Watercooler Stories

Blue diamond sold for record price

LONDON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A rare flawless blue diamond fetched a record price at auction in Hong Kong that broke down to more than $1 million per carat.

London jeweler Alisa Mousieff paid 3.91 million pounds ($7.9 million) for the 6.04-carat stone that will be locked away in a vault in London and shown only to top-shelf clients, The Times of London said Tuesday.

The newspaper said that while the diamond is not the largest in the world, it is flawless, has “an immaculate” cut and a striking bluish hue caused by a sprinkling of boron in the stone.

Mousieff said she had been following the blue diamond as it was sold and resold over the past two decades. She also noticed such diamonds seemed to be getting increasingly rare.

"It seems the blue diamond mines are extinct – nothing is coming out from mother earth any more. I have stopped seeing any from South Africa," she told The Times.

Horses break up running monotony

COOL, Calif., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Competitive runners looking for some variety can join the growing U.S. sport of "Ride and Tie," which requires a human partner and a horse.

Carol Ruprecht is a participant and volunteers as the Ride and Tie Association's public relations director. She explained the sport to the Christian Science Monitor at a recent 22-mile race near Sacramento, Calif.

"It's basically a leap frog where you're going run, ride, run, ride, run, ride with one partner and one horse for anywhere from 4 miles to 100 miles," Ruprecht said.

At least six times during the competition, riders must dismount, tether the horse to anything they can find and set off running. The previous runner repeats the drill, with older participants often covering more ground in the saddle while their younger partners spend more time on foot, Ruprecht said.

Ride and Tie was established as a sport in the United States in 1971, and there are about 25 races a year between April and October, the report said.

Athletes looking to cash in would be out of luck, as most participants pay $100 in race fees and champions often receive a horse blanket or plastic water bottle, the report said.

Ex-nanny sues U.N. couple for 'slave' work

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Peruvian nanny has sued two U.N. employees whom she alleges kept her in virtual slavery at their New York home for more than seven years.

Prudencia Mendoza contended she was forced to work 14-hour days with only a couple of hours off on Sunday to go to church, all for about $3,600 per year.

The New York Post said Tuesday that Mendoza’s employers allegedly promised her a nice life in America with 40-hour weeks and paid trips to Peru every year.

Mendoza’s former boss, Juan Carpio Malaga, denied the allegations and told the Post he had paid her wages into a bank account rather that to her directly. Carpio and his wife are currently stationed in Ethiopia.

Bride 'steals' own bouquet

UMEA, Sweden, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Swedish bride on her wedding day squeezed through an 8-inch opening to fetch her bouquet when she found the florist shop closed.

"In the rush I forgot I had just been at the hairdresser's," said Camilla Holmstrom, now Camilla Andersson. "It was a good job I didn't have my wedding dress on at the time."

The bride rushed to the shop in Umea, in northern Sweden, when her friend called and said the shop was closed and the bouquet locked inside within sight on a shelf, The Local reported.

The bride frantically was shaking the shop's grille when she noticed the gap at the bottom, squeezed under to retrieve her bouquet and squeezed back out.

The florist, mortified, called to apologize when she read about it in the local newspaper, the bride said.