[Vhfcn-l] Monday musings

[Gary Thewlis]

I don't have any tricky plays, I'd rather have tricky players.

Abe Lemons

 

All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.     

Gordie Howe

 

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring
the deadening effect of a habit.

W. Somerset Maugham

 

There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.

Arthur C. Clarke

 

Is fuel efficiency really what we need most desperately? I say that what we
really need is a car that can be shot when it breaks down.

Russell Baker 

 

If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most
dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair.
Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright.
We are dang near royalty.'

Jeff Foxworthy

 

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7 Missing Historical Treasures That May Never Be Seen Again

 

For all the television shows that set out to solve the world’s great
mysteries, and the intrepid adventurers hunting for lost artifacts, some of
the most famous treasures of history are still missing. These include one of
the most dazzling rooms ever made, a giant yellow diamond, and the work of a
renowned Greek poetess. Here are just a few of these enigmas.

 

1. THE AMBER ROOM

Designed in the 18th century by German sculptor Andreas Schlüter and Danish
amber artist Gottfried Wolfram, and gifted to Russia in 1716, the Amber Room
of Catherine Palace was the pride of the Saint Petersburg area. Lavishly
decorated in jewels, gilding, and, of course, panels of amber, it was
sometimes called the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

 

When the German army neared Saint Petersburg during World War II, the
curators at Catherine Palace knew they had to hide this treasure. They tried
to take it apart, but the dry amber crumbled in their hands; instead they
hid it behind wallpaper. German soldiers found the Amber Room anyway, and
broke it down into pieces that were packed in crates and shipped to
Königsberg, then part of Germany (now part of Russia). For a time, the Amber
Room was installed in the Königsberg castle museum. After that, its fate
gets fuzzy. Some researchers believe it was destroyed in the bombardments of
the war, while others think that it’s still hidden somewhere. Despite
periodic claims of it being found—and verified remnants turning up in
1997—most of it remains missing. In 2003, a reconstruction of the Amber Room
was unveiled near Saint Petersburg, so visitors can at least get a glimpse
of its lost glory.

 

2. SAPPHO'S POEMS

 

Ancient sources state that the Greek poet Sappho penned nine volumes of
writing, but only a couple of full poems—and a few hundred lines on shreds
of papyrus and potsherds—survive. Some contain just a handful of words, yet
they hint at the passion in her work: "I desire/And I crave," one remnant
reads. Many of these bits survive thanks to her popularity in antiquity,
since her writing was frequently quoted in other sources.

 

There may be more of Sappho's work to discover. A late 19th- to early
20th-century excavation at a trash dump in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, turned up
valuable fragments of her poems. As recently as 2014, two works on papyrus
fragments were identified by an Oxford papyrologist. With any luck, there
may still be scattered remains of her poems to unearth in the detritus of
the classical world.

 

3. THE FLORENTINE DIAMOND

 

According to legend, Charles the Bold—the Duke of Burgundy—carried this
132.27-carat yellow diamond into the 1477 Battle of Nancy as a talisman. The
treasure did little to protect him, however, and he fell along with his gem.
His mutilated corpse is said to have later been recovered from the
battlefield, but the diamond was gone, supposedly picked up by a scavenger
who sold it for two francs because he thought it was just glass.

 

However, in the 1920s the art historian Nello Tarchiani did archival
research that revealed the diamond likely had no connection to the duke. The
gemstone had originated in southern India, where it stayed until the
Portuguese seized the area in the 1500s. Soon afterward, it made its way to
Europe and into the hands of a series of illustrious owners, including
Ferdinand de’ Medici, the Duke of Tuscany, in 1601. It was in the treasury
of the Medicis in Florence that it got its name—the Florentine Diamond—and
most likely its glistening, 126-facet double rose cut.

 

When Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the last of the Medici ruling family, died
in 1743, the diamond didn't stay with the treasure trove she bequeathed to
the Tuscan state. Instead, Francis Stephan of Lorraine (who later became the
Grand Duke of Tuscany and Holy Roman Emperor) bought it for his wife,
Empress Maria Teresa, herself at the end of the House of Habsburg line. For
a time, the Florentine diamond became part of the crown jewels in Vienna.
Then the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed after World War I, and the
diamond, it’s believed, was carried into exile in Switzerland by its last
emperor, Charles I.

 

But where is it now? There are many theories on its disappearance, including
that it was sold by the exiled emperor, and perhaps cut into smaller gems
for that purpose. Others posit that it was stolen and spirited to South
America. With no trace of the diamond in years, its whereabouts remain a
mystery.

 

4. FABERGÉ EGGS

 

The legendary House of Fabergé was once the largest jeweler in Russia,
employing 500 designers and craftsmen to transform everything from mantel
clocks to cigarette cases into delicate and elaborate works of art. Their
most famous achievement is the series of jewel-drenched Easter eggs they
produced for Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II, which the Russian rulers
gave as gifts to their wives and mothers. Each egg contained a surprise,
from the Trans-Siberian Railway Egg (with a wind-up train made from gold and
platinum) to the Bay Tree Egg (shaped like a tree, with a mechanical singing
bird emerging from its branches). After the Russian Revolution overthrew the
Romanov Dynasty—and the imperial family was executed—the new Soviet rulers
seized the eggs. Lenin was interested in preserving such cultural heritage,
but Stalin saw them as economic resources, and the eggs were sold off. Out
of the 50 Imperial Eggs (as the eggs created for the czars are known), seven
are missing.

 

Information on the lost eggs is sparse. There are few photographs—the only
image we have of one of the eggs, the Cherub with Chariot Egg, is a
reflection in the glass of a display case. Sometimes the surprises inside
are detailed in records, and in other cases they remain a mystery. However,
in 2012 a Midwest man who had bought what he thought was a fancy doodad for
scrap gold happened to do an internet search on the name on the little clock
inside: “Vacheron Constantin.” He discovered that his trinket, which he’d
bought for $14,000, was one of the lost Imperial Eggs, worth $33 million.

 

5. CROWN JEWELS OF IRELAND

 

On July 6, 1907, regalia belonging to the Grand Master of the Order of St.
Patrick—referred to as the "Crown Jewels of Ireland"—were discovered to be
missing, the keys boldly left hanging in the safe’s lock. The pricey pieces,
which included a diamond star and badge, had been presented to the order of
knights in 1830. As added insult, five collars of Knight Members of the
Order had also been spirited away.

 

Security was perhaps a bit lax. A safe room had been built for Dublin Castle
in 1903, yet the safe that protected the jewels was too big to fit in the
door, so it was kept in a library strong room.

 

An investigation was immediately launched, but a century later, the case is
unsolved. One rumor is that the investigation was halted under the orders of
Edward VII because it ended up touching on a sexual scandal at Dublin
Castle. One top suspect is Francis Shackleton, second-in-command at the
castle, and brother to the famed explorer Ernest Shackleton; some say he may
have been trying to raise funds for his brother's polar expedition.

 

6. ART FROM THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM

 

In the early morning of March 18, 1990, the security guards at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston buzzed in two men claiming to be police
officers. Once inside, they handcuffed the guards and revealed their true
intention: stealing art. They made off with 13 works valued at $500 million,
the biggest unsolved art theft in the world.

 

Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, and Manet works are among the stolen art,
although strangely, the robbers also opted to take a bronze eagle from the
top of a Napoleonic flag and an ancient Chinese beaker rather than other,
more valuable objects nearby. Because the museum’s collection and layout are
permanent—both the legacy of the late art collector Isabella Stewart
Gardner—the frames of the missing artworks are kept empty, a memorial and a
reminder that the burglars are still at large. The FBI believes the
paintings made their way to organized crime circles in Philadelphia, but
haven’t had a lead since 2003. Currently, the reward is $10 million for
information leading to the artworks’ recovery.

 

7. THE HONJO MASAMUNE

 

At the end of World War II, citizens in Japan were required to turn over
privately owned weapons, including historic pieces. Among them was one of
the most famous swords ever made: the Kamakura-period Honjo Masamune.
Created by Masamune, who lived circa 1260-1340 and is often considered
Japan’s greatest sword maker, the sword was celebrated for its strength and
artistry.

 

Its last owner was Tokugawa Iemasa, who brought the Honjo Masamune, along
with other heirloom swords, to a Tokyo police station in compliance with the
Allied orders. They were handed off to someone in the Foreign Liquidations
Commission of AFWESPAC (Army Forces, Western Pacific), then disappeared.
Some surrendered swords from this era were brought back to the United States
by American soldiers, while others were melted or tossed in the sea. Today,
the fate of the Honjo Masamune is unknown.

 

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Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

 

When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months. 

 

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States. 

 

It would take 11 Empire State Buildings, stacked one on top of the other, to
measure the Gulf of Mexico at its deepest point. 

 

The first person selected as the Time Magazine Man of the Year - Charles
Lindbergh in 1927. 

 

The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

 

The Australian $5 to $100 notes are made of plastic.