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 ...
There’s a Monty Python routine in there somewhere.
You must cease imMEDiately or I shall be FORCED to write a sternly worded letter.
Sometimes, I really like bananas. Other times, well, let me just say it’s been about eight months since I’ve had one, and may be another eight months before I have another.
Not high on my list of go-to goodies. Unless I can just dunk them in some good, thick chocolate syrup, like Ghirardelli’s. ;o]
We made banana s’mores on the campout. Pretty good if you left them in the fire long enough.
My afternoon was overtaken by a nap with a cat.
Banana s’mores sound pretty good, actually.
The electricians came and went, but the maintenance man hasn’t shown up. I think it may be next week, maybe. Or maybe not. Since Thanksgiving is approaching rapidly.
So I get a dark kitchen area, making trying to organize it a real beast of a job.
In the meantime, I need to plan on seeing dog hair for at least the next two weeks, although the letter today may act as a stimulant on certain actions. We’ll see.
Meantime, I’m missing a box with desk items. I need it. I need to organize this mess!
“The electricians came and went...”
Went under their own power, I take it; not under line power.
I sometimes work around High Voltage, and management strongly discourages went-ing under those elevated power levels. Electricians are greatly preferred to went via customary pedal locomotion.
Unnngh. I’m impressed with all you’ve accomplished.
Off to another Night Driving Adventure if Pat gets back with the car in the next five minutes.
Yes, it was that “customary pedal locomotion” thing. When it comes to senior housing, there must be two of them with impeccable credentials. (It’s late, I’m in pain with nothing to help it, and my sense of humor has suffered, so I hope you can forgive me.)
They did the job in about 15 minutes, and I was extremely glad they did. The walk-in closet is now much brighter!
The other person has gone for the day. I somehow figured he wouldn’t make it to my place today, and since there are three other properties, he will probably not make it here until next Wednesday. For half a day, I don’t doubt.
Unngh.
I don’t feel as if I’ve accomplished much, and I may have to back-track if they decide to lay new carpet before the bed gets here. Every time I shower, dog hairs are in the drain, so they’re in my hair as well as on my feet. I really want to cry. This is just not fun.
If they replace the carpet, it means everything has to come out of the bedroom and the closet and the only places for them are the bathroom and the living room/kitchen. And I get to do the moving.
Unngh. After that, tell me how much I’ve accomplished and I’ll probably agree with you. ;o]
And for my next trick, I’m going to bed.
It’s been a long day. The bathroom floor was filthy, by-the-way, and I’m so disgusted I can’t stand myself. I’m half tempted to save the offending Wet-Jet pad and give it to the manager if she shows up next week.
GAH!!!
I almost wish this was another time of year because things will stagnate now, and it will be December before anything is done.
Have a good night!
Good morning. Happy Friday Eve!
27 degrees yesterday morning. 46 degrees today. I’m glad I’m not doing the planning for a ski resort.
Good morning. Happy Thorsday! We have 50s right now and 70s expected later.
Hmmm...a Domestic Long Hair hasn’t shown up for breakfast for a while. Pretty chocolaty-looking floof!
Good morning. Did you sleep well?
I slept, thankfully. Not well, but often, if you know what I mean. Thunderstorms woke me in the middle of the night, and my first thought was, “Yep. Typical Midwest thunderstorms.” They just roll around the sky until they roll on outta here.
Nothing is planned for today. Maybe I’ll try to organize my little box of items for donations and make sure I have it all in the right box and not the wrong one.
Good morning. I had to go to the bathroom several times. Perils of being hydrated! I imagine I’m flushing out pounds, as it were.
Also, Jake showed up.
I just printed the directions to my destination with the girls. Google says it will take about 2-1/2 hours, but we can dawdle a little, as long as we arrive by dark or soon after.
We have 43° so it’s not too bad. Warm coat weather, for sure, for me. It gets very cold here, so I believe I’ll be buying thermal long-johns! My poor skinny legs get very cold.
Oh, wow. That’s today, isn’t it?? Crikey! I completely forgot. My bad.
I hope it’s someplace fun! I think I’ll start checking out places here for stays for your visit. No camping, of course, but things to do.
For some reason, I left the door open a little most of the night and didn’t turn the ozone machine on. I couldn’t smell any smoke today. Some days, it’s very bad. Other days, not so much.
Yep, we’re leaving this afternoon.
I’m glad your atmosphere is better today, for whatever reason!
Thanks! I like it, too! The bedroom is still problematical but I think I’ll put the ozone in there today and see if it helps.
I managed to sort through a couple of boxes and found that the box I was using for donations at the start, ended up with things I wanted to keep, and vice-versa. So I switched them and separated them.
Now, I’m going to take a break. It also seems that I’ve been sneezing a lot, and in my experience (since the accident that deviated my septum) that sneezing more than twice in a row is a sign of something other than allergens. I need to double up on the Emergen-C again and stop this Whatever at the pass.
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