Music Friday: Pink Wants You to Check Out Her ‘Gold Diamond Rings’ in 2001’s ‘Get the Party Started’

Welcome to Music Friday when you bring you fabulous songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we kick off the New Year with Pink’s 2001 international blockbuster, “Get the Party Started.” In the very first verse of this good-time dance anthem, Pink gives a nod to her fashionable jewelry: “I got lotsa style, got my gold diamond rings.”

Described as “near perfection” by Stylus Magazine, “Get the Party Started” charted in 17 countries and reached #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was the first single from Pink’s wildly popular second album called Missundaztood. The album sold more than 12 million copies and is her most successful to date.

“Get the Party Started” is considered Pink’s signature song. She often performs it during the encores of live shows.

Alecia Beth Moore (better known as Pink) was born in Pennsylvania in 1979. Originally a member of the girl group Choice, Pink launched her solo career in 2000 with the single, “There You Go.” The rest is history, as she has gone on to become one of the most successful and influential artists of her generation.

"When Alecia Moore debuted in 2000, pop was dominated by long-locked blonds like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson,” wrote Glamour Magazine. “Pink changed the game. Without her, the last 13 years of big-voiced, tough chick music is hard to imagine."

Pink is a three-time Grammy Award winner and was named Billboard magazine’s “Woman of the Year” for 2013. She’s notched 19 top-10 hits in the U.S. and has sold more than 45 million records worldwide as of 2013.

We invite you to slip on your dancing shoes and rock out with Pink as she sings “Get the Party Started.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along. And, yes, this is the family-friendly version of the song…

“Get the Party Started”
Written by Linda Perry. Performed by Pink.

I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started

Get this party started on a Saturday night
Everybody's waiting for me to arrive
Sendin' out the message to all of my friends
We'll be looking flashy in my Mercedes Benz
I got lotsa style, got my gold diamond rings
I can go for miles if you know what I mean
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started

Pumping up the volume, breaking down to the beat
Cruisin' through the west side
We'll be checkin' the scene
Boulevard is freakin' as I'm comin' up fast
I'll be burnin' rubber, you'll be kissin' my hands
Pull up to the bumper, get out of the car
License plate says Stunner #1 Superstar

I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
Get this party started

Making my connection as I enter the room
Everybody's chilling as I set up the groove
Pumpin' up the volume with this brand new beat
Everybody's dancing and they're dancing for me
I'm your operator, you can call anytime
I'll be your connection to the party line

I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
Get this party started
Get this party started right now
Get this party started
Get this party started
Get this party started right now

Finest Russian Demantoid Garnets Display Distinctive ‘Horsetail’ Inclusions

Known for their brilliant green color and fiery dispersion, demantoid garnets are unique because their inclusions — usually seen as flaws in other gems — are considered highly coveted aesthetic attributes. Garnet is the official January birthstone.

Distinctive horsetail inclusions that seem to spray out from the center of the stone are markers for the world’s most valuable demantoid garnets, a variety mined in the Ural Mountains of Russia. A beautiful, well-formed inclusion can increase the value of the gemstone considerably, according to the International Color Stone Association.

Demantoid garnet was first discovered in 1886 and became a favorite of Russian royalty and designer Carl Fabergé, who incorporated them into his famous jeweled eggs and other jewelry, such as the pin seen above. Russian mining of demantoid garnet was suspended after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, but finally resumed in the 1970s.

Demantoid gets its name from the Dutch words for “diamond-like.” The stone owes its impressive brilliance to two main factors: A high refractive index and a high dispersion (its ability to separate light into the spectrum of colors). Demantoid's dispersion rating is the highest of all gemstones, including diamond.

The horsetail inclusions are actually golden brown bundles of the mineral chrysotile. They seem to gather in the center of the stone and bend outward like a fireworks display.

Although demantoid garnet is now mined in other parts of the world, including Iran, Namibia, Pakistan, Italy, Madagascar and Canada, the Russian demantoid sets the mark by which all the others are compared.

Demantoid by definition will always be green, but the color range varies from yellowish-green to blue-green. The lighter colors tend to have the most fire and brilliance, but the deeper green colorations tend to fetch the highest prices.

African-origin demantoid tends to be yellowish-green, olive green or brownish, due to higher concentrations of iron. Russian material, on the other hand, is colored by chromium and tends to be vivid green. Demantoid garnets are rarely found in sizes larger than 2 carats.

Scientists Find Sure Sign of Untapped Diamond Riches in Antarctica

A team of scientists has uncovered kimberlites in Antarctica’s Prince Charles Mountains, a sure sign that untapped diamond riches are lying just below the icy surface of the southernmost continent.

Diamonds are formed under intense heat and pressure about 100 miles below the surface. They can be brought to the surface in powerful eruptions and preserved in the distinctive igneous rock formations called kimberlites. The presence of kimberlite has been a clue to huge deposits of diamonds in several parts of the world, including Africa, Siberia and Australia.

Findings published in the journal Nature Communications reveal that the particular rocks unearthed in eastern Antarctica are considered “Group One” kimberlites. They are estimated to be 120 million years old and are similar to the ones found in diamond-rich areas on other continents.

“It would be very surprising if there weren't diamonds in these kimberlites," lead researcher Greg Yaxley from Australian National University told Reuters.

Before you pack your bags and plan a prospecting trip to the Prince Charles Mountains of Antarctica, you should know that in 1991 the international community, led by the U.S. and China, imposed a 50-year mining ban in Antarctica. What will happen after 2041 is anyone’s guess.

Despite his team's discovery, Yaxley is not enthusiastic about the idea of diamond mining in the coldest place on Earth. "I don't think it's terribly practical that anyone could actually explore successfully," Yaxley told Reuters. "Personally, I hope that mining does not take place."

Interestingly, 200 million years ago, Antarctica was part of the supercontinent of Gondwana, which included the merged land masses of South America, Africa, Australia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Subcontinent.

The age of the Antarctic kimberlites and their chemical, mineral and physical features suggest they are part of a huge Cretaceous kimberlite province, Yaxley suggested. This vast region is responsible for many of the world's diamonds, and is now apparently spread across most of the continents that were once part of Gondwana.

Wedding Ring That Slipped Off a Cashier’s Finger and Into Customer’s Shopping Bag Is Miraculously Returned on Christmas Eve

Two weeks ago, cashier Ethell Perkins misplaced her cherished wedding ring while working the endless holiday lines at Walmart in Omaha, Neb. For more than 20 years, Perkins had worn the diamond ring, which served as a constant and irreplaceable symbol of her marriage to her now-deceased husband. Perkins was so upset by the loss that she asked her supervisor to finish her shift.

Walmart managers scanned surveillance video and were able to pinpoint the exact moment Perkins lost the ring while packing out a plastic bag for a family of holiday shoppers. They concluded that the ring was on her finger when her hand went into the bag and was gone when it came out.

Unfortunately, they were not able to identify the family involved in the transaction. The best they could do was hope that these Walmart customers would spot the ring once they got home and be honest enough to return it to the store.

"In my line of work, I see a lot of bad things,” Walmart asset protection manager Nick Tolen told KMTV, “but I was hoping just this once, there would be a good person who would bring it back."

On the Monday before Christmas, Omaha police officer Josh Martinec and his wife, Leslie, were finally sorting through holiday presents they bought 10 days earlier when Leslie spotting something unusual in her Walmart bag.

"I pulled it out and said, 'Oh my gosh, Josh,'" Leslie recounted. "He thought it was actually my ring, and that I had lost a diamond or something. I said, 'Uhh, I don't know what to do with this.'"

Josh knew exactly what to do.

On Christmas Eve, the Martinec family returned to Walmart to deliver a special gift to a very surprised and appreciative cashier.

"Thank you so much," Perkins said to the Martinecs. "God is good. Thank you, Jesus."

Josh told KMTV that he was glad the wedding ring was dropped into his bag and not the bag of some Scrooge.

"I'm just glad we could pay it forward for the holidays,” said Leslie, “because that's what it's all about."

Walmart managers could hardly believe Perkins’ good fortune and were impressed by the Martinecs’ honesty. They told KMTV they’ve never seen anything like this. When expensive items go missing, they are generally not returned.

"I'm grateful," said Perkins. "It's been a Merry Christmas for all of us."