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 ...
Happy Friday!
Excellent! I’m glad you were able to reason with Them about your status.
Thanks for the Bonus Kitteh!
Some slight improvements in performance overnight, not enough to make browsing web pages fun yet...
Hopefully more improvements over the weekend are promised... hoping that all is well for you all!
I didn’t exactly reason with anyone. I think the entire City decided that if they lost their staff-augmentee consultants there would be no work done. And, there were apparently a lot of us.
Well, if all is well that ends well, and we’re all still alive, that presents a problem for knowing if all is well with us. Right?
But all is heading in the right direction.
None of our family members, other than myself and DP, are yet astir. Oh, well.
Find an empty donuts box from your favorite donuts bakery.
Leave it on the kitchen table.
Tell family members that those who were awake got all they wanted.
You might find mornings are a little different after that.
I got charlie’s letter written and just headed out the door to walk to Kroger to get envelopes and FS pulled up with the envelopes I him for asked for last night. Hopefully, by the time I’m ready to write another letter to a different place, I’ll have found all the stuff for the desk, including the envelopes.
For lack of background noise, I logged into AccuRadio, and set my little external speakers up. They’re woefully inadequate for music, but they’re better than what comes out of the laptop.
I just hooked up the Roku and will get it going and a little later today, I’ll hook up the DVD player. I’m in need of some “Death In Paradise!”
When I put my winter coat on, I realized exactly how much weight I’ve lost. It’s pretty baggy compared to last winter! I’m happy! Five pounds to goal weight!
The Outer Banks excursion got underway less than an hour after its planned departure, which is not bad for an excursion involving Bill.
Safe journey! <3
LOL!!!
“We have made it through another week.”
Indeed.
My days were graced with emergency water heater replacement at my rental house, and imperious dismissiveness from County Health Officials.
Sat through THIS last evening. Billed a “Town Hall” it was lots more like a talking down to, where any legitimate concerns raised were summarily dismissed with boilerplate type non-answers, or evasions of the point. IT’s clear there’s ZERO inclination on their part to take any actual science into consideration. They have an agenda, and that’s all that matters to them.
Those watching live were ROUNDLY panning it in the Chat stream, and it’s been down-voted 10:1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkZxbLT3KNI
The Outer Banks. Oh, now THAT sound like lots of fun.
I’ve never made it that far east of Big Muddy, but I sure would like to, and CA is making that decision easier all the time.
Maybe I’ll retire out that way if I can find a pleasant niche to hole up in. Not too far north; I’m ice-averse, and I’d like to be inland a ways to avoid the heaviest brunt of Atlantic storms. Not urban, or suburban, but I’d like a rural region not far removed from suburban amenities.
HOT TIP:
Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Nog — the spiced stuff with rum, brandy, and whiskey in it? — makes KILLER coffee creamer.
I am extraordinarily encouraged that a nobody who drives a truck and rides a motorcycle beat a 20-year veteran of New Jersey’s state senate by just promising to listen to people’s problems.
There may be hope for America yet.
You wouldn’t like it here, then...there’s frost on the cars this morning. It will only be in the upper 50’s today, but right now, it’s about 30°.
People are leaving CA in droves, and pretty soon, the Dims won’t have anyone to tax, and no one to make miserable with senseless laws and mandates.
Head for someplace sane. AR is conservative but cold. Go check out some place close to T-c. ;o]
Wow. It’s been so quiet. I feel almost like I did in Hurricane. Isolated. I saw FS and PW for a few minutes yesterday and then nothing.
I guess I need to get used to that. Same Ol’ Stuff.
Now it’s time to shower and warm up.
Hi, we’re home, but now we’re leaving for church. More later!
I’m home, too.
I had a bit of an upset at church, but I hope it was a one-off.
Lunch with the kids which I really didn’t want, then home.
To a place that still reeks of cigarette smoke. Unngh. Even after having the ozone machine on most of the night.
Back from church, where the choir was pleasantly surprised that I was there and also clean.
We had a very nice time on the campout. It was very cold Friday night, but we had lots of bedding. Kathleen and I went hiking with the Webelos den on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, we went boating with Sally. It was a windy day, but with two experienced paddlers and Kathleen sitting still, we had a nice time checking out the lake houses - mostly trailers with porches built on - across from the camp dock.
Some of the canoers had to be rescued when an adult with a little kid or two got sideways to the wind and couldn’t get anywhere. With a little persuasion, the children will be excited that they had an Adventure.
It was less cold Saturday night, and with the time change, we were all up in plenty of time for breakfast, pack-out, and showers at home. “It’s not even six!” said Sally when I mentioned it was time to start clearing up our bedding. “But it’s really like seven! Anyway, you need to go to the bathroom!”
I’m sure Sally will text pictures of her cat, very happy to see her.
Frank said he was useful and had fun plucking chickens. Go figure!
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.