[Closed] Blimey, HOW MUCH??? Summat that's less useful than Sheldona's extra top-tube...

I would buy it for MrsWCA because she is worth so much more to me the rock wouldn't seem excessive.

[i]buying something like this is just making up for inadequacy in the buyer[/i]

Why do you think this? It is a bizarre piece of inverse snobbery. Anyone who can afford such a thing is fabulously wealthy. Wealth on that scale is invariably the result of a combination of rare genius and great courage, either on the part of the individual or his or her forebears. Wealth of such magnitude brings with it opportunities for the development of character through education and experience which those of us who are forced to spend all our time grubbing around trying to make a living can only dream of, as well as the ability to have sexual intercourse on demand with almost anyone instead of just watching it on the internet.

The chance of someone with the money to buy such a diamond being in any normal sense "inadequate" is very small. Rather, you are attempting to project your own inadequacy onto them, and will no doubt soon start babbling on about how your experience of growing up in the east end surrounded by a fascinating cast of genuine and authentic poverty-stricken asshats has turned you into a real character who feels entitled to talk dismissively about the super-rich despite never having met any of them. You may also start rabbiting about the values of love and friendship in an attempt to justify your inability to earn sufficient money to buy such a magnificent stone.

🙂

BigDummy by name . . .

At the end of the day, it is utterly useless. It has no real value other than it's rarity, and what some muppet will pay for it.
Very nice mind, but I'd rather have a nice custom Curtis.
🙂

I'd rather have a nice custom Curtis, it has no real value other than it's rarity, and what some muppet will pay for it

😉

I dont like the colour. if it was orange it would be worth more to me.

Probably a better investment than stock, bonds or gold at the moment.

I think PeterPoddy and the Cap'n have summed the whole thing up between them.

Moving on.

[chuckles at soma_rich] Do they come in orange? 🙂

Nice one, BD! Great response, as always. Well thought out, well written, intelligent, thoughtful...

..But rong.

Although I suspect you are fishing for a response. 😉

Don't get me wrong. I think it's nice, to have nice things. But personally, I just don't see the need for such an ultimately useless baubel. And I do actually know some super-rich people; I doubt they'd buy it, even though they can afford it. People have differing priorities.

As for 'inadequacy', we all have out little weaknesses. We're Human. We compensate, by making social statements about ourselves, in order to gain acceptance and acknowledgment from our peers. We buy nice clothes, we do our hair nice, we buy nice cars, jewelery, carpets, Phillipe Starck Rocket juicers.

Status symbols. In our society, it seems that wealth = power. So, people desire things that show off their status and power to others.

Because, if we truly felt completely comfortable about ourselves, we probbly woon't need them. I'm sure there are many, ridiculously wealthy people, who woon't dream of splurging such an amount, on such a thing.

Anyway, enough of that.

My point was, than een if you could, would you?

I woon't. Just seems pointless.

I have nowt against someone who would, though. Their choice, and up to them.

I think Poddy says it all, really.

Wealth [i][b]does[/i][/b] equal power.

There is a world of difference between you or me raiding TK Makk for some bargainous threads and OD-ing on hair-spray to make ourselves appear less as though we lead lives of quiet desperation and someone with a net worth greater than half the countries in Africa buying the best diamond to be discovered in modern history simply because they can.

It's also a matter of limitless resources, and diversity of investment. If you already own more houses than you can live in, a yacht and a helicopter to travel between them, and your income each year massively exceeds your outgoings then you have to find stuff to buy. This will be a marvellous investment, because, although entirely arbitrary the market value if diamonds of perfect clarity is consistently high, and one of this rarity will appreciate. As will as being a fabulous staus symbol and a trophy piece this will be a shrewd investment, and will also provide bragging rights for someone who's main problem in life is working out what to spend their money on. 🙂

I know a lass that lives in Trump Tower, New York. something like the most spensive apartment building in the World.

It's a modest, one-bed flat. Tiniest of kitchens, no wash-mashin (maid service), and you can't open any of the windows. The view is ok, but not spectacular (all you can really see are other very large buildings).

I asked her why she chose to live there, rather than something a lot nicer, and less claustrophobic. Her answer was that living there gave her a status, which enabled her to have more 'power', when negotiating a pay-deal, or getting credit at Prada, and a better seat at a restaurant. All part of the image.

I admit, I have little understanding, of such a rarified world. Just seems bewildering, to me. People more concerned with status, than just getting on and enjoying their lives.

Ah well. Spose that's one worry I'll never have. I'll survive.

Oh, and she coon't have parites or owt, in her place.

Give me a flat on a shithole housing estate in the East End, any day.

you have to find stuff to buy

Because..?

 

I would buy it for MrsWCA because she is worth so much more to me the rock wouldn't seem excessive.

I'd missed that, in all the nonsense.

See, that is beautiful.

it weighs 7.03 carat...

if i owned the original rough cut diamond at circa 26 carats i'd be asking lot of q's about the other 19 carats.... 😀

[i]See, that is beautiful.[/i]

Nah, it's sentimental bollocks and very easy to say if you don't have the wonga. If I could afford the fabled Blue Diamond I'd also be trading in MrsDummy for a younger model, or indeed several of them. 😉

Duntmatter - poor people buy stuff ovbsessively, they just buy stuff that is (a) useless, (b) ugly and (c) common and mass-produced. The urge to buy things appears to be a societal trait, not a characterisitioc of rich people. 🙂

No, it's [i]beautiful[/i]. You just have no soul.

Wealth on that scale is invariably the result of a combination of rare genius and great courage

[hijack]
Rudeboi did you see the pics of you in the Purbecks this weekend?
[/hijack]

I have no idea even of where on Earth the Purbecks are. I have never been there.

What pics? Where?

[i]I presume you define genius such that that is a circular argument?[/i]

Of course. But vanishingly few people get utterly loaded by fluke, while a lot of people rate their talents more highly than any market in talent does. 🙂

I have no idea even of where on Earth the Purbecks are. I have never been there.

What pics? Where?

Ve haf ze effidence, Englander!

[img] ?v=0[/img]

a lot of people rate their talents more highly than any market in talent does.

We are working on different ideas of what constitutes wealth here. I quite agree that the odd few million may be picked up here and there despite a proven pointlessness. 😉

BigDummy, what makes you think that all of us mortals are "[i]forced to spend all our time grubbing around trying to make a living can only dream of, as well as the ability to have sexual intercourse on demand with almost anyone instead of just watching it on the internet.[/i]"

That is the biggest piece of rubbish I have heard in a long time. How about you speak for yourself? If this is what your aspirations are plainly dictated by the society you live in - good for you.

Less time watching MTV cribs and worlds richest, more time enjoying the qualities in life which are free (and trust me, there are many). There is more to life than being incredibly rich or shagging some brainless blondes, but hey I'm just speaking for myself...

[Person on internet expresses ludicrously controversial opinion without caveating it enough for some people's taste shock. Hold the front page] 😉

Sorry the title seems to have been cut short:

[b]"something that's less useful than Sheldona's extra top-tube and it's not RudeBoy"[/b]

Rudeboy yesterday...

[img] [/img]

SSP

How true SSP

Clearly my extra tube is useful as it gives you (Rudeboy) something to think about in your plain simple life, now move along little man and find something else to think about.

NicheFeathers all ruffled? 😉

What handbags for a niche fight? 😉

Sheldon,

RB has plenty to think about with all the conspiracy theories he keeps reading about...I know this because they* are watching his every move 🙂

SSP

*you know, "them" the ones with the black helicopters employed by the lizard men!

Heh!

Nice chicken. What breed is it? Us city types aren't too up on country ways.

And who TF is that charlatan, masquerading as my good self? 😯

The matter is now in the hands of my legal team. I shall comment no further.

BD - As an explanation of why people buy things, you seem to be saying 'Other people also buy things'. Thanks for the lesson on 'poor people' though 😛

Indeed. The point is that asking "why?" of the need to purchase things is a question applicable to both rich and poor people. Unless they're so poor they have nothing to buy or nothing to buy anything with. As this diamond (and indeed most of Dubai) demonstrates, the point at which rich people become too rich to buy things does not appear to have been reached yet. 😀

[i]Wealth of such magnitude[/i]

Odd thread. BD salivating over the fact that the rich are different from you and I... and then getting all sniffy about what he sees as mere platitudes from RB. What if - as the blighted credit agencies are discoverin' - real value [i]lies somewhere else altogether[/i]...? Put it this way: five million quid could buy you some overpriced bling, or a yacht full of models licking MDMA-infused whipped cream off each other, or god-knows-how-much simple [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy ]oral rehydration solution[/url] (diarrhea being a leading cause of mortality worldwide in children under five). I suspect that not even BD would sneer at the moral/ethical dimension of such a choice.

As for buying things: I'd whore myself for a set of vintage XT Thumbies, but materialism generally equates to "stuff", and stuff means clutter. And I hate clutter.

All IMO, of course. 😀

I must confess that I was rather hoping that Rudeboy would bite rather harder than he did. 😉

(The diamond) [i]has personality and character[/i]

No, its a diamond.

[i]I must confess that I was rather hoping that Rudeboy would bite rather harder than he did[/i]

"It is not a fish until it is on the bank", as the Irish say. 😀

Well, that's 'cos you underestimated me as usual, BD. You took my comments as 'aren't rich people all selfish bastards', which was not what I meant.

five million quid could buy you some overpriced bling, or a yacht full of models licking MDMA-infused whipped cream off each other, or god-knows-how-much simple oral rehydration solution (diarrhea being a leading cause of mortality worldwide in children under five)

Who woon't want the former? Blimey Charlie..

But as Noteeth points out, how can you ignore something like the latter?

As a 10-year old child, I traveled to Bangladesh, with my family. The poverty and suffering I saw there, made me realise that I am not poor. Never will be, whilst I live in Britain, have a roof over my head, have benefited from a truly excellent Higher Education system, and can rely on a World-class health care system. In many respects, I am positively wealthy, compared to most other people on this planet.

I do like shiny pretty things. But I woon't want really spensive things, knowing that millions of others don't even enjoy basic Human Rights, such as access to clean water, adequate food, the right to live a life free from persecution and injustice.

Personally, I'm not bothered about being 'rich'. I'm just not motivated by greed, and the need to posess as much as possible. Just seems pointless, to me. We already have so much, to enjoy, yet we always seem to want more. Now, I dunno about you, but that dissatisfaction with what we've got, and a constant hunger for more, strikes me as a terrible insecurity, which pervades every aspect of our lives, when we could just get on and enjoy what we've got.

But I may be discounting Human Nature, here. The will to survive. The need to dominate, to ensure control of resources, etc.

I just think we've kind of lost the plot, a bit. We've forgotten our Humanity.

Ho hum.

noteeth - how much would you whore yourself for some xt thumbies, exactly?

[i]noteeth - how much[/i]

Are they still in the original packaging? 8)

All of what you say is fair enough. Can we probe it a little.

Now, suppose that your income from your investments produced $500million per year. In all seriousness, how much of that would you give away for malaria prevention or whatever?

Say you gave away half of it. That would be pretty generous and enormously philanthropic of you. That gives you an income of $250million to spend on whatever you want. Suppose you want to buy your special lady something lovely. You aren't (all elese being equal) going to buy it from Elizabeth Duke, or even Tiffanys. You might end up spending an amount which, right now, you regard as insane, but which would be proportionnate to your disposable income.

Perhaps, rather than spending the rest on yachts and models you spent it on doing a masters degree in philosophy and buying fine art, mature brandy and racehorses.

What I am really interested in, I suppose, is at what point you start to regard spending money as demonstrating that the spender has lost track of their humanity. 🙂

If I were to ever 'earn' £500 million a year, then I would have more money than I would know what to do with. Therefore, it would be foolish, in my mind, of me to keep all but I needed to live comfortably.

What is 'comfortable'? I spose there's as many answers, as there are people. Possibly a little bit more than I am now.

I dunno. A million quid a year? £100,000 should surely see you right, no?

As for buying trinkets; something nice, yes. something made specially. Needunt cost £5 million. Surely, you can get something really nice, for a few grand?

Sorry, I just don't value material things in that way. I live without them now, I could live without them even if I were fabulously wealthy, I'm sure. Whether or not I would want to, is another matter. Can't answer that, as I'm not (and never likely to be) in that situation.

So, I feel that I'd be more likely to give £499 million a year, to charitable causes.

Or maybe help fund the Lympics... 😯

[i]Suppose you want to buy your special lady something lovely. You aren't (all elese being equal) going to buy it from Elizabeth Duke, or even Tiffanys.[/i]

Damn right - Chain Reaction, here I come! 😳

spent it on doing a masters degree in philosophy

Anyone who has studied philosophy will know that this is the educational equivalent of putting bamboo under your fingernails.

Alright, imagine that, instead of the $500million hitting you in a lump then your income increased gradually without you having to work.

You could get used to a steady increase perhaps? A slightly nicer flat to begin with? A rather better bike. A lovely sculpture that a friend had made? If you had slightly more each year you would (reasonably enough) have confidence that your personality was robust enough that wealth wasn't changing you, and that your standard of living was not excessive. Even easier if you have a wife and kids I reckon, or an aged mother to look after.

I know people who do not really take on board the fact that being hit by the lastest 50% tax rate will mean they are in the top 10% of wealth of all the humans who have ever lived.

I agree that it is hard to see how one gets into the position of thinking that a blue diamond is a very good buy or indeed a bargain. I'm just basically not convinced that someone who can afford it spending that sort of money if they have it indicates insecurity or inadequacy any more than you spending your modest means on things not actually needed for subsistence, or me spending an equivalent percentage of my slightly greater means.

🙂

if i owned the original rough cut diamond at circa 26 carats i'd be asking lot of q's about the other 19 carats....

kinda typical for cutting losses TBH.

A major factor in feelings of unhappiness (among rich and poor) in any given society is inequality of wealth. I propose world communism as the answer. Obviously I'll look after the diamonds to stop squabbles.

Duntmatter; you could encrust the Blackpool Tower, with them. Glittery..