Sotheby’s New York recently sold a 100-carat emerald cut diamond for $22.1 million. The buyer was anonymous. Even through its picture on the BBC website the stone was remarkable and for its size was described as a rare flawless diamond. Although it set a record, it wasn’t the most expensive diamond, two years ago a pink diamond was sold for $83 million. Were these stones bought Continue reading “A 100-Carat Diamond”
Category: Social Issues
Partisanship
Partisanship is not political but it does place our minds in a box.
Humans Needed
Technology can be full of wonders, but oh it’s far from perfect! We’ve all enjoyed sites that allow us to make travel reservations, from airplane tickets to hotel rooms and car rentals. But we’ve also been frustrated at how complex it can get. We get a fare on a given site and by the time we check another site and go back to the first one, the price we saw is gone. Apparently this is now a common experience. That may be why Continue reading “Humans Needed”
Calls From Prisons
Calls to and from prison inmates are big business. It is now a $1.2 billion-a-year industry dominated by very few companies. In fact it is so lucrative it has caught the interest of private equity firms which now own several of these firms. The private companies which run these phone systems receive commissions, often sizable, from the sheriff’s departments that run Continue reading “Calls From Prisons”