If you're ever in the area of Madison, NH and have absolutely nothing else to do, the Madison Boulder is kinda neat. [0] It's a little bigger at about 5k tons.
here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!
Stratoscope 13 hours ago [-]
That is a wonderful article!
> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
aktenlage 13 hours ago [-]
Thank you, great read.
Stratoscope 18 hours ago [-]
Here are the name finalists:
• Sweet Stone Chicago
• No ORDinary Rock
• Chicago Rocks
• O'Rock
• Orchard Rock
• Da Rock
"No ORDinary Rock" and "Orchard Rock" are the winners for me. They both pay tribute to how O'Hare got its IATA airport code in the 1940s, when it was called Orchard Field.
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
jhatax 1 hours ago [-]
Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.
whycome 1 hours ago [-]
Wish I saw some of the larger list. This still seems weak.
ORD as an acronym? O Rock D
O’Hare Rock Dolostone
O’Hare Runway Dolomite
Rocky.
Da Dolo
RaftPeople 40 minutes ago [-]
Ditka
anonymousDan 32 minutes ago [-]
I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.
JoeAltmaier 1 hours ago [-]
"Mother's Love"
Because, we so often take it for granite.
wffurr 14 minutes ago [-]
Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.
hal-eisen 55 minutes ago [-]
How is it possible that NONE of the candidate names refer to Colbert? Especially given his time with Second City.
Colbert is not a Chicago figure. You'd have to remind the median Chicagoan who knows who he is that he ever spent time here. You might just as easily name it after Bob Odenkirk.
nonethewiser 46 minutes ago [-]
I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?
ternaryoperator 57 minutes ago [-]
Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?
crisnoble 11 minutes ago [-]
In chicagoland, yes. For someone who moved there from California, it was strange that rocks hardly larger than a human warranted school field trips and plaques. Perhaps it is geologically cool, but I was unimpressed as a 6th grader. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53236492797_60069bde90_b...
hoppyhoppy2 41 minutes ago [-]
Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.
Yizahi 28 minutes ago [-]
Medium-rare I would guess
tptacek 44 minutes ago [-]
Not from the look of it.
bcaulfield 17 hours ago [-]
Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.
cestith 5 hours ago [-]
Or Rudy Ray Moore.
mrlonglong 51 minutes ago [-]
Bouldery McBoulderface.
whycome 1 hours ago [-]
When Toronto had to name their team, I’m sure that the success of Jurassic Park helped the finalist (Raptors) win. I’m surprised “Rocky” didn’t make a finalist here (via Project Hail Mary).
Maybe that’s too Philadelphia.
O’Hare “Rocky” Dolomite
lukeify 55 minutes ago [-]
O’Hareball!
JoeAltmaier 1 hours ago [-]
Pictures or it didn't happen?
mikewarot 13 hours ago [-]
Tangent time: I've got a smaller one in my yard, and I've got a set of feathers and wedges to avoid having to dig it all up at once. Here's a video of someone using feathers and wedges to split granite.
As an Australian aware of Chicago's Irish heritage and the implied weight balancing our antipodean clime, I'd suggest "Tip O'Dea".
PS. If visiting Chicago check out the Lincoln Conservatory, an amazing historic plant collection with one of the world's best ferneries, very close to downtown.
There's something about finding huge rocks in the ground while digging that makes you just want to take them out and like, use them for something? The last one I found I had to make myself leave it there (well I moved it over a foot so a pipe didn't have to go around it). Like no, it has sat here for thousands of years just fine, it can keep sitting. Glad to hear it applies to 50 ton ones, as well.
acomjean 15 hours ago [-]
In New England they made stone walls out of them. Of course most where smallish
Oh sure, I'm definitely familiar with those. The weird ones are in forests, a reminder that an area used to be clear and then was left to grow back.
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Boulder
[0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36225652
But as a resident of the Chicago area, I’m partial to Da Rock
here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!
> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
ORD as an acronym? O Rock D
O’Hare Rock Dolostone O’Hare Runway Dolomite
Rocky.
Da Dolo
Because, we so often take it for granite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_The_Colbert...
Maybe that’s too Philadelphia.
O’Hare “Rocky” Dolomite
https://youtu.be/s7_z-SGxUAs?si=vUKYBWYvG7nncszd&t=924
PS. If visiting Chicago check out the Lincoln Conservatory, an amazing historic plant collection with one of the world's best ferneries, very close to downtown.
https://time.com/5772944/large-small-boulder/
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/history/hist...
In “original” England they did as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
In “original” England they did as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone