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 ...
Here they’re afraid you want to make a bomb or spray graffiti on buildings or something.
Good morning. Happy Friday Eve!
Now that the cat is belled it will be a play day.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man wish he had slept in.
The pills are sorted, the bed is made, and the face is clean and shiny, so other things will begin to fall into place, shortly. The birds are singing for the sun to come up, but it’s not coming up fast enough, it seems.
An uplifting talk is on the way before anything else is done.
I depend on them to start my day!
Hello, there! Happy Friday Eve!
I didn’t see you! If I don’t set this thing for the Pings, I miss an awful lot! My apologies!
I’m going to get my hair cut this morning. Vlad will drive me.
Today’s special animal friend is the zebra cobra, Naja nigricincta, a species of spitting cobra native to southern African deserts. They are nocturnal and reclusive, rarely seen except on roads (which are warm) at night. The specimen recently on the loose in Raleigh, NC, has been recaptured. I hope it will find a home with a zoo or university, and I hope nobody in the area died from ophidiophobia. It is a very attractive snake, dark brown or black with distinct white or yellowish stripes. Its head and neck are dark and can be flattened into a hood. Like all cobras, it is highly venomous.
Not much information is available on the webs about this minor cobra species, which was, until 2007, categorized as a subspecies of the Black-necked spitting cobra, Naja nigricollis. The Naja genus is considered “true cobras” and does not include some well-known snakes such as the king cobra, Ophiophagus hannah. The Black-necked spitting cobra is found in sub-Saharan African in a wide range that excludes the southern desert habitat of the two subspecies of Naja nigricincta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNbdo_sVNGc
These snakes are described as “aggressive,” but that is misleading. They are not like pit bulls, who will invade your yard and attack your cat while she is napping in the flowerbed. How I wish a pit bull had found the zebra cobra in Raleigh ... but I digress. Anyway, if you accidentally or intentionally disturb a spitting cobra, it is more likely to strike back than to seek to escape, as you can see in this video of this unwise young person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b10kkWsxaUo
N. nigricolis is considered a “moderately-sized” snake, up to around 7 feet in length. They are found in variety of shades across their range, but most are basically soil-colored. Most have a distinct, wide, black band at the neck, but a few all-white morphs have been observed. Their usual prey is rodents, but they also eat birds, fish, eggs, and reptiles, including other snakes. This is a very adaptable species which occupies rainforest, deciduous forest, grasslands and scrub at altitudes up to 6,000 feet. They are also very successful in cleared forests and agricultural land. They prefer to live near water.
Unlike N. nigricincta, the black-necked cobra can be active during the day as well as at night. In the hottest climates, they can be found during the day in rodent holes, termite mounds, or hollow trees. They are excellent climbers. They are oviparous (egg-laying); a female typically lays 10-15 eggs. The hatchlings are 7 to 10 inches in length and are independent immediately.
A black-necked cobra bites its prey when hunting but can spit venom – very accurately – over 20 feet when defending itself. Venom in the eyes, the usual target, can cause permanent blindness. The venom includes several kinds of toxins, attacking the nerves and heart as well as causing cell necrosis. For all that, the mortality rate for untreated bites in humans is only around 5%. The articles do not mention mortality in dogs.
The black-necked spitting cobra has no listed conservation status. In some cases, this means an animal is too rare or isolated for its population to be evaluated, but in this case, I think it means everyone knows there are plenty of them. The main natural predators are birds of prey, especially several species of “snake eagles” in the genus Circaetus, and other snakes.
I need a haircut but there are other things more important, so I’ll put it off again.
I have a couple more things to get ready to mail, and then around 0900, I’ll go mail them. :o|
I saw a headline just yesterday (I think) about a zebra cobra being loose someplace. I think the place was in New Jersey.
It was far enough away, anyway, that I didn’t read the article.
T-c’s article was enough sneks for me! I don’t want to read about them. It seems the older I get, the more difficult it is for me to see or read about sneks and newts and other amphibious (or not) reptiles and stuff.
When I was a kid, I could look at them with curiosity, but as I age, the curiosity has evolved into something else. It may have been different had I gone to work in a vet’s office, but...a broken ankle fixed that for me.
Raleigh. They caught it.
I survived a Vlad Driving Adventure. Next, I’m going to call the pharmacy to see if a prescription is in, and if it is, I’ll have a James Driving Adventure to the pharmacy.
I went to the post office and back. A solo Driving Adventure.
Next, I’ll have a Driving Adventure with Sharon! What a concept! She’s taking me to lunch.
It’s a beautiful day out, so far, partly cloudy, but nice.
I have two nephews who graduated high school and though I was given invitations, I don’t have the money to send them. I did find some bookmarks a while back with Ephesians 6:11-18 and a tie tack on them, so I’m thinking of sending those, instead. Or would that be tacky. (No pun intended.)
I survived a James Driving Adventure to Walmart and back. He said he didn’t feel well enough to drive to the hardware store, and anyway, Pat was going to need the car for work. Now I’m trying to get the giant toddler to go lie down for a while.
It’s the thought that counts.
Learning to make that true builds character.
This is a public service announcement.
It is July 1st. Pride month is over.
You can take those rainbows out of your logos now so those of us who like to work with companies that aren’t biased against OR IN FAVOR OF particular groups of people can get back to normal.
You’re welcome.
Thank you! I for one, am glad to be plain, white and free.
I don’t like doing business with companies that suck up to certain movements, but at least with the rainbow logos displayed, I know where NOT to go!
Chuck will be over in a bit to haul out the table. I told him I was tripping over my feet in the living room because there is no room to maneuver, so he’s going to bring his hand truck over.
Good! Someone can use the table, but it just won’t be me. I’m glad I found the split before I went to the expense of trying to refinish it.
I got a bat card from NC today!!! *happy dance*
Now I’m all worn out. Lunch was good, and just as I suspected, Sharon is a talker! LOL!
Sometimes, Giant Toddlers never grow up. I know because I was married to one. It took me a few years to figure out what he was, but...
Should I?
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