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 ...
Thanks. Not bad, all things considered!
The cigarette smoke is horrendous. I fell asleep at about 1800, but the smell of smoke woke me up 30 minutes later. I left the front door open about an inch last night, and it helped but I’ve begun keeping a log.
Today is Walmart day, oh joy, and since yesterday was so physical, today may be a good day to work on the clothes in the bedroom.
Floofy is leaning to right about some things.
Good morning.
The face has been washed off and put back on, the head has been combed out, the bed is made and the sleep shirts folded and put away, though two had to go back into the laundry basket. Whoever used that machine before me used something that left a white residue which didn’t wash out and didn’t rinse out. The same person who left the lint traps full of ungodly-looking stuff. And the clubhouse smelling like cigarettes.
So I’m ready for the next thing in my day which is Walmart. Unngh.
One day this week, I have to go see Casey and find out if he’s still interested in the BB SUV. I’m sure he is, because he knows it. Maybe I won’t have time, what with the pain clinic tomorrow and Jiffy Lube on Thursday or Friday. I have to take back his honey jar, too.
You sound very busy!
I called the young people, but only Frank turned up, so I need to call them again. We have a number of things to accomplish today, starting with picking up the Avalon from the mechanic. They opened at 7:00, so that can be done as soon as two drivers are dressed.
The “busy” is only temporary, until I get back from Walmart!
I need to get the stuff ready now...my backpack, my list, my sunglasses (for the drive home) and once I get things put away, I’ll decide whether to be a slug or not. I probably should, in view of the next couple of days.
So I’ll see you when I get back!
Good morning. Happy Twosday!
It is, apparently, a marvel. Marvel on, kitteh.
Good morning! Happy 6th!
Good morning.
I don’t wanna talkaboutit.
We got the car back. Epic Fail are working on the lawn.
I’m thinking there must have been a Driving Adventure in there, somewhere.
I hope the Epic Fail lawn service does as well.
No driving adventure yet. Maybe later. I need to nudge the Epic Fail Driving School, but since the student drivers are working on the lawn, it can wait.
I’ve decided I will sit today out.
The stress of the smoke and not being able to do anything about it is beginning to wear on me.
For now, the solutions are to keep the doors open, with the A/C on, keep the inhalers handy along with allergy eye drops and nasal spray and hope Chuck does something to stop the assault. I shouldn’t have to put up with this. I would take some Benadryl for the eye and nose irritation but that stuff is insidious.
So. In digging around last night I found a little notebook that I was going to use for something, but it will work for this. As long as it’s documented.
It’s funny that so many people say, “I should be able to do what I want, as long as it doesn’t affect other people,” and they are so unaware that they are affecting other people. Like with their dogs, or their music, or their smoking.
I guess my early years as a military wife spoiled me for civilian life, because if I misbehaved in any way, as in any complaints reached my husband’s CO, he was the one who suffered for my behavior, not me. Music too loud, trashy looking lawn, driving to fast on base, not me...him.
So I’ve spent my entire life being aware of how my behavior affects other people. If I were a smoker (and I was, once upon a time) and I was visiting a person who didn’t smoke, I would not smoke around them, nor even ask if they minded if I smoked. I would wait until I was on my way home and then light up.
We’ve already discussed the dog-thing, but music is the same way. I won’t even play music while I’m driving if I have a passenger I haven’t seen in a while. Or maybe just a passenger. Music interferes with conversation.
If I’m a passenger with someone who has music on, I sit in silence, responding to any conversational overtures with, “Huh.” If I’m talking to someone and they switch music on, I stop in mid-sentence.
Exactly!
When I visited CO, we were headed for Estes Park, having a nice conversation (I thought) and all of a sudden, the driver pops in John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High. I’m in the middle of a word and I shut up. I never spoke again until she asked where I wanted to eat and I yelled, “WHAT?”
Then it was time to pout.
Oh, no...If we’re playing that game, we’re playing by MY rules! LOL!
There, there.
I don’t know why people say that, but I think that’s what they say when someone’s upset.
Did it help?
If this is still Monday, no it didn’t help, but thanks for the thoughts, anyway! LOL!
I gotta get this stuff out of my system on the local roads. I want to be clam and cool for the move, whenever that takes place!
Blowing off steam here allows me to be tolerable in real life.
Exactly. Not the mention the fact that if you blow off steam at those that really need it in real life, the chances are good that there could be some unpleasant repercussions.
So yeah. I’d rather do it here!
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