Gemstone

A gemstone or gem (also called a fine gem, jewel, or a precious or semi-precious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli) or organic materials that are not minerals (such as amber or jet), are also used for jewelry, and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity is another characteristic that lends value to a gemstone. Apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity engraved gems and hardstone carvings, such as cups, were major luxury art forms. A gem maker is called a lapidary or gemcutter; a diamond worker is a diamantaire.

The carvings of Carl Fabergé are significant works in this tradition.

Characteristics and classification

Precious

Precious may refer to:

Arts and entertainment

People

Precious (film)

Precious: Base on Nol by Saf (Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire), commonly referred to as simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey. This film marked the acting debut of Sidibe.

The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its original title of Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo'Nique. After Precious' screening at Sundance in February 2009, Tyler Perry announced that he and Oprah Winfrey would be providing promotional assistance to the film, which was released through Lionsgate Entertainment. Precious won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The film's title was changed from Push to Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push.Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (particularly the un certain regard section).

Precious (soundtrack)

Precious: Soundtrack, was released, first as a digital download, prior to the release of the film of the same name on November 3, 2009. Nearly three weeks later, it was released to stores on November 23. The soundtrack consists of various artists (Labelle, Donna Allen, Jean Carn, Sunny Gale, and MFSB); with some artists having recorded songs that were covers and other songs that were recorded specifically for the album. The album received positive praise; mainly the song "I Can See In Color" - which was released as a single - that was recorded and co-written by Blige. The trailer features the song "Destiny" taken from Blige's 2001 album No More Drama. A song titled "My Good Lovin' (Back Like That Remix)", featuring Da Brat and Lil' Mo, was featured in the film but exempted from the soundtrack.

Track listing

Reception

Rolling Stone praised the album, and described the song, "I Can See In Color" as being "...a knockout song...expressing the goal of Precious to see the world in color." Allmusic a majority of the album and its artists. Allmusic described the album as featuring "solid offerings from both contemporary and classic", crediting the contributions from Latifah, Hightower, Jackson and LaBelle, and stated that the album resulted "in a solid and empowering collection that (in the words of [the film's director Lee] Daniels) "resonate not only in Precious' world, but speak to your soul no matter who you are."

Semič

Semič (pronounced [ˈseːmitʃ]; German: Semitsch) is a market settlement in Slovenia and the seat of the Municipality of Semič in the traditional region of White Carniola in southeastern Slovenia. The municipality is included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region. It gets its name from Semenič Castle, which used to stand on a hill above the settlement. Semič was the location of a Yugoslav Partisan base and airfield in the Second World War, from where Allied airmen and escaped and freed prisoners of war were airlifted to safety.

The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Stephen and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Mesto. It was first mentioned in written sources dating to 1228.

Hamlets

Semič contains a large number of hamlets, some of which used to be independent settlements. These include Coklovca, Gaber pri Semiču, Gora, Kašča, Kot pri Semiču (German: Winkel), Krč, Mladica, Podturn, Sadinja Vas (Sadinja vas, German: Sodinsdorf), Sela pri Semiču (German: Sela bei Heiligengeist), Trata, Vavpča Vas (Vavpča vas, German: Amtmannsdorf), Vrh, and Vrtača pri Semiču.

Semi

Semi- is a Latin prefix to a verb, noun, or adjective meaning "half". Some compounds formed with it are often abbreviated to simply "semi" in appropriate contexts:

See also

Numeral prefix

Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and other European languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words, such as unicycle – bicycle – tricycle, dyad – triad – decade, biped – quadruped, September – October – November – December, decimal – hexadecimal, sexagenarian – octogenarian, centipede – millipede, etc. There are two principal systems, taken from Latin and Greek, each with several subsystems; in addition, Sanskrit occupies a marginal position. There is also an international set of metric prefixes, which are used in the metric system, and which for the most part are either distorted from the forms below or not based on actual number words.

Table of number prefixes in English

In the following prefixes, a final vowel is normally dropped before a root that begins with a vowel, with the exceptions of bi-, which is bis- before a vowel, and of the other monosyllables, du-, di-, dvi-, tri-, which are invariable.