enthalpy

Tuesday, June 28, 2005


My aversion to diamonds continues after finding this fascinating article about the Russian's emergence on the world diamond market with synthetic gem quality stones. I'd like to read the whole thing, but I started off at chapter 17 after looking into this, the once improbable diamond mine in Mirny, Siberia, possibly the largest one of the largest man-made holes in the world, not counting Paris Hilton. But apparently the monopoly and collusion of DeBeers continues, even with the Russians flooding the market with manufactured gem-quality diamonds. So when purchasing a diamond, be sure to keep these things in mind:
  • Some Russian laboratory made it and sold it for probably a tenth of the final retail sale price, or
  • Some Sub-Saharan African girl's hand was amputated with a machete because she wasn't digging fast enough.
Either way, DeBeers is going to get hold of it, mark it up 100% every time it changes hands, and sell it to some American because we're stupid.



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