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)
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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 ...
Unnngh.
I wish I could mail you a Student Driver to take you places. All you’d have to do is sit and pray!
I can drive just fine. The vehicle is the problem. I have to get out on the main highway to get to the back road to St George, and it’s mostly uphill, until I get to the turn-off. Then it’s hilly again, but I don’t have to worry about some farmer/rancher in his big ol’ Dodge BOMB trying to run me down because my turn is just there so I can’t move into the slow lane.
I’ve been trying to nurse it along so I can sell it, so at least I would have a down-payment on a vehicle in Dogpatch. If I stress it going in to St G, I might break it, and then I couldn’t sell it.
There may be a way, but I would have to buy a map and put gas in the tank for a test run to see where it comes out, but that will have to wait.
Wait. Wait. Wait. That’s all I’ve done for two years. Wait. UNNGH!
Unnngh.
The check engine light came on as we were driving to the library, literally exactly like it did just three weeks ago. We took it back to the mechanic who obviously didn’t fix it right the last time, and DP came and picked us up in the van because there were four of us.
I can take Pat to work, and he can walk home.
I’m thinking about going to bed with Jake. I was already feeling negatively about this morning!
Yes, you’ve been deprived of Naps With Cats lately, but treat yourself and have a nap!!
I haven’t seen Jake recently. He’s probably under the bed.
I’m going to try to make it to noon before I give up on the day.
I know the feeling. It was really hard to write Charlie, because I try to keep my letters to him upbeat, to lessen the impact of me being gone. I think he’s still hurt by that, but hopefully, he’s gotten used to it.
Still, trying to be upbeat when I feel like the ragwheels of heck and my neck is giving me fits, is a job for Superwoman.
Which I’m not.
Maybe you could try to hang in long enough for Noon in Dogpatch?
We’ll see.
Off to the library!
Be back soon!
Well, I’m sorry to have missed your Undead Birthday Party.
It so happens you share the day with my Paternal Grandfather; born in 1909. He grew up in the red clay hills of eastern Oklahoma, came west in his teens to work the citrus industry in El Modena, Orange County, CA after WWI, lettered in football in High School, married his High School sweetheart, went to work in construction, had two children, and made a decent life for his family until his passing in 1986.
My grandmother called him “Buddy”; a reference to her favorite song from the 1920’s.
Here it is; I hope you enjoy it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7erUiV8rFw
(That intro left me with the voice of Lawrence Welk in my head.)
Thank you. My grandfather was about the same age but was born and lived in NE Missouri all his life.
I hope you found good things at the library.
I finished another section of the forestry outline and took Pat to work. Now it’s time to lie down.
Those old tunes sung by people who had real talent make me wonder what happened. They also make me want to watch some black and white movies.
Thanks.
The early seasons of the Muppet Show often included music-hall songs like that.
I call Jake my buddy ;-).
I’ve called my son Buddy since he was a little tyke, barely able to understand what the word meant. He thought it was cool that he had a buddy!
I only use it on special occasions, these days. And only when we’re alone, as I don’t want to embarrass him.
Just more documentaries from the library, though I’m getting rather jaded by the fact that no one cleans them or reports that there is damage. I turned in the last batch early today because three sets had so much damage they were unwatchable.
I don’t know how this batch will be but I’m getting tired. the Wobbly stuff is wearing me out. I can’t contact the doctor until Monday, now.
Unngh.
We have that problem with CDs sometimes. Union County checks them over before and after checkout, but Mecklenburg doesn’t.
In England, the soldiers from the same town or region who enlisted together for World War I were called “Pals’ Battalions.” If something went badly, it wiped out a whole generational cohort in the area.
Here, they only check to see that the DVDs are all there. It’s up to the patron to complain if they don’t work right.
I clean them before I use them and as I watch I make sure I set aside the ones that are damaged from misuse, and let them know. The head librarian loves me.
Maybe they’ll give you a card when you move. I’m up. DP’s phone beeped because a weather forecast exists.
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