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 ...
G'daft, y'all. Raining cats and dogs here.
W00t!
There’s a meme on Facebook about complaining about the heat with a photo of a GI in full gear with pack on his back and the caption is to the effect that, “I was going to complain about the heat until I remember he’s in 120° with 120# pounds on his back!” So yeah, I think about that.
But I love the heat, too!
D’afternoon. We got the cats and dogs yesterday. Today we have sun.
Shannon is out in the back yard upsetting the birds.
That’s good or bad, depending on if the birds stamp their feet on your roof when you’re taking a nap or trying to sleep late.
We had that 105° Friday, which means it would have been eighty-something at the beach — PERFECT, IOW.
We went to Francis Beach at Half Moon Bay yesterday.
It was 65° with a nagging breeze to ensure the cold went clear through to your bones. Of course, that also meant the water actually felt warm...which is saying something for the Nor-Cal coast.
TBF,it did actually make it into the mid-seventies by afternoon, and the wicked breeze was more than offset by good food, good beer (Firestone Walker 805), and good company.
And we need the cats and dogs so much! The west is dying!
Chuck just finished the switch in the kitchen, so I can take my pills and go to bed any minute now.
It will feel strange to actually reach for the light switch in the morning and have the light come on!
I’m glad your Father’s day was a good one!
I’ve read stories about Half Moon Bay...
I can’t recall actually being IN the water when we lived in the Bay Area, but San Diego, yes! Often!
Also in Puget Sound. But it goes without saying that San Diego was my favorite. ;o])
And now, kiddies, the parts of me that were complaining earlier are even louder now, so I need to make them shut up!
Have a good night, all of you!
Sweet dreams....
The cats don’t like me to sleep late. The birds just tweet and whoop and stuff.
The grass is so deep that Shannon is nearly invisible.
My girl put ice cubes in the cat water fountain.
My floof was taking a drink and had a cube bump her nose.
She hissed at the offending solidified water.
I got a new mug from #1 Daughter:
https://www.hallmark.com/gifts/kitchen/mugs-and-teacups/peanuts-linus-and-snoopy-dimensional-blanket-mug-17-oz.-1PAJ2159.html
Trying to figure out whether I’m Linus or Snoopy.
‘Cuz I FEEL alot like Snoopy.
Life has been playing the role of Linus recently ...
Our cats like a little ice in the water.
Cute!
Tweedle James and Tweedle Vlad are going to the DMV tomorrow to get their learners permits, if nothing goes wrong.
Mine was very angry with the ice that dared boop her nose.
Cats are weird.
I prescribe Apothic Dark.
Son The Last is about to do the same, and assume the title “Driver 4” in the family canon.
Yow! I remember when Vlad was born!
That deserves a couple nihilist dad jokes...
- - -
Why did the scarecrow win a prize? Because he stood alone in his field! He stood there for years, rotting, until he was forgotten.
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I tell my kids, you’re allowed to watch the TV all you want… Just don’t turn it on! This way they will begin to understand the futility of all things.
Or maybe cats are so wired.
We have thunderstorms. I don’t know how many our puppy has been through. She doesn’t seem to mind this line coming through.
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