this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2024
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[–] cloudless@lemmy.cafe 95 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Better keep it low profile, or some tourists will try some bad ideas.

[–] Cyclist@lemmy.world 46 points 6 months ago (2 children)

American Boy Scout leaders.

[–] misterdoctor@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ruining historic natural monuments is somehow not first on the list of American Boy Scout leader atrocities 🫤

[–] rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social 9 points 6 months ago

Or this more recently 🙁

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 11 points 6 months ago

RIP Sycamore Gap tree.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

I feel like if this was my town idiots would have done it long ago by all means necessary

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

A stick of dynamite might offset it enough to roll.

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[–] Zier@fedia.io 45 points 6 months ago

This is the rock that keeps the Earth right side up. If you knock it off we flip upside down and Australia gets to rule the planet.

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 44 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I would never go anywhere near that rock

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[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 34 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)
[–] whostosay@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (4 children)
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[–] realitista@lemm.ee 29 points 6 months ago

I don't care how long this has been going on, I ain't fucking around near that thing.

[–] RandomLegend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 6 months ago (2 children)

My cat would go there and push it over...

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 6 months ago

Ima have to see an 11,000 year old picture and an 11,001 year old picture as proof of this.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 24 points 6 months ago

Very impressive from that view! But more stable than that tiny contact point would suggest.

Side view

[–] key@lemmy.keychat.org 22 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Is there a country that uses a different thousands separator based on unit?

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 23 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Yes, in a lot of places a period is used for order-of-magnitude separation and comma is used for decimal places.

In this title the use seems inconsistent.

[–] fitjazz@lemmyf.uk 17 points 6 months ago

Either the rock weighs exactly 500kg to an impressive precision and has been there for eleven thousand years or it weighs five hundred thousand kg and has been there for exactly 11 years.

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

It's got something for everyone.

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[–] boredtortoise@lemm.ee 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Finland uses space for thousands (and comma for decimals), so an article in Finnish would have 500 000 kg

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[–] Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago (4 children)

What happened 11,000 years ago?

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 46 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The ice sheet covering northern europe started to melt away, and with that we got what is called "glacial erratics". Rocks had traveled from once place to another, and then settled. In Sweden we call those "giants throw", because it was assumed that the only way those big rocks could be where they are was if a giant had thrown it.

[–] lauha@lemmy.one 11 points 6 months ago (3 children)

In Finland those are called siirtolohkare (moved boulder) or hiidenkivi (devil's rock)

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[–] ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago

it was actually around 11025 years ago. i first heard about this in 1999, and it was 11000 years then.

[–] GoodEye8@lemm.ee 7 points 6 months ago
[–] card797@champserver.net 6 points 6 months ago

You're not gonna believe it.

[–] DrRatso@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 months ago

Nice, what bouldering grade?

[–] chris@programming.dev 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If that was a comma, it would be way more impressive…

[–] Pietson@kbin.social 18 points 6 months ago (1 children)

In Europe generally commas are used for decimals and periods for marking thousands

[–] windie@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Then, it's a very light rock!

[–] Skasi@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Having exactly 500 kg up to three decimal places would still be quite impressive!

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[–] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] veloxization@yiffit.net 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Finland is not close enough to the edges of tectonic plates, so if we get earthquakes here at all, they're barely noticeable.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago

so if we get earthquakes here at all, they’re barely noticeable.

..and caused by the sea bed rising after it was compressed because of the weight of the glacier during the ice age

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

The age sends my imagination racing, I wonder if there was a Proto-Indo-European name for it, as a remote curiosity/enigma.

"They say that somewhere up north, half a moon beyond the most remote village, there is a large stone put on top of another by the hand of the Earth Goddess herself."

[–] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Or some aliens with antigrav guns were like "Hey you know what would be funny?!?"

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[–] fenrasulfr@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Let's hope it doesn't get destroyed by idiots.

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[–] 4am@lemm.ee 5 points 6 months ago

There is another of these in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, USA.

Balance Rock State Park

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I'm not convinced that weighs 500 tons, that's the same as at least 65 of the largest African elephants or 2.5 of the largest blue whales

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (7 children)

After some googling, some of the heavier rock types are 3g/cm^3, which is 3000kg/m^3

If we use the person as a rough ruler of 1.6m, the rock is about 5 person wide, and 3 person high (eye measure), give or take. And if we say it's 3 person deep, then it has a rough mass of 5*3*3*1.6*3000 = 216 000 kg, which is in the same order of magnitude.

Close enough to check out, I'd say.

Edit: I realized since the actual ruler we use is 1.6m (assumed), it should be multiplied by 1.6 three times (one for each dimension/length), not just once. If we do that, we end up with 921 600 kg instead, putting 500 000 kg well within the range of possibilities from a quick calculation.

Edit 2: as pointed out below, the actual correct estimation would be 553 tons

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Your edit is correct except I get 553 tons! I'm still shocked it'd easily tip the scales vs 2 large blue whales

Edit: ahh you accidentally did 5x5x3 instead of 5x3x3

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[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Useless. We all want something standard. Like how many pygmy marmosets that is.

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[–] SeveralAnts@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Can anyone tell me why the bottom rock is so smooth? I imagine people come and sit on it and touch them both frequently, and that they are two rocks from different places but they each look very dissimilar. I guess what I am really asking, is the bottom rock so smooth because of the big boy topping it?

[–] disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Likely glaciation, the bottom rock was likely on the bottom of an ice sheet and millions of tons of ice moving over it over time had smoothed it out.

The top rock is probably from many miles away and was carried and placed there from the receding glacier. To me the top rock looks like it is a completely different type of stone then the bottom.

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