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 ...
We have an ephemeral pond in the woods across the street. No ignis fatuus, though.
I never saw a firefly in my life until we moved to VA in 1980. I’d seen them in a few movies, but had no idea they were real off the movie set!
I was enchanted! I just wanted to watch them all night. ;o]
There are famous locations in the U.S. and other countries where many thousands can be seen blinking in unison.
The photo I saw of the fireflies in the Japanese forest was mesmerizing!
Ping to #484
Saw your photo link...
Over the years I’ve tried (as a very skilled amateur photographer with sold works) to capture fire flys with the same sense as I experienced. Fastest lens and fastest films never caught the charm...and just maybe we were never meant have pictures and video. Truly one of those “you had to be there experiences”.
Most dramatic encounters was on a moonless night in an old no sidewalks suburb with grand old oak canopies, no street lights. There was an empty building lot between two widely separated homes that was like a stage, dense poplars at the property line and deep woods in the back. We were taking a late night stroll and suddenly came acoss. thousands slowly dancing around and up and down in that dark enclave, like a diorama of another universe. Must have stayed watching for close to half an hour. One of my most memorable nature moments.
I don’t know if that link was able to be enlarged, but when it showed up on Bing, it was full page, and it was gorgeous!
All I can say is, fireflies are so cool! ;o]
Beautiful...
I think real life is better, too.
Back from the dentist, a Vlad driving adventure. Naptime approaches.
It’s a good time for a nap with a cat!
This has been a busy morning, but except for the laundry, nothing has gotten done. A friend from church came by and got the last of my donation stuff for a while.
I was going to get busy in the kitchen but maybe that will happen tomorrow.
When I was doing laundry this morning I left Chuck a note, asking him to help me move the table out of the kitchen some time this week.
DiL was surprised when I told her how little I was taking, and made the comment that I was really going to be starting over. “Yes, but it wouldn’t be the first time!”
Maybe tomorrow I’ll actually get something done.
It is, isn’t it? :o])
Doing a week’s worth of laundry counts as work.
It’s actually two weeks’ worth, even though I wash every week. One week is personal items the next week is linens and sleep shirts. They only have three machines and I need four if I’m going to wash everything every week. I doubt it will be any better in Dogpatch because there are only 20 apartments there, and here there are 24.
In Henderson, there were 100 apartments but only four machines, which made no sense to me but I wasn’t the architect of the place!
I remember when I told my wife I was going to stop enjoying the kids’ activities through that little 1/4” viewfinder and focus on keeping the memories in my head. She was a little upset, but I had a lot more fun at their events.
Don’t blame the architect for the inadequate wash room equipment. The owner makes those decisions. Beyond minimum building code requirements, tge licensed architect can only suggest.
No need to suggest that corrupt local officials waive all sorts of building/zoning requirements.
The laundry room there was barely even large enough to hold the four machines, so there is no way there could have been more installed. Of course, it WAS Las Vegas Valley, so who knows how deep the corruption was in 1975? I think Harry Reid was making his bones long about then, so...
I guess everything’s gambling in Las Vegas.
What are the odds a machine will be open?
What are the odds the open machine will work?
What are the odds it won’t spew some previous user’s bleach all over my clothes?
What are the odds?
What are the odds of grabbing a 00?
!
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