Strange News

Children at a day care in Somerset, England found a 3-headed frog in their garden. It's weird looking.

Did you know Turkey has mines all around their borders? You do now.

And of course, any time I troll the news; I find fringe news on the diamond trade.

"Conflict diamonds originate primarily from Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, countries in which rebels or factions - like the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola and the Revolutionary United Front - opposed to internationally recognized governments in those countries illegally mine and trade diamonds for billions of dollars, which fund military action against these legitimate governments. Conflict diamonds are also called "blood diamonds", a suitable name given that over the past decade an estimated 3 million people have died in these wars; women and children have been deliberately mutilated; millions more have been made homeless."

"And then there's the DeBeers cartel, set up in 1934, through which over 80 percent of diamonds worldwide are sold. It has dipped its hands into weapons, wars and warlords in order to amass a stockpile of about $4 billion in diamonds to restrict the world supply, and drive the price of diamonds to the sky.
Diamonds range from $3,000 per carat for tiny diamonds to $17,000 per carat for the big suckers. But these diamonds are really only worth about $30 a carat. For that reason, diamond imitations such as cubic zirconia have been created to meet the demand for inexpensive jewelry.
And of course, nothing says "I love you" like "I have been convinced by a multimillion dollar DeBeers marketing campaign to spend thousands of dollars on a symbolic rock that has been artificially inflated. But at least it's a real diamond, honey."

Please, dear gods, please don't buy blood diamonds.

Consider instead white sapphire, hard enough to cut glass. How about goshenite; as in "gosh, that's pretty!"? In the same family as emerald, this colorless beryl will glow on your finger. If you've always been a crystal lover, perhaps quartz is what you're looking for? And there's always moissanite for the trendy.
Not to mention the other beautiful gems out there... you know, the ones with color.