What's the Difference?

Do you ever ask Google what the difference is between two different things? There's even a website devoted to clarification: differencebetween.com, naturally. We used it this past week to try to determine how to differentiate a jewel from a gem.
And the answer is: NADA!
At least as far as we can see.
For the particular person, a gem could be a stone left in its natural state while a jewel is more refined and ornamental.
Thus if this is a gem:

Then this is a jewel:

It's a game that we may or may not have played before:

And someone we have listened to once or twice:

So, show us your jewels and gems, if you wish. Send your images to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Tuesday, September 6, 2016 along with whatever message you want to add and your blog post, if applicable. We'll post them later the same day. 

Have a brilliant day!

Let Us Hope no Tragedy Befalls Us

It's the good ol' summer time and here in the States, it's hot dogs, apple pie and BASEBALL! Don Henley has a song about the Boys of Summer and not a day goes by that a game isn't being played...on a diamond!

We suspect this must be Fenway Park as they are maniacal about cutting the lawn every which way. We are glad we don't have to cut any grass, let alone all that!

A diamond is a four-sided polygon where some of the angles are obtuse and some are acute, otherwise you'd have rectangles or squares.

But really we were thinking of something more sparkly!

Diamonds come in all colors, but probably the most famous of all is the blue Hope Diamond. There is intrigue and all sorts of trouble associated with this gem. Particularly, every one who tried to own it ended up having to sell it to pay off debts.

It has been around since 1668 and in 1958 Harry Winston (He died in 1978 but you may know his name: his company decorates all the stars with jewelry for the Academy Awards) donated it to the Smithsonian Institute, where it is on display at the Natural History Museum, Washington, DC. It's currently valued at a quarter of a BILLION dollars.

That's a huge debt, not as big as the National Debt (19 TRILLION and counting...), but big, none the less.

A problem of a different sort could befall someone who tries to mess with this guy:

Eastern Diamondback

But don't worry about these snakes, they can't hurt a fly,

Even though they play on this beautiful diamond:

It's always a thrill when they open the roof, quite fine on a summer's night.

So show us your diamond inchies! Send your images to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Arizona Time, Tuesday, June 13, 2016. Include blog links or notes, as you wish.