Posted on 06/11/2021 11:51:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
At 563 carats, the Star of India is the world’s largest gem-quality blue star sapphire, and is approximately 2 billion years old. (Image credit: D. Finnin/Copyright AMNH)
==================================================================
What does the legendary Star of India — a 563-carat star sapphire the size of a golf ball — have in common with a 35-million-year-old petrified redwood slab; a massive cluster of sword-like crystals that looks like it came from "Game of Thrones;" and a 5-ton (4.5-metric ton) stone pillar that can "sing?"
You can see all of them, along with 5,000 other amazing stones, in the newly renovated Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, which is reopening after a four-year closure on Saturday (June 12). There, one-of-a-kind precious gems appear alongside odd-looking rocks — some of which date to billions of years ago — that have been uniquely warped and twisted by extreme temperatures and pressures.
Individually and together, these objects tell a story of the diverse geologic processes that shape minerals on Earth's surface and deep inside our planet, beginning when the world was young and continuing to this day, museum representatives told Live Science.
Related: 13 mysterious and cursed gemstones
The Star of India, which formed about a billion years ago, was discovered in Sri Lanka in the 18th century. It is one of the best-known gems in the world, in part because it was famously and brazenly stolen from AMNH in 1964, along with several more of the museum's prized stones, by a pair of thieves named Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy and Allan Kuhn, Smithsonian reported in 2014, on the heist's 50th anniversary. (The one-of-a-kind sapphire was recovered and went back on display in 1965).
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Good morning. Your son shouldn’t call when you’re asleep, anyway.
The message he left was something like, “I thought you said you were changing your schedule so you’d be awake when we call. So much for that! We love you!”
Yes, he was right. I AM trying to change my schedule but the stress of Saturday and Sunday made it too difficult. I just couldn’t hang in there. If they had called even 15 minutes earlier I would have been awake. I really am trying to change my schedule but my body is resisting like crazy!
What a sweet floofy!
Good morning. Finally.
Done with the laundry except for hanging the sleep shirts and I’ll do that in a bit.
Maybe I’ll get something else done today, as well. Like at least one more box packed up. I can do that. Maybe it will be a big box from the pantry. But at least one box. ;o]
It seems to me that it would be easy enough for him to call earlier, but what do I know.
Good morning. I just told the Yutes to get up. They aren’t happy!
Yes, I absolutely agree with you. And when they call tonight, I will tell them so. I’ve told them in the past. They want to control me, but I won’t ever be controlled again.
I can’t remember being an unhappy Yute, but I can remember liking to sleep.
The laundry room was something else today. For the first time in a long time, the swamp cooler was off, but it just made the place feel close. I turned it on Low Cool, but all it did, of course, was make the place feel damp.
But the laundry is done for another week, and I need to go make my bed, then fix some tea (only three more days!) and hang the shirts.
I don’t understand why it’s so hard to be considerate. I don’t phone or text people if I think they’re likely to be asleep. That means not after 8:30 p.m. in my time zone (unless a later hour is pre-arranged), and not before 9:00 a.m. unless I hear from them first. How hard is this?
The youths make the choice to stay up later, even when they’re told I will be calling them at the standard 6:15 a.m. Choices have consequences. They can have naptime after lunch if they want.
You know my morning hours, so it’s OK to contact me, and you do. As for the evenings, I’m working on it. But if you text me, it will keep me awake longer! And sooner or later, my body will get the idea! Once I turn the light off, I still stay awake and play mahjong, so chances are good that I’d be awake until 1900. Just, last night, I was too exhausted.
But you’re right. We were taught to not call anyone before 0900 and I think the evening limit was 1930. But those were different times. I mean a different era.
I wait to see if you’re online, because you’re two hours earlier. I could phone my mom at 5:00 a.m., because I know she’s up, but we usually email.
Sometimes, I’m online but not on FR so the best rule of thumb is: My alarm is set for 0400 except on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then it’s 0200 and 0300 respectively. So text away!
(Before I decided to change my schedule, I didn’t need an alarm.)
The clothes are hung, the bed is made, the tea is being had and next is an uplifting talk and a jigsaw to get my brain going.
Good morning. Happy Monday. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. We had rain. And then we had rain. But we didn’t have any of the forecast flash flooding so it’s good.
The movie “The Ultimate Gift” is about a young trust-fund boy learning how to be a responsible adult. He spends some time on a ranch. When he first arrives he’s told what time breakfast will be and what time he is to start work. He’s late. This scene starts out with the rancher’s solution to the lateness.
You can watch the rest if you want, but I thought you’d appreciate the opening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N576EK8sdcE
We’re having rain.
I’m going to Walmart with Student Driver James.
I suggest using it as a concentrator in a death laser.
Absolutely great! I always liked Brian Dennehy.
Jake is making a nuisance of himself, hoping I’ll go to bed.
Maybe he’s afraid you’ll go to camp again, and he’ll be without his bed buddy.
Also, he wants all the food bowls refilled.
Well, I’d better do this so Face can continue posting.
And, on with the show.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.