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 ...
I might have been more adventurous if I weren’t accustomed to indoor plumbing. Did the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock say, “Where is the bathroom?” Nope, it was right where it had always been: in a pot or behind a tree.
And now, I’m going to nap. I’ll try your skirt on after I take a shower later. If it’s too small for me, you can gloat.
Enjoy your nap! Gloating is not in my vocabulary. I think I would feel bad more than anything, actually.
Thank you.
Nap was nice. Jake is still there.
Was that a short nap? Or was I just preoccupied?
I don’t know, I wasn’t watching the clock. Once Jake starts purring and drooling, I lose track.
LOL! That purring and drooling will put you to sleep in a heartbeat!
I’m going to head down the hall and maybe I can get to sleep earlier tonight. The dyslexia is driving me nuts.
I’ll see you in the morning!
I hope you have a good night.
Thanks! I did. I should have wished you one as well. I woke up in so much pain, I hated myself, but I knew if I didn’t get up and take some morphine, it would just get worse and worse. So I was up 20 minutes before the alarm rang.
I’m going to finish my “breakfast” and then go shower.
Morning kitteh is happy to be here on a Sabbath Day!
Good morning.
The shower has been had. I will get my hair cut this week, probably on Wednesday. I hope they do a good job.
Happy August Oneth! ;o]
It’s hard to believe it’s here already. Mike’s birthday is the 19th, and I’m hoping he stays healthy. I’m closer to him now than to any of my other siblings. I actually think I’ve always been. Forced to be with Liz because we were treated like twins growing up, but polar opposites. Mike and I are much closer.
That’s probably TMI.
Happy August! I can pay the mortgage! Darned Credit Union gets confused if they receive more than one payment in a calendar month, so I have to wait and hope I don’t lose the bill.
Kathleen is going to a birthday party this evening up the street, a little boy who is turning 7. James and Vlad will go to the church youth group. Tom may come over to play a game.
Many years ago, probably in ‘92, I bought a wooden letter sorter. It has three letter slots plus three L hooks for keys, and I don’t know what I’d do without it.
Mine is taller and with the hooks, but this is basically it. I always know where my bills are!
*tagline*
I just put things by my keyboard.
I asked the family members to let me bring the mail in, so that bills wouldn’t be overlooked or immediately misplaced, but they have not been able to do that.
It is frustrating when you make a specific request of people, in a pleasant manner, with an explanation of why it’s important ... but they just won’t.
I got very frustrated about that, which is why I got the mail sorter.
My only consolation is, “What goes around, comes around.” There WILL be a Day!
When it’s such a small thing, one might get the idea that, no matter what they say, nobody cares.
But see, not doing what is asked when it comes to the mail could result in bills not being paid in a timely manner and that could have all sorts of dire consequences if left unattended.
They may need a few lessons in bill paying and checkbook balancing in order to get the idea.
Wow. I got ready for church in record time! Now I have time to spare!
I could go to Walmart, but I don’t want to.
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