Same. I like the whole engagement ring ritual but I’ll be damned if our marriage is going to hinge on my “proving my love” with some overpriced trinket that costs a couple months’ salary and loses 95% of its value when it leaves the store. If that’s what it takes for us to get married it’s not the type of relationship I want in my life.

I agree diamonds are dumb and overpriced when you can get a better result from moissanite or lab grown.

That said, I’m curious why you assume it’s a blood diamond? Conflict diamonds only account for ~5% of all diamonds in the trade. Russia and Canada combined account for >50% of all rough diamonds in the industry.

Oh trust me, I understand. I own mechanical watches because there is a definite romantic appeal to them.

However, I have had more than one seiko automatic die from vibration while riding motorcycles. Even high end watches like Rolexes can have -4/+8 seconds per day timekeeping error and be within “normal” tolerances.

Meanwhile, a cheap digital quartz watch will typically be accurate to within a few seconds a month, even before we consider that many of them can sync to atomic clocks. They’re also pretty much indestructible.

That’s because Swiss precision is meaningless when a $1 chip can keep time better than a $6k mechanical watch. The only way they can survive is by selling the luxury angle.

That’s why I dig up my lawn every year and bury it underground inside sealed plastic bags

I’m doing my part!

That’s really a modern thing. It used to be that you’d buy a nice PC and 3-4 years later it can’t play new games at an acceptable frame rate and resolution.

I mean, you can Google it and find countless sources, if you really care they are readily available within seconds.

The Tl;dr is that his methods are based in dominance theory. Dominance theory has been widely debunked and the methods that arose from it are widely considered to exacerbate fear and aggression related issues in dogs. Caesar’s celebrity status has contributed to its persistence in the popular imagination.

Cesar Milan is considered a hack by almost every reputable dog trainer, and his methods conflict with every modern study I have seen on how to effectively train a dog.

If you believe this than you are woefully uninformed about American food culture.

You can get good authentic food from every region of the world here, but we also have a culture that deeply loves to create new and incredible things inspired by that foreign influence.

Look at American third wave coffee, for example. American coffee culture was inspired by the Italians, but has seen a renaissance of experimentation that makes it uniquely American. It’s now among the best in the world.

Spanish cuisine is great

But French is every bit as good

Outside of Europe? Nobody can compete with America in depth and breadth in terms of incredible food options.

Have you guys not had the salty “cheese foam” you can get on boba? It’s like stabilized whipped cream.

This doesn’t sound bad at all.

Prices for an equivalent model car really haven’t changed much after adjusting for inflation.

Hondas aren’t the best example because they have steadily been moving more upmarket as a brand. However, in 1991 a base model civic cost an inflation adjusted $15,600. A 2023 base model civic costs $23,750.

Another example that comes to mind is the Mazda Miata since people often complain about how sports cars have gotten too expensive and it’s the archetypal affordable sports car. A 1991 Miata cost an inflation adjusted $35,600. A 2023 Miata starts at $28,000.

I dunno, when I was in high school there were a number of Ayn Rand essay contests with prize money.

I won’t say they’re good books but I did make good money from reading them.

I grew up in California

I’m not surprised about your experience though. I have also lived in the south and many of the southern states are still feeling the effects of decades of extensive lobbying on education by the Daughters of the Confederacy.

They DoC has historically pushed a narrative about slaves being happy and content overall, cared for by empathetic masters who valued their well-being. There are many monuments still standing glorifying the wartime deeds done by “loyal” and happy slaves. It’s really insidious.

I know there is regional variation on how the slave trade is taught, but when I was in school we had numerous, extended, and graphic discussions on the horrors of the slave trade starting from elementary school and extending into college.

For the average person, this is the answer.

Buying a high end large format inkjet is the answer for artists, photographers, and graphic designers who regularly need hard copies of their work. The average user who prints a couple times a year would be much better served with a b/w laserjet and the occasional trip to a print shop when something fancier is needed.