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 ...
Nope. I didn’t take the pills.
However, I did get one box packed, as well as the filing done, and did an inventory on the boxes left to be used, and if things go the way I hope they will, I won’t need to buy any more boxes.
I’m going to pack one more box in a minute and then call it good. Tomorrow, I will keep better track of my pill taking, so maybe I can breeze through this thing and call it “DONE!”
The only other thing of any massive importance is to decide what goes in the suitcase and what is to be left out for church.
Seeing what I’ve already packed, knowing what I have left to pack and remembering what I brought into this place, I think I’ve gotten rid of about half of what came with me. Happy day! ;o]
YAY! I got a card from NC today! Woo-hoo! :o])
Woo-hoo! I had a nap. Driving adventures knock me out ;-). Next I’ll cook.
Yes, I just mentioned the Driving Adventures!
Great minds!
I’m making it easier for Tom by getting each bro through his first few hours of utter incompetence.
Vlad is cooking sausage for the spaghetti sauce.
I hope Tom’s efforts take some of the stress off of you! It’s nice of him to help.
Spaghetti sounds very good!
I need to go chop, now. Tom could do it if he was here, but the rest of the bros are lousy at it.
Most people don’t realize that chopping fruits and vegetables is an art. I always had trouble with it.
Good for Tom, if he can follow in your plant-cutting footsteps! ;o]
He worked at Chipotle for over two years. Lots of chopping.
Two years is plenty of time to learn how to do it right. I learned from my mother and that was just by observation. No hands-on training involved, and I have no idea why.
She could make a meal out of nothing and dessert to boot! I wish I could have learned more from her.
I always had trouble chopping foodstuffs in such a way that nothing unintended wound up in the foodstuffs (and I didn’t need a band-aid).
And no Dan Ackroyd as Julia Childs is going through my mind.
I am very tidy at chopping. Tom is more entropic.
I’d need more tape for Kathleen.
That’s pretty funny right there! LOL!
Thanks, RDC!
The little floof looks like he got his nose bonked!
Good morning.
I hope you had a good night.
I’m also hoping today is fruitful, but there’s still a shower and a letter to Charlie looming before anything else can be done. Yesterday’s assessment of what’s left to do was encouraging, so it’s all downhill from here!
She lives in Romania and was picked up from the street. Seems to have come through okay, though.
I need to stop drinking so much fluid in the evenings, because I have to get up over and over during the night. Also, Jake was in last night.
Happy Friday, everyone!
I have an early meeting to qualify for an additional specialization with the freelancing site I’m attached to.
Doesn’t worry, kitteh, Friday’s here.
Yes, I have that problem, as well...every two hours unless I’m extremely tired. My problem is a chronic sore throat. I have a large drink jug, and was using it with ice cubes until I realized the water/ice cubes tasted moldy. It seems when I switched to bottled water, I drank more of it.
Hopefully, the move to Dogpatch will allow me to go back to the jug so I don’t drink as much. The bottled water warms up and then I go looking for something icy cold to stop the burn in the throat. Endless cycle. Lots of things to look forward to in Dogpatch!
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.