Pearl

A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusc. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes (baroque pearls) occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.

The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls. Cultured or farmed pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold. Imitation pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of their iridescence is usually very poor and is easily distinguished from that of genuine pearls. Pearls have been harvested and cultivated primarily for use in jewelry, but in the past were also used to adorn clothing. They have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines and paint formulations.

Pearl (literary magazine)

Pearl was an American literary journal published between 1974 and 2014 in Long Beach, California.

History and profile

Pearl was founded by Joan Jobe Smith in 1974. The first issue appeared in May 1974. It was edited by Joan Jobe Smith, Marilyn Johnson, and Barbara Hauk. Pearl was based in Long Beach. It released an annual fiction issue and an annual poetry issue as well as hosting an annual poetry prize.

After several issues published Pearl went defunct until 1986 when Joan Jobe Smith and Marilyn Johnson relaunched it.

The magazine ceased publication in 2014.

Contributors

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External links

Pearl (disambiguation)

A pearl is a hard object produced by mollusks.

Pearl may also refer to:

People

Nicknamed Pearl

Places

Literature

Music

Offshore

Offshore may refer to:

Finance and law

Technology

Arts

Offshore (novel)

Offshore (1979) is a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. It won the Booker Prize for that year. It recalls her time spent on boats on the Thames in Battersea. The novel explores the liminality of people who do not belong to the land or the sea, but are somewhere in between. The epigraph, "che mena il vento, e che batte la pioggia, e che s'incontran con si aspre lingue" ("whom the wind drives, or whom the rain beats, or those who clash with such bitter tongues") comes from Canto XI of Dante's Inferno.

List of Characters and Their Boats (in order)

Lord Jim

Maurice

Grace

Dreadnought

Offshore (hydrocarbons)

"Offshore", when used relative to hydrocarbons, refers to an oil, natural gas or condensate field that is under the sea, or to activities or operations carried out in relation to such a field. There are various types of platform used in the development of offshore oil and gas fields, and subsea facilities.

Offshore exploration is performed with floating drilling units.

References