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 ...
Wow, that sounds like something worth trying out sometime!
:o])
It is! Trust me. I’m a mother!
It looks good! I don’t know how it will weather the next two hours, but it’s worth the effort. I found a few stragglers when it was dry, but a few snips and they sprang into place.
I’ll try to do a selfie later!
Now, I’m off for a couple of hours!
“Don’t Mess with Me!”
Good morning. I have pets who say that.
Thank you for the invite to mrs and I Would love nothing better than to take you up on your offer. Have so many irons in fire though I pray you will understand if we must take a rain check. HUGS and Christmas Wishes of Joy
It’s a standing offer, N-t-I. It will be in force as long as I’m here to enforce it!
XO
what beautiful eyes on that floof!
Goof morning. Did the bed occupants allow you to sleep well?
I’ll be out the door in a bit. I don’t like it, but it is what it is, so I’ll do it. It’s the first time I’ll be doing sheets since the first week in October, and I kind of liked the hiatus. I’m looking forward (not) to two hours in the laundry room because only one washer is working.
See you when I’m done!
Good morning. Not a bad night, thanks for asking, and I hope you are the same.
Maybe you’ll find both washers work!
Good morning. Happy Monday! Kitteh looks a little pensive. Probably wishing for more turkey.
We got about 1/4 inch of snow last night. But it probably won’t stick around for a white Christmas.
Good morning. Does the dog remember snow from last year?
She acts like it’s completely new. She keeps ducking her head to try to sniff at it.
And, since we can’t be sure what poisons from all the spraying this complex does have leached up into it, I have to keep pulling her head up.
It should be gone by the time Mrs. ArGee walks her at 11.
One thing after another ...
No such luck on both washers working. “Waiting for part” So I washed three loads and should have just made it two but I misjudged the size of the working washer. It’s OK, though because I had to dry the first two loads (the third gets hung up) so that required waiting for the third. I realized as I checked the washer during the wash cycle that the clothes were a lot dirtier than I expected, which means the washers in Happy Valley were not doing as good a job. It’s probably the water! (It’s a lot softer here!)
I just took a pain pill and will sit for 30-45 minutes while it goes to work, and then I’ll get busy in the bedroom. FS is coming to pick up the mattress this morning, unless someone else wants it. — I just checked and there is a nibble as of an hour ago, so I’ll wait to see if she responds. (She asked where I was located, so I hope it’s not out of the way.)
Anyway, it’s going to be a busy morning, as I’ll be putting the bedstead back together. Before I do that, I’m going to move all the tubs back into the closet, but then I’ll move them all back out of the closet and transfer the contents into the underbed storage tubs. But not today. I don’t have enough morphine for that!
I realized as I was waiting for the washer to get done, that I have been stressed/unsettled because my subconscious equates sleeping on the floor to a temporary situation.
This week, since I can reach them without too much difficulty, I may get the kitchen walls clean, what there are of them. I won’t be able to get to the other walls, but I’ll try to wash the area where the headboard will be before I set the bed up.
Then tomorrow, I’ll walk down to Hallmark and get James’ birthday bag. I already have tissue paper, so I don’t have to buy any. Meanwhile, the morning will be productive in a strange sort of way.
Yes, it is Monday. Good morning!
I don’t know if we’ll get snow this year, but the cold is working its magic on the trees. Lawns are a totally different story. I think a lot of folks planted Bermuda grass. It sure looks different that the pretty stuff out West.
I hope it all works out as you have planned, and of course sleeping on the floor ought to be temporary! Your subconscious is right!
Best wishes with getting the new bed in place!
“Hmmm”
I bet that it (1/4" of snow) looked nice this morning!
Getting the little mattress out isn’t going to happen before noon. FS was supposed to come by on his way to work, but...
Meanwhile, the HVAC people are coming to see what they can do with the vents.
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