http://bill.thomlex.com/taxonomy/term/104/0 en http://bill.thomlex.com/node/173 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2039/846/400/diamonds005.jpg" alt="" /> If you don&#39;t already know about the hoax that is diamonds, a good starting piece of education is <a href="http://edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/prologue.htm">Edward Jay Epstein</a>&#39;s work. Gem diamonds are not rare or valuable for industrial purposes, and the company that keeps the price artificially high (<a href="/freelinking/DeBeers">DeBeers</a>) has been prohibited from doing business in the U.S. under anti-trust laws for decades. The fact that the people who actually do the mining make no money and the fact that &quot;blood diamonds&quot; are used to fund wars in poorer parts of the world only makes the whole situation worse.</p> <p> So, it&#39;s nice to see companies providing alternative sources. Through a process called &quot;chemical vapor deposition,&quot; diamonds can be produced of a size and quality almost impossible to find in nature. The price per carat is around $5. (original link to blog <a href="http://extremetechnology.blogspot.com/2006/02/yes-theyre-real.html">here</a> from <a href="http://teeg.stumbleupon.com">Teeg</a>).</p> <p><a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond_pr.html">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/173#comment Diamonds Manufacture Technology Sat, 04 Mar 2006 11:36:00 -0500 bill 173 at http://bill.thomlex.com