[TML] Personal Armor Noise was Re: Current USAF fleet

[Bruce Johnson]

On May 5, 2008, at 1:15 AM, Knapp wrote:
> My great grandmothers engagement ring was a pearl and as I understand
> it diamonds being "the stone" is new and because of ads.

Actually, specifically because of DeBeers' marketing department. The  
entire (and wholly artificial) tradition  of diamond engagement rings  
is a creation of theirs, as is almost the entire diamond jewelry  
industry as we know it today.

Until the discovery of the Russian diamond fields and subsequent entry  
into the market by the even nastier gangsters from that country,  
DeBeers had an effective monopoly on the diamond trade in the West,  
thoroughly and ruthlessly enforced.

--
Bruce Johnson

"No matter where you go, there you are", B. Banzai