Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 686 posts

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#431

Post by literallycancer »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #328
vagrantJin wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Okay class, child labour, a few thousand poor people dead, terrorist groups starving hundreds of thousands, destroying schools and libraries. That is where diamonds come from. How many would still want a natural diamond because diamonds are forever?" The elephant in that lecture hall was probably the hypocrisy. I think if you still raise a hand after hearing all that, the issue isn't branding at all. It's narcissim,…

Your comment shows your understanding of the diamond industry comes from a few articles you read on the internet, like an anti-vaxx person crying foul about vaccines. The facts, about 50% of the diamonds in the world come from Western countries like Australia, Canada and Russia. Another very large percentage come from stable African countries like Botswana and South Africa. There's no child labor in any of these coun…

Stable countries like South Africa where getting carjacked is not even noteworthy. Good joke.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#432

Post by graycat »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #406
joeblau wrote: post #65

Random diamond story! As a freshman in college, I took a geology class and our teacher asked all of the women in our class to raise their hand if they would rather have natural or human-made diamonds. Most of the women (over 80%) raised their hands for natural. The reasons they gave all seemed to tie back to branding and natural diamonds being “real.” Then our teacher gave another analogy. He asked if people would ra…

I went through this not that many years ago buying a ring for my SO. My biggest mistake was including her in the decision. She described what she wanted exactly– nothing gaudy or ostentatious, just a singular, tasteful stone on a plain band. Couldn't be simpler, could it? Finding stones that met her criteria was easy. Some were natural diamonds, some lab grown, many moissanite. From the outset, she said the meaning o…

IMHO that she is looking really hard for allegories, symbols, representations, of your love is a really good sign for a successful marriage, one that will hopefully really, without doubt or question, last "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, 'tell death do you part". So when the two of you get old and wrinkled, not see or hear so well, have joint pains, the children have moved away and you don't see the grandchildren often enough, you will still have your love for each other that you celebrate with the diamond, the accomplishments of your lifetime together, the stability of your marriage, your home, big times at Thanksgiving, the Holidays, your wedding anniversary, your birthdays, the birthdays of the kids and their graduations, accomplishments, marriages, births and children, the friends you have made all along, the memories in your home, etc.

Again, IMHO, one of the biggest problems in life is solving the problem of being alone, and for nearly everyone the best solution is a really good marriage.

Here is a secret scorecard:

You give knowledge of yourselves to each other, that is, keep your spouse well informed on your thoughts and feelings.

You really care about each other.

You respect and respond to each other.

Neither of you tries to manipulate, fool, or exploit your spouse.

You can trust each other.

IMHO, it is good to do well on this scorecard.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#433

Post by dec0dedab0de »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #406
joeblau wrote: post #65

Random diamond story! As a freshman in college, I took a geology class and our teacher asked all of the women in our class to raise their hand if they would rather have natural or human-made diamonds. Most of the women (over 80%) raised their hands for natural. The reasons they gave all seemed to tie back to branding and natural diamonds being “real.” Then our teacher gave another analogy. He asked if people would ra…

I went through this not that many years ago buying a ring for my SO. My biggest mistake was including her in the decision. She described what she wanted exactly– nothing gaudy or ostentatious, just a singular, tasteful stone on a plain band. Couldn't be simpler, could it? Finding stones that met her criteria was easy. Some were natural diamonds, some lab grown, many moissanite. From the outset, she said the meaning o…

I would have immediately ended it right there, but that's probably why I'm single. Every time I was in a relationship long enough to discuss marriage, I made it clear that there is no way I would ever buy a diamond. Only one was actively on board with it, because she liked the idea of picking out an alternative gem.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#434

Post by dcre »

cyberpunk wrote: post #3

Married members of HN, what did you do if you think diamonds are utterly ridiclious however due to societal constraints some kind of ring is required for your SO?

Bought yellow gold and white gold wedding bands on Amazon for a few hundred dollars each.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#435

Post by boatsie »

Nursie wrote: post #35

Good for them. It's literally the same material, and we can now use scientific and engineering advances to remove the need for people to toil and die underground to get them. Hopefully the process is more environmentally friendly too. They are real diamonds. I find it hi-goddamned-larious that the moment these became viable, the industry switched from "Diamond purity is the be-all and end-all and you must have the cl…

Last I checked, lab grown diamonds had no fluorescence. If that is still the case, it might make fluorescent diamonds more valuable than non, as a sign they are more “natural”. Though in the past fluorescence in diamonds was considered a negative trait.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#436

Post by willcipriano »

saberdancer wrote: post #429
akarma wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many women won't directly tell their partner "I want you to spend a couple months' salary on a beautiful diamond" because it's tasteless to request and it removes all the meaning behind the man doing so, but they'd also be disappointed if the man didn't do so unprompted. People and their emotions are complex like that. I don't think there's any glaring issue with either party above, but it's like you expect all women…

It's like typical "I don't need anything for my birthday". Even the most rational people tend to get disappointed if they really get nothing.

I don't get disappointed. The best gift you can get me for my birthday is remove the obligation for me to get you one on yours. Saves so much mental energy and time.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#437

Post by bluedevil2k »

EricE wrote: post #397
bluedevil2k wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment shows your understanding of the diamond industry comes from a few articles you read on the internet, like an anti-vaxx person crying foul about vaccines. The facts, about 50% of the diamonds in the world come from Western countries like Australia, Canada and Russia. Another very large percentage come from stable African countries like Botswana and South Africa. There's no child labor in any of these coun…

https://danwin.com/2010/08/how-de-beers-diamonds-won-over-th... You sure you want people to really know about "the industry"?!? I view Debears as industrious as the Casinos. They produce nothing but feelings created by predatory practices at an astonishingly high price.

You’re just proving my point further - you provided a link to an article more than a decade old that has links to articles even older than that. I would really like people to learn about the industry because it would cut down on the inane comments in HN stories like this. The fact that you still hold DeBeers accountable shows your lack of knowledge - they don’t advertise any more AND they don’t have a monopoly AND they’re not even the #1 diamond producer any more.

“Produce nothing but feelings” — that’s called advertising. Same as Coke, BMW and Tumi.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#438

Post by 1-more »

cyberpunk wrote: post #3

Married members of HN, what did you do if you think diamonds are utterly ridiclious however due to societal constraints some kind of ring is required for your SO?

I bought a lab diamond ezpz. Or do Moissanite: SiC is damn near the same everything as diamond. Or do any other charming non-clear stone.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#439

Post by bluedevil2k »

literallycancer wrote: post #431
bluedevil2k wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment shows your understanding of the diamond industry comes from a few articles you read on the internet, like an anti-vaxx person crying foul about vaccines. The facts, about 50% of the diamonds in the world come from Western countries like Australia, Canada and Russia. Another very large percentage come from stable African countries like Botswana and South Africa. There's no child labor in any of these coun…

Stable countries like South Africa where getting carjacked is not even noteworthy. Good joke.

South Africa - a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. All bodies of the South African government are subject to the rule of the Constitution, which is the Supreme law in South Africa.

That sounds more stable than many South American countries, even Russia.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#440

Post by oconnor663 »

joeblau wrote: post #65

Random diamond story! As a freshman in college, I took a geology class and our teacher asked all of the women in our class to raise their hand if they would rather have natural or human-made diamonds. Most of the women (over 80%) raised their hands for natural. The reasons they gave all seemed to tie back to branding and natural diamonds being “real.” Then our teacher gave another analogy. He asked if people would ra…

Diamonds are a prestige thing, like fancy watches. It doesn't make sense to lecture a fancy-watch-wearer about how cheap electric watches can actually tell time better. They know, and that's not the axis that matters to them.
Post reply on HN