Good news or IT students.

This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

In the last week Monday edition of our local daily, the educational supplementary papers carried an article about the increase in demand for IT professionals in the world and in the next three years, there may even be a demand supply gap in the IT industry.

Based on the information that is provided by Blogitive, capella university is gearing up to produce IT leaders by offering PhD in IT. I read in the website of capella university that in the next decade, three of the 10 fastest growing occupations will be in the field of information technology (IT) and they cited the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as their source of information.

Several of my son’s friends who are currently doing graduate program in IT are enthused by this good news and they have all warned their parents about their intention to study further though Capella University, the fully accredited online university that offers graduate online degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, public health, public safety, and psychology, and bachelor’s degree programs in business, information technology, and public safety.

Do you know Mineraloid?

Mineraloid-a new word for you-right? Yes, it is to me too.

A mineraloid is a substance that is only mineral like though it does not possess the basic characteristic of all minerals which is crystalline

I think I should explain with a few examples.
Obsidian(see picture) which is a natural glass that falls in to the category of minerals but it is not a crystal.
Then there is the Jet which is a dense form of coal.
Do you know that Opal too is another mineraloid because of its non-crystal nature?
Pearls, considered by some to be a mineral because of the presence of calcium carbonate crystals within their structure, would be better considered a mineraloid because the crystals are bonded by an organic material and there is no definite proportion of the components.Hmm..- too chemical for us?

Changing fortunes with Opal.

---> Black Opal


During the sixth century B.C. the Greeks strongly believed that the precious stone Opal can give foresight and wisdom to those who wore it.

The Romans thought the Opal represented power and majesty. The is legend that says Nonius, a Roman senator preferred to go on exile than to hand over his opal stone to the Roman Empereor, Mark Antony.

That all changed and Opal lost its value and reputation during the 14th century A.D. when the plague claimed thousands of lives. In Venice, the opal gained shine when the wearers got ill with the plague and it dulled when they ill people died.

From then on, the Opal was associated with death. Poor stone that is, it took all the blame due to ignorance of the fact that the opal is very sensitive to body heat and it will change its color because of the body temperature.

Opal ranges from clear through white, gray, red, yellow, green, shore, blue, magenta, brown, and black. Of these hues, red and black are the most rare and dear, whereas white and green are the most common.

Trivia to chew:
Opal is the official gemstone of South Australia and Commenwealth of Australia.
Opal is the birth stone of October.
The Czar believed opal is a representative of evil.

Courtesy: Reader's Digest, Wikipedia and commons.wikimedia.org