Diamonds are for the near future

[womzilla]

This month's Wired has an article on synthetic diamond manufacture which has launched discussion about the soon-to-be-plummetting price of authentic carbon-crystal jewelry. I was talking it over with nellorat and she said that if I was ever going to get her a wedding ring, I'd better move quickly while it was still possible to waste two months' salary on one. I pointed out that if the cheaper of the two methods described in the article (the Apollo Diamond method, which promises to make diamonds for $5 a carat) takes off, I could buy her a diamond bigger than her hand on my current salary.

Now I'm picturing a diamond wheelbarrow.

(Wired link courtesy of TNH's makinglight.)