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 ...
What a perfect morning floof!
Good morning. I hope you had a good night!
Now I have to get dressed!
Jake was out, which is always something. And I got up, which is also good. And I’m dressed, and I’ve taken the trash out, and the newspaper came.
I’m back. Dressed. Face combed. Hair on. Clothes either in the closet or on the bed waiting to be folded and put away.
Now I’m going to go over and get the bill was was supposed to be in Friday’s mail. Not that I want it, but it’s for insurance, so I need it!
I’ve had breakfast, cleaned it up, turned the dishwasher on, done a load of wash ...
And I’m dressed.
The clothes are folded and gloriosky! All the socks matched up this time! Hooray for our side!
So now the next thing on the agenda is Walmart. Unngh. I’m thinking, because it’s dark now when I leave, I might start ordering online and just leave later for 0700 pick-up. Or, if I could talk my body into it, I could leave at 0630! I’ll discuss it with My Committee. They need to put in their 2¢ worth!
Well, it might have been good for the humans, but I don’t think you’re remembering what happened the last time the local fauna got into Darks’ coffee. I could never prove my theory that it was the inspiration for Stephen Kings’ “The Mist”.
Good morning. Happy Twosday. There’s no evidence here that any local fauna got into Darks’ coffee, although there is one slightly aggressive toad camped outside our front door.
Maybe Darks’ coffee would uplift the members of my household who keep lying down.
I forgot I was going to Walmart. I guess that’s the next thing.
I’m back from Walmart. Unngh.
Now I need to put ice on my knee.
We don’t purchase much anymore because we’re older and we have most of what we need. But that said, I have had to venture to the local Wally World on occasion. Most recently it was because I broke my coffee maker and had to get a new one.
I believe it is the #1 attraction in this burg. At least on a Sunday afternoon, half the population appears to be there.
I do my weekly grocery shopping at Walmart because it’s cheaper than Lin’s which is a Trader Joe’s wannabe.
For other things, I shop online.
When I got back from Walmart, the plastic that had been taped up over the swamp cooler vent ever since I moved in was almost in my face. So tomorrow, with nothing else planned, I’m going to put up another piece of plastic and hope it stays until the move.
I don’t want to spend another winter here because that hole in the ceiling will cause a major draft all through this place. I hope my balance behaves or the job isn’t going to get done.
Back from Post Office and bread store, a Vlad Driving Adventure. I wonder where else I’ll have to go today.
Nap with Jake is sounding good, but it’s too early.
I’ll be going to Lin’s (Walmart had no grapes) the Dollar Tree (Wite-Out) and the library.
Then I’ll ice my knee again and prop it for most of the day. I have an appointment this evening. Another day on the run, and I don’t even feel like walking.
Unnngh. I think I’ll find Kathleen and read to her until I can legitimately consider it Naptime.
Done with the errands. I got home and there was Sharon, dropping off a drink for Will, and she had to talk.
I just want to stay home for a few days... I don’t feel all that well.
I think you should stay home for a few days!
After this evening, I promise!
I have to kick this kidney thing, so I’ll do whatever I have to.
Lucky me!
I got a card today! Wohoo!
Mine!
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