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 ...
Good morning. I’m glad you got more sleep. I slept in my clothes so I could easily get out to pick Elen up. I’m waiting at the airport now for her to get from her gate to the curb.
I don’t have any particular fondness for Tom Cruise, but I also don’t like action movies very much.
My attention span for movies is very short, so it’s either action or an intense murder mystery. I haven’t seen any action movies for a long time, so this was different. It’s been enough to take my mind off of myself, and that’s a good thing.
But no, I don’t particularly care for Tom Cruise, either. But they do and that’s what they chose when I said, “Action movie” in response to the query, “Action, comedy, love story, drama?”
So here we are. The shower has been had, and all I’m waiting for is about another hour to pass before I put on my makeup. I don’t know what the other plans are for today, but I know that Mari decided a few days ago that they wanted to go for a ride in the VW “on Sunday,” knowing I love them as much as Kevin but letting me know I wasn’t included.
That’s OK. Kevin has promised we will go to Little Rock in the near future and go to Hobby Lobby, looking for model cars. So that will be fun.
Once I get the deposit for the utility company paid, and get the place presentable, I’ll concentrate on the bed and then a vehicle. Then I can go where I want. Just driving around with them is helping to get me somewhat oriented, so I’m not in a sea of confusion about where things are.
The traffic is horrendous. No planning went into the future growth of the city, so the streets are narrow and winding. I do not want a large vehicle!
Welcome home, Elen, USMC!
We’ve arrived. I was just thinking maybe her phone was dead and starting toward the terminal from the wait-lot when she texted to say she’d made it to the curb.
Excellent! Give her my best.
Time for the makeup ritual!
I just learned this morning that my Real Brother lost his oldest son yesterday, due to Covid and the complications of the stroke he had seven years ago.
I’m pretty sad about it. I always loved that kid. The family is devastated.
I’m so sorry to hear that. I remember your mentioning the son.
Thanks. I just feel terrible that I can’t be there physically to offer support. Poor little sick Sharon is trying to be stoic but she’s just shattered.
The kids were all there, and Mike had me on speakerphone so I got condolences from them, even though I was wishing all of them the best. Needless to say, I got all snuffly and weepy.
No news on the memorial. They aren’t allowed to have a funeral thanks to Covid, but bless their hearts. They have a great support system in the K of C, so they’ll be OK.
Me? Deaths affect me to the point that I feel battered.
I’m sure it’s dreadful for all of them. We’ve been having funerals here.
I’m going to shut this down for the night. I don’t know if movies are on the docket, but I want to make sure they’re played early, if they’re scheduled.
Since we borrowed an ozone machine this morning, we plugged it in after church, and four hours later we went back. Amazing!
No cigarette smell! I’ll see how it smells when I go to unpack tomorrow and maybe I can sleep there before the week is out.
I’ll only be there for a few hours, because of the morphine, but I need to at least get started on the bedroom. Most of what’s in there are storage tubs and they contain either linens or clothing. If I can get that much done, I may be able to start on the living room on Tuesday.
The kids decided to make it easy for me. Ha-ha.
I’m glad progress is being made on the smell. The young adults are wandering around the neighborhood, hopefully unrecognized, and some of Frank’s friends turned up and put a fish costume on him and took him away.
While driving home in my golf cart, I swerved to avoid hitting a deer, lost control and landed in a ditch, severely banging my head.
Dazed and confused, I crawled out of the ditch to the edge of the road when a shiny new BMW convertible pulled up with a very beautiful woman who asked, “Are you okay?
As I looked up, I noticed she was wearing a low-cut blouse with a cleavage to die for.
“I’m okay I think.” I replied as I pulled myself up to the side of the car to get a closer look.
She said, “Get in and I’ll take you home, so I can clean and bandage that nasty scrape on your head.” That’s nice of you,” I answered, “But I don’t think my wife will like me doing that!”
“Oh, come now, I’m a nurse,” she insisted. “I need to see if you have any more scrapes and then treat them properly.”
Well, she was really pretty and very persuasive.
Being sort of shaken and weak, I agreed, but repeated, “I’m sure my wife won’t like this.”
We arrived at her place which was just a few miles away and, after a couple of cold beers and the bandaging, I thanked her and said, “I feel a lot better, but I know my wife is going to be really upset so I’d better go now.”
“Don’t be silly!” she said with a smile. “Stay for a while. She won’t know anything. By the way, where is she?”
“My guess is that she’s still in the ditch.”
Do underwater volcanic eruptions cause tsunamis?
Heh, very amusing.
Some tsunamis are caused by underwater volcanic eruptions. Most are caused by earthquakes at subduction zones, where one tectonic plate is moving beneath another as they meet.
That was a good start to my day. Thanks!
Mirror image kitteh!
Good Day of the Dead morning! I trust you slept well, even though you had Fish Boy as a son. Or the other way around.
I managed to get seven and a half hours of sleep last night, so that will help me today. It was hard staying awake in church, and the rest of the day wasn’t much better.
Another Tom Cruise/Mission Impossible movie last night, and I’m too polite to tell them I’m not interested. But oh, well. I don’t know if I’ll stay here tonight or not. I don’t know where anything is any more. I took stuff over there, then brought other stuff back, and now I can’t find my phone charger. I have two other chargers, but not that one. The others won’t fit.
If the smell is well and truly gone this morning, I’ll work on the bedroom, as it’s mostly tubs full of clothing and bedding. Tomorrow, I’ll work in the living room. At least I have a chest of drawers for the bedroom!
Good morning. I’m glad you got some more hours of sleep. We took the “hard sodas” away from the young adults, and they all ended up able to drive home. They weren’t so much intoxicated as overexcited, it turned out.
I’m thinking of taking a shower this morning.
Good morning, all. Happy Monday!
We had a rainy weekend here and I guess more wet weather is on the way.
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