The Curse of Pompeii

Most tourists who visit Pompeii every year leave with nothing but memories. Some take away a little extra – pieces of Pompeii. Many of those who have slipped a piece of one the world’s most important archaeological sites into their pockets have come to regret their actions. Tourists who took relics from the ruined Roman city have been returning them to the site, claiming they are cursed.

One man wrote from Latin America saying that he and his entire family had experienced “trauma after trauma” after he took a piece of stone from Pompeii. Massimo Osanna, Pompeii’s archaeological superintendent, said he had received up to a hundred packages from across the world in recent years containing items from the site, often accompanied by letters explaining the relics had brought them bad luck.

The “curse of Pompeii” says the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 was punishment inflicted by the gods after legionaries destroyed holy buildings. “At a certain point, people started believing in this story again,” said Mr Osanna. “Even proper thieves have returned things to us.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11932368/Pompeiis-pilferers-punished-with-a-curse-from-the-gods.html

Green Diamonds

Fancy vivid green diamond weighing 2.52 carats.

Green diamonds are among the rarest of all fancy colors. The green color is caused by exposure to radiation or radioactivity and is extremely unique. Natural radiation creates an external skin or surface of green color. It is uncommon for the green color to reach deep within a diamond.

Lab graders assess the natural color of green diamonds by this skin. Irradiated green diamonds are often found in the marketplace, so determining natural color for value is key. Labs may be unable to conclusively determine the natural origin of green diamonds because the cause is radiation.

1.56 carat, Fancy Vivid Green Diamond

Green is the color between blue and yellow, so common secondary colors in green diamonds include bluish green and yellowish green, and if the color is desaturated, grayish green or brownish green. Natural green diamonds are second to red diamonds as the world's rarest fancy color. True greens devoid of secondary hue are the most valuable among natural green diamonds. The green diamond has a very strong emotional correspondence with safety as it is the most restful color for the human eye. Green suggests both stability and endurance. Aqua green is associated with emotional healing and protection while Olive green is the traditional color of peace.

The Dresden Green is a 40.70 carat, pear shaped stone with a VS1 clarity grade. It was reported as one of the largest and finest natural green diamonds ever discovered.

The Ocean Dream The diamond is a 5.51-carat, fancy deep blue-green, shield-shaped diamond. It is the only natural diamond known with this color combination.

The Chopard Chameleon, is a 31.31ct Oval-cut diamond which appears green in bright light but looks yellow in darkness. This stone was one of the first reported by the GIA as a chameleon in the late 1950s.

Cushion-shaped fancy intense green diamond weighing 6.13 carats, within a brilliant-cut pink diamond surround, extending to the half-hoop, mounted in 18k rose gold.

A square-shaped fancy green diamond weighing 10.36 carats, set in a ring within a pear-shaped and round cut pink diamond surround.

3.15 carat, Fancy Intense Yellowish Green diamond. VS1.

Cushion modified brilliant-cut fancy vivid green diamond weighing 2.52 carats. It made $ 3,106,500 CHF at Sotheby's in 2009.

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Strange and Unusual Places

Tufa pinnacles at Mono Lake in Sierra Nevada - Mono Lake is a closed hydrological basin - water flows into it but it doesn't flow out. The only way for water to leave is through evaporation. Four vertical feet of water can evaporate during the course of a year.

Lake Baikal in Siberia freezes over but the water is so clear that you can see an astounding 130 feet below you. Wind, temperature differences, frost and sun in the ice crust cause cracks and ice hummocks to form.

A lightning bolt crashed against the Grand Canyon illuminating the steep canyon walls. The bright blue bolt illuminated the South Rim of the canyon, considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

The Door to Hell is a natural gas field in Derweze, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan. The Door to Hell is noted for its natural gas fire which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petroleum engineers in 1971.

The elephant rock formation in Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada - A strange natural sandstone rock formation resembling an elephant.

Don Juan Pond is a shallow hypersaline lake in the west end of Wright Valley, Antarctica. With a salinity level of over 40%, Don Juan Pond is the saltiest known body of water on Earth

The Great Blue Hole in Belize - A large submarine sinkhole which is over 984 feet across and 407 feet deep. The sinkhole was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower.

The Dune of Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in La Teste-de-Buch in France, 60 km from Bordeaux.

The Wave in Utah - Carved rock eroded into a wave-like formation made of jurassic-age Navajo sandstone that is approximately 190 million years old.

Aogashima is south of Tokyo in the Philippine Sea. The island is known for having a volcanic caldera within a larger caldera.

The sliding stones of Death Valley, California - The movement of the rocks continue to baffle experts, with some rocks sliding across a flat bed despite weighing up to 700 pounds each.

Urup is an uninhabited volcanic island near in the south of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean

The Beauty Pool of Yellowstone National ParkThe hot spring allows luminous algae and bacteria to flourish creating a vivid array of colors

Reed Flute Cave: Guilin, China Socotra, Yemen

Fraser Island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². Danxia Landforms in Zhangye, Province of Gansu

Thor’s Well, Oregon Wulingyuan Scenic Area: Zhangjiajie, China

The Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand The gigantic boulders started forming on the ocean floor and can now be seen sitting on the coastline thanks to erosion.

The Eye of Africa official name the Richat Structure was spotted in central Mauritania by astronauts on early space missions. In the expanse of the Western Sahara Desert, the formation has a diameter of about 30 miles.

Seaside lava ledges on Kauaʻi of the main Hawaiian Islands.

The Fly Geyser, near Gerlach, Nevada

Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand.

Kauaʻi is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, it is the fourth largest of the main islands. Seaside lava ledges make for otherworldly experiences.

Statue of King Decebal, Danube Canyon