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 ...
James drove me to Walmart. Unnngh. But as my mother says, “Any landing you walk away from is a good landing.”
Now it’s naptime.
Maybe, when I get my schedule squared away, I might try to set aside some naptime. Even 45 minutes may make all the difference in the world!
We’ll see, though. I have to get to try and adjust to this one, first, before I move on to the next one.
I hope I feel better when I wake up in the morning!!
I hope your nap is a good one with a willing cat!
I think I missed your post, somehow, and I apologize.
However, I think you were right when you thought DVDs were read from the center out. I was watching one of diving for amphorae off the coast of Ventotene, (where Caesar Augustus’ daughter was exiled) and whole sections were being skipped.
Normally, I check the DVD for greasy fingerprints and clean them off but I didn’t on this one. I stopped it and pulled it out and sure enough...BIG ol’ greasy fingerprint from the center hole outwards.
What would I do without you? ;o]
Yes, it was quite nice. The driving adventures, you know, are exhausting.
It’s good that your nap was a nice one! Yes, I do know driving adventures are exhausting, and that’s just another reason I keep you in my prayers. :o]
The talk everywhere I went this morning was on the flash flooding at Zion. It seems that the entrance to the park was closed by the flood debris, including logs and boulders. Also, it seems most of the emergency vehicles from several of the towns around here were called out yesterday to attend to the tourists.
It’s interesting to know that at least one small town had emergency measures in place that prevented the damage from being a lot worse. I don’t know which town or what measures, but it’s OK, as long as they worked for the town when they were needed!
I’ll bring it up next time we see Tom. Next Tom we see? Flooding is one of his interests.
There may be another opportunity for a brother to drive later. We’ve been spray-painting a wooden stool Kathleen helped make in Cub Scouts, and we might run out of paint before it’s finished. That means a boy could drive to the hardware store for more paint.
America is the only country where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real but the moon landing was faked. ~ David Letterman
tagline...
The flash floods have always interested me. Thinking of the book, “Isaac’s Storm,” when he witnessed a river caused by flooding in the mountains and saw, amazingly, that fish were frozen solid. He didn’t know why, and reached into to water to find it ice cold. In Texas. (It’s a book on the hurricane of 1906 (?) that killed approximately 6000+ because of the storm surge. Excellent read! Comparable to “Tent Life in Siberia” but not as cold.)
Sending a brother after paint when he’s learning to drive is a good idea. Is James feeling better?
Pretty doggone pathetic! Until one looks up the fact that wrestlers can’t wrestle in CA unless they belong to SAG!
Good tagline!
The brother has to go with an adult. They can’t drive themselves for at least six months. (Except Pat.) James is feeling better.
Yes, I remember about the adult, but still, the idea that one day they’ll be going on errands like that alone should give them incentive to learn to drive!
Once again, I ran out of steam, so I’m headed down the hall. Maybe I can fall asleep before 2000, in lieu of a nap!
So I’ll see you in the morning!
I hope you have a good night, and I’ll see you in the morning.
They just let people buy spray paint where you are? Around here it’s locked up and you have to fill out paperwork.
You can just pick it up off the shelf at Walmart or a hardware or hobby store and pay at the cashier.
I love the kittehs with one blue eye!
Good morning.
Almost 10 hours of sleep so I guess I needed to go to bed early after all.
When the fatigue hits, it knocks me for a loop. But here I am! Ready for another day!
Good morning. Going to bed early is what people should do, in my opinion!
I’m the epitome of that statement, it seems!
How is James feeling? Oops! Probably not up, yet!
I need to go wash my face, make the bed, sort pills then get a few things ready for mailing. Then it will be The Day.
It was 71° when I got up, so the doors are open. :o]
I don’t think James is up yet. When I’m finished breakfast, I’ll go upstairs and sing to him.
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