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 ...
This is my last Labor Day alone! My goal is to be there for the Holidays.
Thomas Sowell has so much common sense! I love reading his thoughts. I’ll look for the biography. If it’s under $7, I can get it free on Thriftbooks.
Remind me, please, if I haven’t said anything to you on Friday by 1030 your time, to call Dogpatch. Please? Not sure how my brain will be working this week.
I’m going to pretend I’m tired and head down the hallway. It’s another early day tomorrow, and I want to be ready for it.
I hope your evening is great and that you sleep well tonight! ;o]
Thank you, and I hope you have a very restful night. All our guests have gone home or on to their next event, so we can run the dishwasher and plan on an early-ish night.
Thomas Sowell is America’s greatest living intellectual.
Kitteh says it’s time to wake up!
Good morning. Did your early-ish night help you to sleep well?
I got about 20 minutes of deep sleep, so that was an unexpected surprise! I was dreaming of eating pizza when I woke up. Not me. I’m just an observer. Some military guys were eating it.
It would seem I’ve lost another 2.2 pounds. ;o] And I’m not even really working at it. But it’s good news just the same. Only nine to go (for the current goal!) and depending on how I feel when I reach it I may re-set it. Or I may not have to, because my weight will stabilize when it gets to a certain point, anyway.
The thing on re-creating Shackleton’s journey was excellent! What’s the name of the Thomas Sowell book? He’s a prolific writer!
This is a book about Thomas Sowell: “Maverick,” by Jason L. Riley.
Good morning. I didn’t get to bed as early as I hoped, about 9:30, but I slept pretty well. Jake was out.
I couldn’t find any volumes under $21 + S&H, so it will have to wait for a while. And I searched four used books sites. But my goodness! ALL of his books are top dollar, so I’m guess they’re not just good but in demand.
Now I have to put my laundry away and get ready to go to Walmart. I don’t want to, but...
Part of me is done, and now I just have to go fold the Dainties and put them away.
Then I can sit for a minute.
I completely forgot that my new appointment at the pain clinic is tomorrow. GAH! I’m using up my reserves because of that mistake by the Newbie. Not to mention the stress.
“Not to mention the stress.” No kidding!
I got the book from the library after a long wait. That reminds me, I need to see if I can renew some books Tom has out on my card.
I would have to buy the book because my attention span is so short these days, I could never have it back in the two weeks they allow.
So I’ll just wait until such time as I have a few extra pesos and get it.
I’m going to ask for extra morphine tomorrow because I plan on packing for at least a few days of the next two weeks, and I can’t get it done without extra, since packing involves standing and stooping for long periods. But the urge is there to get it done. Good sign!
The dainties are put away and it would appear that new socks are on the list. They are a must-have because of the neuropathy. I’ve cut my feet and bruised them without even knowing it because I was barefoot, so I just learned to wear socks with extra padding in the soles and that helps enormously. (So many things I’ve learned to do to protect myself from the insidiousness of CFIDS!)
Thanks, S.G. We don’t know of any particular allergies but we think she is sensitive to pesticides, including the ones put in flea and tick preventatives and put on grass.
Good morning. Happy Mo - er - Twosday! Those Monday holidays really make the week hard to keep track of.
We did some travel over Labor Day weekend. The pup traveled OK but seems to have decided she doesn’t need to pee when we put her out for her last time at night. No overnight ‘accidents’ were caused but I hope she gets back on schedule soon.
It’s a happy Tiw’s Day here. I think. Maybe it will be Trash Day, maybe not.
I hope everything gets sorted out excellently tomorrow. That reminds me of something, but I’m not sure what. It will come to me ...
Happy Motuday.
It’s nice that you could get away for a bit! And good news about puppy traveling well, though perhaps the lack of need to pee was from the stress of the trip. Dogs are funny. You’ll soon find out, for sure!
As do I. I don’t have quite the rapport with this PA as I did with the doctor, but it is what it is and I try to make the best of it.
As long as she gives me more tablets than she has been, I’ll be OK. When I get to Dogpatch, I may be able to increase the dosage permanently. I mean, I’ve been on it over six years now, at the same dosage, and the nerve damage and arthritis are both getting worse. I do think it’s time for a slight increase in the dosage. But I’ll ask about it in AR.
One step at a time. Oh, I remember: I need to call in a refill order for my ankle pill.
How is your ankle after your hike?
I really don’t want to go to the pain clinic but I have no choice. And that reminds me that it’s time for a pill.
My ankle wasn’t too bad, but the plantar fibroid in my arch was swollen and painful. If it’s not one thing, it’s another!
I’m sorry to hear that!
But yes, it seems we need constant reminders that we’re not only human but still alive, so a painful anything reminds us of those two facts.
The Lawn Guy is here by his lonesome again. Last week when he came, he trimmed back the bushes between this apartment and #7, because I had mentioned to Chuck when we were discussing the Smoker that the bushes were a fire hazard. So that’s all the Lawn Guy did last week — trim the bushes back. I guess it wasn’t his job to go after Smedley and his suckers, but with any luck, Chuck will take care of it before I move. Maybe.
Anyway, today, The Lawn Guy is doing the works. I hope he cleans off my sidewalk.
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