08-11-2018, 08:34 PM | #1881 |
Stick in the Mud
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Rural Utah
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Which always made me wonder what causes the more valuable ones to be mistaken for emeralds due to the green color? My family has several very pretty green garnet broaches that have been handed down for some time. As a side note, Garnets apparently come in every color except blue.
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MIB #1457 |
08-11-2018, 10:59 PM | #1882 | |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
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And high-quality green quartz can also be mistaken for emerald. Some interesting tidbits, including common false ID's and misleading names for fakes... https://www.minerals.net/gemstone/emerald_gemstone.aspx https://www.minerals.net/gemstone/ruby_gemstone.aspx https://www.minerals.net/gemstone/sa..._gemstone.aspx |
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08-12-2018, 05:41 AM | #1883 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Historically, people identified gems basically by the color, opacity, and loosely by the hardness, because they didn't understand the chemistry or optics. Which is why all the corundum species have their own names.
If it was a nice red, clear, and pretty hard, it was ruby.
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
08-13-2018, 06:01 AM | #1884 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Intricately carved and detailed bronze dodecahedrons have been found across a swath of the old Roman Empire -- though not all of it. The polyhedra have differing sized holes in each face, along with circles inscribed around the holes, and knurls at each corner. Explanations offered by archaeologists for the purpose of the objects include rangefinders for military artillery, mace heads, gambling devices (though the differing size holes make them poor randomizers), sling bullets, astronomical observation tools to aid in planting, showpieces for master bronze workers to display their skill or perhaps qualify for rank, and ceremonial staff heads or mystical objects -- all of which tells you that nobody really has any idea of what they were for. There's apparently a complete absence of any written reference to these objects by the Romans, whether that's because they were too obvious and commonplace to bother, or too secret to commit to writing.
Which mystery of course leaves a nice opportunity for GMs to insert an explanation appropriate to their game as their pulp heroes race the Ahnenerbe to collect them all, or their delvers uncover them in the depths of ancient tombs, obviously valuable since they were stored even more carefully than the coins in the hoard. |
08-13-2018, 11:53 AM | #1885 | |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Quote:
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
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08-13-2018, 05:48 PM | #1886 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Exacting construction, expensive materials, ornamented in most cases and showing little or no signs of wear. Doubtful, IMO.
Last edited by tanksoldier; 08-13-2018 at 05:51 PM. |
08-13-2018, 06:47 PM | #1887 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Quote:
The only evident reason for having a dodecahedron if it those graduated hole sizes were actually the main feature, not the knobs around the pentagons, and it was at least cute or amusing to collect a set of twelve in that fashion. Also, she mentioned that she'd seen Viking knitting needles essentially identical to the modern ones she uses. So, it's still not obvious why you'd want an expensive thing for a knitting job. I didn't see any remotely similar knitting tools in a web search, so if they had a purpose for knitting, it was abandoned in favor of some other method. Maybe some low-tech dead end? |
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08-15-2018, 11:38 AM | #1888 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Quote:
There's no "set of 12", and don't actually appear to have been found in sets at all. I do call shenanigans on the people who say "RITUAL!", because "It's for ritual purposes" is Archaeology-speak for "I don't know what it's for, but I don't want to admit that". Even admitting to yourself that you don't know is uncomfortable sometimes, but that's no excuse for giving up thinking about it. I also think assuming it can't be a technical tool because it doesn't have numbers or letters written on it is a false assumption; I have a large collection of screwdriver bits for my electric screwdriver, and they're completely unlabeled. In the case of things that come in a bunch of sizes, you often [1] don't actually need to know the exact size, you just need to know you have the size that fits whatever you're doing. [1] "Often" is not "always", before someone starts nagging me about measuring spoons and keeping your nuts and bolts organized in labeled bins.
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
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08-15-2018, 01:30 PM | #1889 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Quote:
Not apparently a particularly convenient collection -- a flat board with 12 graduated holes would be a lot more straightforward if it's just a gauge, not to mention cheaper and easier to make. You'd think the opposition of two holes would have to be important to call for a polyhedron. But then, we don't know what it's for, so it's hard to say. And of course people aren't always logical, even with tools -- if that's what it is. Form follows function, but function doesn't always follow form. Last edited by Anaraxes; 08-15-2018 at 01:34 PM. |
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08-15-2018, 07:13 PM | #1890 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Earth, mostly
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
xkcd once ventured a guess that the Voynich Manuscript was an ancient RPG. Maybe we've found the dice for it?
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If you break the laws of Man, you go to prison. If you break the laws of God, you go to Hell. If you break the laws of Physics, you go to Sweden and receive a Nobel Prize. |
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blueberry muffin, fermi paradox |
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