Jasper Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to iron(III) inclusions. The mineral aggregate breaks with a smooth surface and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for items such as vases, seals, and snuff boxes. The specific gravity of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9. A green variety with red spots, known as heliotrope (bloodstone), is one of the traditional birthstones
What Is This Thing Called Love? (short story) with aliens and sex. According to Asimov the article was mostly based on "Marvel" since its contents had been the raciest. Cele Goldsmith Lalli, editor of "Amazing Stories", requested a satire of the "Playboy" article. Asimov set out to write a story telling how a sex-interested alien and humans might "really" interact. The story appeared in the March 1961 issue of "Amazing" as "Playboy and the Slime God", but when Asimov included it in his 1969 collection "Nightfall and Other Stories" he retitled it "What Is This Thing Called Love?" Goldsmith Lalli rewrote the story's last three paragraphs, a change