Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 22, 2005, edition 1 / Page 9
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http;//www.thecharlottepost.com COe CI)nrIottc IBost THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2005 Section ice rarest of all diamonds WE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK—Any diamond is rare and unusual. 'Hie Diamond Information Center says that all the diamonds in the world— engagement rings included— would fill only a single double- decker bus. That makes colored diamonds the needles in an already small haystack. The Mineralogy Department at London’s Natural History Museum, currently staging the exhibit “Diamonds: The World’s Most Dazzling Exhibition,” esti mates that one in every 500 to 10,000 gem-quality diamonds are colored. As one can imagine, such rari ty makes some colored dia monds very valuable. “Colored diamonds are not for ‘regular’ people,” says Sally Morrison, director of the DIC, an organization that promotes the diamond industry “They tend to be very expensive. The price depends on supply. The rarest is red—Fve seen two of those in my life.” Red diamonds, including the 5.11-carat Moussaieflf Red on display in London, are woith $1 million or more per carat, according to Morrison. For Harvey Lieberman, the rough diamond buyer at jeweler Louis Click whose job includes selecting rough diamonds and overseeing cutting, has been blown over by a few pieces of ice. “Over the years. I’ve come across an intense blue diamond that really knocked my socks off Everyone has their own aesthet ic. I also like a gorgeous bubble gum pink diamond,” he says. “Also, within the last year I did a beautiful orange stone. I made a pear shape and I have done a heart shape on another. The pear was over 3 carats. Those are the pieces that I’ll remember forever.” Anyone who has shopped for a diamond has probably heard about the 4Cs—color, cut, clarity and carat. The same factors should be considered when pur chasing a colored diamond, but more weight should be given to color and cut, he says. Cutting colored diamonds is different fixjm clear ones, Lieberman explains, because the ultimate goal is maximizing the color. ‘Tt the stone is cut with the same an^es as white stone, you would end up diminishing the color. You have to balance color—you want even distribu tion, too—with biilliance. Wth a white stone you’re most interest ed in brilliance.” All diamonds do indeed form the same way. as crystalized carbon. But, according to John King, laboratory projects officer at the Gemological Institute of America, colored diamonds usu ally are altered at the atomic level. An impurity in the lattice structure of the diamond creates the color, for example, if nitro- gCTi is the invader, the diamond turns yellow, and boron would make a diamond blue. Heat and pressure in the ground can affect a diamond’s ccdor, and so could a diamond’s position in the earth. King says. A diamond formed next to a nat ural source of radiation would turn green, he etplains. Some colors can be traced to individual mines, others to spe cific regions, the DICs Morrison says. Pinks and blues have been found in Australia and Afiica, red diamonds in Brazil and the 195 carats of natural green dia monds Nicole Kidman wore aroimd her neck to the Oscars in 2004 came fix)m the Jwaneng mine in Botswana and was crafted by Bulgari. LIFE Religion 8B Rainbow ‘Tis the season to be jolly, ••• Please see RAINBOW/2B ®#o Bui what is the real reason behind all the cheer? fiy CIktK H(»Js:cs (’hrlHtim«.H iH coming, but do you really care? So many people say the m«j«- sage is missing and (Christmas is commercial and it*s just for kids. And though some parents decry the mythology of (Christmas, they go along with it for the sake »f their children. Accoi*ding to scholars. centuri(»$ ago, Christians co-opted a pagan celebra- ^ tion of the winter solstice ' to commemorate the birth ^ of Jesus, despite the uncer- ^ tainty of the time of that ^ event During the last cen- * tury; a difTerent gi'oup of ^4 ambitious crusaders co opted this novv-holy day for i their own ends. , ^ Where the early ^ C^instians acted for piety; the new cinsaders - adver- • ^ tisers - acted for avarice. • j The article .stated that Americans I'outinely spend * • • $1,000 a year on gifts. « . 4 Meaning many will start ^ 9* the new vear in debt. • . If there was ever a ques- tion about how' far I'emoved (-hristmas seems ^ ^ to be getting from religion, ' some churches aren’t hold- JL ing sei-vices on SundayJf*" ^ * « 'i' • * which is Christas birth day^ * f Accoidii^ to an article in ^ the Cincinnati Inquirer,^ “This is the first time • ^ ^ ^ ^ Christmas falls on S« • • Sunday since 1994. Som^ ^ chureh leaders acknUwf ^ I* .nr edge a nod to Santa, adiffU- * • ting they canreled early Sunday morning services to give their smallest mem bers more time with their piesents.” Many Chaiiotte’s large churche.s like University Park Baptist and Greater Salem will be open for CTiristmiis serv ices. LTPBC will hoM all four regulaiiy- scheduled w'orship ser- • ‘ A fIL *• • Vi*,: . A* *, • ^ . I ^ Some clitics had accused megachurehes of bowing to pivssure of secularism. But some parents just know* ^ their kids aren't going to want to leave new toy s and I clothes behind to go to chureh. **lt*s going to be luitd to get to church Sunday ^ morning,” said Stacy • ^ Pieix?e, a Charlotte parent ^ ^who was shopping foi* her ’’Sl Please see TIS THE/2B ■‘.i'.V PHOTO/WAOE NASH Benefit raises over $25,000 for center By Bonita Buford SPECIAL TO WE POST There’s a groundswell of support for the Afix)-American Cultural Center. Fifty guests braved icy roads to gather at Charlotte attorney Johnny Tayior’s home on Dec. 15 to kick off a silent campaign to support the AACC. J. Taylor Afro-American Cultural Center Board member DeAlva Glenn, approached Tajdor several months ago asking if he would help raise money for the Center. Taydor embarrassed Glam at the fimd raiser by recalling she’d set a goal of only $5,000 before adjusting the benchmark to $25,000. “When I approached Johnny,” Glenn said, “he agreed to do this - no questions asked. Johnny is a visionary (In one ni^t) we’ve raised $22,000.” ‘T just don’t think small,” Taydor said “The goal was $25,000, so I’m going to give $2,000 (^more) and I’m challenging the rest of the commu nity to support the center.” This first of several Silent Campaigns was a gift fix)m the heart of many. After Taydor announced the goal had been reached, Grammy-award winning singer, Regina Belle-a fiiend of Taydor’s • joined the guests and sang several selections, including Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song ('Merry Christmas Tb You).” Her encore was a soulful “Happy Biithday” to a guest who spent his birthday supporting the Center. In thanking Taydor for his sup port, AACC Chair David Taydor fno relation) reminded the guests tdiat “...we’re in a time of evolution, an exciting time. The center is in good financial condition and your contri butions will insure that we have great programming. It takes all of Glenn summed up the cause: “There’s momentum in the commu nity We are getting ready for a new facility with fantastic pro gramming. It’s all about letting people know what the Afro- American Cultural Center is doing.” Giving to-iheJCios- PHOTO/WADE NASH Power 98 radio personality No Limit Larry poses with one of the many children the station solicited toys for. Saturday, the children were treated to a Christmas party at Carowinds and the gifts were handed out. Fast food fans passing on healthier alternatives WE ASSOCIATED PRESS CULVER CITY, Calif-Tbny Haney considers himself a fairly healthy eater—he tries to eat fixiit and vegetables at home and usually caxlers roast chicken or teriyaki rice when he eats out. But when he hits a fast-food joint, Haney falls under a greasy spell. On a recent trip to Wendy’s, he passed up a side salad in favor of a baked potato topped with Cheddar and bacon with his ham burger combo meal ‘You may walk in here feeling like you want to do something good for yourself,” said Haney, an actor and screenwriter in his mid-30s, “but it’s hard to resist when you smell the grease.” One option Haney no longer had: a finoit bowl of melon, pineapple and grapes. Wendy’s dropped the entree sized bowl and a smaller finit cup last month—they just didn’t seU enough. ‘"We put a strong push behind it,” said Wendy’s spokesman Bob Bertini. “But as we got through the summer and moved to fall, the finit was not meeting our sales expectation.” Though McDonald’s has found some success with its fi*uit offer ings, many people appeirently still prefer to indulge when they eat out. In 2004, the top three items ordered at restaurants were burgers, fi^nch files and pizza, according to the NPD Group, a consumer marketing research firm. And while recent studies found that Americans’ consump tion of fixiit and vegetable is on the rise, most people are eating those things at home. Wendy’s introduced the firuit items in February to provide healthier choices and counter publicity blaming fast food for Americans’ expanding waist lines. The bowl cost around $4.19, the cup around $2.19. Neither Wendy’s nor McDonald’s would release specif ic sales figures for their healthier offerings. In 2002, Wendy’s began improving its salad offerings, same-store sales rose 4.7 percoit, an increase the company partly attributed to salad sales, Dennis Milton, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s. Same-store sales for McDonald’s restaurants increased 9.6 percent in 2004 and 4.4 percent last year, an increase the chain attributed in part to improved menu offerings. Wendy’s mistake might have been in its choice of fiuit—mel ons can have a short shdf life— not the choice to offer fi*uit in the first place. “Wendy’s had the rig^t idea to offer fi*uit, but knowing the fi^h cut firuit business, melons are harder to woik with than hardier finits,” said Elizabeth Pivonka, a nutritionist and president of Produce for Better Health Foundation. Bertini, the spokesman for Wendy’s, said that fiiiit did not seU weU in cold weather and that the chain may reintroduce it sometime. Milton said healthy food has been key to the fast-food indus try’s growth in the past three years, particularly at McDonald’s, where healthier menu items have attracted women and health-conscious eaters. “Wendy’s is more an exception than the rule,” Miltcm said
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 22, 2005, edition 1
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