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 ...
Good morning. Happy Humph Day!
I have avoided calling the Mayor’s office to ask why asking for a voter ID is voter suppression but asking for proof of a COVID vaccination to eat out isn’t life suppression. But I may not hold out much longer.
I did see some news headline about some stunt of putting in a federal law about requiring a voter ID if you’re going to require a COVID ID. I wish congresscritters would focus on doing useful stuff.
Hmmm...that topiary is possibly a whimsical botanical Rorschach test...
Nearby, a neighbor has started a very small spiraling topiary cut...looks like a green cork screw.
I won’t be around to see the mature product.
Hmmm...that topiary is possibly a whimsical botanical Rorschach test...
Nearby, a neighbor has started a very small spiraling topiary cut...looks like a green cork screw.
I won’t be around to see the mature product.
Or some dogs look like bears.
A few people in my neighborhood have cut their junipers into spires or their hollies into ball-over-ball shapes.
Good morning.
I am so sorry that you have to live and work under such idiocy.
Too many people in office are swayed by the “power” of the office, not realizing that we give that power. Unless it’s an appointed position. Which is usually fraught with perils of its own.
Hang in there!
At least you’ll have a few years to relax. Three byos in a year could be harrowing for any parent.
Get another pillow. I promise when you visit, you can have your choice of pillows!
Good luck with Tom and the tires! About the time you get back it will be time for me to leave. Unngh. If it wasn’t the pain clinic, I’d cancel. I’ve become dependent on the morphine, now, because I’m at least able to do some things by myself, like laundry and making the bed. Sweeping and mopping are still hard, but not like they used to be, so yay, morphine!
I’m allergic to morphine, but I’m glad it works for you.
I’ve just finished taking my vitamins, and now I’m going to find some shoes and head over to Tom’s to get this activity underway.
They’ve tried other things on me but this is just the pure stuff, because nothing else works. Even this was rough at first because I couldn’t take it at night or I wouldn’t sleep. If I take it in the daytime, I can get my work done!
It’s only been the last six months that I could take it at night. That’s after almost six years on the stuff.
Is that a squirrel on the greener topiary to the left?
Now house behind it, for sure!
It took several texts before Tom got up, but it’s nice here on his porch.
I wish I had a nice place to sit outside, but...I’ll be able to go over to my son’s place and do that, along with an inhaler!
Tom has found a shop to put two new tires on his junk car this afternoon. Meanwhile, he’s taking Vlad on an Adventure in the Avalon.
Back from the pain clinic and the Dollar Tree where I got some meals and a 2022 calendar with mountains on it. I suspect I’ll be looking at lots of photos with mountains once I get settled.
I don’t seem to have much of an appetite lately, and I think it’s because my mouth always hurts.
I didn’t mean to send that last post just yet. I hope Tom’s car is ready when he’s back from Vlad’s Driving Adventure. It’s very nice of him to step in to help you.
Unfortunately, another car is now out of commission with an exciting new Check Engine issue. I’m feeling like entropy is really after us this week.
Gloriosky!
I’m sorry to hear that. The check engine light has been on in mine for a very long time, but as my son says, one has to expect a vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it to have a problem with the Check Engine light!
I don’t think it will be fixed until the car is rebuilt. Whenever that happens.
Deep breaths. I’m hoping we’ll have the Avalon back by the end of the day. If not, Tom will be on the hook to take Frank to Your Local Game Store for D&D.
The collapsible cart came and I’m really disappointed for the amount of money it cost. I brought the water in with it, but it was almost as difficult as when I used my old one, so I don’t know if Overstock will take it as a return or not. They say “new and unused,” but I rolled it about 50’ so I’m thinking it’s “used.” I had to try it out and I saw no other way so I’ll contact them and see what they say. Bummer.
Maybe it will do for a while?
Back from dropping Tom’s car off for the two new tires. Next, I’ll assemble lyrics for the next two weeks of Spanish Mass, and by then, it might be time to get Tom’s car back.
Today’s unnngh factor is high.
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