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 thought people in CA knew smoke was bad for your health.
Tom the Son texted to ask if someone could pick him up at the Volvo dealer, where he’d made an appointment to see if something could be done about the Check Engine light that’s been on ever since he bought the car two years ago.
By the time I got there with Student Driver Vlad, Tom had already found out that the only thing they were willing to do was replace the whole dashboard electronics system for $2,000, to which he said, “Have a nice day.”
Vlad got an hour of driving practice, at least, but I had to go to bed after that. We encountered the first insane driver before we even left our subdivision.
Poor Tom. I’m learning that service is now a thing of the past. People don’t want to stand by their products any more, and that’s sad.
I’m so sorry about your chaperoning malady. It’s not for the faint-hearted or even those who have been through it several times.
Are you feeling better after your lie-down? And was that with a cat for comfort?
The cat was elsewhere, but I feel better now. The car is a 2006, I think, so there are limits to what can be done for its electronics. The engine is doing okay.
It’s really hot out. We have Cub Scouts tonight, and it will be really hot for that, too. The whole family is going to help with Open House. I didn’t go to schools for recruiting this year: there were others to do that, such a relief. That was worse, pound for pound, than Teen Driving Adventures!
I was thinking more in terms of Volvo’s ability to stand by its products. You didn’t mention how many miles were on the car, but as my own son says, “Any car that has over 100,000 miles on it is bound to have ‘Check Engine’ light problems.”
Wow. At this point, I can’t think of much that could be worse than Teen Driving Adventures, especially since they just keep coming!
So. Later.
I hope you have a good night. I’ve written Today’s Special Animal Friend for tomorrow, and now I’m going to paint some more. Maybe I’ll get some good results.
What a sweet little floof!
Good morning. I hope you had a good night.
I need to go do the face and hair things, fold the sleep shirts and get ready for Walmart. Unngh. Next week, I think I’m going to place the order for pickup, maybe. I probably should have done it for today, but I’ve had no brain all week.
I don’t even recall what I’ve done for the last hour...
Good morning. I’m just hanging around waiting for other people to get up so I can move on with the day. The cats were here.
The cats don’t want to come in. I heard the barred owl.
Now I’m annoyed with myself. If I’d known I would be up early and everyone else having a lie-in, I’d have brought a set of clothes and extra toiletries downstairs before I went to bed. I used to have extra soap and toothbrushes and stuff in the downstairs bathroom, but it’s been scavenged by children.
When I need to set things aside, I stick them in a plastic zipper bag and put it in a place where I can use grab it quickly, or that it will be out of sight of others. (I do this with glasses, cleaning cloths and a new pack of tissues to take to church each week, since I change purses.)
Get some travel-sized toiletries and put them in the bag and stash them someplace out of prying eyes. Do the same with clothing. Roll it up into a tight roll, put it in the bag and stash it with the toiletries. Presto. Non-emergency emergency stash to be up and running when everyone else is having a lie-in.
We have several owls here, but of course, I’ve never seen them. Only heard them when I go to and from the laundry room. Lots of doves, some sparrows and robins, a bird I absolutely love! There is probably a lot more wildlife here than I’m aware of.
Now Jake is tearing around the house meowing. If that doesn’t produce some action upstairs, I’m going to have to start getting the kids up soon. JamesVladFrank have an appointment for their second Hepatitis A shots this morning. James can drive, unnngh.
I went through a phase of putting a set of day clothes in the dragon room, but I got out of the habit. Time to get back in. My schedule and that of the other adult are way out of sync.
Just put a bag of your toiletries in there with the clothes, and you’ll be all set!
It’s almost time to leave. I was checking Facebook, and one of my nieces (this one is from CA, but moved north of here two years ago) has liked every. single. post. I shared. If it weren’t for her Likes or Comments, there would be hardly any activity on my feed.
I’ll check the main feed when I get back to see if there is anything from my Favorite Son. He’s been posting photos of the restoration of the latest VW and it’s been very interesting to watch.
So I’m gone for now. See you when I get back!
Good morning. Happy Twosday.
“What does that little light mean?”
“Oh, that just means the light is working.”
Life in the technological age.
Or, you could just stop being so nice and get ready for your day and if it disturbs those having a lie-in, it does. They’ll fall back asleep if they need to.
Unnngh.
I think about that sometimes, but I’m not willing to risk it.
I got gas in the van and the Avalon, because everyone else is. *sigh*
*tagline*
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