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 ...
Red Bull gives you water wings.
No it didn’t work out. James finally sent me a text that said he was going to try and pin the guy down, but it was almost an hour before he texted back that Jake would be here at 10:00. Finally. I went to bed. Late, but I made it.
Now all I have to do is wait for him to show up today before Kevin gets here.
If Asuncion says you look younger with that extra weight, then I’ll have to bow to her expertise and superior knowledge!
She’d be my best friend, too! LOL!
I don’t know how much we had but it was a constant rain all day and into last night. I haven’t seen so much rain since I’ve been here.
I hope you get more rain, but then, I worry about the damage from the forest fires.
Hang in there!
Well, good morning, anyway. It’s still dark here. Jake insisted I get up at 5:00, but now he’s gone back to bed, the turkey.
I’m waiting for Sally to confirm that she can meet me at the apartment office at 10:00, when they open.
Awww... what sweet babies!
Good morning. Did you sleep well?
It’s cold this morning — 53° and I need to get off my duff and start something. First on the list is sorting pills, then packing the supply. Then to the pantry to finish it. Yesterday, I put all the opened bottles into plastic bags and sealed them so if they leak, they’ll just leak into the bags.
Once the pantry is done, I’ll do the coat closet and that almost finishes the whole thing. Yay, me!
Kevin will be heading for the airport in Little Rock, if he hasn’t already, and will text me when he’s ready to board. He’s really looking forward to this!
I’ve started a letter to you but will work on it off and on. I probably should have started it in the notebook!
Anyway, off to sort pills. Be back in 20! ;o]
Yes, I did sleep pretty well, although I think Jake turned up on my pillow at some point.
It’s so exciting that this move is really getting underway!
It’s very dark here!
And I think it’s very kind of Asuncion to comment on your youthful appearance. No one has ever said that about me, so, yes, good morning!
I hope things work out OK with Sally. I’ve thought about it off and on, and think she’s very lucky to have so many people pulling for her and gathering around her when she needs the love and comfort of family.
She’ll get through this just fine.
I’m excited, too, and in all the fuss and mess yesterday, I forgot to call the apartment office. But it’s OK. I’ll call her from somewhere on the road, Tuesday morning.
Once that last box is packed on Sunday, the excitement will set in for me. ;o]
Now to REALLY sort the pills! LOL!
One of the guys on the North Carolina board says his son in going through a similar breakup, where he did a lot for the girl and then she dumped him. People who want to be generous to others need to learn to take care of themselves, too.
(The obvious reply is, “This from you!”)
I started a letter yesterday, too, before I got busy with the students’ public speaking activities.
There was a cat which sat on my lap, shedded long fur all over me, and then got overexcited and bit my arm. I sprayed Bactine on it, and it’s not swelling or oozing, so I think I’m good.
I never had any money and never thought about taking it from other people, so I escaped that. But I still got the abuse.
Where I grew up, people were taught to respect others and love them, and sacrifice for them. I musta been from a different universe!
Yeah, it’s a crazy ol’ world.
I sorted my pills, too. I’m out of kelp.
I use liquid iodine. I just add it to the water when I take my pills, so it’s one less pill to swallow.
The sorting is done with for now, and I was going to start on another box, but realized the morphine I took isn’t enough. It probably would have been but Mari texted and said she just said goodbye to her hubby, and within just a few minutes, he texted and we had a good conversation for long time. Interspersed with texts from Mari, all while I was trying to sort pills. So what was a 20+ minute job normally, became the job of an hour and my back is killing me.
But the pills are sorted for the next week, and the pills, the trays they were in, the list, and the magnet that kept the list on the fridge have all been packed into the Godiva box!
So now, I get to sit for a few, and I’ll be up and running before too much longer. ;o]
I have about another hour to work on cleaning the kitchen before I leave to meet up with Sally.
I think I’m trying to be a Jill-of-all-Trades this morning. While I was washing my face, I went in the bedroom and bagged up all the perfume vials into small baggies, then finished my face and salvaged the last of the eye cream, and realized that if I don’t sit down, nothing will get done today beyond what I’ve already done. So for at least the next 30 minutes, I need to sit.
So, HI!
How’re things going? Where’s a good place to eat around here?
</joke
I usually eat at home, I’m afraid, because I’m cheap.
LOL! That would make two of us!
Please let me know how things work out with Sally. I hope she’s staying strong through all this.
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