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’d send you Jake if I could.
I really want a catball, but if I do, DiL says she can’t visit because she claims she’s allergic. I doubt it. Very few people her age are allergic. The next generation, yes, hers, no. So it’s going to be a dog or birds. If it’s birds, they won’t be rescues. I’ll just buy them. I won’t want to give them up. There is plenty of time to think about that, though.
And thank you. That was very generous!
This has been a strange day, but I still managed to get a few cerebral things done, and I’m a little on the tired side.
Tomorrow, I’ll be shifting things around in the kitchen, and then moving things from here into there because I need room to walk as well as to work. So I’ll see you in the morning!
Have a good night, all of you and I hope your weekend is safe and fun!
Hmmmm. Mutually exclusive wishes.
I was surfing Amazon and did not realize that y’all had your own survival product.
I hope your tomorrow goes well. I was pleased with today’s driving adventures. James had a real challenge, but he feels like he’s making good progress (and he is).
We have choir this evening, followed by ... I dunno, sleeping maybe.
Only to be used if the door to the 3rd sub-basement is left unlocked.
It looks very useful.
It could come in handy when those pesky Dwarves in the Lower Levels get the Zombies riled up.
Thanks, Rebelbase!
Kitteh can’t believe we’ve never needed that before!
Good morning.
It would appear I’m destined for ten hours’ sleep a night, or I can’t function, no matter what. Not sure if I like that. But Happy Caturday, anyway!
That’s good news about James. Perhaps his confidence was increased by the incident!
Do you have fun things planned for today?
Good morning.
Tom will be over later to take one or more brothers on an Adventure. I plan to get dressed, and then we’ll see what eventuates.
My day will consist of schlepping. Also writing another note to Chuck about smokers to the left of me. And idiots to the right.
I also have a letter to write and sheets to change. I’m trying very hard to rearrange my schedule so I don’t wear myself out on Monday and Tuesday to the point that I’m useless the rest of the week.
I might go to the library with a driving-brother. I have some books out that are wait-listed, so I’d like to get them turned in promptly.
Wednesday is my library day, for now. It changes if I get bored with the constant “climate change” dialog.
I just listened to a talk that reminded me of the changes that will take place around the world in the Last Days, and I think “climate change” is the only way that atheists and other non-believers can explain the things that are happening. Boy! Are THEY in for a surprise!
Off to change the sheets!
I got dressed and went for a walk. It’s less hot and humid here than on some other days. Now I’m going to chivvy the driving brothers out of bed.
Huh. My 20th anniversary snuck by me!
Happy late 20th, Nully!
I’m always missing mine!
Happy anniversary! If nothing else, it says you’re alive and cognitively participating 20 years later.
Tom the Son arrived and took the brothers driving. When they get back, he and his dad will go shopping. Maybe I’ll get up the library, maybe not. The next person wouldn’t get their reserve book before Wednesday, anyway, because of the Monday holiday.
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