This was found on GGGems.com in an article titled ILAKAKA

Ilakaka is located on the road to Tulear, south-west of Madagascar. The discovery of sapphire in1998 transformed the area.

1992

1999


Now sapphire has become a major business.

A group of merchants arrived in the area from Thailand and Sri-Lanka and became experts in “the enhancement of corundum” and changed this place from an empty lot to a thriving community

The cloudy stones of better quality will often be sold as untreated Sri-Lankan sapphires on the international market. They get away with this because of the difficulties in detecting heating treatment in a stone that doesn’t contain other inclusions but instead has only a haze of tiny titanium inclusions which are reabsorbed after heating.
–True untreated Sri-Lankan sapphires are rare.

One of many excavations that follow the gravel beds through the sandstone.

To read the entire article go to ILAKAKA

While driving in to work I saw a decal that looked something like this on the side of a car.

When he drove by I thought it looked cool, but when I got along side at a stoplight I didn’t bother to take a picture.

Up close it was so obviously a cheap decal that it was no longer interesting. It made the car and the driver both look dorky.

Art can be a statement, but this was so badly executed that the statement it made was either “I’m too broke to get real art”, “I’m to dumb to know the difference” or “My optometrist called and my glasses will be ready Tuesday.”

With wanna-be art there’s a lack of detail that makes it look like what it is. A cookie cutter image that you will see 1,000 times before summer is over.

It’s like that rash of plastic psychedelic flowers that afflicted the world not too many centuries back. Except, back then most of us were dead broke so there weren’t a lot of airbrushed paint jobs to compare them to.

This is not a put down of the owner of the car but a question as to why anyone would want something that looked that bad on their primary mode of transportation.

Most of us cannot afford well done airbrushed art work, but there are much better decals out there.

All you have to do is save your money for a while and get something that may embarrass your family but will at least look good doing it.

What is the point of this diatribe you ask?

Simple: It’s better to do without and have people think that you might be a dork that to put cheesy plastic cutouts on your car and remove all doubt.

Here’s a case of best laid schemes.

A man wearing a cape made from a US flag and viking horns free-climbed the wall of the three story Morgan Library Colorado State University Thursday afternoon, dropped a giant green banner that said, “Guck the Fuverment” and rappelled down the south side of the building to cheering students and waiting police.

(Love the sunglasses.)

His plan was going well, according to witnesses it only took him 20 seconds to scale the building. He successfully rappelled down the back of the building.
–And then he tried to evade the waiting motorcycle police but got his cape caught in his bicycle’s spokes.

Now that’s a bad day.

Here’s a cute little creature that will survive no matter what. (Ok, so maybe “cute” isn’t the right word.)

Tardigardes aka water bears live mostly on moss but are found in a broad range of environments.

Not long ago 3000 of these 1mm long critters were dried out and shot into space. After ten days of being exposed to cosmic rays in a near vacuum with freezing cold temperatures some of them survived.

It turns out that in times of freezing or drought they simply go dormant and wait for things to get better. In fact if you dehydrate them you can revitalize them by just adding a little water.

–And you thought cockroaches were hard to kill.

The a large amount of information availible on the net, ranging from the Wikipedia to the Tardigrade Appreciation Headquarters which has been around since 1994.

Yeppers. You read that right. Jacko is 50. Makes you feel old doesn’t it.

Back in ‘69 after the Jackson 5 signed with Barry Gordy and Motown he appeared on national tv at the ripe old age of 11.

In ‘78 Quincy Jones produced Jackson’s solo album “Off The Wall.” It sold 10 million copies.

In ‘82 at the cost of $500,000 he came out with “Thriller” which sold 65 million copies.

In ‘87 Martin Scorcese’s video for Bad Michael had distinctly lighter skin, leading to rumors of plastic surgery and skin bleaching. That album sold 30 million copies.

In ‘93 Jacko was accused of molesting 11-year-old Jordy Chandler. He pays an out of court settlement of about $20 million.

‘94 was the year he married Lisa Marie Presley in an attempt to repair his tarnished public image. The couple divorced 19 months later.

In ‘95 he placed giant statues of himself around Europe promoting his latest album “HIStory”

In ‘97 Jackson was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In that same year he married Debbie Rowe, who was pregnant with his child, Prince Michael.

In ‘98 his daughter Paris Michael Katherine was born.

In ‘99 he and Debbie Rowe got divorced.

In 2001 his album “Invincible” lasted just 6 weeks on the charts.

In 2003 Jacko was arrested and charged molesting a 14 year old named Gavin Arvizo. The trial lasted 5 months and Jackson was found not guilty.

Jackson moved to Dubai right after the trial and to the best of my knowledge has produced nothing since in spite of rumors of a come back. Including a gig in Las Vegas