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 ...
w00t!
Good morning. Happy Friday Eve!
Since tomorrow is a day off in NYC it’s also sort-of Friday for me. And it’s Christmas Eve Eve I guess. Lots of reasons to be glad. No reason to be scared, kitteh. It will be a good day.
Our internet is down. I’m on hold with tech support and using a hot-spot until it’s back up. Last night at our virtual Bible study our member from Kentucky talked about how long she was without internet due to the tornados. So this is no big deal.
Kitteh likes playing peek-a-boo!
Good morning.
Did you sleep well?
I did, for a while, then I woke up so hungry my stomach hurt and I had to get up and eat something. Then it was a while before I could go back to sleep. I hope my ulcers aren’t acting up again.
I have no clue what’s going to happen today, but FS is off. He can’t do any more in the dental lab until the furniture is in place, so it will be Monday before he has to go and finish the job.
I was trying to find the tracking number for the item coming by Package Bunny, but the stamps.com site is a little wonky today.
Thanks!
It snuck up on me.
Yeah. Kentucky got the worst of it, for sure. They’re about two or three hours from us, and the videos are total devastation. Whole blocks of houses and businesses leveled, but right next to the path of the tornado, houses hadn’t been touched.
Right after I moved here, I installed a hot spot but didn’t know why. Now, I do.
There is still clean-up going on just north of us. I’ve been homeless and had very few things to show for my life, but the people who were affected have next to nothing. The clothes on their backs. A phone if they were lucky.
I did read of one man who dug an underground storm shelter, which is what people did when they first settled here (Midwest) he and his family lost everything but what was in the shelter.
*tagline*
The item has arrived. I’m saving it until Christmas!
What fun! It’s actually for your trip out here. ;o]
I know that tornados are very selective in what they hit.
Unlike cold, which is making it hard to have such a sedate working posture. I have a down vest on over a fleece and this window is still sucking all the heat. It’s time for a space heater.
We had 19fs when I walked the pup this morning and it’s only come up to 28fs at this point.
A good space heater is worth its weight in gold. Almost.
Cold is difficult for me and has been since I was 24 and almost lost my life. I moved to Vegas because of the heat, so this area is not going to be kind. I have two space heaters now. One in the bathroom and one in here.
It’s supposed to get up to 57° today but it doesn’t feel like it will make it. I don’t have any fleece, but I think I wish I did!
28 turned out to be the high.
I may not be on tomorrow, so Merry Christmas everyone.
And if I am on tomorrow, I’ll just say it again.
Boy. What a quiet day, here.
No one online, no calls here, only a couple of text messages...
I’ve been watching more “Morse,” and I’m still trying to figure out how he manages to solve the murders. I’ll get it in maybe two or three more episodes. I’ll be able to spot the murderer by the middle of the movies. At least, if I’m paying attention. I used to watch a lot of Alfred Hitchcock. ;o]
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Argee!!
I hope it’s a happy one!
Busy with this and that, plus nap. Tom is doing a driving adventure with James.
Yep. I figured. It’s OK. I guess I’m just not used to so much silence for such prolonged periods. Either online or in real time. It will take some getting used to.
FS was driving his VW and forgot to tighten the lug nuts on one of the rear wheels after making repairs and the wheel came off while he was driving it. At least he wasn’t on the freeway, so he and the car are both OK.
I found out about DLs today and was able to “pre-apply.” The driver’s handbook is three pages long. No indication of the cost, though, which is why I began looking.
Also, I will need to get insurance before I can get the car registered, which wasn’t required in Utah. It was in Nevada, so it’s no big deal. It could be that FS was going after something for my car when he broke down. PW was able to rescue him, though, with me only finding out because of her Facebook post.
I’ll probably be here for a while, yet...
Good morning. I went to bed about 9:00. We decorated the tree. I’ll send you a picture when it gets light.
Choir practice this morning.
Floofy kitteh sez, “I see what you’re doing!”
Good morning.
I hope you slept well.
I realized this morning when I was checking the weather in the places where there are people I love that all four time zones are represented. Veddy intedesting!
All I have to do today is take my shower, write to Charlie and sort the pills. We’ll be heading for James’ and Abbies’ around 1:30 or so.
We’ll see what happens. I’m not optimistic, but there it is.
Smile at everyone, especially angelic Abbie, and say thank you to everyone, and try not to let yourself be baited. Agitators hate it when you smile and say, “Oh, that’s nice ...,” or nothing at all.
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