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 ...
It’s tough to be Tom! And yes, our children owe us big time by the time we’re in the old-to-them folks homes!
And thanks!! ;o]
They’re back. Some sort of traffic disturbance was happening on 74, and they decided it was safer to be away from it. Tom’s not very original in his driving routes.
The liberalism ... it burns.
Yesterday I had a phone call with someone in Florida. She told me her nickname for her governor was “Death sentence.” I was being polite so I didn’t press her on it. Too many people still trust the MSM I guess.
My F-I-L turned 89 today. He still teaches driving on the road on occasion. He says he doesn’t scream or yell because he knows that makes it even harder on the student. But how he manages that is beyond me.
I try very hard not to scream.
Better to be safe...
Yes, especially since we’re having such a high-entropy week.
Both student drivers are nearly halfway through their hours.
Oh, golly! I’ll be moving from one conservative state to another, but I hope the denizens of Dogpatch aren’t rabidly so.
Nevada was becoming far too liberal for me. It probably would have come to blows at some point.
That’s good news, for sure! Then you and Tom can rest, though I doubt that Tom sees it the same way you do. I’d be doing some “We’re gonna DIEEE!” moments a lot if I were in your shoes.
Tom will be back to school in about three weeks, but that’s still at least another 12 hours per bro.
That’s twelve hours you don’t have to endure! :o]
Exactly. James can’t get his license earlier than the second part of December (six months with the permit), and Vlad won’t be 16 until the end of January.
Posted in the kitchenette here:
I just saw a mail truck in the cemetery. I guess they’ve started delivering ballots.
How did I miss this? I must be seriously off my game.
w00t!
LOL!
That would be funny if it weren’t such a horrid possibility!
At least you can let your body and mind rest a bit so you don’t feel quite so threatened.
Since I was up earlier than I wanted to be today, I’m heading down the hall. For some reason, I’m still in fatigue mode. I can’t let it continue, because I don’t want to get sick.
Anyway, I’ll see you two tomorrow!
Someone in your locale has a sense of humor.
I hope you have a good night!
I was in a chat session with someone who said their thinking about COVID shouldn’t be political it should be about keeping people alive since the dead didn’t vote.
I said, “Well, they do in some districts, but you have a point.”
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