Shiny rocks

Half-assed Guarantee of the Day:



For an eBay gem auction:

*Item looked at and verified by certified gemologist*

(Asterisks and all.)



Um, "looked at"? From where, across the room? And "verified" as what? ("Yup, that's a physical object of some kind.")



Oh, and by the way, eBay gem dealers: There is no such fucking thing as African moldavite! It's called "moldavite" because it's from a meteor that landed in the Moldau region of the Czech Republic. I don't know, maybe there are meteor-based gems in other parts of the world, but they're not frickin' moldavite, okay?*



(I really, really like gems and minerals—or, more inclusively, shiny rocks—but I haven't bought any in a long time, since it's not exactly a cheap hobby. I'm getting an itch for moldavite, though, and maybe a demantoid garnet. And maybe a chrysoberyl cat's eye. And maybe...oh, crap, here I go again...)



(Here, for reference, is some moldavite. And here are some demantoid garnets. I assume everyone knows what chrysoberyl cat's eyes look like, but they're pretty, so here are some of them, too.)



*Update: On 12/23/03, I wrote another entry on the African moldavite question.