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)
==================================================================
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 ...
W00t!
Let me take my pills and I’ll be right back...
So. Pills have been had and some cottage cheese/pineapple stuff by Daisy, and I’m off to bed. After I was my face...
See you tomorrow!
Look at that sweet face!!
We have some much needed rain. I don’t know how long it will last but it’s one of those soaking rains, and we need it!
I’m not looking forward to today’s errands but they have to be done and no one else volunteered.
How did it work out with your clothes being handy downstairs?
The other adult got up before I needed to dress in my emergency items. I felt better knowing I had more choices, though, so it’s all good.
Also, we got the newspaper today for the first time since last Tuesday.
w00t!
Good morning. Happy Humph Day!
Not sure whether that statement was celebratory or a gripe.
We like getting the newspaper. If we didn’t, we’d stop paying for it. We don’t like getting it on one random day per week.
Maybe there’s not much news in it then? Or, at least, not much national news. Because that’s just depressing.
Χαρούμενη Τετάρτη!
Will you be working from home next week? I forgot the discussion... I’ve slept a few times since we had it. ;o]
I like getting the paper too, but the only one I’m interested in is the WSJ. The only other paper I liked, back in the 60’s was the National Observer.
I think today is hair cut day, as there will be time to do it before I go to the bank. If the pharmacy at Walgreen’s was open at 0800, I could go there, too, before the bank. But it will have to be after, so I’ll be chasing my tail for two hours.
Χάμφ
I have a temporary reprieve from going down into NYC. My boss agreed with me that it’s not worth the hassle and expense to have me coming in if I can’t actually work any differently than I do at home. I’m not supposed to advertise this too widely, though, as it’s not policy.
There was a very interesting article about drive-kids-to-school businesses. One in Miami charges $17 per one-way trip, while a D.C.-area one charges $24/seven miles.
I did a quick arithmetic problem in the margin and came up with over $500/day gross if I put the back row in the van.
Good luck on the hair. If they can’t get the WSJ to me here, not far from a major banking-industry city, there’s no way you would get one.
Wellnow. That was fun.
I ran out of here so fast, I forgot my phone, and got to Great Clips 15 minutes early, so I turned around, came home and got my phone.
Got back up to Great Clips with five minutes to spare (0755) and get out of the car to wait by the door. BIG sign on the door: Temporary hours: 10:00 to 6:00. OK. That took care of the hair cut plan.
So I dropped off the bills, then went to the bank and got cash for laundry, then went to put gas in the truck, and told the gal to put $25 in, thinking I’d have some left. Funny me. I’ve been running in the red. It gave me 6.44 gallons and now I have to go back and add another $10 worth to fill the tank.
There was nothing left for me to do while I waited for the other bank to open, so here I am.
An age ago when we lived in Omaha there was a ride-share program that used passenger vans. If you became a driver you had a perk of being able to drive some number of personal miles in the van, which you kept at your home.
I didn’t sign up, but it intrigued me at the time because we only had one car.
I worked for a city in California for several years. They set aside their fleet that was only used during the day for ride sharing. For five years I did that.
There were six of us. The two guys who lived near each other and farthest from work took turns driving, and picking up/dropping off the rest of us at our houses. They kept the cars at their homes over night and weekends. We filled up with gas at the city pumps.
I never did calculate how much money we saved, including wear and tear on our personal vehicles. It was a LOT!
I went to Walmart with James and Vlad. Vlad drove. We did not die. Walmart didn’t have a protractor, so I just ordered some on Tom’s Amazon account. Also more rulers.
Would you consider doing something like this? It sounds like something I would like to do. Easy way to make money!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.