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 ...
Hobbes was right! Thanks for the reminder. ;o]
OK. That’s funny.
I once went across to Ciudad Acuno and went off the beaten path to get some tacos.
Montezuma got his revenge on me that day.
(My sweet sister-in-law, many, many years ago, called it “Montezuma’s Retreat.”)
Thank you!
When it’s as bad as you think it can get ,remember there’s always a worse definition of “worse.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=dTTm5zXiydg
Excellent. LOL. The power of editing to make a tyrant say in plain terms what they’re saying in veiled terms.
She’s feeling some heat it seems.
Not enough, but she is feeling some heat.
Would love to see some breakthrough Supreme Court cases over here.
This is a gem that needs overturning so that there will no longer be precedent for government mandates without appropriate exceptions:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/197/11
And what’s UP with the Attorneys General in the Lower 48?
All these seaports all backed up in CA, and yet...
You cannot be a truck owner/operator in cA
You cannot bring a rig into CA with an engine older than 2011
If you already have a truck in CA with an engine older than 2011, it has to meet 2020 standards or you cannot register it with the State DMV
As of 2035 every truck operating in CA will be electric.
So, fewer all the time are buying new tractors.
One can see pretty immediately that such nonsense is at the heart of our present supply chain crunch.
And it’s hugely CA-caused, at this point.
Well, Interstate Commerce Clause, anyone?
If I’m the AG of, say, Utah, I’m suing to get CA to Cease and Desist from enforcement because it’s hurting commerce in my State, and I’m asking the Court to issue injunctions against enforcement of these CA State statues on Interstate Commerce grounds, AND I’m talking to other States about joining my case.
We’ve seen the ICC abused; this is the kind of situation it was written to alleviate. CA CANNOT be permitted to continue policies that make the State a choke point for the flow of goods to the rest of the contiguous United States.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4007865/posts?page=1
What about this for a new Undead Threat. Geology!
I like it! Let’s do it!
If Elen, USMC, was in Okinawa right now, she could give us live vulcanology reports, but she’s in California and will be arriving here in Boring very early Sunday morning. Good thing she has one family member who gets up very early ...
That looks like Evinrude!!
Good morning. I hope you slept well, with or without Jake.
So far this morning, I’ve written to Charlie, changed my address for the last time, (I hope,) and the next thing will be a shower, followed by putting a load of clothes in the washer, after which I will sort my pills.
When that’s done, I’ll finish up what packing there is left to do here and mark it “End” until my appointment at 1130.
From the time that’s over with, what’s left of the day will be mine.
The late hours are killing me. We watched another Tom Cruise movie last night, putting me in bed at 10:00 PM, and then up at 0400. That’s two nights in a row and then tonight will be one more Tom Cruise movie. I don’t care for him myself, but they like him, so...
I’d much rather watch a British Murder Mystery, but I don’t think they have those in the house. I’m so glad I added the list of contents when I made up my packing list. I’d be lost, otherwise. At least this way, I know where to look for what I want. It will pay off during the next week.
I’ll only be on long enough to check in tomorrow. Monday is my appointment for WiFi hook-up, the utilities are being switched to my name as of 0001 today, and I’ll make arrangements to pick up the chest of drawers and the dinette set tomorrow.
To say I’m exhausted would be an understatement.
That will be wonderful to have Elen, USMC, home on Leave!! Please give her my best from Dogpatch.
The early family member is the one who has the fun!
State AGs are too busy taking on parents who challenge their school boards.
Good morning, all. Happy Friday!
That’s what I need, a duck, and I’ll be all set.
It has my vote.
Although it doesn’t have the panache of beans with eyes.
Well, at least you can rest in the knowledge that after you finish all that there will be something else.
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