Diamonds in the Rouge

Though widely perceived as colorless, diamonds are infrequently achromatic and can occur in every hue of the rainbow. In fact, color is one of the four standards for judging the beauty and worth of a diamond (the others being carat, cut, and clarity). When it comes to diamond color, there are two seemingly contradictory principles: less is more, and more is more. The fewer impurities and flaws, the more transparent the diamond and the higher the value. Yet rare colors such as blue, green, pink, orange, and black are highly desirable and even museum-worthy. A faint straw yellow will detract from a diamond's value, while a deep yellow is prized.

"White" diamonds are classified according to their degree of transparency. Most white diamonds actually contain yellow or brown tints. The Gemological Institute of America developed a scale of diamond color saturation, ranging from D (colorless) to Z (noticeable light yellow or brown). Diamond color is determined by comparing a gem to a master set. Special folded cards are also used to evaluate color. Dara Horn poetically describes how diamond color is influenced by context. Three diamonds that look identically transparent against deep black velvet reveal their differences when placed in the crease of white paper: "The first sat tarnished on the paper, throbbing a bruised and tawny color; the second glowed a dim yellow like a dying gas lamp in an old painting. The last one, exposed and revealed, blazed burning white."

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at Colourlovers.com.]

When one is put "on hold," why does the telephone operator automatically send one to the Muzak Room?  Why can't one request the Solarium (for weather reports), the Library (for audio books), the Conservatory (for gardening tips), the Parlor (for live chat), the Ballroom (for toe-tapping), or the Zen Room (for silence)?  I, for one, would prefer being ushered to the Secret Passage.

Not all designers think outside the hat box.

George H.W. Bush famously mocked Ronald Reagan's supply-side policies as "Voodoo Economics."  Now someone has designed a Voodoo version of the Monopoly game.  Here's the Income Tax square, complete with a vévé for the spirit of tariffs.  The red lights are candles.  Here's another view of the card.

If Rainbows Were Architecture

What happens when an eccentric architect has the soul of a painter? He drafts a technicolor blueprint and creates elaborate canvasses out of brick and mortar. Portmeirion, the celebrated Italianate village on the west coast of Wales, and famous location of the 60’s cult television series "The Prisoner,” was built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis as a retirement project.

The fairy-tale hamlet he created (30 years before Disneyland) is like a three-dimensional picture postcard exhibiting an unparalleled array of colors. Portmeirion is often cited as an example of "picturesque architecture.” Picturesque simply means that something is proper to be pictured. In the picture that is Portmeirion, foreground and background are the real ground of a rainbow we can walk through.

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at Colourlovers.com.]

Finally, someone has taken all the awkwardness out of spontaneous picnics!

The origin of pointillism?

I finally tried to watch the film Perfume.  Perhaps I'd have liked it better had I worn one of these.

A cartoon on the value of fairy tales, from the Jan. 8, 1919 issue of Punch.  The caption reads:

Ever wondered what happens to the coins you throw into a wishing well?

Revealed for the first time: Frogs take the money and spend it unwisely. 

Theory: the Pac-Man video game was inspired by a lily pond.  The lily pads, with their triangular missing pieces pointing toward colorful flowers, inspired the munching mouth who chases ghosts.  When we flip Pac-Man art upside down, the ghost resembles a water lily blossom.

The trapping of garden gnomes is ignoble.

Gnomic genomes?  The picture explains everything!

Here's a fire hydrant gnome.

Do gnomes grow on trees?  Lauri Gröhn offers proof!

What's under a gnome's pointed red hat?

The Gnome Pebble, discovered by Nicolas P. Rougier, preserves a gnome's footprint.

Plaster gnome Danny will never be the same after taking a tumble down a stairway.  He was left tragically shattered down one side of his body, and his face and ear took a direct hit.

A lovely limestone gnome by Dan Brandemuehl.  And one in red cedar by Ray Brooks.

Gnomes placed in out-of-service urinals?

What's the dirtiest water sport on earth?  Bog snorkeling!  Every year, a host of mud-caked competitors get at loggerheads in a sixty-yard peat bog for the coveted "World Champion Bog Snorkeler" title.  The international sporting event takes place every August in the dense Waen Rhydd Peat bog on the southern outskirts of the smallest town in Wales, Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys Mid Wales.

The invisible revealed:

The invisible butterfly's wings are like stained glass windows.  (Much prettier than the transparent yellow-green soybean aphid, unless you happen to be a fan of the transparent yellow-green soybean aphid.)

Light from an invisible lamp.

Would "caller i.d." help with this invisible telephone user?

A costume headpiece that makes one's face invisible.  And another one (with glowing eyes).

Do invisible birds and unseen enemies cast shadows?

This invisible mother and child are part of the Salvation Army's "Invisible People" campaign.

Enigmatic smiles:

Figure 1 (obviously)
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Do you know the secret teaching of the Buddha's enigmatic smile? Hint: Hold the image up to a mirror. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)

The phrase "replicable randomness" returns no Google results.  (At least not until the Google spiders find this blog entry.)

It's been said that everyone secretly wishes for something:

• The gardener himself secretly wishes for a frost, though it isn't quite cricket to come right out and say so.
• Abby secretly wishes for "a hundred rainbows."
• Lisa secretly wishes for real problems, so that she can have something to complain about.
• At one time or another, everyone secretly wishes for more time or an extra pair of hands.
• Every man secretly wishes for a troublesome wife upon which to blame his failings.
• Every mom secretly wishes for a little more time on her side, a stolen moment to relax.
• Every pet owner who has had the misfortune to put down a pet secretly wishes for some sign from above that he or she has done the right thing.
• The fearful ones secretly wish for the entire world to be as helpless as they perceive themselves to be.
• Each of us, at times, secretly wishes for more personal fulfillment.
• Each side secretly wishes for a doomsday scenario in the misguided belief that their side will be proved "right."
• And although everyone secretly wishes for change in one or more bodily features, peace is discovered in a genuine love for one's self.