Posted on 04/05/2011 5:44:23 AM PDT by Kaslin
Does it matter? Everyone but the dead on earth will know he’s married!
One can argue that the royal family are a source of revenue. They cost about $60 million a year. Tourism is about $122 billion a year.
If the Windsors account for even half of one percent of those tourism revenues, they've paid their way.
Also, the Crown Estate is theoretically the property of the royal family (though not the property of any specific monarch) and it contributes about $350 million a year to the treasury.
I’ve heard the argument that the royal family are ultimately a source of revenue. I wouldn’t know enough to argue either way, but I wouldn’t doubt it.
However, the royal’s draw is still based on the tourist’s appreciation of centuries-old traditions. Could the US establish a royal family today and enjoy the same tourism benfit? Obviously not; a week-old monarchy would be a joke, even if a super-cool person like myself were made honorary king of the USA.
Like I said, it’s not my business what the Windsors do; I just think it’s not a good move for them to shun English tradition, since they represent England and that’s ultimately what keeps the money flowing their way.
When I see men who work with their hands, I tell them they shouldn’t wear rings at work. The new carbide rings make me shudder, the can’t be cut off with traditional ring cutters.
That's me all over, baby.
Same.
I stopped wearing my ring after I saw a man’s finger ruined when he was jumping out of the back of an LMTV and it got caught. Bent the ring down into a cutting edge.
I have the same problem with my fingers swelling up, so I have stopped wearing any rings.
Most EMTs carry jewelry saws in their emergency vehicles for precisely this purpose. Also, carbide rings can be cracked.
I’m no expert, but maybe the rings were used in the wedding ceremony, but not traditionally worn by men on a daily basis afterwords?
Our ring cutters have carbide blades, not much use on carbide rings. Just how do you crack a carbide ring without injuring the finger? This is a real question because it is only a matter of time before I will have to do it.
Helen draws a false parallel, IMO. Surely the female version of whether or not to wear a wedding ring is-—whether or not she wears a wedding ring. They can do it both or either as an obligation and obligatory symbol or as a choice and an option. If it’s an option and she wants to but he doesn’t, so be it—but it seems very much to be the couple’s choice.
Jewelers' saws have industrial diamond blades.
Just how do you crack a carbide ring without injuring the finger?
A vise has been used in some cases. Cracking is apparently more dangerous for the eyes than the finger. I have no direct firsthand knowledge of the vise technique.
OK, I googled it and see there are instructions on cracking a carbide ring. I just need to buy a vice grip to leave at work and hope that the technique works when I try it.
I heard about another emergency room that had a deal with a local dentist who would cut off the rings with his diamond drill.
The Book of Common Prayer was largely written for a pretty wealthy stratum of society.
I would guess that a sizeable percentage of the population simply could not afford wedding rings.
But I would expect that those Anglicans who could afford them wore them.
I would also expect that Nonconformists (i.e. Calvinists, Puritans, Quakers, etc.) who rejected the Prayer Book would have eschewed such rings as part of a hated ritual.
I would also point out that until the heyday of George Brummell in the 1810s, men generally wore quite a bit of jewelry. It was due to Brummell's influence as an arbiter of fashion that jewelry for men became uncommon.
Could you post a link? Thanks
Yep, rings are clearly a needless harzard when working construction and similar activities. My father never wore his ring while on the job.
I worked with a guy that hopped out of the back of a pickup truck one weekend; something caught his ring and it peeled all the flesh off his finger - turned it inside out, basically. He had a larege, wierd bandage with metal wires running thru his finger, for a long time. It healed well enough for him to keep his finger, but with limited mobility.
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