Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Matt Laurer is a big idiot
Ok, so not really Matt Laurer (if only to keep from alienating the Laurer-Lovers that read this) but the Today show as a whole upset me to an extreme amount yesterday. Normally I would not have even have witnessed what was on the Today Show on a random Monday morning, but lately I've been indulging this crazy notion to go to the gym in the morning and run a bit.
So, the morning comes and off I go, and during a SportsCenter ad (oh, we don't have cable really, so, the gym is good for that too) I pay attention to a special report on the Today Show produced to uncover the truth at different diamond vendors in New York, basically they had a diamond expert go around and buy stones at different places, and then had their own appraisal done to compare the price and quality they were quoted.
This is all well and good, I suppose, until Matt asks the expert about how people can get diamonds that aren't 'conflict' diamonds, that don't advance the system of injustice and poverty in West Africa. (As addressed by the movie that came out this fall with Leo Dicaprio, Blood Diamond, and also addressed here and here) I'm gonna quote this lady now, because I simply was impressed:
"Oh, yes, well, most diamonds and stores nowadays have dealt with that, since the movie came out and the attention that it received, that's really not a problem anymore."
She said this with a straight face, and on national television. Oh, well, good, I'm glad that the efforts of Leonardo Dicaprio and hollywood have managed to do what humanitarian and social justice groups have been attempting to do for dozens of years, that is, stop immoral diamond trade. Go on America! Shop for your bling guilt free!!
The truth of the matter is that while the first real steps to stop this have indeed been made in the last year to stem the tide of Blood Diamonds, the problem hasn't gone away. As can be seen from a simple Google News search, 3 seconds of research can refute this woman, even though she obviously is connected to the diamond trade and would rather have folks believe you can buy these overpriced pieces of carbon completely guilt free.
Ok, sorry, I wanted to move onto some better news than me ranting -
I received and accepted a job offer yesterday! The job is with a company called Golder International, and they are a Civil, Environmental and Geo-Technical Consulting firm that actually has it's powerbase in Canada, but is all over the world. I'm joining an office that is literally brand new to Fort Collins, having just received office furniture last week and an internet connection next week. We're really quite excited about the job, the pay is decent and the office within biking range and I'm sure to learn a lot from being in close quarters with some really experienced people, but still having the backing of a large company, specifically the regional office in Denver. There are still things to be worked out with said regional office, so I haven't gotten an official first day quote yet, but, have been going into the office to touch base and set up my own office yesterday and today, and will hopefully hear more concrete news by the end of this week.
So, that's good news. I was slowly losing my mind being at home and just doing the job hunt thing, and if only for the sake of my mental state and marriage I'll now be able to pour my daily energies into tasks that don't involve vacuuming, blogging, and drinking enormous volumes of home coffee. Not that there's anything wrong with that, its just that the pay isn't very good.
And lastly, you have only four shopping days left until my birthday on the 17th, where I be turning 25 and celebrating the last birthday that you have that you can actually look forward to (lower insurance rates, car rental rates...) before I begin the inevitable trudge towards middle-age and beyond. Yikes.
Large sacks of money, in case you didn't know, are an acceptable gift. Thanks in advance.
So, the morning comes and off I go, and during a SportsCenter ad (oh, we don't have cable really, so, the gym is good for that too) I pay attention to a special report on the Today Show produced to uncover the truth at different diamond vendors in New York, basically they had a diamond expert go around and buy stones at different places, and then had their own appraisal done to compare the price and quality they were quoted.
This is all well and good, I suppose, until Matt asks the expert about how people can get diamonds that aren't 'conflict' diamonds, that don't advance the system of injustice and poverty in West Africa. (As addressed by the movie that came out this fall with Leo Dicaprio, Blood Diamond, and also addressed here and here) I'm gonna quote this lady now, because I simply was impressed:
"Oh, yes, well, most diamonds and stores nowadays have dealt with that, since the movie came out and the attention that it received, that's really not a problem anymore."
She said this with a straight face, and on national television. Oh, well, good, I'm glad that the efforts of Leonardo Dicaprio and hollywood have managed to do what humanitarian and social justice groups have been attempting to do for dozens of years, that is, stop immoral diamond trade. Go on America! Shop for your bling guilt free!!
The truth of the matter is that while the first real steps to stop this have indeed been made in the last year to stem the tide of Blood Diamonds, the problem hasn't gone away. As can be seen from a simple Google News search, 3 seconds of research can refute this woman, even though she obviously is connected to the diamond trade and would rather have folks believe you can buy these overpriced pieces of carbon completely guilt free.
Ok, sorry, I wanted to move onto some better news than me ranting -
I received and accepted a job offer yesterday! The job is with a company called Golder International, and they are a Civil, Environmental and Geo-Technical Consulting firm that actually has it's powerbase in Canada, but is all over the world. I'm joining an office that is literally brand new to Fort Collins, having just received office furniture last week and an internet connection next week. We're really quite excited about the job, the pay is decent and the office within biking range and I'm sure to learn a lot from being in close quarters with some really experienced people, but still having the backing of a large company, specifically the regional office in Denver. There are still things to be worked out with said regional office, so I haven't gotten an official first day quote yet, but, have been going into the office to touch base and set up my own office yesterday and today, and will hopefully hear more concrete news by the end of this week.
So, that's good news. I was slowly losing my mind being at home and just doing the job hunt thing, and if only for the sake of my mental state and marriage I'll now be able to pour my daily energies into tasks that don't involve vacuuming, blogging, and drinking enormous volumes of home coffee. Not that there's anything wrong with that, its just that the pay isn't very good.
And lastly, you have only four shopping days left until my birthday on the 17th, where I be turning 25 and celebrating the last birthday that you have that you can actually look forward to (lower insurance rates, car rental rates...) before I begin the inevitable trudge towards middle-age and beyond. Yikes.
Large sacks of money, in case you didn't know, are an acceptable gift. Thanks in advance.
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7 comments:
didn't watch the Today show, but I think you have a good point about the diamonds--it reminds me of the "Terror Free" gas. A spokesman for the company admitted on NPR this morning that some oil probably does come from the Middle East...sounds like it may be more of a marketing scheme than anything else! I think the same is true of diamonds!
happy b-day (I guess you still have the senior citizen discount to look forward to!)
Congrats on the job old friend!
As for the diamond issue, Jenny and I decided a few years ago to forgo diamond jewelry all together due in large part to the "Blood Diamond" issue (and the fact that she much prefers saphires). I've seen and read statements from the DeBeers company about the steps they take to insure that the don't buy diamonds from the war torn areas but they completely ignore the fact that the main reason these monsters are able to fund their armies with these diamonds is because DeBeers controls a huge majority of the diamond stock in the world and holds onto it to keep the value artificially high by driving up the price. As long as these jokers continue to ignore the wellbeing of others in the name of their profit margin the issue will never really get resolved.
Ike, you're exactly right. The funny (read: incredibly sad) thing is that the DeBeers company now holds such a majority of the worlds Diamond stock, that if any other sizable company in, say, Russia or Canada, attempts to lowball them, they threaten that they'll simply flood the market and drive prices down to remain the best seller...
I applaud your saphire purchase. When i was looking at rings, while i bought it cheaply from a wholesale distributor, i had no knowledge of the turmoil that was really behind it. Suppose i should have looked further into synthetic diamonds, too. ...
Hey, Matt Lauer is the Walter Cronkite of our generation.
And Oasis is our Beatles.
Man, our generation sucks.
cable sucks anyway....man i miss cable.when your limited to so little shows...you do crazy things my friend, CraZy things.
I saw a 60 minutes once of the underground diamond vaults in Russia. There were millions and millions of diamond there...in drawers marked 1K, 2K, 3K, etc etc.
They couldn't sell them b/c of a 99 year agreement with DeBeers...surprise! Diamonds are definately NOT rare. (But then again, neither are Hummers but those seem to make people feel better about themselves too....).
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