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 ...
W00t!!
Good job!
Nothing is being accomplished here. I need to make some phone calls and then I’ll decide what’s next on the agenda.
**
And....
Once again, I got side-tracked, but it resulted in three (or four) boxes being opened and the contents put away. Now, I’ll take a break for a minute.
In other news, PW is feeling better and said the doc told her the appendix most certainly needed to come out. PW is groggy, and has lost her voice for the moment, but is feeling much better.
I realized how unsettled I’ve been with all my belongings being packed away. With any luck, I’ll have this place looking much better by Thanksgiving. ;o]
We finished the hog-farm articles. Next, we’ll do wildlife.
It would be a good idea for me to watch some wildlife films and relax, I think!
I’ll take a break and then I’ll see about shifting some stuff around to their final resting places. It’s the least I can do! Maybe I’ll feel more like unpacking when I get that done.
We’re learning about calculating and managing wildlife populations.
I have a slightly upset stomach, something that has been plaguing me since my move. So the break may be a long one.
Oh, dear. I hope you feel better soon. Do you have mint tea?
Thanks.
Somewhere...
Buried, I suppose, in a box marked “Pantry” or “K” for Kitchen.
FS took the day off to care for PW, as I knew he would, so he nipped out to see me for about five minutes and told me the place smelled better. It does, when the door is open, the HEPA filter is running and I’m diligent about the use of room freshener sprays.
I’ll wake up in the morning to a stinky place again, and we’ll go through it all again. Maybe by late spring, it will be gone enough for me to turn on the A/C and not have to smell the smoke, but I doubt it.
I certainly hope its gone by the time you get here!
If you think a cleaning service would help, you could get one!
I haven’t dismissed the idea! It’s finding one in the area that is the hard part.
But I am working on it. ;o]
I thought this location was less isolated from the world.
Nah. I could always get stuff from Las Vegas, where I was, but here...not so much. Little Rock isn’t exactly a booming metropolis. Probably Dallas would be the closest “big city.”
We’ll see what I find.
I just took a survey from the state wildlife department and got a coupon for $20-off a $100 purchase at Academy Sports. It’s good only on the 18th and 19th, weirdly, but maybe the family can come up with $80 of stuff we need. Kathleen has about outgrown her sleeping bag, and there’s always warm socks!
Congratulations!
Who doesn’t need warm socks??
Nobody I know. Even Sally wears warm socks these days.
See? Socks aren’t exactly cheap, no matter where you buy them, so you could buy lots and lots of warm socks!
A politician who endlessly brags about their few actual or imaginary accomplishments and is prone to to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats is a BoastBluster...
Good one.
Thank you!
(s) nully, who moves with great crepitus...
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