• Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    About this site…

    © 2006 Josh Kaufman. Content last updated: May 21, 2006

    I mean, this is still all true, but damn. Why is boingboing reporting on a nearly 20-year-old site in response to news about the diamond industry? One could argue the existence of that site and people’s knowledge of all that being true is part of why diamond sales were in the crapper anyway…

    boingboing has really gone downhill since most of the original team left and it became an ad-infested mess.

  • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    1 year ago

    While I agree we shouldn’t be using them for jewelry, diamonds are factually very important and incredibly valuable to manufacturing.

    They’re the only thing hard enough to cut and shape tungsten carbide, which is instrumental in basically any complex machinery work.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Depends on the tooling you’re going for. Synthetic diamonds are great for creating abrasives, which makes up the majority of industrial diamond tools.

        But for a lot of machining where you need a large cutting head, industrial diamonds are a little too small. I think most synthetic diamonds are less than a millimeter in diameter. They can be made larger, but they take a long time and aren’t very cost effective.

        The vast majority of diamonds mined are industrial grade, especially the larger ones. So you end up using a bit of both depending on your application.

    • Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Interestingly, moissanite (per the source referenced by the article) exceed diamonds in hardness (“toughness”) as well.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        I saw that as well, but I think cut hardness must be jewelers terminology. As far as actual hardness diamonds are a 10 on the mohs scale, moissanite is a 9.25, and tungsten carbide is usually around 9-9.5.

  • Dr_Fetus_Jackson@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Interestingly, the pic used is a diamond discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, AR. It’s a unique 83 acre kimberlite site where you can pay a small fee, and take the kids to search for a diamond that, if you find one, you get to keep. I lived 42 years in Arkansas, and we took our kids and had a fun time digging and teaching the kids about geology.

    I say all that to make the point there are good sides to understanding diamonds without the BS surrounding shitty business practices and human exploitation. That park is a decent step in the right direction.

    https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    The stupidest part is synthetic diamonds are just as good for anyone but the most discerning of jewelers, but people still don’t want them.

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Because natural diamonds are made artificially scarce, that is why they are so expensive.

      While synthetic are not.

      People want expensive things, not diamonds per se.

    • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Not that stupid when you realize a lot of people see them as status symbols and don’t want people to think it’s “fake” even if its better or rather perfect. Sucks but ig people really like bloodied shiny rocks over anything else if it makes them look rich.

  • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been getting podcast ads lately for “natural diamonds” which is badmouthing man made diamonds and a it give a couple very true facts about how 80% of the diamond’s value stays in the community and it’s all legal and above board and definitely no one dies for these diamonds.

  • Piecemakers@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Wait, wait! Lemme guess. “Exploitation of child labor, unsafe (ie. lethal) practices, and general corruption”, right?

    • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Yeah but also cut hardness shine fire brilliance etc etc. moissonite is objectively superior in every way.

      This site is about two very simple truths: (1) diamonds are an incredible rip-off, and (2) a little known naturally-occuring gemstone called moissanite is superior to diamonds in every essential way: cut, color, clarity, durability, fire, brilliance, and cost.

    • LavaPlanet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      You forgot about the whole, hoard heaps and pretend they’re rare and we don’t have swimming pools worth in warehouses.

  • regdog@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I love BoingBoing. It has shown me some interesting news articles from all around the internet.

  • Damaskox@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve heard that diamonds brought to the surface from the depths below change with time cos they don’t experience the pressure anymore.

    • interceder270@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I heard that you won’t be able to tell the difference because you’re not a jeweler.

      Personally, I think it’s good people value ‘natural’ diamonds more so they can get ripped off by being sold synthetic diamonds and told they’re natural.

      They won’t be able to tell the difference, and they have enough money to fund their stupidity.