"The diamond invention -- the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem -- is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade..."

There is a member of my circle of friends who is seriously obsessed with the idea of getting a diamond engagement ring from her boyfriend, which has lead to some discussion about what diamonds are worth and where they come from. Of course, the meaning is in the eye of the beholder, but we're a bunch of snobby intellectuals so articles like this tend to get forwarded around anyway.

This is a fascinating discussion of the relatively recent invention of the "tradition" of giving diamond engagement rings and the economic and marketing machines operating in the background. Of course, this article was published in 1982, so obviously we know that any threats to the De Beers empire in the early eighties were handled, and while our generation is very marketing savvy, the girls still want those rings. Most of them anyway...

How many other cultural traditions that you and I grew up with are simply products of Madison Ave?

Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond? - 82.02

"D'oh Canada! The secret's out! Homer Simpson is . . . a Canadian."

Werd

Don't have a cow! Homer Simpson is Canadian, creator says

this is a really rad site that Tom and I found....you can make punk pins! Werd!

BRO PRINTS

"A presidential advisor encouraged the nation's top computer security professionals and hackers Wednesday to try to break computer programs, but said they might need protection from the legal wrath of software makers."

AP Wire | 07/31/2002 | Bush adviser encourages hacking

"The leader of a national scientific organization has sought the advice of the National Academy of Sciences on whether scientific journals should withhold information that may aid bioterrorists or countries contemplating biological warfare."

Just for the record...I think this is a horrible idea. I mean, if scientists can't publish all of their findings because of a fear of bioterrorism, then the terrorists have already fucking won. Information needs to be available to reproduce experimental results.

Scientists Worry Journals May Aid Terrorists

"Apple's new rackmount server is just another Unix box -- with big implications for the Linux community. Four million new Unix users a year, that's the MacOS X promise and it's a market full of friends with whom we should be working"

Why you should take a Mac user to lunch - Jul 24, 2002

"In South Africa, the African honeybee is being devastated by invasions of self-replicating clones all descendants of a single, long-deceased individual from another honeybee subspecies. "

Economist.com | African honeybees

"US President George W Bush has signed a congressional resolution paving the way for the building of a giant nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert. "

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush approves nuclear dump

"Light can be turned into a glowing stream of liquid that splits into droplets and splatters off surfaces just like water. The researchers who've worked out how to do this say "liquid light" would be the ideal lifeblood for optical computing, where chips send light around optical "circuits" to process data. "

so cool

New Scientist

Kewl.

[this is fun...and cool....and annoying at times;) - Nano]

[ ..:: wu :: riddles(intro) ::..]