Top 10 Don'ts for ChristmasWritten by Gary R. Hess
10. Don't steal Santa from your neighbor’s yard9. Don't blow up little baby Jesus and try to replace it with your childhood G.I. Joe 8. Don't smoke mistletoe 7. Remember that not everyone is like you. Don't buy them that (insert your favorite Christmas gift here) 6. Don't throw yellow snowballs at your relatives 5. Don't sleep with your best friend's wife on Christmas, do it day before 4. Don't tell your best friend that you’re sleeping with his wife. Wait until after you get your presents
| | Crack the Clandestine Code of DiamondsWritten by M J Plaster
Precious, brilliant and expensive—why wouldn't diamonds be a girl's best friend? When giving most significant gift of a lifetime, most men, and even women who receive them, know precious little about diamonds. By time they're old and experienced enough to know about cut, shape, grade, brilliance, color, weight, and setting, they already have diamond of a lifetime. Crack vocabulary, and you'll be on your way to purchasing your first diamond with confidence.The Four Cs Diamonds are not created equally! "The Four Cs of Diamonds"— cut, clarity, color, and carat determine diamond grade. A diamond certificate accompanies each diamond and includes grades for each of four Cs as documented by a gemologist. Learn what these terms mean to avoid that "deer in headlights" look when jeweler uses these terms. Cut refers to physical cut, not shape of diamond, and it affects brilliance of diamond. If cut is too shallow or too deep, refraction of light detracts from brilliance. Grades for cut, from best to worst, include Ideal, Premium, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. The Ideal grade applies exclusively to round diamonds. Clarity measures purity of diamond. Most diamonds include some flaws, called inclusions. All but rare flawless diamonds contain inclusions of varying number and size. The Clarity grade measures purity of diamond, relative absence of flaws. Clarity grades appearance under 10X magnification. Top grades include F (flawless—forget it, you'll never see this), IF (internally flawless, you'll never afford it), VVS1-VVS2 (very, very slightly flawed—not we're getting a little more realistic), VS1-VS2 (very slightly flawed), and SI1-SI2 (slightly flawed). All but VS1-VS2 and SI1-SI2 diamonds contain flaws that are invisible or barely visible under 10X magnification. Lesser grades include I1- -I3 (flawed and obvious without magnification). If price is a consideration, then invisible to naked eye is a reasonable tradeoff. Color actually refers to absence of color in diamonds. The finest diamonds are colorless, which allows them to absorb and reflect more light, displaying more brilliance. White diamonds range from ice white to light yellow. Color is graded on a scale from D-Z, with D-grade diamonds being colorless and Z-grade diamonds containing most color. Grades G-J are near colorless to human eye, and offer best value for money.
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