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 ...
And when she said, “Thanks”, you said, “You’re welcome. There’s no reason we should BOTH be annoying.”
Or ... not.
LOL!
No, I told her to have a safe weekend, and hung up.
My CSR skills aren’t ALL gone! :o])
G'daft, y'all, and have a grand weekend!
You too, SG! Be good to yourself!
Good morning. All fine here. Breakfast is about done.
Are you free of the sore throat yet?
Feeling better?
When you are 5 years old and waiting for the next occurrence of some annual event, e.g., your birthday, to come rolling around, that wait (one year) is essentially 1/5 of your life.
Contrast that with the 70 year old in the same situation, that wait (one year) is essentially 1/70 of your life.
Not sure if that explains all of it, but I do believe that it is a factor.
I also think the fact that there is so much happening in the world around us, and we are being bombarded by it 24*7 (or as much as we allow it in), also makes a year just seem to fly by now...
I hope the extra sleep helped you to recover. A few days ago I took an extra long afternoon nap... was out cold for about 2.5 hours, when I woke up I felt much better.... like I finally fought off the bug I was battling...
Good morning.
Sorry for my absence so far but I’ve been writing a letter.
Not to mention trying to drag myself out of the doldrums.
I’ll keep better tabs on the feed...
Glad that it all worked... that Vitamin C is a very good supplement...
With all of the current coof going around, I have also made sure to get sufficient Zinc and D3...
Good morning.
No, the sore throat is still with me, but it’s not unusual for me. I haven’t had a cold for a very long time, and it would appear that’s what this is. However, I’ve been under a lot of stress and once that stress was lifted, it was only matter of time before it manifested itself in some other way.
This time, it’s a cold with the grandmother of all sore throats. Thanks for you concern.
I never really felt bad, just tired, but that’s the story of my life, and I didn’t expect to do anything but have a relapse. Having a cold is just different. ;o]
Well, actually, with me, there is no “extra sleep.” I go to bed about the same time every day, and if I go 30 minutes early, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll go to sleep 30 minutes earlier.
I did manage to get 10.5 hours of sleep last night but it’s still not enough to ever make me feel rested, even when I’m feeling “good.”
Naps are good. I don’t take them as a rule, though my mother did, every day that I remember her being alive. Some people are just “Nap People.”
See post #2783, by ArGee.
The Emergen-C I was talking about is this stuff, not the general, run-of-the-mill Vitamin C. This helps your immune system as well as gives an extra boost when you’re not feeling well.
It has 1000 units of vitamin C, but other things as well, so it’s good to have on hand. I’m taking it at least four times a day, now, just to knock this thing before my move.
Brian cleaned and painted the birdcage stand yesterday so it’s ready for the move. I still have most of the stuff That went into the cage, so good for me!
That was very nice of Brian.
Not sure where the rest of the family is, but they’re all doing something. I hear whistling: I gave out whistles at my Outdoor Safety lesson.
Brian feels he needed to do something for me because I gave him the chairs, the table and the microwave cart, and because I’m resistant to having unaccompanied men in my apartment, I have repeatedly told him “nothing, thanks.”
Then I remembered the cage stand and asked if he could clean it up for me, which had been sitting outside since the birds went to the aviary, in Kanab. I had it for sale on Facebook Marketplace, but the only taker decided that 60 miles was too far to drive to pay $80 for a flight cage. So I’m taking it all as a sign that I need to be on the lookout for more birds.
Once I get settled, I’ll check with the vets in the area and let them know I can take a couple of rescues. Same breed, same circumstance, etc. The cage may hold up to four, but I would have to consult with someone with more knowledge than I have. I don’t want to make a mistake and condemn four little lives.
Oh, whistles! What a wonderful idea! I need a whistle for my key chain!
Placido Domingo! We are home, laundry on, all that. I’m going to take a shower after I put the first load in the dryer and the second one in the washer.
It was a very nice weekend. More news later!
Welcome home!!
I figured you had Things To Do before you posted, so take your time and have a nap with a cat if that’s on the agenda.
Looking forward to News! ;o]
I decided I should eat before the shower.
We’re all going to church at 4:30, so there probably won’t be time for a nap. Jake is mad at me, anyway. I keep leaving him!
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