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 ...
Never trust a cat.
Feed a dog for seven days, he remembers you for seven years.
Feed a cat for seven years, he remembers you for seven days.
Speaking of which the boxer we’ve been feeding for a couple months hasn’t shown for a meal in a couple days.
We fear the worst.
What? Would you repeat that, please?
One day at a time!
We read a bunch of Current Environmental Issues articles about composting, and then Frank and Kathleen and I cleared out the compost bin so we can restart it. We will have to hold an All Hands Meeting so that (certain people who think throwing rocky soil in the compost bin helps) will know how it’s supposed to work.
Oh, crikey.
The Other Folks are back, and I’m already stressed and don’t know why.
I need a diversion.
What are you saying, Nully, that the boxer got hold of the wurst and is worse off for it?
Prayers for the puppy.
Maybe some emphasis would help.
How is that done, exactly? I’ve watched stuff ON TV and stuff ON DVD and stuff ON Demand, but I’ve never watched anything OFF of something before. Is it unavailable for anyone else to watch after you watched it OFF?
NYC has a city-wide composting program. The compost is trucked to farms upstate that have very large compost piles that are handled with huge machines.
It’s still voluntary. It won’t be forever.
This is what I posted, so I hope you’ll forgive my confusion:
“In the meantime, I’m watching stuff on Roku.”
Oh, Nully, I hope the boxer comes back alright.
Maybe someone gave him a home or he was picked up by animal control.
Awwwww.... Thank you.
Here’s hoping everyone’s Humph Day was Happy.
Perhaps a wiener dog...
Good morning. I hope you had a good night. Sally was having an emotional fluster, but I think she was calmed down eventually. We don’t call her Drama Queen for nothing ...
Pretty much, yeah. I hope yours was!
Look at that sweet little face!
Good morning. I hope you slept well.
I have some calls to make today. I think that’s about all I’ll get done. There’s only so much I can do on here (Interwebs) because there are no peeps to interact with for any length of time since they all have real lives.
Besides, FB isn’t all that much fun, and even the real lives are boring.
Did the 3rd music project get completed?
Wat? Iz it Friday Eve alreadyz?
Yes, Kitteh. Happy Friday Eve! And to you UnDeaders, too.
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