The Millennium Star is a famous diamond owned by De Beers. At 203.04 carats (40.608 g), the world’s second largest known top-color (D), internally and externally flawless, pear-shaped diamond.

The diamond was discovered in the Mbuji-Mayi district of Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1990 in alluvial deposits; uncut, it was 777 carats (155.4 g). It was purchased by De Beers. It took over three years for workers of the Steinmetz Diamond Group to produce the classic pear form; the actual cutting was done using lasers.

It was first displayed in October 1999 as the centerpiece of the De Beers Millennium diamond collection. The collection also includes eleven blue diamonds totaling 118 carats (23.6 g) and The Heart of Eternity. They were displayed at London’s Millennium Dome over 2000. There was an attempt on November 7, 2000 to steal the collection. Crime journalist Kris Hollington wrote a book called Diamond Geezers ISBN 1843171228) about the attempted theft. The book also features a detailed history of the Millennium Star.

The largest cut white (D) diamond by weight is the 1991 heart-shaped 273.85 carat (54.77 g) Centenary Diamond.

Irthlingborough Diamonds were a football club from Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England, founded in 1946. In 1992, they merged with Rushden Town to create Rushden and Diamonds.

The Diamonds played their home games at the old Nene Park, which sits on the site of the current stadium.

Blue Diamond may refer to:

• A blue diamond, the most famous example being the Hope Diamond
• The Blue Diamond, the name assigned in 1954 to the air demonstration unit of the Philippine Air Force. In 1960, this was changed to The Blue Diamonds.
• Blue Diamond, Nevada, a census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States
• Blue Diamond Growers, a California-based agricultural cooperative and marketing organization that specializes in almonds
• The Blue Diamond (comics), a 1940s superhero from Timely Comics, a forerunner of Marvel Comics
• Impatiens namchabarwensis or Blue Diamond Impatiens, a member of the Balsaminaceae family
• The Heart of the Ocean, an important element in the 1997 Titanic film.
• Blue Diamond (truck platform), a collaborative agreement between Ford Trucks and Navistar International (previously IHC)
• A Viagra tablet (informal)

Blue Diamonds may refer to:

• Blue Diamonds, a Dutch 1960s doo-wop duo best known for their chart-topping single “Ramona”
• “Blue Diamonds”, a song from Rusted Root’s 2002 album Welcome to My Party
• “Blue Diamonds”, No. 92 Squadron RAF aerobatic display team.
• “Blue Diamonds”, a song from The Long Winters’ 2003 album When I Pretend to Fall

Helsinki Watch was a private American NGO devoted to monitoring Helsinki implementation. It was created in 1978 to monitor compliance to the Helsinki Final Act (signed 1975). The group focused on the human rights and human contacts portions of the Helsinki Agreement.

The United States-based Helsinki Watch group was inspired by Eastern European efforts such as the Moscow Helsinki Group. In 1982, representatives of a number of the Helsinki Watch committees held an International Citizens Helsinki Watch Conference and formed the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

In 1988, Helsinki Watch evolved into Human Rights Watch.

In contract bridge the minor suits are diamonds () and clubs (). They are given that name because contracts made in those suits score less (20 points per contracted trick) than contracts made in the major suits (30 points), and they rank lower in bidding. In particular, one can make game with a bid of 4 in a major suit, while a bid of 5 is required in a minor. Of the two minor suits, diamonds () rank higher than clubs ()

Pens is a card game for two or more players. The players sit around a table, and a number of pens (one less than the number of players) are laid with equal spacing in the center of the table, at an equal distance from each of the players. Cards are then removed from the pack such that only one group of four of a kind per player remains. For example, if there were four players, one possible pack would be:

The pack is shuffled, and four cards are dealt to each player. No player may look at another player’s cards.

The game starts when one player says “1, 2, 3, pass.” On ‘pass,’ each player passes any one of their cards, face down, to the player to their left. This process repeats until somebody has a hand of four cards of the same value, at which point they grab one of the pens in the middle of the table. The other players then do the same. The person left without a pen drops out, and the whole game repeats without that player. This continues until there is only one player remaining. That player wins the game.

If a player grabs a pen despite not having four of a kind, they lose the round. However, feinting is allowed, and if by motioning as if to grab a pen (without actually touching one) they cause other players to grab for the pens, the first to touch one loses the round.

In contract bridge, a two suiter is a hand containing cards mostly from two of the four suits. Traditionally a hand is considered a two suiter if it contains at least ten cards in two suits, with the two suits not differing in length by more than one card. Depending on suit quality and partnership agreement different classification schemes are viable. The more modern trend is to lower the threshold of ten cards to nine cards and consider 5-4 distributions also two suiters.

The six possible combinations are given the names “major suits” (spades and hearts), “minor suits” (diamonds and clubs), “black suits” (spades and clubs), “red suits” (hearts and diamonds), “pointed suits” (spades and diamonds), and “rounded suits” (hearts and clubs).

When including two suited hands with 5-4 distribution, two suiters have a high likelihood of occurrence, and the modern preemptive style is to incorporate such two-suited hands in the arsenal of preemptive openings. Example of such a preemptive conventional opening is the Muiderberg convention. Some take this aggressive style even further and utilise Ekren to preemptively open on a 4-4 in the majors.

Conventional overcalls such as Michaels, Unusual notrump, Ghestem and Raptor are designed to introduce a two suiter over an opening bid of the opponents. Conventions like Landy, DONT and Lionel can be used to denote a two suiter over an opposing 1NT bid.

Helsinki Watch was a private American NGO devoted to monitoring Helsinki implementation. It was created in 1978 to monitor compliance to the Helsinki Final Act (signed 1975). The group focused on the human rights and human contacts portions of the Helsinki Agreement.

The United States-based Helsinki Watch group was inspired by Eastern European efforts such as the Moscow Helsinki Group. In 1982, representatives of a number of the Helsinki Watch committees held an International Citizens Helsinki Watch Conference and formed the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

In 1988, Helsinki Watch evolved into Human Rights Watch.

The curse of Scotland, also known as the Scourge of Scotland, is a term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. The exact origins of the term is disputed but several theories exists.

The most common story is that the term arose after the Massacre of Glencoe due to a resemblance in the playing card and Sir John Dalrymple coat of arms. Another story is that the order for no quarter at the Battle of Culloden written on a nine of diamonds by the Duke of Cumberland. However, the term is first recorded in 1710, which definitely rules out any connection with Culloden, but does fit a possible connection with Glencoe. Another story is that Mary Queen of Scots death warrant was signed on the nine of diamonds by Elizabeth I.

Other less popular theories include the term deriving from a tax levied to pay for nine diamonds stolen from the crown of Scotland or that the term is a mispronunciation of “The Cross of Scotland” due to a resemblance in the patterns of St. Andrew’s Saltire and the playing card.

A plausible but mundane explanation is that the term comes from a card game “Pope Joan” (first mentioned in 1732) where the nine of diamonds is called the “Pope”. As Scotland has traditionally been a strongly Protestant country the Pope would be in a sense its curse.

Dirty Diamonds is the 24th studio album by Alice Cooper. It was released on July 4, 2005 internationally and on August 2 for North America.

The album peaked on Billboard’s “Top Independent Albums” chart at position #17, and on the Billboard 200 album chart at #169 - Cooper’s highest charting album since The Last Temptation, 11 years prior.

Track listing

1. “Woman of Mass Distraction” (Cooper/Roxie/Boston/Garric/Johnson) - 3:59
2. “Perfect” (Cooper/Roxie/Johnson) – 3:30
3. “You Make Me Wanna” (Cooper/Boston/Roxie/Garric) – 3:30
4. “Dirty Diamonds” (Cooper/Boston/Garric/Johnson) – 4:02
5. “The Saga of Jesse Jane” (Cooper/Roxie) – 4:15
6. “Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies)” (Cooper/Roxie/Johnson) – 3:28
7. “Pretty Ballerina” (Michael Brown) – 3:01
8. “Run Down the Devil” (Cooper/Hughes/Elizondo/Hudson) – 3:29
9. “Steal That Car” (Cooper/Roxy/Garric/Johnson) – 3:16
10. “Six Hours” (Cooper/Roxie) – 3:24
11. “Your Own Worst Enemy” (Cooper/Roxie) – 2:15
12. “Zombie Dance” (Cooper/Boston/Roxie) – 4:27
13. “Stand” (Bonus Track on all releases)(Cooper/Boston/Benenate/Xzibit) – 4:04
14. “The Sharpest Pain” (Australia/Russia Bonus Track)- 3:59

Dirty Diamonds is the 24th studio album by Alice Cooper. It was released on July 4, 2005 internationally and on August 2 for North America.

The album peaked on Billboard’s “Top Independent Albums” chart at position #17, and on the Billboard 200 album chart at #169 - Cooper’s highest charting album since The Last Temptation, 11 years prior.

Track listing

1. “Woman of Mass Distraction” (Cooper/Roxie/Boston/Garric/Johnson) - 3:59
2. “Perfect” (Cooper/Roxie/Johnson) – 3:30
3. “You Make Me Wanna” (Cooper/Boston/Roxie/Garric) – 3:30
4. “Dirty Diamonds” (Cooper/Boston/Garric/Johnson) – 4:02
5. “The Saga of Jesse Jane” (Cooper/Roxie) – 4:15
6. “Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies)” (Cooper/Roxie/Johnson) – 3:28
7. “Pretty Ballerina” (Michael Brown) – 3:01
8. “Run Down the Devil” (Cooper/Hughes/Elizondo/Hudson) – 3:29
9. “Steal That Car” (Cooper/Roxy/Garric/Johnson) – 3:16
10. “Six Hours” (Cooper/Roxie) – 3:24
11. “Your Own Worst Enemy” (Cooper/Roxie) – 2:15
12. “Zombie Dance” (Cooper/Boston/Roxie) – 4:27
13. “Stand” (Bonus Track on all releases)(Cooper/Boston/Benenate/Xzibit) – 4:04
14. “The Sharpest Pain” (Australia/Russia Bonus Track)- 3:59

Fire watch may refer to several things:

• Fire watch, the act of watching for the occurrence of fires. This is usually done with the intent of detecting fires early so that they can be extinguished quickly and damage to land and/or property can be prevented or minimalized. Fire watches are often employed in forested areas where the risk of fires is high (dry conditions, hot weather, etc) or in industrial settings where “hot work” (welding, metal grinding, etc) is occurring.
• Fire Watch, a book of short stories by Connie Willis

Diamond Valley is also an informal name for an area north of Melbourne near Diamond Creek, Victoria, Australia. For the abolished Australian electoral division, see Division of Diamond Valley. For the abolished Victorian shire see Shire of Diamond Valley

Diamond Valley is a basin located in central Nevada in the western United States, between the Sulpher Spring Range and the Diamond Mountains. The valley is located almost entirely within Eureka County, but the northern end crosses into Elko County. The valley is up to 12 miles wide and over 45 miles long. The town of Eureka lies at the southern end of the valley, while the northern end is home to an alkali flat. Several small lakes are located in the western part of the valley near Sadler Brown Road.

In contract bridge, the trump squeeze is a variant of the simple squeeze. (Squeezes are techniques in this game to gain extra tricks.)

In a trump squeeze, declarer has a suit that can be established by ruffing, but the defender being squeezed is guarding that suit. However, if he happens to also guard another suit, the squeeze card will force him to unguard one. This end position below shows a trump squeeze in action:

Hearts are trumps, and the lead is in the North hand. Declarer plays the A, discarding the 3 from hand, and East has no good discard. If East plays a spade, declarer cashes the A to set up the spade suit. If East plays a club, declarer cashes the K ruffs a club, and has the Ace of spades as an entry to dummy.

The key elements are:

• A suit that declarer can ruff to set up extra tricks
• An entry in another suit which can also yield extra tricks
• One defender that guards both suits

A very rare example is the double trump squeeze, where both opponents suffer the same fate. Here is an example from the quarterfinals of the 2004 Olympiad, in the match between Italy and the USA. Declarer, Norberto Bocchi of Italy, declared 4 and achieved the following end position with the lead in dummy:

Declarer led the Ace of Hearts from dummy, discarding the 8, and the defence had no answer. If both pitched spades, declarer could play the Ace and King of spades, establishing the ten. If both pitched diamonds, a spade to the Ace and a diamond ruff would establish the Queen. Declarer’s play depended on who released the diamond guard. If it were West, a spade to the Ace and the Ten of diamonds would set up the Queen. If it was East, a spade to the Ace and the Queen of diamonds would smother the Jack and create a ruffing finesse position.

Note that the squeeze was not automatic, but Bocchi read the situation accurately when West discarded the seven of diamonds.

The Three Aces is a card trick where the magician places the Ace of Diamonds in the middle of the deck, and the two black Aces (Spades and Clubs) on the top and bottom of the deck. The deck is cut, and all three aces are found together in the middle of the deck.

Method

The magician starts with the Ace of Diamonds on top of the deck, and the other three aces in his hands. When the three cards are shown to the audience, they are arranged so that the center pip on the Ace of Hearts is up side down, and the two black Aces in front of it make a V that makes the bottom of the heart look like the bottom of a diamond. The three cards are set on top of the deck with the Ace of Hearts on top and black Aces below them. The top card pushed into the middle and the next one placed on the bottom, the deck is cut, and the trick is done.