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 ...
W00t!
Yes, and if Chuck does nothing about this one, his non-smoking policy will go up in smoke. He only instituted because a smoker burned up the quad across the street from me. I hope it doesn’t take another fire to reinforce that. If it does, I hope I’m gone long before then!
Good morning (still). Happy Monday!
How is the last week of July treating everyone?
w00t!
Unfortunately, in most cases such a policy is to allow the building management to deny any responsibility for anything a smoker does to the buildings. It also allows them to charge for any smoke-related damage. It doesn’t actually make it easier to stop people form smoking.
Most government-owned/run housing complexes are, by federal law, non-smoking.
This is a non-smoking facility, as are most in Utah. In the contract that we all signed when we moved in, we agreed to not smoke, nor to allow our guests to smoke.
The smoking tenant can be charged for any smoke damage and can be evicted.
Good morning!
The monsoons are beating on us hot and heavy. But it’s OK. The rain has come almost every afternoon for the last week, and sometimes, it rains for an hour or more, which we need for the crops and herds.
With another month to go in “monsoon season,” maybe it will rain enough to actually help.
It is my understanding that Walt Disney was able to change the rain schedule in central Florida to only rain between 2 and 4 in the afternoon so as to provide maximum enjoyment of Walt Disney World.
I don’t know if he ever shared the secret before he shuffled off this mortal coil. But it still seems to be in effect.
It’s hot here, too, and I’m surrounded by people who are driving me out of my mind.
Wasn’t there someone else who scheduled the rain to fall for a couple of hours every day? Seems to me I read a book by Brian B. -something that had a somewhat perfect world. I can’t recall and the books are “somewhere” not within reach. I’d like to read them again.
I’ll hurry up and move so you can visit me for a week. Maybe that will help a bit!
Yes, hurry up and move!
I need to add a PS to #1205:
After the fire eight years ago, the corporation that owns these apartments instituted a non-smoking policy. Utah had put the law on the books around the same time but compliance wasn’t mandatory for a few years. Now it is but they were ahead of the feds.
Since these are low-income apartments, they have to follow federal regulations. Sadly, the feds didn’t get in on the no-smoking band wagon until three years ago, and once the remodeled apartments in Henderson began to be occupied, the policy was “enforced.” It’s easier to do here that there, because NV has the highest percentage of smokers in the country.
In my case that's not a drive, but a very short putt.
Ba-dump-TISSSH!
I think there may have been some similar reference in “Camelot.”
There certainly is not
A more congenial spot
For happy-ever-aftering than here in Camelot.
He’ll be here all week ... try the veal!
Tom the Son took his brothers for Driving Adventures and has departed to spend his gas money, hopefully on gas.
Veal sounds great! It’s been a while since I’ve had any!
Not sure about the entertainment, though. Camelot never impressed me, probably because it had Robert Gourmet in it.
Thanks to Tom! His younger siblings can thank him in later years not asking him to baby-sit.
I know you’re only a week in, but how’s the new job?
I like Julie Andrews as Guinevere. She was in the Broadway cast, not the movie.
The job is OK. I need to be in the office a little bit to meet some people. I had to go to NYC on my first day last week so it was a VERY long day.
We are working alternate weeks in the office because NYC is only at the “50% capacity” stage of coming back from COVID lock-down - er - PAUSE. Unfortunately, it’s not set up like I’m in the same weeks as all my team members. But I’m sure we’ll figure it out.
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