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 ...
She hasn’t called me, crying, for a couple of days. Maybe she’s bucking up, or maybe Anoreth was at home to cry at.
I need to go dress extra-tidily so as to overawe the apartment employees ;-).
You will overawe the apartment employees no matter what! You’ll dazzle ‘em, and overwhelm them with your Professional Manner, and win them over with your wit, wisdom and cordiality.
Knock ‘em dead! :o])
I will treat the employee as a competent person who wants to do the reasonable thing.
Isn’t that what I said? You just did it more succinctly that I did!
Now I have to get back to work!
I’ll be here when you get back, though!
I think it’s all handled, at least as far as I will be needed. “The Management,” as opposed to the desk clerk, won’t be in until Tuesday, and they’ll let Sally know when she needs to sign off on her having vacated the place. She and Josh both need to sign, but the clerk didn’t think it needed to be done at the same time.
And they’re not going to charge a fee, because they’re trying to clear tenants out so they can rehab the units and raise the rent.
That sounds like it’s a done deal, then. It’s good that they don’t have to be together to sign off on it.
It would seem greed is the bottom line, these days!
I’m waiting for Jake, now, and maybe Sharon. She said she’d come by today, but we’ll see. I packed a few more boxes but just took the next dose of morphine and will sit quietly until it starts to work.
Kevin sent me a text saying he was in Houston, and I think he has about an hour there. Not long, anyway.
So things are moving right along!
Crikey. I still have to pack my suitcase! GAH!!
I’m “watching” “The Mummy” but only for sound. Maybe I’ll watch PBS, instead.
Well, greed would be if they made her pay to leave even though they want her to leave! On the other hand, they stuck her with nonrefundable fees and a pet fine up front.
I found a bag of potatoes in the pantry, so I’m looking up potato casserole recipes. That reminds me, I have mashed potatoes in the freezer. I’ll have to make potato soup. I can get some ham.
The up-front non-refundable fees are just a way to get more money. Pet deposits are supposed to cover any damage the pet does to the walls or the carpeting, but unless you have unruly dogs or cats that have no other place to scratch, damage to the carpets will be minimal. I’ve never understood that, anyway, because they all clean the carpets between tenants. But don’t get me started. ;o]
Sharon isn’t coming, of course, even though she says I’m her best friend. I’ve never been her best friend and both of us know it. But that’s OK. If she’s happy with that for an excuse (a trip to Vegas yesterday with another couple has made her head hurt, but she can go get a Pepsi for the guy across the street from me) then good for her. She’s never cared for my disabilities because she can’t see them. Therefore, they don’t exist, and I don’t attend the last meeting on Sundays because I just don’t want to, or the functions that take place in the evenings.
In a little while, I’ll get up from here and finish the pantry, then work on the bedroom.
The neighbor who disturbed my almost-sleep the night before last, rang the doorbell just as I was getting ready to head down the hall yesterday.
She’s insistent, and the night before, I’m holding the screen/storm door with one hand, trying to keep her out, and she has a death grip on it, trying to come in. I’m in nothing but my sleep shirt, it’s 6:00 PM and I need my sleep.
Anyway, I let her in but only after she said, “Can I come in and sit down?” She insisted I’m the best neighbor she ever had. Then she began asking questions about U-Haul. How much is it? How do you rent it? Who helps you to load? Where did you get the boxes? I’m not a U-Haul franchise, lady.
I barely know her first name, and when she asked me to write to her, I had to ask what her last name was but I’m the best neighbor she’s ever had.
(Looks like I’ll be hand-writing your letter...)
Oy, life can sure be weird!
I found a potato casserole recipe, and Sally and Vlad picked up a few ingredients from Walmart. I’m thinking about naptime once the potatoes are boiled. They have to cool before I can shred them, anyway.
Good for you and for Sally for having a Driving Adventure with Vlad!
I just packed the items in the coat closet, thanks to Space Bags, and will go back in and seal it up. My back hurts again, and somehow, when I was trying to squish the air out of the bags, I hurt my knee and my hands. But I’m on the downhill pull, now. There is the suitcase to pack and what’s left on the desk and I have some things in here I have to sort and pack.
But for the most part, I’m done with it. And it’s time because I want to cry.
Have a wonderful nap!!
Jake finally showed up and brought me a set of books to give to Abbie: The Work And The Glory — the same set I found at the thrift store a couple of years ago! I put them into a book box and labeled it with hearts and wrote, “Abbie’s Books!” on it. Come unloading time, I will alert everyone that if they come across the box to give it to Abbie!
I’m exhausted. My head wants to take a nose-dive into the keyboard, but I’m going to try and get another box packed.
Kevin just landed, so he has a while to kill before the shuttle leaves for St George.
I can’t pack another box just yet. I can’t focus.
You can stop packing. Kevin can finish up in five minutes!
We had the groundbreaking ceremony for our new someday church building.
I don’t think he’s coming tonight. When he got on the shuttle he had a headache and no water, (diabetic) and I told him to take a nap and see how he feels when he wakes up.
I told him we could always go to breakfast in the morning after church, so I have no idea how he’s feeling. He’ll let me know when he wakes up. If nothing else, I told him to take a nap at the in-laws and see how he feels.
I’m still packing.
I love groundbreaking for new churches! It always signifies growth and that’s always good.
The congregation has been too big for our current facility for a long time. The building fund chairman, my good friend Jim, says we might move in by the end of 2022.
That sounds like a reasonable time frame for ground-breaking to occupation. That’s not that far away, either!
Kevin is going to take a nap at the in-laws and then he’ll come and get me to go to dinner. I think he was surprised when I told him I hadn’t taken my pills yet, and that I was ready to go when he was.
But I have to take another morphine before I add any more standing or sitting to the days activities.
I hope you two have a very nice dinner and all in all, several good days together until you have a complication-free arrival at your new residence!
Thanks. I’m still waiting for him to wake up. I’m getting very tired. And that’s not going to go over too well tomorrow morning.
I just couldn’t pack any more, but I’m not done, so he’d better be ready to help out tomorrow when we get back from church. I love him with all my heart, but I hate depending on other people at times like this.
Believe me, I understand. I don’t like to depend on other people either, but sometimes you have to.
Yes, well, since Thursday, more than ever! I can’t even get to church now, without depending on someone else! LOL!
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