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South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

wsj.com

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Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#151

Post by hedora »

defrost wrote: post #114
hedora wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern beef is unhealthy for humans due to grazing conditions. Maybe the lab grown stuff will be closer to conventional farming output.

> Modern beef is By which you mean US style grain finished short cycle beef I guess? The world's bigger than that.

I was using modern in a semi-disparaging sense, where ideas from intellectual movements such as brutalism (a branch of modernism) have been incorrectly applied to agriculture.

Look how big the industrial cow (bovoid according to international labeling standards) has become. Bow before it until your heart explodes!

By that definition, places like Europe and New Zealand don't produce modern beef.

I really miss the days of $2/lb grass-fed New Zealand ground beef.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#152

Post by smt88 »

thephyber wrote: post #120
smt88 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSJ’s journalism is center-left and trustworthy. Their editorials are written by right-wing sycophants and lunatics.

WSJ is almost never rated center-left on any media bias charts based on any objective standards (eg. Ad Fontes media chart). They always fall into center-right.

Those ratings are always taking editorials into account. The actual journalism absolutely isn’t right-leaning. They were sued by Donald Trump for writing unfavorable stories about him just this year.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#153

Post by smt88 »

mcv wrote: post #119
smt88 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSJ’s journalism is center-left and trustworthy. Their editorials are written by right-wing sycophants and lunatics.

I've never heard of WJS being center-left. But then I don't read it, I only come across what is occasionally shared online, most of which sounds insane.

Again, those are the editorials. The newsroom staff are very well-regarded and separate from the insane editorials.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#154

Post by hedora »

jonstewart wrote: post #39
hedora wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern beef is unhealthy for humans due to grazing conditions. Maybe the lab grown stuff will be closer to conventional farming output.

Hopefully most people here getting ribeyes aren’t getting them from the same factory farms that supply McDonald’s and sell other cheap kinds of beef. A ribeye is an occasional luxury and best bought from the farmer.

The industry has mostly consolidated packing and distribution. McDonald's is mostly selling trimmings from cows that also produce high-end steaks.

Surprisingly enough, they hold most beef processing plants to higher standards than the rest of the industry (they're still buying cheap trimmings, don't get me wrong), because they do so much volume, basic probability tells us that most food poisoning outbreaks would hit them otherwise.

Sure, you could find a farmer that raises cows and butchers them on site, but that's rare, and the easiest way to actually achieve that is to buy a whole or half cow at a time.

Most small farms don't bother with that: they raise it from calf to adult on grazing land, then send it to a feed lot where the miracles of modern science significantly increase the cow's weight before slaughter. Cows that are still producing calves get retained to grow the herd next year.

If you want to pay extra for this, look for "grass-fed, grain-finished" beef. Most unlabeled stuff in the US goes through that funnel though.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#155

Post by stasomatic »

hn_submit wrote: post #48

The market for natural diamonds will cease to exist when you can buy lab-grown versions for a couple bucks. They wanted to differentiate between natural and lab-grown versions with the former being much more expensive. But that train has left the station since there's little to no difference in quality between the two. In fact, I once predicted there'd be huge scams where lab-grown ones would be repackaged and sold a…

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Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#158

Post by pibaker »

hn_submit wrote: post #146
Loughla wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except in this case, the quartz watches would be better quality than the luxury watches I'm not sure your analogy has teeth.

Mechanical watches are a luxury item where the intricate craftsmanship is highly valued, even though they're completely obsolete compared to even the simplest quartz movement. That analogy doesn't hold for natural diamonds and the comparison therefore falls flat on its face.

There will certainly be people who will pay a premium for certified 100% natural diamonds. But there is probably not enough to support the diamond mining industry as it exists today.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#159

Post by odyssey7 »

If we figure out low-energy fusion for economical lab-origin gold, imagine what businesses would close if that were to happen.

The transmutations are possible, it’s just that the energy currently required is worth more than the gold would be. Colder fusion -> cheaper lab-origin gold.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#160

Post by disdegeneration »

Skunkleton wrote: post #94
kstrauser wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not only that. Lab diamonds are superior in every way I’ve heard of. The emotional appeal of their provenance is the sole remaining reason I’ve heard people claim that slave diamonds are superior. I contend that they’re worse there, too. In fact, the only reason I can imagine someone preferring mined diamonds is that they genuinely value the human suffering that goes into them.

If you ignore the ethical issues, and you shouldn't (!!!), there is an appeal to mined diamonds, and it is exactly what you say above. The idea that some dinosaur or tree or whatever got mushed down is really interesting too.

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