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Huge Diamond Deposits Revealed In Russia
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from the Christian Science Monitor: "'Russia has just declassified news that will shake world gem markets to their core: the discovery of a vast new diamond field containing 'trillions of carats,' enough to supply global markets for another 3,000 years. The Soviets discovered the bonanza back in the 1970s beneath a 35-million-year-old, 62-mile diameter asteroid crater in eastern Siberia known as Popigai Astroblem. They decided to keep it secret, and not to exploit it, apparently because the USSR's huge diamond operations at Mirny, in Yakutia, were already producing immense profits in what was then a tightly controlled world market."
Nope. The price of diamonds is completely artificial, agreed upon by all the suppliers and does not reflect their actual value or supply availability. It's the biggest case of non-penalized price fixing in the history of the world.
I am curious if there's going to be a huge diamond down there... I'm assuming that they formed from the pressure created by the impact...
Bow before me, for I am root.
This Slashdot. You must be new here.
What is this "wife" of which you speak?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Here is an informative article, a must-read if you're interested in diamonds. It's old (written in 1982) but everything still applies. In fact it's amazing that the public still hasn't gotten wise to the diamond racket in the 30 years since the article.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/1/?google_editors_picks=true
A peer reviewed paper describing the occurrence is here (paywalled):
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01639.x/abstract
The diamonds are ~0.2-0.5mm, elongate or tabular layered grains. They are sometimes colorless but often are yellow, grey, or black. Rarely there are diamonds which reach 10mm found in the alluvial gravel.
If the deposit is as rich as the article claims it looks like an excellent source for industrial diamonds, although given how fractured they are it won't change the gem diamond market much.
The price of the diamonds may go down, but the amount of money you are required to spend on your wife to demonstrate your love for her will remain fixed. Bigger diamond, more diamonds, platinum band, all these options are open to her to make sure you don't spend less on her than she expects. And she expects
you to spend enough on her that you notice the cost. Not enough to cause resentment, but enough to delay discretionary and hobby purchases for yourself for anything up to year or so, depending on the occasion (e.g. an eternity ring).
This will elevate her status amongst her peers, confirming to them and her family that she made the right choice in a lifetime mate: someone who has the financial wherewithal to make these purchases and someone who has an emotional attachment to her that's strong enough to actually do it. It will also increase her financial self-worth, giving her something she can personally contribute to the family (at high emotional cost) in times of great need, or something of intrinsic and emotional value she can hand on to favoured descendants. At worst, she can flog it off if you separate.
Buy these things for her, and be happy with your lot. With luck, you may get a blowjob on your birthday.
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
Diamonds, tennis-bracelets, rings, necklaces, whatever.
If marketing-men tell the women that men need to buy these to "prove" their "love", they can live off the labor of those enslaved by their little scheme.
When I see diamonds, its obvious that these things are absolutely useless for anything but some rather esoteric applications, which would demand the perfection of a manufactured diamond, or a run of the mill abrasive.
If its glittery jewelry, go for the optical stuff - it can be manufactured much cheaper than trying to find them in nature. Hell, so is a Coke bottle.
Why aren't women as enthused over a gift of carborundum? Marketing.
Its much like religion, where microphone-men hock up all sorts of stuff about demonstrating one's faith while passing the plate.
Marketing heads tell us to work our a** off and give them the nectar of our efforts, and we - being the obedient sheeple we are - obey.
The marketing head gets rich while the rest of us try to earn a wage.
DeBeers gets rich by convincing men that they have to be paid before we can get access to women's heavenly parts.
And we pay. And pay. And pay. We are sooooo dumb!.