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 ...
w00t!
I guess ‘Face wasn’t quite quick enough.
LOL!
No, ‘Face was trying very diligently to juggle a lot of things. One of the neighbors wants my Tracker but doesn’t want to pay $850, even though I told him I need the money for a down payment on a vehicle in Dogpatch.
I had to contact U-Haul and reschedule the dates (for the fifth time, I think) then I had to replace all the ink cartridges in the printer.
Then I was on the phone with my Favorite Son several times, and somewhere in between all that, I finished my letter to Charlie (complete with commiserations and an obituary he couldn’t find) and was on the phone with the shuttle company, making sure FS has a way from McCarran to here.
So from about 0600 to now, it’s been non-stop and I finally found a jumping off spot so I could plug in the phone and charge it.
So, W00t! to you, zzeeman!
Sounds like we can consider your day siezed.
Reminds me of an old cartoon where one character says, “Man, we carped the snot out of that diem” and the other says, “Latin is already a dead language, don’t kill it any more.”
Yes, but it wasn’t, really, as I had to start checking on motel prices. Since we’ll be loading on Monday, I want to make sure everything is ready by Sunday afternoon, and that means packing the bedding. So no sleeping here Sunday night!
Normally, I do nothing on Sunday, but this is an “ox in the mire situation,” so some things will have to be done.
I think I’ll book the nice, new little hotel in town, a block from both Wendy’s and McDonald’s, not far from the movie theater, and close to Lin’s.
I tell ya — when this family wants to get something done, it happens!
Most people will describe their lives as hours and hours of humdrum, same-ol-same-ol, punctuated by periods of sheer panic.
That would be me. At least the first part, but once there is a goal, I’ve pretty much got it nailed. I like challenges. ;o])
It’s that time, again, so I’ll wish you a happy weekend, and I’ll see you here on Monday. There may or may not be fresh news. But meh.
Take care of the pup!
Haz a good weekndz.
One of us will take care of the other, that’s fer sher.
Afternoon all. We’re going home tomorrow. Sounds like the cats are really going to get us!
It’s been nice, though. Quick turnaround for the science team campout next weekend. It’s only two nights, so limited clothes and meals.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I hope you slept well and are relaxed and ready to go home and face Angry Cats!
We’ve had rain overnight.
Be safe going home! (I wrote “sage” at first, and thought, “That’s fitting!” and almost left it.)
keep me on the undead list
Hiya, Covenantor!
I kept you on it just because I figured you’d rather be here than a lot of other places! ;o]
I did not realize that the "00" posts were highly prized!
Chalk that one up to beginner's luck!
Finally got all of the sheetrock up, on a room that we are remodeling, at 10PM last night.
"Finally" as I had to wait over one month for the windows to be delivered unbroken (and in the correct size)!
What used to be very simple things, seem to take forever and be fraught with errors lately.... sigh.
Good morning.
The “00s” (the multiples past 100) are indeed highly prized, here. Other threads, not so much. Probably because it’s nothing for us to get in excess of 5000 posts before we can find another (unsuspecting) suitable host.
Then we have to pounce and hi-jack it. I keep a watch when we’re closer to 4000, but if something shows up after 2000, and it looks good, well, who knows? Life is short!
We DID go to the End of the Internet, though it took us six months to do it!
Congratulation on the sheetrock installation!
Home from the beach. All the pets are still alive. The cats are mad at us; the lizards lack the cognitive equipment to be mad.
The beach house swayed on its pilings every time a car went by, someone walked up the stairs, or the washer was spinning. James says he feels more secure on our cement slab, and it’s not like he was watching the sunrise over the Atlantic, the slug.
Welcome home!! I’m glad you’re back!
I suppose that swaying keeps the house from being blown away (or washed away in the storm surge) but coming from earthquake country, it would send me heading for a doorway.
It’s good for the cats to be mad at you. It keeps them humble (as cats can be.) ;o]
And, I’m taking my wobbly self to bed. It’s been raining off and on all day, so I need to go give my body a rest.
Take care, all of you!
I hope you have a very good night! I expect a cat on the pillow!
Looking forward to the cool front coming in Tuesday... want more dry weather!
And always good to be back on a nice solid slab!
The cats gained weight since the couldn’t go outside while we were gone.
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