The GOODS #68 / May 16, 2018
We are fa-mi-ly!
Gooooood morning!
What a beautiful day šļø
The big, huge, amazing news that weāre excited to share is that our team / family just got a new member š¶
Right now, sheās an adorable, cute, little puddle of love, and, in about 15 years, sheās gonna be our unpaid intern.
This week ā because our writer + editor team has had about 5 hours combined sleeping in the last 5 days ā weāre gonna share two of our fav stories from the early days of The GOODS.
Read on fam :)
āA Diamond is Foreverā
Of course.
This is what they ā the diamond industry ā want you to think.
Arguably the ābest advertising slogan of the 20th century,ā the guy who coined the term back in 1947 had no idea how much of a huge impact these four words would have.
For one thing, it worked.
It brought the diamond industry heaps of profits because it convinced women that diamonds are a necessity for courtship and marriage (so put your hands up ā) and tricked men into thinking that the bigger the diamond, the greater the love (sneaky, sneaky.)
Times are a changinā
As effective as this marketing campaign was in the past, the demand for diamonds as jewelry is going down.
And thatās a good thing because (hopefully) itāll prevent more bad things from happening due to the nasty business of earth-made diamonds.
Dirty diamonds
Some info before we get started.
About ā of the worldās diamond supply comes from Africa, and the global diamond industry is valued at around USD $81 billion.
Add to this, the messy political and social fabric of the past few decades throughout the African continent and the result is years of civil wars in numerous countries funded by diamonds unearthed by slave labour.
Sad thing is, the reality behind the term āblood diamondā is still very pertinent today.
In Zimbabwe, for instance, (where Ā¼ of its population donāt have enough to eat), billions of dollars from its diamond mines have reportedly āgone missingā (instead of going to important stuff like, um, food.)
Recent reports highlight the deep corruption and terrible state violence against the Zimbabwean civilians who work in the mines.
Sad stuff ā¹ļø, we know.
Good news is, weāve got plasma reactors.
The new kid in town
Thereās a startup that makes diamonds in a lab.
Because, San Francisco.
The Diamond Foundry is using some topshelf science to build diamonds in plasma reactors that imitate the Sunās heat (oooof š„.)
Coolest thing about these human-made diamonds is that there is 100% transparency in where your diamonds come from ā hipster scientists in California.
Even better news: there are more awesome companies doing similar good stuff.
MiaDonna (another š-growing lab), for instance, popped out the largest lab-made diamond in the US ā a whopping 6.2 carat (over 11mm in size.)
And because there are some super sweet people behind the Co., they also happen to donate 5% of their annual profits to help fund agricultural projects in communities devastated by the conflict brought upon by the diamond industry.
Talk about wow.
Lab grown diamonds, really?
Oh ya, totally.
Under a microscope, thereās no difference.
As Anna-Meike Anderson (MiaDonnaās CEO) explains, these diamonds are optically, chemically, and physically identical to earth-mined diamonds. She also gives the example of comparing the ice outside and the ice in your freezer ā there is basically no difference.
Sorry (not sorry) Mr Bond, but Martin Roscheisen (CEO at Diamond Foundry), said it best, āa diamond is a diamond is a diamond.ā
Kind of a no-brainer
In addition to their shine and overall lower cost, the beauty in these diamond alternatives is that there are no humanitarian nor environmental consequences to producing them.
There is no more need to tear up the šnor the communities of innocent people in search for earth-made diamonds.
Like the organic food movement from a few decades back, change on a big scale takes time. But every single purchase has an impact.
You vote for change with every dollar you spend.
Ladies donāt be fooled, and guys wake up.
Donāt fall for the latest marketing tricks (i.e. āReal is rareā) the old-school diamond industry is trying to push onto us. The notion that diamonds are rare is total BS.
The supply of diamonds has always been artificially controlled for waaaay too long.
Weāre smarter than that, cāmon.
If any of you plan on buying some shiny rocks for your loved ones, ask the tough questions to your jeweller, or just check out some of the great eco-friendly alternatives out there. (We sure did!)
Friendly reminder: Real love is harder to find than branded and bloody diamonds.
If youāre lucky enough to find it, youāll know that no jewel will ever match it.
A few options
You check your smartphone. You find a clock. Or you tilt your wrist a little and glance at your watch.
Pretty standard. No surprise here.
Pop quiz: how can you tell time if you canāt see?
Never thought of that one, eh?
There are some solutions for the visually impaired such as talking watches.
However, itās not the best setup when youāre in loud places or want to be subtle when in the presence of others to hear a computerized voice say: āIt is. Nine. Nine. eh. em.ā
Thereās gotta be a better way
A way to touch time itself.
Enter tactile watches šļøļø
These types of watches have been around for a while, but there is one particular watch with a great story behind it.
Named after the Paralympic Gold Medalist, Brad Snyder, The Bradley is a beautifully-designed timepiece (from Eone) that allows its wearer to ingeniously feel time.
The mechanism of this watch is amazing.
As you might āseeā (lucky you) in the image above š, there are two small metallic-looking balls on face of the watch. These balls are magnets and replace the traditional hour and minute hands.
As you might guess, with an understanding of the order of the hour and minute placement of the circular clock you can now actually feel the time. Pretty nuts right?
Whatās even more impressive is the story of the Brad behind The Bradley.
His story is amazing
Brad is a former naval officer who, on mission in Afghanistan in 2011, became blind as he triggered a bomb while trying to save victims of another bomb. (Our hearts also sank a little as we read that.)
As a survivor, he persevered to readapt to everyday life and worked harder than ever to make the most of simply being alive.
After all, he was, as he put it, āfour inches away from death.ā
Already an avid swimmer, Brad decided he was going to take his swimming to the next level. So he trained hard. Real hard š
And after months of crazy focus and relentlessness, he qualified for the Paralympics and went on to win two Gold medals at the games in London in 2012 ā one of which he won one year to the day from his accident šÆ
Brad also won 3 gold medals in Rio in 2016 and broke a world record šļø
Simply incredible.
In Bradā own words, āI will not let my blindness build a brick wall around me. I would give my eyes one hundred times again to have the chance to do the things I have done, and the things I can still do.ā
#talkaboutinspo #noexcuses
For our long-time readers, we hope you enjoyed these throwback stories.
For all yāall lovely newbies, thereās more good stuff to come ;)
Have a great week āļøļø
Much love. All the love š
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