Blatantly biased


Preachy, acts like Alton brown's son on crack, and fails to realize that old Latin phrase when he makes an argument for the utopia he proposes, "ceteris paribus". Yeah its entertaining and occasionally cites sources that aren't skewed towards his point (unlike asking the government employee about the benefit of public transportation), but take it at face value and never too seriously. Problem is if this catches on I know I'll hear these sayings parroted as unresearched fact.

Even as I watch he says diamonds are intrisically worthless. Which is arguable because worth is bestowed by the market and also the cut, color, carat, depth, and inclusions or lack thereof all contribute to a diamonds rarity and therefore, worth.

It is entertaining, just take it with a dose of research on your own.

reply

[deleted]

No, both are right about diamonds.

Diamonds aren't a precious resource because there's too many of them. There's too many apples in the world to pay huge money for them, say if someone tells you an apple costs 300 dollars. Factually, apples aren't a limited enough commodity to pay that amount of money.

HOWEVER, if people WANT to pay that much for apples, and do, then that's their value.

Things have a rational price and a psychological price. At the end of the day it's almost all psychological though. For instance, there could be some really rare worm and really rare stone. People wouldn't pay anything for the worm because they consider it ugly but would for the stone because they think it pretty.

reply

YOu're absolutely right. Disneyland ticket prices are the proof. They've gone up 5 times the rate of inflation since the mid 80s yet they pack them in, anyway.

My iMDB profile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4297325/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

reply

Awesome and accurate response.

reply

BUT, unlike the government, if you have a ticket from the 80's Disneyland will still honor it. I have a ticket from 98 they say is still good.

reply

I know your post is almost a year old, but I want to note that the prices at Disneyland have gone up also because they've made a lot of renovations and changes. They've added a whole new park (DCA), Toontown, Fantasmic!, Indiana Jones, upgraded Space Mountain / Thunder Mountain /Matterhorn /etc, Tomorrowland was redone, they added a HUGE parking structure, etc. I went to Disneyland in the 80's and it wasn't as great as it is now. Until last year, I had an annual pass my entire adulthood. I'd have one now, but I moved to Iowa. They still profit a crazy amount, no doubt about that.

reply

diamonds do actually have practical uses, drilling etc

reply

low quality small diamonds are far more common than most people realize(industrial diamonds) , the big bucks go for the large ones which are very rare.

reply

I think the first episode was good because--even though it's a well known fact about the PR behind diamonds--it's still a fun and ridiculous topic that makes us laugh at our own culture.

The show seemed very Alton Brown Jr on too much ritalin, but watchable. Until the next episode, where it all fell apart and the show's weaknesses were glaringly obvious.

This is not a smart man. This is a cherry picking parrot. "Everything you know is wrong because this lone study from 1975 says so!" Cue Family Guy-style segue, dumb joke, ADD-ing. "You'll never believe this next thing!"

I was hoping the show would be akin to Penn and Teller's Bullsh***it, but apparently it's just regular bullsh***t.

reply

It's BETTER than Penn & Teller's show because Penn & Teller's show is just their opionion presented as fact.

My iMDB profile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4297325/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

reply

Both use similar "storytelling" style and both likely have similar audiences.

I personally like ARE better than P&T:BS! -- because with BS! they so often really just pick a side and run with it for the lulz, making no attempt to deeply examine the opposing viewpoint. And with Adam he has mostly been dealing with stuff that actually matters on a daily basis, stuff you can actually change your own personal behavior and life choices based on what is actually the truth. Too much of BS! was esoteric topics that are intellectually fascinating but make no real difference in life either way.


PLUS it's nice to see a prolific College Humor IP that actually doesn't suck.


- - -

Chipping away at a mountain of pop culture trivia,
Darren Dirt.

reply

I learned about diamonds in geology class in college. Still a sucker that bought an engagement ring...

reply

I knew diamonds weren't worth close to what you pay, but I had no idea that the tradition of buying an engagement ring (diamond or not) was all because of a jewelry ad.

I'm erasing you and I'm happy!

reply

it's got some good ideas.



🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

reply

Remember that line in the "diamonds" episode where the "swell" sez to his "squeeze" something like, "All I can give you is my undying love"?

That's how my (now ex-)wife and I got together. A good values match: We both could see thru the sham of bits of shiny stone as an indicator.

(Eventually, she regressed. That's why we divorced, 20 years later.)

--
And I'd like that. But that 5h1t ain't the truth. --Jules Winnfield

reply

Never met anyone who wasn't blatantly biased. Never seen a TV show that wasn't that was presenting fact either.

BTW it's almost universally felt that diamonds are crap.

Promo for my film about self-injury:
https://vimeo.com/140529647

reply

The only purpose I've ever needed diamonds for are saws and drill bits. They're GREAT for those. :)

reply

"Even as I watch he says diamonds are intrisically worthless. Which is arguable because worth is bestowed by the market and also the cut, color, carat, depth, and inclusions or lack thereof all contribute to a diamonds rarity and therefore, worth."

Except that the diamond industry is a perfect example of the market being controlled by a single corporation. 90% of the worlds rough cut diamonds pass through the De Beers Diamond Corporation. De Beers locks up a huge portion of these diamonds to artificially control supply so that they can jack price up to ridiculous levels. If the market were working as it should then Diamond jewelry would probably be costed in the hundred dollar instead of the thousand dollar range.

reply

Even as I watch he says diamonds are intrisically worthless. Which is arguable because worth is bestowed by the market and also the cut, color, carat, depth, and inclusions or lack thereof all contribute to a diamonds rarity and therefore, worth.


Let me guess, you were suckered in to buying diamonds and now you're just a frustrated panda who needs to take it out on someone. Real sad!

reply

I love that he spoke about diamonds. I think it's the dumbest thing and a waste of money (this is all my opinion of course). If I was a dude and with some typical girl that thought "she just had to have one", lol good luck with that cause it ain't coming from me.

My engagement ring/wedding ring (I helped pick it out) is a sterling silver ring with my birthstone (and supposedly tiny diamond accents on it). Let's just say it was less than $100 and I couldn't be happier and it's beautiful. I'd rather spend our money on a nice vacation or a house than a wedding and a giant ring. But hey, everyone is different.

I told my fiance now we can properly laugh at any couple with a rock on her finger. I couldn't for sure say that diamonds are worthless, I haven't personally done the research, but we just feel its a waste of money.

Would you like to see my pride and joy?

reply

Agreed that it's insane what people spend, I think my husband for all our rings (including engagement) spent like $600.

My sister is expecting her bf to spend at least 1-3 months of his salary for a ring. I think that's crazy. But it's their life, I just told her I'm happy for her. *shrug*

I would always suggest looking for a ring at a pawn shop or some other place, at least don't pay full price!

reply

I spent 3 months salary on my wife's engagement ring. I just chose to pick the 3 months I was unemployed...

reply

I couldn't agree more. It's entertaining, but he too often portrays issues from a one-sided viewpoint. I thought exactly the same thing when he trotted out that lady who works for LA's transportation system. If most people in LA knew how much money was wasted by government inefficiency and its desire to never solve a problem (i.e. put itself out of a job) on its public transportation system, they'd go berserk. Owning a car is cheaper than the government taxation imposed by government-run public transportation.

reply

Yeah, but it's not. The government has to build the roads too, and when you have large numbers of people traveling predictable routes, roads and individual cars is a horribly inefficient way to do it. Add those road taxes to the cost of owning a car, and it's really expensive for everyone.

Fuel taxes were implemented to pay for roads, but they've never made up for the total road costs. Today user taxes and fees make up less than 50% of highway costs, the rest comes from other tax sources. So even if you don't own a car, you're still paying for roads.

Public transit costs money too, but as Americans are rethinking their relationship to the car, many urban developers are working to make public transit a more desirable option. This involves more transit lines to connect distant neighborhoods, urban renewal to turn parking lots and wasted spaces into thriving communities, and slowing down suburban sprawl - the main reason we became so dependent on cars to begin with. The paradox is we have to spend money on a low-use system in order to make it reach where we need to go - and only then will it become useful enough to entirely depend on it.

I've lived in cities with really good public transit, and it was great not having a car. I saved a ton of money, and still got around just fine. You can complain about government inefficiency, but endlessly building bigger roads without other options is not the way to go.

reply

The diamond thing has always been an issue with me, because I know just how much control DeBeers has over that market. They are, for the very most part, a functioning, unchallenged monopoly.

-----

Shooting has started on my latest movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5531336/

reply