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So when is /. going to replace the SuSE icon with a stylised thirty pieces of silver?

Credit Suisse silver pieces?

Of course we didn't want to be hasty about something so important. We started switching to decimal money in 1848 with the introduction of the florin, worth 2/- or 10p.

Names of minerals are a tricky subject, and there are a lot of fallacies- a mineral may have a chemical composition, a common use name, and belong to a general group of closely-related compounds. Because of this, the guidelines do exist. It's not unlike trying to name a species of organisms.A history of the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN) demonstrates that this is not a subject touched upon lightly in the scientific world. (this comment is going to have a lot of links, because i'm interested in rocks and minerals. The info may be interesting or, as with the IMA info, useful and particularly relevant, so please bear with me.)

It becomes an issue in the everyday world more than one might expect. For example, i have anAlexandrite ring, a family heirloom. It's gorgeous, it's stunning, and it's a rock rarely seen in the jeweller's.

What's the difference between this and any other cut and polished 'ballistic missile from god'? (thank you, Mr. Watterson, for that beautiful quote.) It's pretty. So people remember it, although most people get it confused with iolite.

Amethyst is just another kind of quartz.

Rocks for which there is no scientific use frequently end up as jewellery, or even bookends, and i guess that's where a lot of the names get dropped. Rhodochrosite becomes 'that pink stone there,' and Calcite becomes (and i do not jest) "Fiberoptic stone," or sometimes "TV stone," or i've even seen it just listed as 'refractive' or 'optical' quartz. (Yeah, i've gotten kicked out of the museum of science gift shop over this one, but they let me back in when i promised to shut up.)

Personally, i think that such uses should involve the chemical composition in the labelling, sonce then people would grow up knowing the difference between nephrite and jadeite, and things labelled 'serpentine' (yes, it also talks about chromium)(see also here)and 'amazonite' would then end up consistently identified. Red ruby would be "ruby- Al2O3" and people would learn to recognise it the way they did the contents of ordinary table salt.

*sigh*

Yeah, i know nobody's going to label Paramelaconite (a tetragonal oxide of copper) for the common consumer... but isn't it a nice thought? For more on the naming of minerals, try and here, and also here, with the International Mineralogical Association.

I know you're kidding, but seriously, the 1-pound coins really are heavy -- not quite a pound, maybe, but heavy for a coin.

I often wondered what the hell they are made of -- I'll never forget the first time someone handed me one. Pretty weird sensation when you expect it to weigh practically nothing -- and in fact it weighs quite a bit (for a coin anyway).

Doing a quick Google...ah, a 2003 pound coin (yes, they change the design every year) weighs 9.5 g and is 22.5 mm in diameter, while an American quarter weighs 5.67 g and is 24.25 mm in diameter.

The pound coin is nickel-brass alloy (copper 70%, zinc 24.5%, nickel 5.5%); the quarter is cupro-nickel clad (8.33% nickel, 91.67% copper).

Cheers,

Ethelred

...the monetary symbol "£", which of course originally means lire...

I've always enjoyed talking about the cleavage of rocks since so many people think I'm insulting them, "Hey, I saw you two got engaged, looks like you got some nice cleavage..." If this thing ruins that gag I might just have to stoop to asking: "What does Moh think of your hardness?"