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 ...
Good on ya!
The new ozone machine seems to have done a better job last night than the one we borrowed, as the scent of rain stayed for several hours after the machine was turned off.
I think I’ll let it go tonight, and just keep the HEPA filters on, just in case. It would be nice not to have to cover my nose and mouth when I have to get up at night.
I put a new filter in the machine in the bedroom this morning, and will wash the other “pre-filter” before putting it back on the filter I took off. (Each machine came with two HEPA filters!)
I’m hoping the worst of the smell is gone by the time of your visit!
I hope it’s gone a lot sooner, because that will be better for you!
We could stay here:
Or here:
It looks super cute, although I’m not sure why we’d want to be at the Air Force base.
They all look totally inviting!
It would be hard to choose, but all are worth serious consideration. I think I like the ones in Little Rock, and I think we can get there without going on the Freeway. If I have the Tracker by then, I’ll go exploring, and find a way. I know there are!
“Explorer”
Thankfully I smoke a pipe and have never noticed any odors.
Good for you!
#DoNotComply
“Lazy”
Another marmalade to make my day!
Good morning. Did you sleep well?
I slept fairly well, but I think I’m going to put the ozone machine in the bedroom for 20 or 30 minutes today. By mornings, I’m all stuffed up and because I can’t breathe, I wake up.
Since I have the rails on the bed, I’m going to be moving the chest of drawers today. Where it is now presents a problem in opening the drawers. I probably should have put it in a different place to begin with, but foresight isn’t one of my stronger points.
The late Igor smoked a pipe on occasion and we both smoked cigarettes for a few years, but I always had the windows open a crack all the way through the houses we lived in. (These days, I can’t believe I ever thought smoking was “cool,” and “sophisticated.” It’s just a trashy habit.) Pipes are in another category, but a smoker seldom realizes how the smoke permeates everything, until he has quit smoking. Speaking as an ex-smoker, of course.
There is a paint that will cover the smoke smell, but most small apartments can’t afford it. So I’ve been using the ozone machine because this place obviously wasn’t painted before I moved in.
Absolutely!
My son and daughter decided to get the vax because they’re around people on a daily basis. But my age and the fact that I have a compromised immune system from CFIDS means it could kill me within a month. I’ve got too many things to finish, so I figure I’ll never die.
That was just a quick search. I’m sure there are many nice places. It depends on the time of year, too.
Good morning. My alarm went off early because I forgot the reset my clock after the power flicker on Thursday night. Oh, well. The cats were happy to go out earlier!
I would like to lounge with kitteh, but we have choir this morning and then Kathleen and I will be serving barbecue at the Scouts fundraiser for a couple of hours.
I’ll slave away until I can’t do it any more and then I’ll sit on my backside and watch British Murder Mysteries until my back hurts too much to sit any longer and then I’ll be up again, doing something.
The back ladder on the rocker has a slat in the wrong place. Perhaps I would have been smarter to get a chair with vertical supports on the back, but it’s about 20 years too late to reconsider.
Can you get a cushion? They used to make back-and-seat combination cushions for rocking chairs.
Some brothers have turned up.
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.