In The Sky With Diamonds
I read today in The Independent about the bank robber who got away with 120,000 carats of diamonds from a bank vault without using violence or even force. His secret weapon was chocolate… with which to charm the staff. It happened in Belgium, so he had a head start.
The biggest diamond on earth is The Star of Africa, one of the Crown Jewels, at 530-carats. Even though it’s the biggest in the world you could still fit it in one hand (I think you’ll need quite a lot of chocolate to get close enough, but you can practise with this life-size photo).
The biggest known diamond in the universe though is 10 billion trillion trillion carats, and it’s floating above Australia right now. Known officially as BPM 37093, it’s nicknamed Lucy, after the Beatles song. I imagine if it was close enough to earth, diamonds would soon become two a penny, but it’s 50 light years away, so unfortunately creative diamond crime is probably set to continue for a while. It’s known, rather less glamorously, as a white dwarf, or yet less so as a star that has run out of gas.
There are a lot of diamonds out there, big ones, and bank robbers might be pleased to know that they sometimes fall from the sky. Earlier this year The New Scientist ran a story about rare black diamonds possibly having crashed to earth in a 1km-sized rock. That was a few billion years ago though, so Belgian chocolatiers, don’t be disheartened.
Diamonds are the strongest material on earth. They can only be cut with lasers or other diamonds. They’re certainly beautiful, although not so useful now we no longer need them for record players. I wouldn’t spend too much chocolate on them personally.
I was looking for a fitting quote with which to end, but this found me first and I thought it unwise to risk continuing:
“A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.”
—Joseph Roux
Perhaps instead I’ll leave this link to something I wrote a while ago, inspired by the night sky, called A Galaxy of Stars (published at SriChinmoyCentre.org).
Or you can find out why Belgian chocolate is so good at VisitBelgium.com.
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March 19th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Not forgetting another diamond, both literally and figuratively, the Diamond Sutra of Mahayana Buddhism, named in full “The Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom of the Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion,” and is based upon a talk given by the Buddha upon the avoiding the extremes of mental attachment.
A copy of the Diamond Sutra, found sealed in a cave in China, is the oldest known dated, printed book, with a printed date of 868 C.E.
The human soul is another “diamond,” sometimes referred to as an immutable diamond that exists in the very core of the heart.
March 19th, 2007 at 4:00 am
Great post! I like the info on the diamonds;D your friend Roger
March 19th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Hi Roger, thanks for stopping by!
Thanks also to John, for adding the spiritual significance of diamonds.
March 20th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
You have provided excellent information on diamonds in this post. Good work!
March 20th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Wow, a real geologist! Thanks a lot for visiting, Don.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:08 am
Actually, I’ve been collecting records for years, but have never actually owned a record player.
Until a few months ago when I purchased my first turntable, a rega P1, with, of course, a diamond stylus.
I was surprised at how much better sound I get from records than from CDs. Even with the hisses and pops, records deliver a more intimate, immediate sound that CDs cannot come close to matching.
So, Sumangali, I’d have to take issue with you when you say that diamonds aren’t needed to play records anymore, as us vinyl lovers are increasing by the day!
Thank you for this funny and illumining article.
With admiration,
Mahiruha
March 21st, 2007 at 8:24 am
Interesting viewpoint Mahiruha. The sort of music I used to listen to back in the day when I had a record player probably wouldn’t have revealed such subtleties. Maybe I’ll be needing that white dwarf after all…
March 25th, 2007 at 7:52 am
This story about the seductive power of chocolate is amusing. What is amazing is that this person knew this. I wonder how he came to this dark truffle dipped knowledge.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Thanks for visiting, Princess Haiku. Amazing story isn’t it! It has sparked a lot of chocolatey thinking on my part— not for such devious ends of course, but at least perhaps for a more specifically chocolately blog post… and perhaps after a little more practical research
…
(Just visited your beautiful blog by the way. I’ll be back!)
March 21st, 2008 at 8:16 pm
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