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 ...
LOL!
I just sent you a pic.
Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday!
10-4.
10-10. Off to the side and down.
Oh. Wait. Happy Monday, ArGee!!
I just put 10-4 because it’s 10/4. I’ll be about if I can. I have back-to-back meetings until oh, about 4:30 pm.
Yes, we know you’re busy, and I’m happy that you are. I think I retired far too soon, but then I had no choice. So I’m always happy that you have work to do. I mean who else is there to provide for puppy?
I’ve heard of it (Ranger), but have never been there...
Hoping that "hot" is done for now... "warm" dry days, and cool nights are most welcome!!
I too enjoy reading about the packing and move... it is nice to see someone have a good plan and execute on it daily!!
Hoping all get a great start to the new week!
I have a bunch of errands to run this morning, so I don’t know how much packing I’ll get done.
I just cleaned out most of the fridge, and still have the door to do, but that will wait until tomorrow, when I have the cooler.
Once the clothes are dried, they’ll be put into a box, rather than the drawers and the closet (or the suitcase, if appropriate) but that will be tomorrow.
I might get one box packed. Maybe two, depending on how I feel when I get home.
I just talked to the apartment complex in AR and got the name of the power company, so I can work on that, too! (The manager doesn’t know if the former tenant left according to the eviction or not, so I won’t know until this afternoon. It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving Tuesday morning!)
Just when one was starving, there was the Czech Stop in West, with pastries and sausage rolls.
Wow, that’s getting close!
Kathleen and I went to the library. Soon it will be naptime! Frank has a cold. I keep sending him to bed, but he comes back and wallows on the sofa.
What’s close? Leaving? I told her we would be there no later than Friday, the 15th, and that if I had to I would put my stuff in storage. I call it “incentive!”
Frank should probably stay in bed so he doesn’t spread his germs quite so quickly.
Wow. I’m worn out.
The good news is, I found a dime on the pavement! Usually, it’s only a penny.
So very lucky, you are!!
I wonder what wonder await this wanderer?
A dime is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
If it’s like all the other colds, we’ll all get it eventually. If he was still in Cub Scouts, he wouldn’t be able to go to the meeting tonight, with his upper-respiratory gloop.
I need to find the chords for the psalm Asuncion will sing on Sunday.
Brian took my heavy blanket to the laundromat for me. Thanking me for the stuff I took up to the clubhouse this morning. Or whenever.
It’s appreciated, for sure, even if it is late in the day. And I think some cusswords escaped my lips because he wasn’t listening to me. He thought I wanted to pay him and he wasn’t going to let me, but I had to get his attention to tell him about the soap (not detergent.) This has not been a good day.
I’ll have to get a phone tomorrow, too...
It feels as if nothing got done today. I hate when that happens. I want for this move to be over with!
You got things done! It will be over soon!
But not the things I wanted to do.
I'm very tired, now, and want to go bed, but Brian hasn't come back with my bedding. Unngh.
Unnngh. I’d send you another blanket and a helpful cat if the DarksFAX was working.
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.