Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gems

Content management systems in Ruby -- where are they at in 2013?

steinsaltz — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:48:19 -0800

I'm interested in using a Ruby CMS as a substitute for the usual Wordpress or Drupal. Although I know my way around Rails, I am not sure whether there might be a good off-the-shelf way to make the control panel as easy to use for regular folks who are not programmers. I know there are some gems with pre-fab admin panels and stuff like that. And I've looked around at some of the screenshots of Refinery and Locomotive and similar systems. I am wondering which is the furthest along in development and what the best way to go would be for a large organization with a small budget and short deadline.

Mostly, I wonder if anyone out there has had any good experiences using these as substitutes for, say, Drupal? I'm conflicted because while Drupal tends to be preferred by the kinds of organizations I want to work with -- and I even have a soft spot for its arcane PHP hooks -- I'd like to see if it is possible to reach the same ends in Ruby.

The customers comes first, though, and I would hate to annoy them by putting my computer science interests ahead of easy dashboard controls.

I talked to a guy recently who said he tried to make his own Wordpress clone in Ruby and went running back to it after he realized he had failed to appreciate how many wonderful things it does for you.

Anyhow, has anyone ever used one of these Ruby on Rails CMSes for a pretty big website and found it a good substitute for the popular PHP ones?

The legend of Herkimer Diamonds

jitterbug perfume — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:12:40 -0800

I'm looking for information on the supposed metaphysical bond created between two people wearing Herkimer Diamond gemstones. Suspension of disbelief: I am attempting to find the most detailed description that exists of this link created between two people wearing Herkimer Diamonds across long (or however long) distances - why it works, how it works (do the two stones need to be linked together somehow first?), what it accomplishes (details of this "link), example stories, etc. Looking for the original mythology behind this legend as well.

Hidden gems at the market

Balonious Assault — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:12:51 -0800

I discovered Crystal deodorant a few months ago. I had tried literally every other unscented deodorant on the market and could not find one that held up all day. It turns out that the damned rock you rub on your pits is the greatest deodorant ever, and it had been on the shelf the whole time. What other miracle products are sitting on the shelves at the market, unnoticed as I pass them by in favor of products that are more well known or have bigger advertising budgets?

Finding the right beads

emc — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:11:58 -0800

I want to buy some craft beads for a friend in the USA (I'm in the UK), but don't know the exact type of beads she uses, or where's best to buy them from, and I don't want to ask her directly as it's a surprise. She uses them to make crystal gem trees like this one. Can anyone identify the right sort of beads, and a good place to order them from?

overpriced shiny rocks

skewed — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 10:07:41 -0800

My mother has been buying gemstones and other jewelry on the Home Shopping Network, about $3000-4000 worth over the last two years. This is money she can't afford, and by her own admission it's a compulsive habit. However, she insists the gems are a good deal because they're so beautiful and "you can't even find them in department stores". I don't know anything about HSN or gemstones, but I'm assuming this stuff is nearly worthless junk, and I'm looking for information to back that up to convince her to at least quit HSN. Please help. I'm at my wit's end and so frustrated, because my mother's finances are in bad shape right now, and she is burning through her life savings on this junk. Truth be told, I don't really know that she's being ripped off. I just assume that HSN's business model is to sell overpriced trinkets to people who have little access to information or alternatives. I know even less about gemstones, and I can't really get too much detail from her about what she's bought, but they're not diamonds, or sapphires, they're cheaper stones, I'm pretty sure significantly less than $100 for individual pieces of jewelry. At that level, I'm assuming none of it is really worth anything resale. Would I generally be right? She has this idea that the stuff she's buying is such a great deal that she could potentially make money off of some of them if she resold.

If one wanted to buy gemstones, either loose or in settings for a good price on the internet, where would I go? Where could she maybe learn about gemology from an unbiased source, any good books on amazon, or magazines, something that would be helpful for a beginner or layperson?

What can I do with half-drilled gems?

orrnyereg — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:02:03 -0800

What do I do with these amethysts? I bought four teardrop-shaped amethysts on Ebay. I'd planned on using headpins to make them into earrings. However, I didn't realize that they're only drilled a couple of milimeters into the top. These pictures aren't great, but they give you an idea of what I'm talking about: here they are; they're drilled about as far down as where my fingernails mark here.

Anyone out there have experience with this? Do I just need to use superglue or something? Halp!

Mom's birthday is going to rock.

metajc — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:35:56 -0800

Mom's birthday filter: Mom is suddenly all about beading and gems and rocks. Any ideas for a cool, "every-rock-necklace-making-beading-enthusiast-should-have-this-___" present? Mom already has a lamp with a magnifying glass, a box, and a taste for "cool-looking rocks." She goes to gem shows.

I was wondering if you all knew of any cool books or resources where I might find something that would surprise her.

Arrrr...where's me treasure, wench?

ninazer0 — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:08:49 -0800

What and where are the collections of the worlds best treasure troves? I want to track down the largest collections of gems, gold and jewellery around the world. Recently I was reading about the Iranian Crown Jewels and was gobsmacked by the sheer size of both the individual pieces and the sheer amount of it all.

I know about the English Crown Jewels, of course, and those of other countries. I guess there'd be collections of gems within various Natural History museums in the Geological section. Where else can I feast my eyes (online) on other brilliant baubles?

Gemstones for Fertility

Ynoxas — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:39:41 -0800

Are there any gemstones/crystals that are traditionally tied to increasing fertility? A friend is struggling with fertility issues. I realize rocks are not magic. I am not asking what gemstones will actually make a friend get pregnant. I am asking what gems traditionally have been associated with fertility or increasing the likelihood of bearing children.

I don't have any cultural preference, anything from eastern to african to native american, any would be welcome. The more background the better.

I have googled but it seems to be all over the place, with practically every gem being mentioned somewhere as "for fertility".

I would be most interested in responses from people with some sort of interest in gemstones or crystals.

Alright, I'm saving tons on rent but now what am I going to do?

hector horace — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:53:57 -0800

I just moved to Verdun, (Montreal), Quebec. Any current or former inhabitants have any hidden gems they can share? I'm thinking of things along the lines of nice pubs, good groceries etc etc. (and, Yes I know there isn't going to be a lot of "gems")

Thanks

gem hunt usa

Jacen — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:36:17 -0800

Where are good places to hunt for gems in the USA? Opals are a current interest, but I'm flexible. I have some spare weekends (thursday after noon through sunday) time, and am considering making a 'day trip' to hunt gems. I know opals can be found in western USA, and those are the ones I am currently most curious about, but like I said, any other options that are more fascinating may be a choice. So,
1) Where and what should I hunt for? Some considerations- I'll most likely be driving, and driving solo, and would prefer to keep costs down as much as possible. Camping, probably.
1B) I know North Carolina has some good gem mines, but I've been there before.

2) Now that I know what to hunt, (probably opals) what are some good places? Personal experiances, recomendations, tips on striking it 'rich', costs of various places, camping grounds nearby?

3) What should I bring? Aside from water and camping gear.

4) What other road-trip type options are along the route. IE, if I'm going west from Texas, would it be worthwhile to also stop in at the Grand Canyon?

Thanks!

Sellling cut jewels in Seattle?

cgc373 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:45:18 -0800

A friend inherited a bunch of cut precious and semiprecious gemstones (peridot, amethyst, sunstone, maybe some others) and wants to know how to sell them. This is in the Seattle area. Do we get them appraised? How does that work? Who buys precious gems nowadays?

Selling our grandmother's jewelry

killerinsideme — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:54:17 -0800

Please help my sister and me liberate ourselves (in a wise way) from a bitter, albeit shiny, inheritance Our grandmother died years ago and we've finally admitted to ourselves and each other that we will never want to wear any of her jewelry. The memories it brings up aren't pleasant and, in the intervening years, my sister has had to factor its value into her homeowner's insurance, which totally sucks.

I'm moving out of Brooklyn in the next couple weeks and she is coming to help me. We plan that she'll bring the jewelry and we'll sell it here in NY somewhere (a friend of hers did that and was happy with the result).

It's mostly 18-24k yellow gold bangles and necklaces. There are also a couple of cocktail rings. The only advice we've had so far is to remove the gems from the rings, sell the metal by itself, keep the stones and get them reset. As my sister says, "No one in our family is ever going to buy a diamond again, right?" Right. Might as well keep these, then?

So...

Do you have some advice in a general way about selling old jewelry, or specific recommendations about where to take it in New York City? I should warn you that we are not at all hardnosed people and we're not good at bargaining. In addition, this grandmother was our beloved mother's mother, our mother died well before her time (and before her own mother) 15 years ago AND their relationship was.... tense. As you've no doubt gathered by now, these objects are extremely emotionally loaded. Both of us are quite fragile when dealing with them and I'd like this to be as painless as possible. We want to rid ourselves of these things, but we also want to be smart. There's not a lot of precious metal floating around in our family.

What makes certain jewelry good?

mikeh — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 09:04:06 -0800

Jewelry design? Suppose, for the sake of conversation, I'd like to know about key designers and what makes for "good" jewelry. I recently was in a conversation where someone mentioned his girlfriend's love of jewelry from Tiffany and I kind of threw out the default complaint about jewelry being a waste of money and how the materials often involve exploiting forced child labor, etc. I realized that I actually know very little about the jewelry industry.

Outside of the rarity/quality of gems and precious metals, what is prized? I know that custom jewelry is often designed for those who can afford it, but are there big name designers of mass produced jewelry or are different stores just known for styles? I've seen a lot of seemingly generic jewelry and for such an expensive item I would imagine there's more to the story.

Note that I'm more interested in higher-priced items that include precious materials, although craftier designer items may apply too.

Turning Gems Into Jewels

renyoj — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 09:02:45 -0800

I recently purchased some loose gems and now I would like to make them into jewelry. How much does this kind of thing usually cost? Will just any jeweler do this or do I need to find a specific type of jeweler? Do I need to insure them before bringing them to the Jeweler? I'm not really into the bling, so this is all new to me.