10 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True... Or, Did You Know Diamonds Are WORTHLESS?!

Around 1888, when numerous diamond mines opened and began operating in South Africa, diamonds were - and, I kid you not - mined by the truckload!
Capitalism is all about Supply vs Demand so, simple math tells you, having truckloads of diamonds flooding the diamond market brought the price of diamonds way down.

(sigh) So, what's a capitalist diamond producer to do?

Well, the many independent diamond companies all got together and formed a single, worldwide entity - a cartel called De Beers (they are still the flagship of the diamond biz, today).

And, de minds at De Beers realized that, if they warehoused their copious quantity of carbon-based carats and allowed only a tiny amount to be trickled out at a time... it would cause the price of the radiant rocks skyrocket.

So, that's what De Beers did then and it's what De Beers does today.

But, De Beers soon realized that they had another problem: Only de rich and famous were buying De Beers diamonds (gasp)!

How were they ever going to get the working- and middle-classes to buy De Beers diamonds?

Around 1938, de masterminds at De Beers unleashed a massive marketing campaign to promote the "Diamond Engagement Ring" with this slogan:

"Diamonds Are FOREVER"
(The phrase not only struck gold then,  it's still used to this day).

De Beers also met with many of de heads of the Hollywood film studios and paid them lots of money to include scenes of their bigger-than-life, manly movie heroes getting down on bended knees and proposing to the oh-so-happy heroines with diamond engagement rings.

Believe it or not...  prior to this crushed-coal carpet-bombing, most (about 90%) 'engagement rings' did NOT include diamonds.

After their Four-C's campaigns?  ... About 80% of engagement rings included diamonds.

Well, I say, "Boycott De Beers and their (worthless) blood diamonds!"

Or, "A Scam Doesn't Have To Be FOREVER", works, too!

The Men Who Stare At Goats: The Rest Of The Story... It's A Trip!

I just watched The Men Who Stare At Goats on Netflix. And, I wanted to share the review I submitted:
Netflix's "Most Helpful" Review(er) said: "Son of Dr Strangelove, headed for cult movie status." ~ I agree. Absolutely! Although I came to this movie with more information on the subject than the average viewer probably has and, therefore, found it didn't quite live up to what I'd hoped it would be (I'd hoped for a "serious" take on the subject)... once I accepted that the filmmakers had simply taken it in another, campy, "Quixotic" direction,  I really enjoyed TMWSAG.

Netflix's 3rd Review(er) said: "Psychic branch of the Military Specials Forces is a bit of a stretch for openers."  Actually...no, it isn't "a stretch". Several years ago, I'd heard about and read up on the U.S. military's forays into researching and evaluating the value of utilizing the remarkable skills of those with highly-developed/naturally-advanced "psychic" abilities and discern whether or not such skills would be of worthwhile benefit to and/or create a significant advantage for the US military/intelligence communities. If you're interested, Google it. SRI (Stanford Research Institute) was one of the highly-respected facilities used in the research of remote-viewing. American physicists Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ were lead researchers. Also, MK-Ultra - mentioned briefly in the film - was real. It was a covert and highly-illegal CIA operation in which the spooks actually dosed unwitting civilians with LSD (in San Francisco) and then followed them around to see how they reacted. At the time, the CIA was hoping to develop an effective mind-control method. Seriously. Please take the time to look into the fascinating (and harrowing) history behind the premise of the movie... that is, if you believe the government when they say that all those programs ended in the 1970's. Kurt (Cobain) was right. Just because I'm paranoid...