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 ...
Yes, there is minimal packing, but it still needs to be done and I’m all there is to do it.
So I’ll do the laundry in the morning and see how I feel when I’m done. I may or may not feel like packing, but when I do feel like it, I’ll put a dent in it in a hurry and that’s for sure!
Now, because I was having cold chills when I got home from church, I’m going to get ready for bed and only study scriptures for half the time I usually do, or less. The last thing I need to do is make myself too sick to do what needs to be done!
I hope the cola helped!
Now I’m outta here. I hope you have a good night!
W00t!
I lived in Del Rio for a while, and didn’t mind the climate too much. It was a lot drier than MO and especially VA!
So welcome to the Undead Thread! We usually get a Morning Kitteh, but Tax-chick is on vacation and doesn’t normally post them when she’s away. Sometimes, ArGee will post a kitteh, but not on weekends.
We talk about everything here, except religion and politics, because there are other threads for those subjects. We DO discuss them, as they affect us, but we never EVER argue about them.
You’re now officially a member of the Undead Thread!
Good morning. I like to see the cooler weather, too. The adults had drinks on the pier last night just after sunset. Pretty bland drinks, but the views were great.
The others insisted they could see sharks, but I didn’t see them.
Good morning! I hope your vacation has allowed you a couple of nights of good sleep.
The beach looked very nice! I could almost see me there!
Now, since I’ve been up four-and-a-half-hours, I’m going to go take a short nap!
Sleep could be better. Enjoy your nap. I’m going outside in a minute.
The nap was not really a nap. It was more like awake but my eyelids were stuck together.
So I decided I’d just take another pain pill and then see what kind of damage I can do in the kitchen. A couple of boxes need to be closed up and labeled and I moved some chairs outside, and as soon as I can get to it, there is one more to be put out.
Then I’ll try to do something else tomorrow. Just one box a day will do it.
Don’t overdo it!
I’m done for the day. I’ve packed three (I think) and sorted stuff into three more for filling with miscellaneous stuff, and I think that’s enough for now. Tomorrow is another day, and I can pack three more. ;o]
The pantry is calling my name!
Sounds like you’ve worked hard enough for both of us. I walked on the beach.
Yes, I worked. Laundry first, then packing, and sorting, and I was over-tired so I slept like my nap. After two hours the phone rang. It’s on mute, but it vibrates, and it woke me up.
I got up, went to the door to look outside for a weather check and there was this big box. Red stickers all over it said “HEAVY.” It was. It was also on the wrong side of the stoop, so I had to manhandle it in. I couldn’t imagine what I had ordered.
The box was coming apart so I helped it. It was bottled drinks. It was only then I put my glasses on and read the label. It was for Rocky. UNNGH. I’ll take it over in the morning.
I’m not a happy person right now.
Unnngh. Maybe in your next place, the delivery people will be able to read an apartment number.
Good morning. I sat on the beach steps with Sally and watched the sun rise.
I’m so fed up with this place, it isn’t funny. The only thing that keeps me going is remembering, “Opposition in all things.” If there were no bad, we couldn’t appreciate the good.
Sunrise is my favorite time of day.
Now, however, I have to leave for Walmart and I’ll be home before the sun rises. *sigh* Winter is on the way, but I won’t be here for it!!
Maybe it's not feeling fall-ish anywhere else but I have to get my muse from somewhere.
Jake thinks it’s fall.
Good morning, ArGee. Best wishes for a fine Tiw’s Day.
We are going to Brookgreen Garden, departing here in the 9-ish time frame.
Good Tuesday morning, ArGee! Thanks for the kitteh!
Some days are just too busy to notice anything else!
We had one pretty dry week, last week. Back to a bit muggy for this week, supposed to get better soon!
We are happy that Hurricane Nicholas is staying far to the south, down along the Gulf coast, and pretty much heading into Louisiana now to rain and rain and rain...
Del Rio was OK, but at the time I lived there, I had no vehicle so I wasn’t able to learn much about the surrounding countryside. I just knew it was at the foot of the Edwards Plateau, and that was the extent of it.
Although my brother lived in Humble/King Wood for 20 years or so, and to me, the climate there wasn’t much different from MO. Of course, with my pending move to AR, I’m going from the sublime to the ridiculous.
From the Mojave Desert back to the Midwest. Something I swore I would never do! Looks like I lied!
Oooo, a fuzz!
Well, let me bless beauty with beauty, then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3ENX3aHlqU
Good morning. I went on a golf csrt ride with Sally and Josh to the marsh after supper. We saw a bald eagle!
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