Matt's crazy ramblings

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Matt
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I'm going to open my own Bar & Grill.
Instead of hanging everything possible on the walls, I'm going to build the actual walls out of picture frames, record albums, old farmers tools, autographed memorabilia. Then I'm going to hang framed pieces of drywall on it.
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Matt
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The diamond industry is the biggest sham. Rubies are more rare than diamond, yet because in the last 50 years people are such suckers for advertising, they are willing to pay three times more for a diamond. Forget paying back those loans, or saving for a rainy day. Invest in something priced thirty times more than its fair market value, and make sure it's small enough drop down the drain.

There's a panel of advertising agents just sitting in an office in the UK trying to figure out how to get suckers to buy even more diamonds.
Forget the solitaire.

They've created the Past, Present and Future sets. So if you love someone, you have to show it with diamonds in three different time periods.
Wait isn't a diamond forever? I guess only if you buy three of them. What's next? Sets of four? Honey, I love you. In the past, present, future, and the fourth ****ing dimension.

Oh, but these advertising people are smarter than that. Why move to four when you skip to FIVE?
So here is the "Journey" series? Buy this if you life involves a few more steps than past, present and future.

If that's still not enough, DeBeers came up with the ultimate idea. Infinity! All of your one, three and five diamond sets are now obsolete. This new trend covers it all. The ultimate in multi-diamond jewelery, backed with a multi million dollar ad campaign to make you want one. Now you have to buy these 10-30 diamond circles and loops if you really love someone- for infinity that is.

Now that your left hand is filled with promise and engagement ring, diamond studded wedding bands, anniversary and now eternity rings (because until death isn't long enough), they have the Right Handed Rings! That's right suckers, get in line.
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I'm as guilty of liking my bling as the next girl, but knowing where your diamonds really come from sheds a different light on those baubles. There's more interesting info in the link that follows this excerpt.
Grim reality tarnishes glitter
By Petra Cahill, MSNBC.com

The search for diamonds is not exactly easy. Many miners and diamond diggers in sub-Saharan Africa travel great distances to find work and submit to gruelingly long hours for low wages – or sometimes no wages – in substandard conditions.
The informal mining industry is where workers tend to be most exploited. In the Wild West atmosphere of many informal diamond mines, the quest for the “big find” – and the financial gain it promises – is the all-encompassing goal, and all other issues of morality or civic responsibility go out the window.

Child labor has long been a problem in informal diamond mines, especially during times of war. Children have often been exploited to do excavation work because they are small enough to be lowered into small, narrow pits by ropes to dig out sacks of dirt, which is in turn washed by other children in search of diamonds.

During Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war, children were often used as soldiers and workers in the rich Koidu diamond mines that funded the country’s rebels. USAID launched the Kono Peace Diamond Alliance in 2002 to try to improve the working conditions in the mines – particularly for children. But it is an uphill battle across Africa to get children who are either family breadwinners, or fending for themselves or conscripted into slave-like labor to stop working and go to school.

Under the best circumstances, mining is fraught with dangers. There is always the possibility of mudslides, collapsing walls, drowning and other accidents for miners searching for diamonds in alluvial deposits. In Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of Congo, illegal miners caught in mining concessions can be shot and killed. In August 2006 the BBC reported that six miners were shot and killed in a mine near the town for illegal mining.

While the development of the diamond industry is seen as key to the economic recovery of war-torn countries like Sierra Leone and Angola, massive environmental degradation is also a byproduct of the rapid rush to gain riches – particularly in informal, unregulated mining.

Land is often cleared and vegetated areas dug up to create open pit mines in the rushed search for diamond deposits, leaving them unsuitable for other farming activities. Informal mining in hilly areas also leads to erosion – and, in turn, flooding. The salt, heavy minerals and chemical products from mining equipment can run off into rivers and pollute vital water sources for mining communities and people living downstream.

The boom-and-bust lifestyle in many mining towns has also been blamed for the spread of HIV/AIDS. A transitory work force plus a thriving sex trade in many mining towns, often leads to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Debswana Diamond Co., a joint venture between Botswana’s government and De Beers, has taken progressive moves to attack the spread of HIV/AIDS among mine workers and in Botswana Botswana is often cited as the best example of diamond mining’s benefiting an entire nation. Botswana gained independence from Britain in 1966, and geologists discovered diamonds in 1967. Diamond mining has dominated the economy ever since – making up one-third of the GDP and 70-80 percent of export earnings. Sound management, fiscal discipline and the lowest level of corruption in sub-Saharan Africa have helped Botswana develop from one of the world’s poorest nations to a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $10,500 in 2005.

But Botswana has suffered acutely from the scourge of AIDS. An estimated 37 percent of the population of just 1.6 million suffers from HIV/AIDS. The economic boon from the diamond industry has helped fund one of Africa’s most progressive HIV/AIDS programs.

Debswana Diamond Co., a joint venture between Botswana’s government and De Beers, was the first company in the world to provide antiretroviral drugs to its employees, their spouses, children and former employees and has expanded the program to make antiretroviral drugs available to everyone in the country. Revenue from diamonds has also allowed the government to provide free education to every child under 18. by being the first company in the world to provide antiretroviral drugs to all its employees.
The international diamond industry has made moves to improve the conditions of informal mines and to bring them in line with the formal diamond industry with the start of the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) was created in 2005 as a result of a meeting of government, civil society and diamond industry representatives like De Beers, as well as the non-governmental organization Global Witness, to address the problems of informal diamond mining and try to bring it into the mainstream diamond industry and the Kimberley Process. DDI’s goal is to address the poor living and working conditions of the people at the core of the diamond industry – the estimated 1 million diamond diggers. DDI hopes to convert diamonds from a means for war – as they were in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Angola – into a catalyst for economic development.

By educating diggers on the fair market value of stones, creating better access to artisanal mining equipment and lobbying for better labor laws to reduce the exploitation of child laborers in the mining fields, DDI hopes to help diggers get better prices for their stones and improve their lives and communities.

USAID has also funded the Peace Diamond Alliance in Sierra Leone since 2002 to help improve the diamond industry and make sure that profits from the industry improve communities, instead of serving as a source of revenue for war. in 2005.

Sources: BBC, Amnesty International, Diamond Development Initiative, IRINnews.org
For more information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15842524/
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I love the show "Cash and Treasures" http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/C ... _Treasures. Mike and I have talked about how much fun it would be to travel around the country digging for various gems. It would be a great way to see some of the places that we've always wanted to visit and maybe even pick up a bit of pocket change to help cover expenses in the process.
Finger Lakes Mill Creek Cabins
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Matt
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What do they call Brazil Nuts in Brazil?
"us nuts"?
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VinceClortho
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Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
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VinceClortho wrote:Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
Because my driveway doesn't go anywhere and the parkway is to far from my house... :lol:
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Matt
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Why are church people so against abortion when, the bible clearly states that life is given at first breath? Fetuses don't breathe.
the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 NIV
I think they are wasting their time on abortion and get to work on War and the death penalty. The bible is a shit-ton more clear about that.
Not that I agree with life coming at first breath. I'm pro-life. Not "Pro Life" like all the nutcases that think they can go around telling people what to do with their bodies and then they shoot doctors because, obviously that's what "Jesus would do." :roll: I'm not one of them.

I am pro-life in that if I had to make that decision for myself, I would never rob something of its potential to live. I'm also lucky in that if I had a child I could raise them comfortably. Not everyone is.

The problem with my beliefs is that I don't have a uterus or any female body parts (wait, do nipples count?). Nor do I feel I should tell people that do what they can and cannot do. In fact, I feel that any male that thinks they can dictate to a female what she can and cannot do with her body should shut up and sit down. With one exception of course - the husband and father. He absolutely should have a say. A politician? Nope; not your job. Get to work on that economy.

So it disappoints me that with a depression looming over American's, and possibly the world's heads, that there are a large quantity of the voting population, that ignore every other issue out there and vote one way because their church tells them to. A vote for candidate A is a vote against abortion and thus a vote for the church. Forget the definition above of when life begins. Forget that Candidate A is for a war, which is essentially is state-sponsored killing. Forget that there's a war on now- that we have full control of stopping. Forget that we have bombs capable of killing a lot more than an abortion doctor. Forget that we are not only taking lives, but forcing our young men and women to do so.
Save some unwanted babies, yet let's spend another decade killing people in their own country? Bible folk shouldn't pick and choose who thou shall not kill. It's wasn't a multiple choice commandment.
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