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!
Good morning.
Are you settling into the job, a little?
Good morning. All the casseroles wuz eaten.
The Tom family has been around this morning, encouraging Junior to fly. He chased James (the mourning doves) away from the feeder and looked pretty impressed with himself.
James the Son (and his hair) have not yet appeared this morning.
The pills have been sorted and I’ve listened to an uplifting talk (no cute accents) and now I need to clean the face and comb the hair, then make the bed.
Just as I was settling down last night, I heard sirens, and then more sirens, and after a few minutes, even more sirens. It was a house just a couple of blocks from here that was vacant of people but not furnishings. Seems it belongs to an older couple from up north who were planning to move back into it.
Engines from three townships were involved in trying to knock it down, and it was next door to the gal who teaches Sunday School. She was pretty shaken by it, from what I read on FB.
No one was hurt and that’s good!
Too bad about the house, but good that nobody was there.
I need to sort my vitamins and then load Shannon in the Unacceptable Receptacle to go to the vet and have her thyroid level checked again.
Tom Junior is out back on the feeder calling for help again. The finches are annoyed.
I just saw a juvenile female cardinal eating seeds off the ground, too.
A little. I have a lot of information in the “sponge” but I need to organize it. That will take time.
Yes...That’s the part of your work I really understand: The sponge part, where everything gets soaked up but not necessarily in the right places.
You’ll make it! Your sponge is probably a lot more maleable and obedient than mine. ;o]
Tom Junior will soon be expelled to find a place of his own. But innocence is bliss!
We have some sweet little finches here that like to play in the bushes under my window.
Shannon had a hate-filled time at the vet. As soon as we got into the house and let her out of the box, she hurried upstairs to find Jake (under the bed) and tell him Vet Things are Happening, so he probably won’t come out all day.
(He doesn’t have a vet appointment.)
I’m feeling a little woozy after Vlad’s driving.
I’m sorry for Shannon, and even sorrier for Jake! LOL! She’s got him so scared he’s never going to want to go near the Unacceptable Receptacle again!
I’m also sorry about your wooziness. Maybe Tom the Son can come and take over the Driving Adventures for a while.
In one minute, the sun was shining brightly into the window and blinding me and the next it’s clabbered up to be an ugly shade of gray outside.
When I opened the blinds this morning the ambulance was out front but I couldn’t tell if it was here for Lona, Will or Keith. Their apartments are clustered together and it seems the EMTs pay regular visits to the three of them.
Tom drove with James while Vlad was doing the vet trip. Now Tom has gone with Vlad.
I think there’s a letter from you today... The image was a little messed up, so I’ll find out later!
I hope your wooziness passes soon. That’s such an awful feeling. I get that way when the Low Fronts are really powerful.
I mailed something on Monday, so it could be there. Also yesterday, but no chance on that one.
We’ll probably have an early nap.
Naps can help keep the wooziness at bay.
It looks like the photo was taken of the front and the back or that letter and something else at the same time. I won’t know until I can get the mail. Weird.
That USPS is just great.
Yesindeedy!
It has Adam, the Friendly Carrier, who either boos or yays my t-shirts. He says he’ll be glad to send me Idaho Spuds bars, if I let him know. But since I have to put in a change of address, he’ll know where to send them, for sure!
I had my nap with Jake. I think we’re going to the library next. James can drive.
You card came. I’m thinking, “Wow! She got some really cool flamingo cards, all pink and pretty!” And then I said, “Wow! You GO, Girl!” Good job!
It looked like someone tried to find out if any money was in the envelope again. A good reason never to send cash to anyone, ever! I still recall the horror stories about when one of my nephews was on a mission in Chile. They had to send him one shoe at a time because a pair would be stolen. They also couldn’t send him any money, because the Chileans would slit the bottom of the envelope and with a slender wire-type tool, fish any bills out.
That’s twice I’ve seen that on your cards. It looks fresh so I think when I go to the library tomorrow, I’ll take it to the post office and see what they say. I’ve had trouble with mail ever since I moved here, but I love getting your letters!
Unfortunately, my ears are leaking.
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