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 ...
Would it be OK if I just cancelled today for lack of interest? There is a lot to be done, but my doer has done been over done.
I’ll be finding items for Goodwill, or what passes for it soon.
In other news, the bed rails are to be delivered today. “Before 8:00 PM”
I hope the bed rails arrive before that.
I mopped the kitchen. Now I’m going to nap.
I hope you had a good nap!
I’ve been trying to get my printer online since this morning, and now, after almost three years, it doesn’t want to print using the cartridges I installed before I packed it.
Looks like I’ll have to buy more ink before I can do anything with it.
I have to stop doing everything now because the angina is just getting to be annoying.
A bit of a nap. Then I got up and arranged music for Sunday. Next, I’m going to take a shower and then eat some leftovers and take Frank and Kathleen to Sunday (Wednesday) School.
Got any 4’s?
I thought I heard the UPS truck, but I’m not familiar enough with the neighborhood to know how far away it was.
Maybe in a few months, I’ll know...
Now I’m going to try and watch an episode of “Vera” on Roku. I don’t know whether I was unimpressed by the writing or the acting on the first one I watched, but I hope all of the above improves. I need a British Murder Mystery and still haven’t hooked up the DVD player.
Maybe I’ll get that done tomorrow, after I’ve schlepped some things to the other side of the room.
The bed rails got here, but both ends of the box were open, and a couple of things fell out. The driver just dropped the box on the stoop in front of the door and took off, and never looked back. She parked on the street, and lugged them into the cul-de-sac, so who knows what’s missing? I had to use the door to shove them aside so I could pick them up and slide them indoors.
If I weren’t so tired I might be upset, but my brain has been slightly fried today.
Tomorrow, I’ll try to make an appointment with the doctor to get some morphine, but I don’t know how far out his appointment book goes, so wish me luck!
In the meantime, I’m going to take some pills and head for bed.
Ah, yes, extraneous KITCHEN items, because extraneous KITTEN items would make no sense.
Good morning. Happy Friday Eve! It’s a NYC Holiday so I won’t be working today. I’ll take the car in for service and I have to get my fun nasal swab in the afternoon.
I’m not sure what I may accomplish in between.
Good morning. I’m going to get up and do something useful any minute now, honest.
A hugh THANK YOU to all who served, are serving, or will serve, no matter where or when or for how long. A HUGH thank you to all who served who only stand and wait, families and friends.
This message doesn’t convey the tears in my eyes as I type the words, or the swelling of my heart as I recall the War my late husband fought, or the one my grandson fought.
May all your memories be fond and filled with love.
Why bother? The Other Residents will just get up and undo it any minute now. ;o]
Good morning. I slept in. The angina is gone but there is a numbness in my left arm, but I’ll get dressed and get something done today, honest.
Did you sleep well?
There might be laundry. I slept in, too, until about 5:40.
Thank you Face... :-)
No thanks necessary. I wasn’t “Out There...” I only stood and waited. Several times. My thanks are to you, you crazy Jarhead Leatherneck! <3 <3
I finally got dressed and hung up some clothes that I found yesterday. I’ll get up again and see what I can do in here.
I spent an hour on Facebook, paying tribute to those who served because there were so many, but there are also so many that I know who are on there, including my own Favorite Son and Favorite Daughter. Nephews, a bunch. Friends, a bazillion. But I’ll go back and see if there are any I missed.
In the meantime, there is work to be done. And no one to do it but me!
Today it will be in here. Tomorrow, it will be the bedroom, and maybe a few days after that, because I’m going to try and take advantage of the space under the bed. I will use a combination of the space bags and some flat storage tubs and maybe I can rid my closet of the cumbersome storage tubs.
“Doubtful”
I see many photos that purport to be of garbage piled up on NYC sidewalks... is that very widespread, or just certain areas?
Howya! And thank you for your service!
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