Diamonds | King’s Way

King’s Way is a 45 mile long-distance footpath in Hampshire, England from Winchester Cathedral to Portchester Castle.

This footpath was created by Allan King of the Hampshire Area Rambler’s Association.

The footpath is waymarked by metal and plastic disks found attached to wooden and metal posts, trees and street furniture. These are a red arrow and words Allan Kings Way.

This route is shown as a series of green diamonds on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps and as a series of red diamonds on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps.


Diamonds | Onandi Lowe

Onandi Lowe (born December 2, 1974) is a Jamaican soccer player. He played at the 1998 World Cup and has earned over 60 caps for Jamaica.

Lowe currently plays for Jamaican National Premier League outfit Portmore United F.C., after spending several years in England, the USA and Canada.


Diamonds | Chuck Fipke

Charles E. (Chuck) Fipke is a former prospector who discovered the existence of diamonds around Lac de Gras in Canada’s Northwest Territories. He is now a multimillionaire diamond magnate, described as “near-sighted, goateed, short and tough as an oak stump, his speech jolted by a stutter and a hair-trigger laugh”Krajick, K.: “Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic”, 2001, ISBN 0-7167-4026-5..

Fipke was born in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1970, he graduated from University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Geology.

Fipke, called, “Stumpy” and “Captain Chaos” by employees, had made finding diamonds in the north of Canada his singular goal since their discovery in late 1970s. A joint venture between Fipke’s Dia Met Minerals and BHP-Utah in the 1980s and 1990s culminated in the establishment of Canada’s first diamond mine, Ekati Diamond Mine, in 1998. Fipke and partner Stu Blusson each own 10% of Ekati.

Fipke was divorced by his wife Marlene, who had been with him since he began searching for the diamonds. This divorce at the time was Canada’s largest divorce settlement with her portion of the assets estimated to be approximately C$123.1 million.

In 2006, Fipke donated C$6 million to the University of British Columbia to support the creation of a centre for innovative research.Charles E. Fipke Foundation Gives $6 Million

Notes


Diamonds | Money Don’t Matter 2 Night

Money Don’t Matter 2 Night” is a song by Prince and the New Power Generation from 1991’s Diamonds and Pearls. The lyrics deal directly with money, poverty, and greed. Noteworthy is Prince’s criticism of the Gulf War. The vocal delivery is similar to that of “When Doves Cry” but more subtle. Overall, the song is a smooth delivery with layered vocals by Prince. The song was co-written with Rosie Gaines and performed with the New Power Generation. The song was a modest hit, reaching #24 in the US and #19 in the UK.

The B-side is a previously unreleased track “Call the Law“, with lead vocals by Tony M. and supplemented by Rosie Gaines on the chorus. Prince provides guitar solos throughout the song. The track was added to the New Power Generation release Goldnigga in 1993. The UK 12″ single and CD release also included the album track “Push“.

The song is notable for its promotional video, directed by Spike Lee. Featuring a poverty-stricken African-American family, with no shots of Prince at all, it was considered not “MTV friendly” and overly political. A second version was issued, which this time included some footage of the song being performed by Prince & the New Power Generation.


Diamonds | Bort

Bort or boart is a term used in the diamond industry to refer to shards of gem-grade/quality diamonds. In the manufacturing and heavy industries, “bort” is used to describe dark, imperfectly formed/crystallized diamonds of varying levels of opacity. The lowest grade, “crushing bort”, is crushed by steel mortars and used to make industrial-grade abrasive grits. Small bort crystals are used in drill bits. The Democratic Republic of the Congo provides 75% of the world supply of crushing bort.


Helzberg diamonds | Morton’s fork coup

A Morton’s Fork Coup is a coup in contract bridge involving the forcing of an opponent to choose between establishing one or more extra tricks in the suit led and losing the opportunity to win a trick in the suit led. It takes its name from the expression Morton’s Fork.

Example

South receives the lead of the jack of diamonds against his six-spade contract. It appears that the contract has unavoidable losers in both hearts and clubs. Although an extra winner can be built in diamonds, the discard it provides is not of a losing card.

However, the contract can be made if South can manage either to discard the hearts from hand or take two heart tricks (thus having two club discards on K and a diamond honor). South plays low from dummy, ruffs, draws trumps, and leads a low heart from hand. If West takes the ace, declarer can unblock hearts, ruff out the ace of diamonds, then discard two clubs on dummy’s winning diamond and king of hearts. If West ducks, declarer again ruffs out the ace of diamonds, but now uses the established winner to discard the queen of hearts, losing only a club.

Note that declarer must be careful not to play a high diamond on the opening lead, as East could then withhold the ace, forcing the declarer to choose a discard prematurely.


Diamonds | Diamond willow

Diamond willow is willow distinctively shaped as the result of attack by fungus (Valsa sordida, and possibly others), which has resulted in a diamonding effect occurring in the wood of the shrub or tree as the tree forms cankers, or diamonds (elongated ovals with pointed ends), in response to the infection, according to Lutz (see reference below). Lutz is careful to indicate that this is the most likely–but not necessarily definitive–cause of diamonding in willows.

There are at least six different species that have been identified as having diamonds, including Salix bebbiana, S. pseudomonticola, S. arbusculoides, S. discolor, S. scouleriana, and S. alaxensis. Other species may also be found with diamonding. Diamond Willow is also a common name for Salix eriocephala, also known as Heartleaf Willow.

The diamonding is usually found with a branch at its center or is found in the Y of a tree. Diamonding in willow does not seem to be specific to an area that willows grow in, and where one bunch of willow will have diamonds, the next clump of willows may have none at all. Although diamond willow is often thought of as being a northern phenomenon, of the boreal forest, there is mention of diamond willow growing as far south as Missouri.

Diamond willow is prized by wood carvers and furniture makers for its strong contrasting colors (red and white) and its sculptural irregularity of shape.

Diamond formation and shape

The tree grows diamond-shaped cankers in response to the fungus. The cankers seem to result from the tree growing away from the site of attack. This usually happens at the crotch of a branch on a larger branch or main stem. If the branch is relatively small it seems to die very quickly. If the branch is larger, it may continue to grow and the diamond is formed on the branch and the stem. By growing away from the fungus, new layers of growth occur further and further away from the site of the fungal attack. Thus the affected area gets larger and deeper. If the tree has been affected in several places close together, then the diamonds run into each other. This can result in pronounced ridges if some sapwood continues to survive, or it may strangle the small ridge of sapwood, which then dies.

The shape of the diamonds seems to vary from one clump of willow to the next, although there may be some general tendencies within a single species. Some stems will form long narrow diamonds; others will be short and wide. Usually all the diamonds on the stems in one clump will have similar growth patterns. If the new layers of sapwood do not move back very much each year, then the diamonds will be deep bowl- or cleft-shaped. These stems will be able to survive longer than those whose diamonds are flat and open.

The bark that is left overtop of the diamond changes quite markedly from the bark over the living sapwood. Depending on the species of willow, the living bark is usually smoother and slightly lighter in color. The bark over the diamond usually becomes rougher and somewhat darker. It also becomes tougher and adheres much more to the underlying wood. The sapwood is white to cream in color–again depending on the species, but also on the location. The heartwood is reddish-brown. This color tends to darken with exposure to light over a number of years.

If one stem in a clump of willow is affected, then all of them are likely to be. However, the neighboring clump may be completely without diamonds. As a side note, Lutz reported seeing Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Alaska that had depressions very similar to those in diamond willow.


Diamonds | Four-color deck

A four-color deck is identical to the standard Anglo-American playing cards except for the color of the suits. In a typical four-color deck, hearts are red and spades are black as usual, but clubs are green and diamonds are blue. However, other color combinations have been used over the centuries.

Four color decks are not a new idea, and have been around in America for a very long time. In 1819, J.Y. Humphreys created the “Seminole Wars Deck” which had four colored suits of blue spades, green clubs, red hearts and yellow diamonds. In 1876, for the American Centennial, Victor Mauger issued a deck that contained black spades, red hearts, yellow diamonds and blue clubs.

These four-color decks made for bridge or whist, are often called no-revoke decks because they are perceived to reduce the risk of a player accidentally revoking (illegally playing a card of a suit other than that led.) Many dozens of card manufacturers have developed four colored suit cards for Bridge during the 1900s and continue into this century. S.R. Huntley created many Bridge decks, which included his stylized four color pips of black spades, red hearts, orange diamonds and blue clubs. Some of his decks included “forcing” instructions printed on each card for play. In 1947, a deck of playing cards of bridge size, from Forcolor Inc., introduced a deck with black spades, red hearts, green clovers (three-leaved, not the french club shape,) and orange diamonds. In 1948, the Avoid Playing Card Company, introduced a deck of the same name with black spades, red hearts, orange diamonds and purple clubs.

A four-color deck for poker was developed and publicised by Mike Caro. It was introduced at his World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort Casino in 1992. His original design was not a success due to the choice of colors. However, four-color decks have become a somewhat popular option in Internet poker software interfaces since often each player may use their preferred design of playing cards without affecting others’ experience, and since visibility is not as good on a small screen as in face-to-face play. Having each suit represented by a different color can allow players to more easily recognise a flush.

In the German game of skat the official tournament standard is to use four-color decks. In these, spades are green and diamonds are yellow, the hearts and clubs being respectively red and black as normal. This is intended as a compromise for players who prefer German suits.


Diamonds | Irthlingborough Diamonds F.C.

Irthlingborough Diamonds were a football club from Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England, founded in 1946. In 1992, they merged with Rushden Town to create Rushden and Diamonds.

The Diamonds played their home games at the old Nene Park, which sits on the site of the current stadium.


Diamonds | Onandi Lowe

Onandi Lowe (born December 2, 1974) is a Jamaican soccer player. He played at the 1998 World Cup and has earned over 60 caps for Jamaica.

Lowe currently plays for Jamaican National Premier League outfit Portmore United F.C., after spending several years in England, the USA and Canada.



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