In reply to nuric (msg # 56):

Now, I'm not saying this is always the case, but I think, in general, the drivers of real-life racing would prefer not to crash into things.

Hey, RPoLians who are fans of mythology and folklore (of any culture) - what are some figures famous for being creepers of the stalker variety? The most obvious story that comes to mind is the Hades/Persephone thing, but it'd be cool to hear other interesting examples. Particularly something a little more obscure, or having a musical sort of context involved with the story.

You want stealthy things, or myths with obsessions about humanoids?

Echo the nymph and Narcissus, Hermaphroditus and Salmacis, Venus and Adonis ... wait, pretty much the entirety of the Metamorphoses of Ovid is full of people like that.

Also you might consider Helen of Troy and the Paris/Agamemnon issue, and then all the ensuing drama.

Thanks! Yeah, Greek/Roman canon is really full of that kind of stuff, isn't it?

But yeah, I'm looking for mythological or classical stories about one-sided, unrequited obsession, basically. Something relevant that can be tossed out as a hint to form an interesting parallel to a plot point in a Hunter game I'm running.

I realize it's not exactly what you asked for, but Dante was crazy-obsessed with that one woman. (I want to say her name is Beatrice.) He basically talked to her a total of three times in his life, and she married someone else, but he never really stopped obsessing over her. In fact, pretty much the entirety of the Divine Comedy is him hoping to see her one more time. While he's not exactly a mythological being, he wrote a pseudo-autobiographical story that's responsible for a large chunk of our current (mis)conception of Hell.

Perhaps a little too real or a little too recent, but that's the best I can think of at the moment.

I still think the story of Echo is a pretty good one for one-sided obsession.

The worst part is I feel there's one really awesome example right there on the top of my brain, and I just can't quite put my finger on it.

Zeus.  Wasn't he spurned by someone in one form, so he came back in another form and basically raped her that time?  Or am I just thinking of basically every story about Zeus?

In reply to Genghis the Hutt (msg # 62):

Ah Zeus.  The king slut of all sluts.   Seriously.  -.-

Hey, weird question. Does anyone know how much it would cost in normal worlds to acquire about one cubic inch of generic granulites?

What would that translate to for someone that doesn't know whatever game system that is from?

Normal worlds? You know... like this one? Good ol' Earth and whatnot. Probably looking for an answer that's got a dollar sign in front of it.

I think what kouk was asking is: what the fruit are generic granulites?

To quote Wikipedia, "Granulites are a class of high grade metamorphic rocks of the granulite-facies that have experienced high-temperature and moderate pressure metamorphism. They are medium to coarse–grained and mainly composed of feldspars sometimes associated with quartz and anhydrous ferromagnesian minerals, with granoblastic texture and gneissose to massive structure."

In other words, granulites are a specific group of rocks. Generic, of course, meaning that we don't really care what subtype of granulite it is (or even if it's mixed), just so long as it's granulite.

I know you can get a bathroom vanity counter-top made of the stuff for $100~$300, but I'm looking for something a lot smaller.

You want a 1-inch scrap piece of granite countertop? Probably free if you hang around a granite-cutter shop or a house being demolished ...

In reply to kouk (msg # 69):

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you'd have trouble finding a place to buy it, but picking it up as scrap is a pretty good way of getting some.  Or, just looking around and picking it up off the ground wherever such metamorphic rocks are common...

Ah, not some marvellous starship fuel of the same name, then.

I'm with the other guys. The stuff is so common it would be hard to put a price on it. If you bought a cubic inch from a fossil and mineral shop it might cost you a couple of dollars, but as they say, you could easily pick up a piece for free just by asking, or going for a walk in the right area.

In reply to HornetCorset (msg # 64):

Is there any particular reason you only wish to purchase one cubic inch of this stuff? For instance after checking a few local landscape yards and stone cutters you can get a cubic metre of 30mm (slightly more then one inch)crushed bluestone (a type of rock which I believe fits your specification) for AUD$67 or AUD$0.001 per individual stone.

Of course, if you want a perfectly cut and polished one inch cube, a square foot of black granite here is about AUD$20 (prices vary wildly). Most masons seems to be charging about $80 per lineal metre to cut, and $100 to polish, so one cube would be... about AUD$27 each. Not entirely sure my maths is correct on that figure though.

kouk: Granulite. It's a different type of rock. The market for the stuff is apparently really small compared to other materials like marble and granite. This is the strongest correlation I have found between the two: "The production of granite by metamorphic heat is difficult, but is observed to occur in certain amphibolite and granulite terrains."

Godzfirefly: Deep continental crust. You'd pretty much have to dig for it. You would absolutely have to dig for it if you include metaphorical forms of digging (which is, you know, why I ask).

AussieKnight87: The size is not extremely important, and, actually, the end result is supposed to be octahedral. Slate, which is commonly referred to as bluestone in southern Australia (and I think it's safe to assume you're from there), is not a granulite. Granulite is medium-to-coarse grained, while slate is actually the finest-grained of all metamorphic rock, just to give an example.

In reply to HornetCorset (msg # 73):

Well the bluestone that I'm referring to isn't slate. It's, as you say, medium/coarse. In Vic, it's mostly used for road base or concrete aggregate, though in certain gold rush towns like Bendigo and Castlemaine blocks can still be found lining open drains. Don't know what it's actually called, it's just what all the builders that I used to work with called it.

It is in my nature to ask outlandish questions, but this is one of the weirdest ones I've had to ask in a while.

Please name off a language that sounds "purple."

In reply to HornetCorset (msg # 75):

Basque

Catalan

Urdu

I was hoping for something a bit more... well, I guess the term is "mainstream." But thanks. That helps a lot.

In reply to Shiv (msg # 76):

Dutch. Say the word 'purple' in a Dutch accent, it just sounds nice!

Basque <3 I love that language. Behindthename has some cool names from it.

I did a Google Shopping search for "granulite" and ordered the results by price, low to high.  On the first page, I found "Foremost Granulite Vanity Top 31W X 22D X 1-3-8H Canyon Brown Color Includes Undermount Sink Pre-Drilled 8 Centers Integrated Backsplashes Faucet Not Included"  Looks like it's about $60 (US dollars) and it would cost about $93 to ship to Southern CA.  It's way more Granulite than you wanted, but you could cut it down.  Apparently it's common enough that a contractor's lapidary store (not a homeowner's store) would probably have some free scrap that you could take away.

I also found an Etsy rock collection of 154 different minerals for $60, of which granulite was one of them.

In reply to Genghis the Hutt (msg # 80):

Well thanks.