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 ...
That’s my story, and I’m stickin to it.
Besides, the State of Florida has made it freely available:
https://ahca.myflorida.com/docs/2020_COVID_19_Vaccination_Record_Card.pdf
How sweet! In the Nature videos I’ve seen some baby birds can make it from the clifftop to the ocean and live to come back, with mom or dad guiding the first trip all the way with words of encouragement. Others go “SPLAT!” and Mama Fox picks them up for her large brood of kits.
Or baby albatross get left by Mom and Dad until they get so hungry they have to fly or starve. A lot of them make it to the surf and a shark snags them, or they make it, the shark misses and the adrenaline gets the baby albatross airborne in a heartbeat.
In real life, I don’t think I could watch.
They were both sitting on the feeder by the dining room window, and then the adult flew off, while the juvenile sat there going, “Help! Help!” Then the adult came back and demonstrated flying from the feeder to the pergola a couple of times before the kid did it.
I’m glad you could watch it! Some animal/bird parents are so amazing!
Don’t ever “ping” me again... Unless it is a kitten picture...
Sometimes the cats show a lot of interest in the young birds, but they’ve got the blahs today.
Kittens come from me, one per day.
I got a catalog from the USPS telling me about all the new stamps.
So my agency (which really isn’t a NYC agency but is a strange hybrid of federal, state, and city) just announced an “all masks all the time” policy.
And I just got my ID card without a mask on. Nobody will recognize me.
Oh, so THAT’s how you know when to get the cool ones, like bats and Star Wars!
Any details on the paper, buff/white, thickness, watermarks, etc.?
Sometimes it’s because I see them at the Post Office or on the website. I guess since I ordered from the website recently, they decided to send me the catalog. My tax dollars at work!
Not that I’ve seen; “cardstock” is the blanket descriptor.
Everyplace I’ve found that’s demanding to see them has asked for digital uploads or scanned copies; your original is widely expected to stay home in your files for safekeeping.
I seldom go to the post office because I can’t stand in line for long, and some days, I just don’t feel up to driving. It’s not safe for other people if I don’t feel well and still get behind the wheel. Which is why I began using Stamps.com. And then of course, the Toyota died and it was several years before I got the BB SUV. So I don’t get all the kewl stamps. Of course, I can always add photos of my own to the stamps I order.
It’s time for me to head down the hall.
Have a good night, everyone!
I hope you have a good night. My casseroles are just about done.
Kitteh wants to know if he’s too late for casseroles.
Good morning.
I don’t know what’s on the docket for today except to try to get in touch with AR again. For all the good it will do.
And time the talk. (Not a speech because it’s an informal setting, sorta.)
Good morning. Happy Friday Eve!
Kitteh looks a little concerned about what the day might bring. Don’t worry, kitteh. You’re among FRiends.
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