Your know you're an addict when...
You not only listen to WBUR (Boston area NPR station) over the web while living in another country, but you continue listening through the pledge drive. It's up there with drinking decaf coffee for the flavor (I do sometimes drink decaf, but it is usually more of a social thing--i.e., having a mug in front of me with everyone else at the coffee shop table. I have come to realize that too much coffee late in the day makes me irritable). Yeah--"I only drink it socially... I can stop anytime I want to..."
Yes, I know I should act like a native and start listening to the CBC (which I sometimes do in the morning). I guess listening to WBUR and reading the New York Times help me feel a bit more like I can take a chunk of home with me (as does IMing friends on a regular basis).
An interesting snippet in the hurricane Wilma coverage: a Florida resident commented that he was not planning on evacuating: instead, he was going to 'hunker down' in his trailer home. Oh no. That's a bit like realizing somebody is shooting at you, and taking cover behind a pile of fluffy goose down pillows.
As a random aside, there was an interesting article on the environmental impact of gold mining in the New York Times today ("Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions"). One thing that I've wondered is why the hell they use cyanide to mine gold. It turns out that the process, called heap leaching, is low-cost enough that it is often the only profitable way to extract gold from low-concentration ores. Also, according to the article, 80%+ of gold production goes to jewelery, which surprised me: I was guessing that all the gold in the electronics I own might be comparable to the gold content of my brass rat. Then again, I'm definitely a non-representative consumer.
posted by Bats @ 8:59 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Yeah, but they're pretty close to having a new, Sarin-based process.
(Actually, that probably would be better. Organic poisons break down eventually into non-poisons.)
That is pretty sad, really... I mean, if it were ten thousand years ago and gold were the only shiny malleable stuff we could find to make pretty decorations with, OK. But today it's only conspicuous consumption that makes us demand that it be -real- Gold (TM).
Yeah, I guess the conspicuous consumption side of things is one part that really annoyed me. Given the industrial use of gold (electronics, plating to prevent corrosion of specialized equipment), I would expecting it to be a big part of the consumption, as opposed to less than 20%.
And don't get me started on the diamond guys...
I was surprised too. I guess 50 microinches really isn't very much gold.
At least the artificial diamond people are getting closer (though the DeBeers marketing staff is presumably on the case)
I think the problem is not even the conspicuous consumption, but that so many people do it.
That is, back when there were only a million people who could afford gold jewelry, say, they were consuming extremely conspicuously. But they were also few in number, and consequently, in effect.
The problem is that everyone and her fiancee believes that a diamond ring is supposed to cost 1/6 of someone's annual salary. Ick.
I will say that part of the glamourousness of the soloist we saw sing on Saturday was her extremely opulent necklace. But in her case, it's sort of the point; she's an opera diva!
I wish I could say the same for gold, but at least with diamonds, De Beers overplayed their hand with that "If you don't divert money from your retirement fund and your kids college fund toward the anniversary diamond, then you don't really love your wife" campaign. They finally made it too blatant for people to let them keep defining what is and what is not love. And if the anecdotes I can cite to say this are not enough to show a trend, well, at least the sunsets are prettier in my ersatz reality.
Fun not-yet-a-fact: iron was once more precious than gold, according to some of the archaeology papers I'm reading.
--Omri
Don't know if you were reading my blog at the time, but I posted a sample hack diamond ad around last Valentine's day.
OK, I just followed the hack ad link and it slmost made coffee come out my nose. Damn, Bats, you rock.
Speaking of rocks, the diamond cartel really amazes me in a slow head shake kind of way. I mean, from a chick perspective, what's the deal? I can't be happy unless I have a big rock that costs a fortune and is flawless even though I wouldn't be able to see the flaws without an electron microscope anyway? And it has to be *clear*. Which is odd... I mean, isn't it the wide range of colors more interesting? You can't even get green diamonds-- sure, they exist, but they're considered junk & don't get marketed... I guess from a practical standpoint, if you're supposed to wear it every day you don't have to worry about anything clashing with clear.
As for the artificial diamond people, don't worry, there will always be the issue about whether it's a "real" diamond.
Personally, all symbolism & marriage issues aside, if Guy spent 3 months of his salary on a diamond ring, I'd really want to throttle him. Even if it was for me, not him.
[Long diatribe here about expensive weddings and why is this supposed to be a goal and is this an X-linked trait is more or less omitted]
What really gets me steamed is something closer to my reality, though: the Valentine's Day rose markup.
It's all marketing. Advertising is the worst form of peer pressure... it's everywhere and persistant and even if you don't think you're paying attention, it worms its way into your brain. OK, enough ranting. Time for a cup of smooth, frothy coffee. It picks you up, while it lets you slow yourself down! Good to the last drop, that heavenly coffee!
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