Tiny Diamond Faces Off Against the Mighty Power of a Hydraulic Press; Guess Who Won?

A handful of YouTube channels are dedicated to crushing objects with a hydraulic press. Among the items that have been spectacularly squished against their will in the name of viral entertainment have been a tenderizing mallet, a can of Silly String, a Rubik's Cube, a hockey puck, a couple of bullets and — you guessed it — a diamond.

Although diamonds are the hardest substance known to man, they can be fractured with a blunt force. So when pitted against the 10,000 psi power of a hydraulic press, one would expect the lovely faceted diamond to be turned into a pile of diamond dust.

Last May, the Hydraulic Press Channel put a round 1.2-carat lab-grown diamond to the test. In the video that has been viewed more than 10 million times, we see the press descending slowly on the stone.

The press moves steadily and then seems to meet with just a bit of resistance. In the next instant, the diamond shatters like a piece of glass being bashed by a hammer.

The hardest substance on earth, in this case, was no match for the press.

But then in June, rival YouTube channel Hydraulic Press VS promoted a similar showdown, and the results were startling different.

For its face-off, Hydraulic Press VS used a .25-carat, F-color, SI1-clarity, natural diamond and placed it under the crusher with the pavilion (pointy side) facing down. Unbelievably, the diamond defeats the press as it gets embedded into the steel below — without a scratch. The testers seem to be amazed by the outcome.

When Hydraulic Press VS repeated the challenge with a larger stone placed with the pavilion pointing up, the stone seems to explode under the massive pressure. This video has been viewed more than 11 million times.

It's important to clarify that there is a big difference between hardness and strength. Hardness is a surface property. A diamond earns the top-of-the-line 10 rating on the Mohs hardness scale because no material except for a diamond can scratch it. Sapphires and rubies, by comparison, are rated 9, topaz is rated 8 and quartz is rated 7. Each of these relatively hard materials can be easily fractured with a hammer blow.

Because of a diamond's hardness rating, the material is often used to enhance cutting devices, such as drills and saw blades.

Carbon fiber, on the other hand, is extremely strong but can be easily cut with a standard steel drill bit or even a pocketknife.

Check out the videos below. The first is from the Hydraulic Press Channel and the second is from Hydraulic Press VS.

Credits: Screen shots via YouTube.com.

'Twilight' Star Ashley Greene Calls Her New Engagement Ring 'The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen'

We're excited to add Twilight actress Ashley Greene to the list of starlets who received gorgeous engagement rings during the holiday season.

In a heartfelt message posted Friday to her 761,000 Instagram followers, Greene called her new engagement ring from Aussie TV personality Paul Khoury "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." The ring features an oval-cut diamond set with four prongs on a delicate diamond band.

Khoury, 41, who has been dating Greene since 2013, popped the question during their romantic trip to Bridal Veil Falls in Waikato, New Zealand. Although the actual engagement took place on December 19, the couple didn't announce the exciting news until this past Thursday.

A video of the Bridal Veil Falls proposal appeared on the Instagram pages of Greene and Khoury. In the video, we see Green from Khoury's perspective as she takes in the beauty of the falls and tells him how magical it is. Then he enters the frame and asks her to marry him. She says "Yes" and he hops up and down like an excited child. Then he scoops up his fiancée and spins her around — just like in the movies.

In describing the proposal, the 29-year-old Greene wrote, "This is the most beautiful moment I could have ever hoped for. You've successfully made me the happiest, luckiest woman alive. I can't wait to show you my unfaltering immeasurable love for the rest of our lives."

Equally romantic was Khoury's caption for the video: "I promise to put a smile on your face for the rest of our lives. You complete me in ways I didn't even know was possible. I love you more than anything and excited to take this next step in life with you!"

One day later, on Friday, Greene posted a photo her ring, along with an animated appraisal of her new jewelry.

"I'm SO lucky and SO excited that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend," she wrote. "But the ring doesn't hurt either. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

On Khoury's Instagram page, the classic ring is shown from a different angle. He captioned the photo, "This is the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with."

Credits: Photos via Instagram.com/ashleygreene; Instagram.com/paulkhoury.

Broncos' Aqib Talib Yanks Gold Chain From Neck of Raiders' Michael Crabtree; Refs Make No Call

Football fans learned on Sunday that there's no love lost between Western Conference rivals Aqib Talib and Michael Crabtree, and there is no penalty for ripping a gold chain from an opponent's neck.

The surreal scene played out in the first quarter of the NFL game between the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos. On a Raiders third-and-7, quarterback Matt McGloin targeted wide receiver Crabtree for a long pass along the right sideline. The pass was incomplete, and defending on the play was cornerback Talib.

While it's common for football players to posture and trash talk after a pivotal play, Talib took the animosity one step further when he faced up to Crabtree, seemed to bump helmets with him and then yanked the gold chain on his neck.

In a video that's been replayed countless times on YouTube, Twitter and other social media, CBS's cameras catch Talib's lightening-fast strike from two angles.

Crabtree looks surprised as the chain snaps, recoils and then hangs vertically down his left shoulder pad without falling off.

After the play, Talib is shown on the sideline smiling and gesturing to teammates how he plucked the chain on Crabtree's neck. The sideline shot of Crabtree showed the player visibly upset.

After Denver's 24-6 victory, Talib — wearing no fewer than four chains and a pair of stud earrings of his own — told reporters that he's had his eyes on Crabtree's gold necklace since the beginning of the season.

“He’s just been wearing that chain all year. It’s just been growing on me,” Talib said. “I said if he wears that chain in front of me, I’m going to snatch it off. He wore it in front of me, so I had to snatch it off. He started crying to the ref. He didn’t say nothing to me, though.”

Crabtree called Talib's actions "childish."

Addressing Talib indirectly during his post-game interview with the press, Crabtree told his adversary, “You’re acting. You’re snatching chains up on the field. What do you accomplish? Are you hard? Are you tough? Does that make you tough? You’re snatching chains in front of the police and take off running. That was childish man.”

Crabtree said that he did talk to the officials after the play, but they refused to throw a flag. Apparently, ripping a chain off an opponent's neck is not in the official rule book.

“Disrespectful" is how Crabtree described the referees. “They were acting like I was the problem. That’s what I didn’t like.”

He also said he made a "business decision" not to retaliate against Talib during the game, saying that his team needed him and that he didn't want to risk getting ejected.

The NFL has very strict rules when it comes to what a player wears on the field. They can be fined for wearing non-sanctioned socks or shoes. But when it comes to jewelry, the rules are fairly lax.

Necklaces and earrings may be worn as long as they are within reason. Bracelets must be covered at all times. In fact, any hard item on the hand, wrist or elbow must be covered by 3/8ths of an inch of foam rubber or similar material.

Wearing a wedding ring is frowned upon because it might need to be cut off if the player sustained a finger injury. More and more married NFL players have chosen to wear silicon wedding bands during their games and workouts. They come in a multitude of colors and provide a much safer option.

Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.

Music Friday: Impossibly Cute 'Trolls' Are Feeling 'Like Diamonds or Some Gold' in 'Hair Up'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the impossibly cute cast of characters from the blockbuster animated film Trolls sing about bling in "Hair Up," the opening track from the official motion picture soundtrack.

In this feel-good anthem written by Justin Timberlake and four collaborators, the overly optimistic Trolls — voiced by Timberlake, Gwen Stefani and Ron Funches — put their hair in the air and have a fever for diamonds and gold.

They sing, "I've got a fever coming on / And now it's beating on my bones / I feel like diamonds or some gold / So DJ play it that's my song."

The film focuses on two trolls who are on a quest to save their village from the woefully pessimistic Bergens, creatures who can only gain happiness by consuming Trolls. The mismatched duo of perpetually happy Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and overly cautious curmudgeonly Branch (Timberlake) embark on a rescue mission full of adventures and mishaps.

At one point in the movie, a Zen-like Troll named Creek (Russell Brand) is held captive in the jewel that decorates the king's mantle. While the Trolls are successful in stealing the jewel, they are dismayed to discover that it is empty. Creek has betrayed them to save himself.

Since Trolls was released in theaters on October 8, it has generated more than $150 million in box office revenue in the U.S. and $330 million worldwide.

Trolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on September 26 and zoomed to #3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart. It also charted in 13 other countries. The Trolls official promotional trailer, which includes snippets from "Hair Up," has been viewed more than 3.9 million times on YouTube.

The film features five original songs performed by Timberlake, Ariana Grande, Anna Kendrick and Gwen Stefani.

We've included two videos at the end of this post. The first is the Trolls promotional trailer and the second is the full audio track of "Hair Up." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Hair Up"
Written by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin, Shellback, Savan Kotecha and Oscar Holter.

Hair in the air, hair in the air
Put your hair
Put your hair in the air

Hair in the air, hair in the air
Put your hair
Put your hair in the air

I've got a fever coming on
And now it's beating on my bones
I feel like diamonds or some gold
So DJ play it that's my song

Go, go, go, go, go
Put your hair in the air
Go, go, go, go, go, go
Hair up

Come on baby
Let's go crazy
We ain't never gonna stop
Hair up
Come on baby
Let's go crazy
We ain't never gonna stop
Hair up

Put your hair in the air (hair up)
We don't care (hair up)
Put your hair in the air (hair up)
We don't care (hair up)

I've got a fever coming on
And now it's beating on my bones
I feel like diamonds or some gold
So DJ play it that's my song

Go, go, go, go, go
Put your hair in the air
Go, go, go, go, go, go
Hair up

Come on baby
Let's go crazy
We ain't never gonna stop
Hair up
Come on baby
Let's go crazy
We ain't never gonna stop
Hair up

Put your hair in the air (hair up)
We don't care (hair up)
Put your hair in the air (hair up)
We don't care (hair up)

Hair up
Hair up in the air, hair up in the air, hair up in the air
Hair up in the air, hair up in the air, hair up in the air
Put your hair in the air

Hair up
Come on baby
Let's go crazy
Put your hair in the air

Hair up
Come on baby
Let's go crazy
Put your hair in the air
Hair up
Put your hair in the air
Hair up

Trolls Trailer...

"Hair Up" audio track...

Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.

Country Star Kelsea Ballerini's New Engagement Ring Is 'Classic and Beautiful, Like Her'

Red-hot country star Kelsea Ballerini got the greatest gift on Christmas morning — a marriage proposal and a beautiful diamond engagement ring from the love of her life, Australian musician Morgan Evans.

The ring features a large round center stone framed by a cushion-shaped halo of smaller round diamonds. The cushion halo adds extra surface area and a larger look than a conventional round halo. This effect is achieved by using diamonds of various sizes to fill out the halo around the center stone. The ring also has a dainty diamond-embellished band.

"I had the ring custom made with a diamond I picked from a local designer here in Nashville," Morgan told People Style. "I wanted it to be classic and beautiful, like her."

On Sunday, the 23-year-old Ballerini — a nominee for Best New Artist at the 2017 Grammy Awards in February — let her fan base in on the exciting news with a series of photos posted to Instagram and Twitter. The songstress has 669,000 followers on Instagram and 180,000 on Twitter.

When Morgan popped the question, we're guessing Ballerini responded with the title of her latest single, "Yeah Boy."

Ballerini posted a romantic outdoor photo showing her and her new fiancé embracing in a park, her left arm extended toward the camera with the new ring in full view. The photo includes a caption that references exactly how long it's been since the two met while co-hosting Australia's Country Music Channel Awards in March.

"This morning, 9 months and 13 days later, he got down on one knee in the kitchen while I was burning pancakes and asked me to marry him," she wrote. "Loving him has been the greatest gift of my life. And now I get to do it for life. #HECALLEDDIBS."

Evans, 31, posted the same photo to his Instagram page with this romantic caption: "When you know, you know... she's perfect."

On Twitter, the "Love Me Like You Mean It" singer posted a close-up shot of the ring with a caption that read, "My heart is bursting from loving this human so much."

Ballerini used the Instagram Boomerang app on Monday to post a cute mini-video of herself drinking from a mug that's printed with the phrase, “Does this ring make me look engaged?”

The couple has yet to set a wedding date.

Credits: Photos via Instagram/KelseaBallerini, Instagram/MorganEvansMusic.

Survey: Consumers Consider Color and Clarity More Than Any Other Factors When Buying Gems

Color and clarity are the most important factors influencing a consumer's gem-buying decision, according to a recent study conducted on behalf of Gemfields, one of the world's leading suppliers of responsibly sourced precious stones.

The study of 12,900 U.S. consumers between the ages of 21 and 64 revealed that when it comes to purchasing rubies, sapphires and emeralds, color is the key consideration, followed by clarity, carat weight and, to a much lesser degree, the country of origin.

The survey also showed that millennials (those born between 1982 and 2004) have a greater fondness for precious gemstones than other groups. Overall, 41% of millennials said that they had acquired jewelry featuring a ruby, emerald or sapphire within the past 24 months. That percentage is significantly higher than the 31% registered by the overall survey sample.

As an interesting side note, millennials are nearly twice as likely as non-millennials to use social media and mobile devices to research jewelry and gemstones.

Precious gemstone owners love to wear their jewelry, according to the survey. Exactly 43% of women reported that they wear their rubies, emeralds or sapphires every day. About one in four said they wear the gemstone jewelry at least once a week and just 7% noted that they only wear the jewelry on special occasions.

Another interesting finding was related to multiple purchases. Nearly four in 10 (38%) of those who had purchased fine gemstone jewelry during the prior 24 months had actually gotten two items. Fifteen percent acquired three pieces and 10% had bought four or more.

For the overall sample, the average price paid for a piece of precious stone jewelry was $1,386, although men ($2,048) and affluent buyers ($2,499) with incomes of $100,000-plus were apt to pay significantly more.

Half of the respondents who said they purchased precious colored stone jewelry in the past two years and two-thirds of those in affluent households said they are likely to buy another piece within the next year.

The study, which reflects a nationally representative sample, was conducted for Gemfields by a third party to determine the overall size and potential of the U.S. market and to better understand consumers’ beliefs and perceptions about the value, price and use of precious gemstone jewelry.

Credits: Carmen Lúcia Ruby, Logan Sapphire and Maximillian Emerald courtesy of Smithsonian/Chip Clark.

Gold Coin Donations Make the Holiday Bright for The Salvation Army

Anonymous donations of valuable gold coins — including one recovered from a 300-year-old shipwreck — made the 2016 holiday season bright for Salvation Army chapters from Florida to Oregon.

The Salvation Army’s bell ringing season starts each November and runs through Christmas Eve. Most of the donations come in the form of pocket change and paper money, but this year a bunch of benefactors generously dropped gold coins into the iconic red kettles.

In Sebastian, Fla., an anonymous donor decided to hand his coin donation to veteran bell ringer Jim Bessy. The 300-year-old gold escudo, which is said to be worth several thousand dollars, had been recovered from the wrecks of the Spanish treasure ships known as the 1715 Plate Fleet. The donor didn't want to drop the gold escudo into the kettle because he feared it would get mixed in with the other loose coins.

The coin, which was recovered off the Florida coast and encased in plastic with the label “1715 Fleet 1 Escudo,” will benefit the operations of the Salvation Army chapter in Vero Beach.

“This coin will help bring light on so many stories of families in need right here in Indian River County,” Salvation Army Lt. Jay Needham told USA Today. “With this great contribution and so many more from around this generous community, we are able to help people that are in need during the Christmas season and into the New Year."

In past years, we've written about anonymous benefactors dropping diamond and gold jewelry into the Salvation Army kettles during the Christmas season. This year, the most surprising donations were in the form of 1-ounce gold coins worth about $1,200 apiece. Here's the rundown, as compiled by USA Today...

• In Wisconsin, exactly 80 2016 American Eagle 1-ounce gold coins were dropped into Salvation Army kettles in locations near Manitowoc County and Green Bay. One-ounce South African gold Krugerrands were also scooped from red kettles in Mukwonago and De Pere.

• In Colorado, a pair of 1-ounce South African gold Krugerrands were found in red kettles in Fort Collins. Salvation Army Capt. Isaias Braga told USA Today that in years past an anonymous gold coin donor always returned to The Salvation Army to buy back the item at $1,000 more than its value.

• In Kentucky, Salvation Army officials discovered a 1-ounce South African gold Krugerrand in a red kettle at a Louisville Walmart.

• In Montana, a new Salvation Army lieutenant found a 1-ounce American Buffalo gold coin while sorting red kettle donations in Bigfork.

• In Oregon, an anonymous donor placed an Austrian 100-corona gold coin into a kettle in Salem. The 1915 coin is worth about $1,100.

The Salvation Army red kettle program can track its origins to 1891, when Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry. During the holiday season, he resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken. He only had one major hurdle to overcome — funding the project.

According to The Salvation Army's official website, McFee's red kettle idea was inspired by his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England. There, he remembered an iron kettle called "Simpson's Pot" into which passers-by tossed a coin or two to help the poor.

The next day McFee placed a similar pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, "Keep the Pot Boiling." He soon had the money to see that the needy people were properly fed at Christmas.

Credits: Images via Facebook/1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels, LLC; Red kettle via Facebook/SalvationArmyUSA.

Town of Nördlingen, Germany, Sits in a Massive Crater Filled With 72,000 Tons of Diamonds

The picturesque Bavarian town of Nördlingen, Germany, is situated in a crater filled with 72,000 tons of diamonds, according to a story posted Friday by Smithsonianmag.com.

Although the town's origins date back to 898 A.D., it wasn't until 50 years ago that scientists realized that the 9-mile-wide depression, known as the Ries crater, was formed by the impact of an asteroid. The intense pressure resulting from the asteroid crashing into the Earth caused the graphite-bearing rock in the region to transform into diamonds.

“We assume that the asteroid was a stony one with a weight of [approximately] three billion tons,” Gisela Pösges, a geologist and deputy director of the Ries Crater Museum in Nördlingen told Smithsonianmag.com. “[We think that] the asteroid was a similar size to the town of Nördlingen, about one kilometer (less than three-quarters of a mile) across.”

The diamonds formed from the asteroid impact will never find their way to the center of an engagement ring. The largest ones are 0.3mm in size (barely 1/100th of an inch). A 1mm diamond, by comparison, weighs 0.005 carats.

The high-pressure impact didn't only create diamonds, but also a material called suevite, which is a rock embedded with angular fragments of glass, crystal and diamonds.

Interestingly, when medieval residents set out to build the majestic St.-Georgs-Kirche church in the center of town, they used local materials to create the structure, including chunks of suevite. In fact, most of the town's structures were constructed with diamond-infused suevite.

“Our church, St. Georgs, is made of suevite [and contains] about 5,000 carats of diamonds,” Pösges told Smithsonianmag.com. “But they’re so tiny... that they have no economic value, only scientific value. You can observe the diamonds only with a microscope.”

Scientists estimate that the asteroid impact on Nördlingen generated 60 gigapascals of pressure. To turn carbon into diamonds, it takes between 24 and 136 gigapascal of pressure.

Guided tours of the diamond town of Nördlingen are regularly offered by the Ries Crater Museum, where suevite samples are on display.

Credits: Nördlingen photo via BigStockPhoto.com; Map by Googlemaps.com; Relief map by Batholith (Wikimedia Commons) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons; Suevite by H. Raab (User: Vesta) (Own work) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.0 at], via Wikimedia Commons.

Music Friday: Straight No Chaser’s Viral ‘12 Days of Christmas’ Captures the Spirit of the Season

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you the coolest songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. With Christmas only two days away, we bring you one of YouTube’s most popular Christmas song videos of all time — Straight No Chaser’s witty and masterfully arranged rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” To date, the original version of SNC’s “12 Days” has been viewed more than 20 million times.

As everyone knows, the jewelry reference in this holiday favorite comes on the fifth day of Christmas when “my true love gave to me, five golden rings.”

The a cappella group's “12 Days” is famous for its clever infusions of other songs, such as “I Have a Little Dreidel” and Toto’s “Africa.” SNC's version of the popular Christmas song was inspired by a 1968 comic arrangement of the song by Richard C. Gregory, a faculty member of The Williston Northampton School in western Massachusetts.

Originated on the campus of Indiana University in 1996, Straight No Chaser is truly a grassroots, internet-inspired phenomenon. The 10-man group owes its worldwide fame to a video of its 1998 performance that was first posted to YouTube eight years later. That video went viral and caught the attention of Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, who signed the group to a five-album deal in 2008.

Straight No Chaser is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary and supporting its I'll Have Another... Christmas Album with live shows in Indianapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Honolulu and Maui. The album, which was released in October, sits at #12 on the U.S. Billboard Holiday Albums chart, having peaked at #4.

Check out the video of Straight No Chaser's live performance of "The 12 Days of Christmas." It is guaranteed to brighten your holidays and bring a smile to your face. Enjoy!

Credit: Promotional photo via Facebook.com/StraightNoChaser.

Precious Metal Value of the 23 Gold Medals Michael Phelps Wears on the Cover of SI Will Surprise You

For the first time ever, swimming icon Michael Phelps graces the cover of Sport Illustrated wearing every one of his 23 Olympic gold medals. That's nearly 14.5 pounds of precious metal, but what is it really worth?

The size of gold medals have varied over Phelps' four Olympic appearances. In 2004, the medals of the Athens Games weighed 135 grams. Four years later, the Beijing medals grew to 200 grams. In 2012, the London Games awarded 412-gram gold medals, and in 2016, the Rio de Janeiro medals weighed a whopping 500 grams (1.1 pounds).

If each of Phelps' medals were made of pure gold — as they were back in 1912 — the entire gold cache would tally $239,235.

But, alas, starting in 1916, gold medals were made mostly of silver. The International Olympic Committee mandated that gold medals must be plated with at least 6 grams of 24-karat gold over 96% pure silver.

As we do the math, we find that the gold content in each Phelps medal is worth about $219. The total gold value of the 23 medals is an unspectacular $5,034. The silver value of the complete group is $3,274.

The combined value of all the gold and silver in the gold medals is $8,308, less than the price of Phelps' round-trip, first-class airfare from Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro.

While the most decorated Olympic athlete won't get rich by melting down his Olympic hardware, he has already amassed a fortune in multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals with high profile companies, such as Speedo, Visa, Omega watches, Subway, Kellogg, Under Armour, Head and Shoulders, Louis Vuitton, Procter & Gamble, Hilton hotels, HP and Powerbar. Coupled with the prize money earned at competitions, Phelps' net worth is estimated at $55 million.

In the Sports Illustrated article, the 31-year-old Phelps didn't offer much hope to fans wishing to see him competing in the Olympic pool at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“If I do get the desire to come back, great,” Phelps told SI. “Right now, I just don’t see it.”

Phelps' wife, Nicole, believes that the person who may be able to convince the vaunted swimmer to compete again is his son, Boomer. It's going to take a little while before Boomer can communicate that message to his dad. He's only seven months old.

Overall, Phelps has won 28 Olympic medals — 23 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze.

The December 22nd issue marks the 12th time Phelps has appeared on a Sports Illustrated cover. The record is held by basketball star Michael Jordan, who has enjoyed the honor 50 times.

Credit: Michael Phelps cover by Sports Illustrated.