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 ...
I’ll be waiting to hear about whether they passed!
Favorite Daughter is going to DMV today. Time for her renewal. She was there last week, but the computers were down.
I’m worn out, but I have to do something, even if it’s wrong!
Happy Monday, ArGee! Did you have a good day, yesterday?
We can renew online.
I think that option is available here, too, especially for seniors, but I won’t be here long enough to find out for sure.
Who knows what awaits me in Dogpatch, USA?
All I know is I’m anxious to get there!
I’m anxious for you to get there, too!
I just built a box for some pantry stuff, and one of my church friends is coming by a little later to pick up my stuff and take it to the church thrift store in St George to drop it off.
I also found the stuff I need to re-build a lamp I blew up not to long ago, so it will be ready for the move. Yay!
I gotta go cover my truck and close the doors to the apartment. The Lawn Guy is here.
Yesterday was good, thank you. We went over to F-I-L’s and watched the Yankees clinch a win with a triple-play in the 9th. Then a good dinner and back to looking for work.
The daughter who is still in contact had already given me a book, which I’ve finished. She sent a bitmoji card.
I hope you find something soon. Even if you don’t need it just yet, it always feels better to be employed. It sounds like a good day, anyway!
Go, Yankees!!
Looks like a blue Easter egg covered in a high gloss lacquer.
Well, now. I’m done. I just packed up a lot of stuff from the pantry, and though there is still a lot to go, most of it is ready. Maybe tomorrow (oops! No!) maybe Wednesday I can get some more of it packed and then I can clean off the shelves.
There are a few boxes left to be built and filled in the bedroom, but if Chuck comes today and fixes the switch in the kitchen, I may be able to work in there on Wednesday. That will be good! Because when the kitchen is done, the packing will be almost finished! ;o]
I never saw an egg look that good!
Welcome to the Undead Thread, Rebelbase! We have kittehs and everything!
‘Face
;o]
Petsmart doesn’t have any crickets, so I’m not going there. Maybe another nap ...
Naps are always good!
Maybe, once I get to Dogpatch, I’ll be able to start taking naps. I may even be able to get me a four-legged something, though I suspect it won’t be a kitteh. Maybe a sugar glider...something for snuggling, anyway. ;o]
Jake is much for snuggling. He flops all over and claws and drools.
It’s hot outside.
It’s only 97° right now, headed for a high of 105°. It will begin to cool down by Wednesday, and that’s good for a lot of people. I like it right now! ;o]
I’m back. I was just reading, not asleep, honest.
Well, sometimes, when I’m reading, I blink and my eyes stay closed a little longer than I want them to, so...
The laundry and two boxes got done today, but Chuck didn’t show up for the light switch switch-out. So unngh.
Tomorrow is Walmart day, which may or may not be changed in the future, but for now, I just want to make sure nothing about my schedule is changed too radically between now and the time I move.
Right now, there are parts of me that don’t want to stay up any more, so I’m thinking it’s probably best that I head off down the hall and do some reading of my own.
See you tomorrow! (Pics will be accepted until the usual hour!)
On second thought...I’ll stay up while Chuck fixes the switch!
We were complaining about the heat (80s) yesterday when my S-I-L called. They live in SoCal and were experiencing 110. We stopped complaining.
Someone suggested that at least the 110 was dry heat, but that didn’t really last long.
!
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