at the age of 30, confirmed that "In the Shape of a Heart" is, indeed, a story about their relationship.

The song starts off with the ruby reference: "It was a ruby that she wore / On a chain around her neck / In the shape of a heart / In the shape of a heart / It was a time I won't forget / For the sorrow and regret / And the shape of a heart / And the shape of a heart."

Browne writes about missing the warning signs of his wife's distress, while never really understanding "what she was talking about" or "what she was living without."

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In the end, when he realizes she's gone forever, he takes the ruby heart necklace from the bed stand, holds it for a moment, and then drops it through a hole in the wall. He sings, "In the hour before dawn / When I knew she was gone / And I held it in my hand / For a little while / And dropped it into the wall / Let it go, heard it fall."

In reviewing the song for Rolling Stone magazine, Jimmy Guterman wrote that Browne "nails heartbreak to the wall and sends his listeners scurrying for the Kleenex."

Released as the second single from his Lives in the Balance album, "In the Shape of a Heart" peaked at #10 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Asylum Records pressed a red vinyl promotional single in, you guessed it, the shape of a heart.

Born in Heidelberg, West Germany, the 67-year-old Browne has sold more than 18 million albums in the U.S. and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Among his most famous songs are "These Days," "Running on Empty," "Doctor My Eyes" and "Take It Easy." As a political activist and humanitarian, Browne has supported the efforts of Amnesty International and Musicians United for Safe Energy.

Please check out the video of Browne performing "In the Shape of a Heart" in front of a live audience at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., in 1992. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"In the Shape of a Heart"
Written and performed by Jackson Browne.

It was a ruby that she wore
On a chain around her neck
In the shape of a heart
In the shape of a heart
It was a time I won't forget
For the sorrow and regret
And the shape of a heart
And the shape of a heart
I guess I never knew
What she was talking about
I guess I never knew
What she was living without

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove
Speak in terms of belief and belonging
Try to fit some name to their longing

There was a hole left in the wall
From some ancient fight
About the size of a fist
Or something thrown that had missed
And there were other holes as well
In the house where our nights fell
Far too many to repair
In the time that we were there

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Reach out to each other though the push and shove
Speak in terms of a life and the learning
Try to think of a word for the burning

You keep it up
You try so hard
To keep a life from coming apart
And never know
What breaches and faults are concealed
In the shape of a heart

It was the ruby that she wore
On a stand beside the bed
In the hour before dawn
When I knew she was gone
And I held it in my hand
For a little while
And dropped it into the wall
Let it go, heard it fall

I... I guess I never knew
What she was talking about
I guess I never knew
What she was living without
People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove
Speak in terms of a life and the living
Try to find the word for forgiving

You keep it up
You try so hard
To keep a life from coming apart
And never know
The shallows and the unseen reefs
That are there from the start
In the shape of a heart


Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.
July 5th, 2016
Two former cheerleaders from the University of Kentucky's national championship squad posed for an engagement photo so amazing that social media skeptics insisted that it must have been Photoshopped.

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In the shot that was taken moments after Adam Sunderhaus proposed to Ashley Vennetti on the beach in Turks and Caicos, the couple is seen in a gravity-defying cheerleading pose called a "cupie." The powerful Sunderhaus poses in the sand, left hand at his waist and right hand raised straight in the air, while the petite Vennetti stands casually on his outstretched palm. The fingers of her left hand are spread out in front of her face to show off her engagement ring. In the background is glorious sunset.

Huffington Post UK described it as "probably the most incredible engagement photo shoot we’ve ever seen."

Reddit participants used Google's photo search to come up with evidence that the images of Sunderhaus and Vennetti were somehow edited together.

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Needless to say, those naysayers came up empty, because the couple has performed the cupie more than 1,000 times during their cheerleading careers at the University of Kentucky.

"It's a common stunt," Vennetti told Inside Edition, whose reporters were attempting to verify whether the image was real. Vennetti provided the syndicated celebrity news show with photo evidence of the couple performing the stunt in front of Wrigley Field in Chicago and at Disney World in Orlando. They also performed the cupie in real time for Inside Edition's viewers.

Added Sunderhaus, "[The cupie] is kind of our cool signature way to take a picture.”

Few people would know of the talented couple had it not been for the University of Kentucky Cheerleading Facebook page, where the engagement pic was posted on June 29. Over the next few days it drew 22,000 reactions and 1,700 shares.

“I didn’t think it was going to go viral,” Jomo Thompson, UK’s head cheerleading coach, told Kentucky.com. “Both Ashley and Adam are two wonderful people. Ashley has a heart of gold… and Adam is a hardworking guy, very likable as well. Kentucky cheerleading is about more than just cheer."

Vennetti and Sunderhaus met on the University of Kentucky cheerleading squad and were friends for two years before they started dating. During their time at UK, they were members of the squad that won the Universal Cheerleaders Association National College Cheerleading Championship in 2012 and 2014.

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On Instagram, Sunderhaus posted a photo of himself and his new fiancée with the caption, "She said YES! Can't wait to marry my best friend & the love of my life!"

On Twitter, Vennetti showed her appreciation to the University of Kentucky Cheerleading squad, writing, "Forever grateful to this program for bringing us together!

Sunderhaus told Kentucky.com that the couple is planning a wedding for the late summer of 2017.

Credits: Photos via Facebook/University of Kentucky Cheerleading; Instagram/AdamSunderhaus; Twitter/AshleyVennetti.
July 6th, 2016
Precious opals are unusual because 3% to 30% of their content is made up of water. So, when planetary scientists discovered opal fragments embedded in a meteorite that crashed down in Antarctica, they wondered if Earth's life-giving water was actually ferried here by asteroids and meteorites eons ago.

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Led by Professor Hilary Downes of Birkbeck College London, a team of scientists studied a meteorite named EET 83309. It was made up of thousands of broken pieces of rocks and minerals, which led the team to surmise that it was once part of an asteroid. Using an electron microscope, the scientists determined that the opal fragments existed in the meteorite long before it landed on the Antarctic ice.

"The pieces of opal we have found are either broken fragments or they are replacing other minerals," Downes commented. "Our evidence shows that the opal formed before the meteorite was blasted off from the surface of the parent asteroid and sent into space, eventually to land on Earth in Antarctica."

"This is more evidence that meteorites and asteroids can carry large amounts of water ice," she continued. "Although we rightly worry about the consequences of the impact of large asteroid, billions of years ago they may have brought the water to the Earth and helped it become the world teeming with life that we live in today."

Downes and her team delivered their findings to the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham, England, on June 27.

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One of October's official birthstones, the precious opal is universally loved because it often presents all the colors of the rainbow. Each opal is truly unique and more than 95% of fine opals are sourced in Australia. Geologists believe they form in and around hot springs, a fact that sparks great excitement when a meteorite embedded with opal falls to Earth.

Last July, for example, researchers at the University of Glasgow discovered traces of fire opal in the famous Nakhla meteorite, which crashed in Egypt in 1911. The meteorite originated on Mars, which opened speculation of the presence of water, and possibly life, on the Red Planet.

Credits: Opal (top) by Daniel Mekis (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Opal (bottom) by Dpulitzer (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
July 7th, 2016
Executives from two of the world's top-producing diamond mines revealed to Bloomberg.com how new scanning technology is helping to preserve the largest diamonds during the often-damaging extraction process.

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Throughout history, diamond-bearing rock was typically drilled, blasted, hauled and put through crushing machines to get to the gems that may be hiding within. During that process, extremely large diamonds, some weighing hundreds of carats, were often damaged or even pulverized.

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In fact, the highly publicized 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond was determined to be part of a much larger stone. Lucara CEO William Lamb told Bloomberg.com that it was actually fortunate that a 374-carat chunk broke off the larger stone because Lucara's plant was not designed to process such large material. A 1,500-carat diamond would have been crushed.

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“When people say you broke a 1,500-carat diamond, I say we recovered an 1,100-carat diamond,” Lucara CEO William Lamb told Bloomberg.com. “The words ‘mining’ and ‘gentle’ don’t go very well together.”

With the advent of XRT scanners, the mining process is becoming a bit kinder and gentler. As the rock-like material comes down a conveyor belt, the scanners can pick out the diamonds based on their chemical composition. Older scanners used to depend strictly on the stone's ability to reflect light.

The diamond-rich material is then separated from the rubble and moved to a secure area for processing, according to Bloomberg.com.

In the small kingdom of Lesotho, the Letšeng mine produces just 1.6 carats of diamonds for every 100 tons of rock. But despite that tiny output, the mine boasts an average per-carat value of $2,299, the highest in the industry. That's because Letšeng is one of two diamond mines famous for generating the largest and finest-quality diamonds in the world.

The other is the Karowe mine in Botswana, which is the source of Lesedi La Rona, the second-largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. The gem failed to sell at auction last week when bidding stalled at $61 million. Still, that number was equivalent to $55,000 per carat.

Together, the Karowe and Letšeng mines lay claim to 15 of the 20 largest white diamonds discovered over the past decade, and just about all of them had been part of a larger stone.

“Since the time of the caveman mining hasn’t changed much," Clifford Elphick, chief executive officer of Gem Diamonds Ltd., told Bloomberg.com. "You pulverize the rock and take out what you want. That’s fine in the metals business, but in the diamond business it’s not an appealing technique.”

“We’ve made important inroads, but we certainly haven’t solved the problem because we’re still using the same basic technology,” said Elphick. “What will solve this is a massive technical breakthrough. That is the holy grail for us.”

Gem Diamonds is currently working on a strategy that places XRT scanners earlier in the mining process so the largest diamonds can be identified before the crushing phase.

“We suspect there is the odd 1,000-carat diamond contained within the ore body,” said Gem Diamonds' former COO Alan Ashworth. “But you never know when the diamond is going to be liberated.”

Credits: Image of Lesedi La Rona courtesy of Lucara Diamond Corp. All others courtesy of Gem Diamonds Ltd.
July 8th, 2016
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring great new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today's installment features Demi Lovato performing "Stone Cold," her rousing 2015 ballad about the pain of watching an ex-boyfriend moving on to a new relationship.

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"This song hurts so unbelievably bad. And when I perform it on a TV show, in rehearsals or even in a bathtub, it completely takes me to a different place," Lovato told her 42 million Instagram followers.

Lovato seems to channel English superstar Adele as she sings, "Stone cold, stone cold / I was your amber, but now she's your shade of gold."

She noted that the process of writing and recording "Stone Cold" was therapeutic. For her, the song became a source of healing and catharsis. The 23-year-old believes "Stone Cold" is a song people can listen to when they're going through a breakup, or they're thinking about a time when they were heartbroken.

"It's gonna give them that voice that they need to hear in order to get past things and process how they feel," she told Radio.com.

Lovato called “Stone Cold” her favorite song off her Confident album. She also believed her rendition of the song was worthy of a Grammy nomination.

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She told Complex, “I want the Grammy committee to hear [that song] so that one day they can see that I know that I’m capable of getting there. You can’t go higher than the Grammys in the music industry. That was a huge goal for this album. I watched the Grammy nominations last year and I was like, 'I want to be there so bad.'"

Born in Dallas in 1992, Demetria Devonne Lovato got her first break at the age of 7 as a cast member of Barney and Friends. Trivia alert: Acting alongside Lovato on the TV show was her best friend, Selena Gomez. In 2008, Lovato starred in the Disney Channel television film Camp Rock and, shortly thereafter, signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records.

Please check out the video of Lovato performing "Stone Cold" at the Billboard Women in Music event in New York City in 2015. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Stone Cold"
Written by Demi Lovato and Laleh Pourkarim. Performed by Demi Lovato.

Stone cold, stone cold
You see me standing, but I'm dying on the floor
Stone cold, stone cold
Maybe if I don't cry, I won't feel anymore

Stone cold, baby
God knows I tried to feel
Happy for you
Know that I am, even if I
Can't understand, I'll take the pain
Give me the truth, me and my heart
We'll make it through
If happy is her, I'm happy for you

Stone cold, stone cold
You're dancing with her, while I'm staring at my phone
Stone cold, stone cold
I was your amber, but now she's your shade of gold

Stone cold, baby
God knows I tried to feel
Happy for you
Know that I am, even if I
Can't understand, I'll take the pain
Give me the truth, me and my heart
We'll make it through
If happy is her, I'm happy for you


Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.
July 11th, 2016
For years we've been writing about the incompatible relationship between engagement rings and large bodies of water. Despite the inherent risks of dropping the precious keepsakes in the drink, a cavalcade of can't-take-a-hint suitors keep making the same mistakes.

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Which brings us to today's story of Virginian Jesse Puryear, whose brilliant idea was to propose to his girlfriend, Alexandra Love, while careening on a raft down the white-capped Class IV rapids of Chattanooga's Ocoee River.

Puryear was aware that his well-intentioned proposal could go terribly wrong. In fact, he was extra careful to tether the engagement ring to his life vest.

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On July 2, in the midst of one of the most challenging sections of the river, the dapper young man went down on one knee and popped the question to his girlfriend with a halo-style engagement ring. In the boat were members of the future-bride's family.

"I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and wanted to do it in front of your family," said Puryear, according to TheKnotNews.com. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

As he attempted the place the ring on Love's right hand (oops!), the raft encountered a violent wave and a torrent drenched the lovebirds and the boat-mounted video camera.

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Still smiling, Puryear collected himself and continued with what promised to be one of the most momentous events of his life, but that euphoria was short-circuited when he saw nothing dangling from the leash on his vest. The ring is gone.

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His distraught girlfriend could do nothing more than continue to hold on tight as Puryear squatted down to dig for the ring at the bottom of the raft. Incidentally, the boat is designed with drainage holes in the floor, according to Puryear.

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A near catastrophe turned to triumph when, within a few seconds, Puryear located the ring and raised it to the sky. Love and the rest of her family let out a collective cheer, as their raft guide, who is incidentally Love's brother, Josh, maneuvered them all into calmer waters.

“[It was] barely holding on to the lip of a hole in the bottom of the raft," Puryear told TheKnotNews.com. "I pulled it up for a split second to double check and just raised it up in the air as high as I could. I was at a loss for words, just sheer joy.”

Instead of hitting the reset button and attempting the proposal again, Puryear handed the ring to the captain for safekeeping. The proposal would have to wait until they got onto dry land.

Puryear, who posted his experience to YouTube and Facebook, captioned his video, "How I almost messed up one of the most important days of my life."

Lesson learned.

Credits: Screen captures via YouTube; Couple via Facebook/Alexandra Love.
July 12th, 2016
The 2016 American Eagle one-ounce platinum proof coin earned rock-star status recently when the U.S. Mint exhausted its entire mintage of 10,000 pieces within 56 minutes of the coins going on sale.

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On the Mint's website, the coins were priced at $1,350 and purchases were limited to one per household. Despite that limitation, the website processed orders at a rate of three per second until it was forced to take down the offer and replace it with the status of “Currently Unavailable.”

While these statistics surely impressed coin enthusiasts, it may be a good time to compare the American's Eagle's performance against some of the all-time quickest selling items...

• Back in 1964, The Beatles' release of "Can't Buy Me Love" generated sales of 940,225 during the first 24 hours. That's equivalent to a tad fewer than 11 singles per second.
• In 2012, pre-orders for the iPhone 5 exceeded two million in 24 hours, or about 23 per second.
• In 2013, the video game Grand Theft Auto V sold 12 million units in its first day, or the equivalent of 139 per second.
• And in 2015, the Korean boy band EXO sold out the 15,000-seat Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul in 1.47 seconds. That's more than 10,000 transactions per second.

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Coin enthusiasts clamored for the 2016 American Eagle based on its beauty, collectibility and investment value. The spot price for an ounce of platinum on the day of the Mint's offering was $1,320, so the premium to obtain a limited-edition proof was only $30.

Soon after the coins were sold out, the same 2016 American Eagle .9995 platinum coins emerged on eBay for upwards of $1,895, a 40% premium over the issue price.

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The obverse features John Mercanti’s modern interpretation of Liberty, first introduced on Platinum Eagles in 1997. Inscribed in the field and along the rim are the words LIBERTY, E PLURIBUS UNUM, IN GOD WE TRUST and the year 2016.

Designed by Paul C. Balan and sculpted by Joseph Menna, the reverse depicts Liberty holding a torch of enlightenment and an olive branch of peace. On the olive branch are 13 olives, one for each of the original colonies of the United States. A bald eagle in flight appears beside Liberty. Inscribed in the field and along the rim are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, .9995 PLATINUM, 1 OZ., $100, and the West Point Mint’s “W” mark.

This past December, the 2015 version of the American Eagle platinum proof coin was offered in a very limited mintage of 3,881 pieces, which sold out within 10 minutes of its release. That coin carried at price tag of $1,200 and no household ordering limit. For the record, it sold at a rate of 6.5 coins per second.

The 2016 coin is packaged in a presentation case, allowing both 2015 and 2016 coins to be displayed together.

Credits: Coin images courtesy of U.S. Mint. Boy band EXO by Louis Kim (SMTown Live World Tour IV in Seoul) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
July 13th, 2016
A devious gopher, who's a spitting image of Bill Murray's nemesis in 1980's Caddyshack, swipes an engagement ring that a golfer leaves unattended and dives underground to surprise his adorable red-bow-wearing girlfriend with a marriage proposal using the stolen solitaire.

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That crazy scenario is the theme of a TV commercial promoting Farmers Insurance, a company whose agents "know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two."

According to the company, the "Romantic Rodent" commercial is based on an actual claim that Farmers covered for its customer when an engagement ring was lost at a golf course. In a creative twist, the ad offers a fanciful account of what became of the missing engagement ring. Farmers' creative team pins the blame on a romantic rodent, who swiped the ring to propose to his love interest.

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The ad opens with Farmers Insurance spokesman J.K. Simmons walking #7-ranked professional golfer Rickie Fowler through the insurance company's Hall of Claims. The spokesman explains to the golf pro that his company has seen just about everything, so the company knows how to cover almost anything — "even a romantic rodent."

"A romantic what?" asks a baffled Fowler.

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At this point, the scene flashes to a golf course, where a female golfer has just placed her engagement ring in the cup holder of her golf cart.

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Watching the scene from a nearby burrow is a clever gopher, who makes a mad dash for the ring when the golfer leaves the cart unattended to take her shot.

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After snatching the ring, the thief dives head first back into his hole, scampers through a narrow tunnel and finally meets up with his girlfriend, who is preparing an acorn dinner in her rodent kitchen.

With Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's "Romeo & Juliet Love Theme" playing in the background, she slowly turns to see him holding a stunning diamond solitaire ring.

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She drops an acorn as he goes down on one knee to chirp his proposal. The surprised girlfriend holds her paws to her face in excitement.

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The scene transitions back to Simmons, who states, "I'm a sucker for proposals." On the wall of the company's Hall of Claims is a plaque commemorating the Romantic Rodent claim, which is dated 4/26/14. On the plaque are two silver golf balls and a needlepoint depiction of the two gophers holding a diamond ring.

The commercial, which made its TV debut earlier this year during the Farmers Insurance Open, is part of the company's "We Know From Experience" campaign. The company's ad agency of record is Santa Monica-based RPA. The commercial has had more than 1,150 national airings. Farmers Insurance serves more than 10 million households with 19 million individual policies.

Check out the adorable commercial below...


Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.
July 14th, 2016
With the Olympic Games kicking off in Rio de Janeiro in 22 days, we ask you to ponder what seems to be a very silly and simple question: Are the Rio Olympic gold medals really made of gold?

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Well, the answer is "yes" and "no."

Have you ever wondered how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) could afford to give away pure gold medals? With the Rio medals weighing 500 grams, each would cost $23,668 in precious metal alone. The IOC will be awarding 812 gold medals during the Olympic games, so 24-karat gold medals at 500 grams would generate a tab of more than $19.2 million.

Yes, there was a time when Olympic gold medals were made of solid gold, but the last ones were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, way back in 1912.

Starting in 1916, the IOC mandated that gold medals be made mostly of silver, with a 24-karat gilding of exactly 6 grams (.211 ounces). The IOC also required the medals to be at least 60mm in diameter and 3mm thick.

Interestingly, since the density of gold is nearly twice that of silver, if the committee attempted to mint a 60mm wide, 3mm thick coin in pure gold, it would weigh about 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds) and be worth about $47,000 in precious metal.

Since the Rio medals are composed of 494 grams of 96% pure silver and 6 grams of 99.9% pure gold, the total precious metal value is about $284 in gold and $339 in silver — for a grand total of $623. The IOC will spend $505,000 on gold medals this year.

Rio's silver medals are made of 500 grams of 96% pure silver and have no gilding at all. The precious metal value is about $344.

Bronze medals contain mostly copper with a bit of zinc and tin. The composition is similar to that of a penny. The medal contains no precious metal and has a value of less than $5.

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The medal's design features laurel leaves – a symbol of victory in ancient Greece – surrounding the Rio 2016 Olympic logo. According to Olympic Games tradition, the other side of the medal regularly features an image of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, with the Panathinaiko Stadium and the Acropolis in the background.

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For the first time, the medals are slightly thicker at their central point compared with their edges. The name of the event for which the medal was won is engraved by laser along the outside edge.

The medals of Rio have been made with sustainability at their heart. Athletes who get to stand on the highest podium after their respective competitions will receive medals made from gold that has been produced according to strict sustainability criteria, from the initial mining all the way through to the design of the end product.

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The silver and bronze medals have been fabricated using 30% recycled materials. Half of the plastic in the ribbons — used to hang the medals around athletes’ necks — comes from recycled plastic bottles. The rounded cases that hold the medals are made from freijó wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Rio 2016 published this short video showing how medals from both the Olympic Games (Aug. 5-21) and Paralympic Games (Sept. 7-18) are made...


Credits: Rio medal images courtesy Rio 2016/Alex Ferro.
July 15th, 2016
Welcome to Music Friday when we highlight chart-topping songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Aussie sensation Sia teams up with Jamaican rapper Sean Paul to deliver one of the country's hottest dance tunes, "Cheap Thrills." Currently #5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song features Paul's reggae-spiced refrain, "You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold."

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The song follows Sia as she preps for an exciting weekend with her partner at the dance club. She states that she doesn't need dollars bills to have fun tonight, because feeling the music and dancing the night away is worth so much more.

Sia and Paul alternate lines as they sing, "But I don't need no money / (You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold) / As long as I can feel the beat."

Penned by Sia and Greg Kurstin, "Cheap Thrills" has been described by critics as a "bouncy party anthem" and "another superior slab of on-trend ear candy."

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"Cheap Thrills" has become a viral sensation on YouTube. The lyric video, which mimics the 1960s vibe of American Bandstand and features faceless dancers wearing signature Sia wigs, has been viewed more than 362 million times. A second video highlighting Dance Moms star Maddie Ziegler has accumulated 120 million views. The 13-year-old dancer also appeared in Sia's videos for "Chandelier," "Elastic Heart" and "Big Girls Cry."

Sia fans may remember that she wrote "Diamonds" for Rihanna in 2012. That song became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with more than 7.5 million copies sold worldwide.

Interestingly, "Cheap Thrills" was also intended for Rihanna, but the artist passed on it. As reported in Rolling Stone, Rihanna's manager was looking for another "Diamonds," a song with soul and feeling. After Sia and Kurstin wrote "Cheap Thrills," Sia sensed that the song may not be a perfect match for Rihanna.

"I realized just as soon as I was cutting it that it sounded a little bit too Brit-pop for her," she told Rolling Stone. "We did actually send it to her, but they passed on it, and then I just couldn't stop listening to it in the car."

Sia decided to add the song to her seventh studio album, This Is Acting. The rest is hit-making history. The song was released in February and is still migrating its way up the Billboard charts.

Please check out the excellent "Cheap Thrills" video at the end of this post. The lyrics are included if you'd like to sing along with Sia and Sean Paul...

"Cheap Thrills"
Written by Greg Kurstin and Sia Furler. Performed by Sia, featuring Sean Paul.

Up with it girl
Rock with it girl
Show dem it girl (Bada bang bang)
Bounce with it girl
Dance with it girl
Get with it girl (Bada bang bang)

Come on, come on, turn the radio on
It's Friday night and I won't be long
Gotta do my hair, I put my make up on
It's Friday night and I won't be long

Til I hit the dance floor (Bada bang)
Hit the dance floor (Bada bang)
I got all I need (Sia)
No I ain't got cash
No I ain't got cash
But I got you baby
(Just you and me)

Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I love cheap thrills)
Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I love cheap thrills)
But I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I can feel the beat
Mek di beat jus tek control
I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I keep dancing
Free up yourself, get outa control

Come on, come on, turn the radio on
It's Saturday and I won't be long
Gotta paint my nails, put my high heels on
It's Saturday and I won't be long

Til I hit the dance floor (Bada bang)
Hit the dance floor (Bada bang)
I got all I need (Sia)
No I ain't got cash
No I ain't got cash
But I got you baby
(Just you and me)

Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I love cheap thrills)
Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I love cheap thrills)
But I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I can feel the beat
Mek di beat jus tek control
I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I keep dancing
Free up yourself, get outa control

Me and you girl, you and me
Drop it to di floor an mek mi see your energy because
Mi nah play na hide an seek
Wah fi see di ting you have weg mek me feel weak girl
Cause anytime you wine and kotch it
Di selector pull it up an pull it pon repeat girl
I'm nah touch a dollar in my pocket
Cause nuttin in this world ain't more dan what you worth

But I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I can feel the beat
Mek di beat jus tek control
I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I keep dancing
Free up yourself, get outa control
Oh, oh

Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I love cheap thrills)
Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I love cheap thrills)
But I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I can feel the beat
Mek di beat jus tek control
I don't need no money
You worth more dan diamonds, more dan gold
As long as I keep dancing
Free up yourself, get outa control

La, la, la, la, la, la
(I love cheap thrills)
La, la, la, la, la, la
(I love cheap thrills)
La, la, la, la, la, la
(I love cheap thrills)
La, la, la, la, la
(I love cheap thrills)


Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.
July 18th, 2016
Singapore's Cé La Vi restaurant and Russia's World of Diamonds have teamed up to offer the ultimate dining experience. The $2 million dinner for two commences with a romantic helicopter ride over the cosmopolitan city and ends eight hours later — at midnight — with the presentation of The Jane Seymour Vivid Blue diamond ring.

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One lucky couple will enjoy an exhilarating 45-minute airborne tour, followed by a private luxury cruise. When the couple returns to dry land, they will be whisked away in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce and transported to Cé La Vi, on the rooftop of Marina Bay Sands hotel, where they will be showered with 10,000 roses.

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Their 18-course meal will include some of the finest delicacies the world has to offer. The menu includes Almas caviar, lamb sweetbreads, slow-cooked pigeon, fresh Belon oysters with champagne foam, New Zealand langoustine, air-flown Alaska wild salmon and grilled Mishima sirloin paired with 44- and 55-year-old vintage wines.

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The couple will be trading in their traditional silverware for diamond-encrusted chopsticks, each of which will be engraved with the diners' names and the date of the epic dinner.

Throughout the evening, the couple will be entertained by a live band.

But the most exciting part of the dining experience will take place at the strike of midnight, when The Seymour Vivid Blue diamond ring will be presented to the couple. At that moment, a fireworks display will light up Singapore's evening sky and a bottle of Louis XIII de Rémy Martin cognac will be served.

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The 2.08-carat fancy vivid blue cushion-cut diamond is set in a rose gold-and-platinum, Seymour-inspired geranium floral design. World of Diamonds valued the ring at $2 million. The 65-year-old British actress is best known for her performances in East of Eden, War and Remembrance, Somewhere in Time and the James Bond thriller Live and Let Die.

Fancy vivid blue diamonds have been in the headlines this season, most spectacularly when the Oppenheimer Blue, a 14.62-carat stunner, sold for $57.5 million at Christie's Geneva in May.

“As a diamond mining group, we recognize that Cé La Vi is a diamond in the sky," Karan Tilani, director of World of Diamonds Group, told Forbes.com contributor Roberta Naas. "[We expect] the response will be beyond overwhelming, but it’s only two diners who will eventually have the privilege.”

Executives from both the restaurant and diamond group will cherry-pick the couple that will eventually enjoy the most lavish dining experience in the world. Naas reported that the companies will be looking closely at the candidates' status as influencers, their affinity for blue diamonds and how they plan to flaunt or display The Jane Seymour Vivid Blue.

The companies are reportedly fielding requests from interested parties just ahead of a press preview that will take place next month.

Credits: Restaurant shots courtesy of Cé La Vi; Jewelry and Jane Seymour shots courtesy of World of Diamonds.
July 19th, 2016
Last year, The Perth Mint captivated the imaginations of coin and gemstone lovers alike when it released the "Kimberley Sunset," a 2-ounce pink gold coin punctuated by a petite .04-carat pink diamond. Last week, the Mint took the concept to new heights by unveiling "The Kimberley Treasure," a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) yellow gold coin embellished by an ultra-rare .54-carat red diamond sourced in Western Australia.

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The price tag for the one-of-a-kind collectible is AUD$1 million ($758,000). It's the most valuable coin ever released by The Perth Mint.

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With its precious metal content valued at just under $50,000, the coin's premium price is based primarily on its exclusivity and the fact that natural red diamonds are the rarest of all fancy-colored diamonds. The diamond set in the "The Kimberley Treasure" was unearthed at Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond Mine in the east Kimberley region — one of the few mines in the world that produces red diamonds. Rio Tinto reports that its average annual output of red diamonds is barely 1 carat.

Fancy red diamonds are so rare that the world's supply of gem-quality specimens could easily fit in the palm of one's hand. In fact, many gemologist have never touched a red diamond. At auction, the elusive fancy red diamond can easily fetch $1 million per carat.

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Emphasizing the coin's Aussie origin is a depiction of a kangaroo, hopping across the coin from right to left. Grasped between its rendered paws is a genuine radiant-cut red diamond (although The Perth Mint's illustration seems to show a round gemstone). Around the top rim is the phrase "AUSTRALIAN KANGAROO." The year 2016, the weight of 1 kilo and the metal purity of 9999 GOLD are written along the bottom rim.

On the reverse, an Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is encircled by the denomination value of 5,000 DOLLARS (Australian), as well as her name and the word "AUSTRALIA" spelled in capital letters.

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While last year's 22-karat pink gold Kimberley Sunset had a denominational value of 500 Aussie dollars and a purchase price of AUD$6,000, this year's Kimberley Treasure boasts a denomination value of 5,000 Aussie dollars and a selling price of AUD$1 million. The Sunset had been released in a limited mintage of 500. The Mint will produced only one Kimberley Treasure.

“We are delighted to collaborate with The Perth Mint on the exclusive release of this distinctive investment piece," said Simon Trott, managing director of Rio Tinto Diamonds. "It is a beautiful symbol of the unique treasures of Western Australia and sets a new benchmark in limited-edition craftsmanship.”

It is believed that red diamonds get their rich color from a molecular structure distortion that occurs as the jewel forms in the earth’s crust. By contrast, other colored diamonds get their color from trace elements in their chemical composition, such as boron (yielding a blue diamond) or nitrogen (yielding a yellow one).

Credits: Photos courtesy of Rio Tinto and The Perth Mint.
July 20th, 2016
On Sunday, Canadian rap star Drake gave his 25 million Instagram followers a sneak peek at what he claims are solid gold Air Jordans.

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Designed and fabricated by mixed-media artist Matthew Senna, the shoes represent a gilded replica of the Air Jordan 10s that Drake's record label — OVO — created in collaboration with Nike.

On Instagram, Drake (a.k.a. Champagne Papi) divulged that the shoes weighed 100 pounds. If that number is accurate and the shoes are made of 24-karat gold, the precious metal value alone would be more than $2 million.

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Senna kicked up some controversy when he took to Instagram to show off the golden sneakers. If the pair did, indeed, weigh 100 pounds, how could he effortlessly grip a 50-pound shoe with only a few fingers? An explanation could be that Senna's pair are a gold-plated prototype.

Nevertheless, the golden Air Jordans — whether they be solid gold or gold plated — will be joining Drake's growing collection of bling. Followers of this blog may remember that back in October 2015, the Toronto native and fellow rapper Future celebrated their chart-topping collaborative mixtape, What a Time to Be Alive, with matching diamond-encrusted “World Champions” pinky rings.

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Reminiscent of a Super Bowl ring, the designs by Avianne feature the words “World Champions” engraved in black enamel against a polished white metal background. Drake’s version of the ring displayed an owl emblem and the initials OVO, which stand for "October's Very Own."

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On Drake's Instagram page, the music artist may have stated the obvious when he posted an image of the golden Air Jordans with the hashtag "TheseAreNotToWear." The rapper would be hard pressed to achieve any locomotion while donning 100-pound shoes.

Drake has been a brand ambassador for Nike since 2013.

Credits: Images via Instagram/msenna, Instagram/champagnepapi.
July 21st, 2016
In the Madhya Pradesh region of central India, 4,700 villagers now have access to clean drinking water thanks to the initiatives of diamond producer Rio Tinto.

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In the Siberian town of Mirny, 2,000 youngsters take part in more than a dozen sporting activities offered at the state-of-the-art Cultural and Sports Complex built and funded by the diamond mining company ALROSA.

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And in Africa, the Diamond Empowerment Fund is providing promising youth with access to higher education.

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These are just a few stories featured on the new "Diamonds Do Good" website, which focuses on the positive impact the diamond industry is making on communities around the world. In addition to the website and its related social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, the "Diamonds Do Good" messaging will include three 60-second Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

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The aim of the "Diamonds Do Good" initiative is to inspire consumers with the great stories behind diamonds. These powerful, positive video vignettes are being targeted at more than eight million Millennials (people born between 1982 and 2004). Videos will rotate on the highly trafficked websites of Vogue, The New York Times, InStyle, Elle, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar and others.

Since it was founded in 2007 by business entrepreneur Russell Simmons and leaders in the diamond and jewelry industries, the nonprofit Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F.) has had one mission: to help diamond communities become strong, stable, prosperous, and socially empowered.

Through the generosity and dedication of the diamond industry and its affiliates, Simmons' vision has become a reality. ALROSA, for example, reportedly allocates 5% of its revenue towards social programs, and puts social policy at the core of its mission.

Credits: Instagram/diamondsdogood; www.diamondsdogood.com.
July 22nd, 2016
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fabulous songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, music legend Bruce Springsteen performs "Jersey Girl," a tender ballad about falling head-over-heels in love with a gal from New Jersey. She's so spectacular in so many ways that Springsteen is confident that some day he'll ask for her hand in marriage.

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He sings, "You know she thrills me with all her charms / When I'm wrapped up in my baby's arms / My little girl gives me everything / I know that some day she'll wear my ring."

Although Springsteen released "Jersey Girl" as the B-side to his 1984 hit "Cover Me," the song had became a fan favorite three years earlier when he began performing it during encores of his River Tour. The song generated so much emotion from the concertgoers that it became a set list staple — frequently opening or closing his shows. "Jersey Girl" was selected as the final track of Springsteen's 1986 box set Live/1975-85 and was the final song performed by Springsteen at New Jersey's Giants Stadium before its demolition in 2009.

The Boss' fans may be surprised to learn that although Springsteen was born in Colts Neck, N.J., and his rocker wife, Patti Scialfa, was born in Deal, N.J., "Jersey Girl" was actually penned by Californian Tom Waits in 1980. Waits revealed in an interview that he wrote the song with his future wife and Jersey girl, Kathleen Brennan, after she came into his life and "saved him." Waits included the song on his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine.

A master storyteller and poet, Springsteen rarely releases covers of other artists' songs, but "Jersey Girl" remains an exception. He recognized the main character in the song as the same guy from his own "Sandy" and "Rosalita."

In August 1981, Waits and Springsteen — both of whom would later enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — performed "Jersey Girl" together at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

We hope you enjoy the audio track of Springsteen’s live performance of "Jersey Girl." The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

"Jersey Girl"
Written by Tom Waits. Performed by Bruce Springsteen.

I got no time for the corner boys
Down in the street making all that noise
Or the girls out on the avenue
'Cause tonight I want to be with you

Tonight I'm gonna take that ride
Across the river to the Jersey side
Take my baby to the carnival
And I'll take her on all the rides

'Cause down the shore everything's all right
You and your baby on a Saturday night
You know all my dreams come true
When I'm walking down the street with you

Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la
Sha la la la I'm in love with a Jersey girl

You know she thrills me with all her charms
When I'm wrapped up in my baby's arms
My little girl gives me everything
I know that some day she'll wear my ring

So don't bother me man I ain't got no time
I'm on my way to see that girl of mine
'Cause nothing matters in this whole wide world
When you're in love with a Jersey girl

Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la
Sha la la la I'm in love with a Jersey girl

I see you on the street and you look so tired
I know that job you got leaves you so uninspired
When I come by to take you out to eat
you're lyin' all dressed up on the bed baby fast asleep

Go in the bathroom and put your makeup on
We're gonna take that little brat of yours and drop her off at your mom's
I know a place where the dancing's free
Now baby won't you come with me

'Cause down the shore everything's all right
You and your baby on a Saturday night
Nothing matters in this whole wide world
When you're in love with a Jersey girl


Credits: Bruce Springsteen image by Manuel Martinez Perez [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
July 26th, 2016
Wedding bells will be ringing for supermodel Miranda Kerr and Snapchat Founder and CEO Evan Spiegel. The former Victoria’s Secret Angel took to Instagram to announce their engagement and show off the ring on July 20.

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Kerr, 33, shared the good news by posting a photo of her beautiful bauble, with a custom Snapchat filter (of course). The photo is captioned, “I said yes!!!” and features a Bitmoji cartoon depiction of the proposal, with the words “Marry Me!" in the bubble text. A cartoon version of Spiegel kneels in front of his bride. According to People, Bitmoji is now the property of Snapchat.

After a year of dating, Spiegel, 26, put a ring on it — and what an epic ring it is. Described as a “stunning super sparkler,” the gorgeous ring features a classic, round-cut center stone embraced by two elegant tapered baguettes.

"Miranda's ring is the quintessence of classic style and understatement," celebrity stylist Michael O'Connor told Us Weekly. "It's a classic round diamond of about 2.5 carats. The value of the ring would be approximately $55,000."

The magazine also reported that the couple will have “an extravagant wedding, in true Evan style."

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The Australian beauty and the media mogul first met at a Louis Vuitton dinner in New York in 2014. They were first spotted as a couple in June of 2015. In May of this year, they bought a sprawling $12 million dollar home in L.A.’s chic Brentwood neighborhood.

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Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of the mobile app Snapchat, created the platform with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown while they were all students at Stanford University. According to TechCrunch, Snapchat has a valuation of more than $22 billion.

“He’s 26, but acts like he’s 50,” said Kerr to Net-a-Porter’s The Edit. “He’s not out partying. He goes to work in L.A.’s Venice. He comes home. We don’t go out.” Kerr revealed to People that the pair are “decidedly low key.”

“We’d rather be at home and have dinner, go to bed early,” she said.

The Australian beauty and style icon was previously married to actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares a 5-year-old son, Flynn. After the split, Kerr established rules with her ex for introducing Flynn to a significant other. “We had to know the person for six months and feel good about them,” she said. “Evan met Flynn, so, yeah, things are going well. Orlando thinks he’s great. We’re just a modern family now!”

Credits: Ring photo via Instagram/mirandakerr; Miranda Kerr photo by Eva Rinaldi [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons; Evan Spiegel by cellanr [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
July 27th, 2016
Blazing temperatures topping 100 degrees couldn't keep aspiring geologist and gem lover Grace Houston from uncovering the find of a lifetime during her family's vacation to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. On Saturday, the nine-year-old from Missouri landed a 1.53-carat diamond while wet-sifting with her grandma.

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Despite a National Weather Service Heat Advisory, the determined young lady insisted on going back to the park for a second day of prospecting after the first day failed to yield the gemstone she so desperately wanted.

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Houston's family had planned the trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro six months in advance, but decided to keep it a secret so the fledgling geologist would be surprised.

After finding the diamond, the young girl's elation nearly turned to disappointment when she fumbled her pea-sized precious discovery back into the soil. Never deterred, Houston went back to work and found it again.

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Park interpreter Betty Coors snapped the reaction of Houston's mom (orange shirt) when she learned of her daughter's discovery.

Coors reported that Houston wants to keep the diamond in its natural state. When pressed about whether she would possible use it in an engagement ring when she was older, the youngster responded, "No! I would never put such a rare and special and precious thing into an expensive piece of jewelry!"

Hmmm. We think there's a fair chance she could change her mind.

Treasure hunters visit Crater of Diamonds State Park year round to try their luck at bagging a precious gem at the only diamond site in the world open to the general public.

Only last year, Bobbie Oskarson made international headlines when she found an icicle-shaped 8.52-carat diamond at the park. Dubbed the “Esperanza,” the rough diamond was eventually crafted into an elongated briolette by master cutter Mike Botha. He called the unique shape the "Esperanza Cut."

The entry fee to Crater of Diamonds State Park is a modest $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 to 12. Kids under 6 get in for free.

The 37½-acre search field in Murfreesboro, Ark., is actually the eroded surface of an ancient diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe.

The park maintains a generous finder’s keepers policy and even provides experts to help amateur prospectors identify what they’ve found. Besides diamonds, the search field often yields amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite and quartz.

More than 75,000 diamonds have been pulled from the Murfreesboro site since farmer John Huddleston, who owned the land, found the first precious gems in 1906. The site became an Arkansas state park in 1972. The largest diamond ever discovered in the U.S. was unearthed here in 1924. Named the Uncle Sam, the white diamond with a pink cast weighed an astounding 40.23 carats.

Credits: Images by Betty Coors, Crater of Diamonds State Park.
July 28th, 2016
Earlier this month, NASA's Juno space probe successfully entered Jupiter's orbit after a 365-million mile trek that took nearly five years. For the next 20 months, Juno will discover what's hiding under the planet's thick clouds and transmit that information back to Earth. Don't be surprised if Juno encounters diamond crystals the size of hailstones along the way.

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Two prominent scientists — Dr. Kevin Baines of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Mona Delitsky from California Specialty Engineering — made headlines three years ago when they floated the idea that diamonds rain on Jupiter.

In 2013, at the 45th annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, they outlined the circumstances under which Jupiter's atmosphere would rain down thousands of tons of ring-sized diamonds every year.

It all boiled down to chemistry...

Many readers already know that the Earthly diamonds form naturally when carbon is heated to an extreme temperature and put under intense pressure about 100 miles below the surface. The diamonds find their way to the surface via kimberlite pipes — the equivalent of volcanic superhighways.

While diamonds on the Earth come from the bottom up, diamonds on Jupiter come from the top down, say the scientists.

Baines and Delitsky believe the tremendous gravitational pull of Jupiter results in a super-dense atmosphere of extreme heat and pressure — the same conditions found deep within the Earth.

Lightning storms in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter are responsible for initiating the process that eventually yields a diamond. When lightning strikes, methane gas is turned into soot, or carbon.

"As the soot falls, the pressure on it increases,” said Baines. “And after about 1,000 miles it turns to graphite — the sheet-like form of carbon you find in pencils."

As it falls farther — 4,000 miles or so — the pressure is so intense that the graphite toughens into diamond, strong and unreactive, he said.

The biggest diamond crystals falling through the atmosphere of Jupiter would likely be about a centimeter in diameter — "big enough to put on a ring, although, of course, they would be uncut," said Baines.

Because Jupiter is made of gas and is hotter than the Sun at its core, what happens next to the falling diamonds is the saddest part of the story. As they descend another 20,000 miles into the core of the planets, they eventually melt into a sea of liquid carbon.

"Once you get down to those extreme depths, the pressure and temperature is so hellish, there's no way the diamonds could remain solid,” he said.

In 2013, skeptics asked Baines, "How can you really tell? Because there's no way you can go and observe it."

At the time, he answered, "It all boils down to the chemistry. And we think we're pretty certain."

Now, with Juno on Jupiter's doorstep, we may know for sure...

Credit: Illustration courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.
July 29th, 2016
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome throwback songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, we feature Elvis Presley singing about the powerful symbolism of a wedding ring in his 1973 cover of "She Wears My Ring."

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To a smitten Presley, the ring he placed on his love's finger is not only an expression of his commitment, but also a signal to the world that "she's mine eternally."

Presley sings, "This tiny ring is a token of tender emotion / An endless pool of love that's as deep as the ocean / She swears to wear it with eternal devotion / That's why I sing, because she wears my ring."

Reinterpreted with English lyrics by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1960, "She Wears My Ring" was adapted from a Spanish-language song, "La Golodrina." That song was penned by Mexican physician Narciso Serradell nearly 100 years earlier, when the doctor had been exiled to France during the French intervention in Mexico. He wrote "La Golodrina," ("The Swallow" in Spanish) as a fond tribute to the country he left behind. The song is about a migrating bird yearning to return to her homeland.

Although Presley's rendition of "She Wears My Ring" is the most memorable, the song was originally performed by Jimmy Bell in 1960 and covered by Roy Orbison in 1962 and Ray Price in 1968.

"She Wears My Ring" appears as the fifth track of Good Times, Presley's 20th studio album.

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Born in Tupelo, Miss., in 1935, Elvis Aron Presley ascended to stardom in the mid-1950s with his good looks, silky voice and outrageous performance style. Not only did he top the charts during the 1950s and 1960s, but he also starred in more than 30 movies, including Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Viva Las Vegas (1964).

Presley met Priscilla Ann Beaulieu in 1960 and married her after a seven-and-a-half-year courtship. The ceremony took place at the Aladdin hotel in Las Vegas and, yes, she wore his ring.

"The King," as he was known, would eventually become one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music, with more than 600 million records sold worldwide. His Memphis home, Graceland, is still a major tourist attraction.

Elvis died in Memphis on August 16, 1977, at the age of 44.

Please check out the audio track of Presley performing "She Wears My Ring." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"She Wears My Ring"
Written by Felice & Boudleaux Bryant. Performed by Elvis Presley.

She wears my ring to show the world that she belongs to me
She wears my ring to show the world she's mine eternally
With loving care I placed it on her finger
To show my love for all the world to see

This tiny ring is a token of tender emotion
An endless pool of love that's as deep as the ocean
She swears to wear it with eternal devotion
That's why I sing, because she wears my ring

She swears to wear it with eternal devotion
That's why I sing, because she wears my ring

This tiny ring is a token of tender emotion
An endless pool of love that's as deep as the ocean
She swears to wear it with eternal devotion
That's why I sing, because she wears my ring
That's why I sing, because she wears my ring


Credit: Wedding image in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons; Jailhouse Rock publicity pic by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.