Althouse: Large boulder the size of a small boulder.

January 28, 2020

Large boulder the size of a small boulder.

Beg pardon? https://t.co/4ttuLtlrMa
— J.F. Riordan (@AudacityofGoats) January 28, 2020

90 comments:

Michael K said...: Magical shrinking boulders?; 1/28/20, 9:38 AM
JMW Turner said...: Are there established criteria for boulder sizes?; 1/28/20, 9:39 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: With a large boulder the size of a small boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older...

Good thing Springsteen was from New Jersey!; 1/28/20, 9:40 AM
Rory said...: His problem is that it's a regular boulder, neither large nor small.; 1/28/20, 9:41 AM
JAORE said...: It's a small boulder with delusions of grandeur.; 1/28/20, 9:41 AM
JAORE said...: It's only a small boulder if it doesn't crush your car.; 1/28/20, 9:42 AM
JAORE said...: It was a small boulder and then it got closer.; 1/28/20, 9:43 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Is it a large boulder the size of a small boulder on the road to Boulder?

That would be confusing!; 1/28/20, 9:43 AM
Kevin said...: Under the sea, it's a tiny boulder. On a mountain, it's a small boulder. In a road, it's a large boulder. In your living room, it's a freakin huge boulder.; 1/28/20, 9:44 AM
MadisonMan said...: I wonder what they meant. Small horse? Small car?; 1/28/20, 9:45 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: An over the shoulder boulder holder holds boulders both big and small.

Here, they need Eric Holder to push that boulder over the shoulder.; 1/28/20, 9:45 AM
tim maguire said...: JAORE said...It's a small boulder with delusions of grandeur.

It has aspirations.; 1/28/20, 9:46 AM
Nonapod said...: Are there established criteria for boulder sizes?

In the UK they use "stone" for weight. One stone is 14 pounds. So maybe a one standard "boulder" could be 100 stone, or around 1400 pounds. Then maybe a "small boulder" could be like a "short ton"?; 1/28/20, 9:46 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Quote from the Sheriff of San Miguel Co.; "If I've told that damn coyote once, I've told him a thousand times....".; 1/28/20, 9:46 AM
Nonapod said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/28/20, 9:47 AM
tcrosse said...: Pretty ugly.; 1/28/20, 9:47 AM
Beasts of England said...: That’s a bold description...; 1/28/20, 9:47 AM
rehajm said...: They need the hail scale guy to work on the boulder scale.; 1/28/20, 9:49 AM
CJinPA said...: Size is relative. The state between Connecticut and Massachusetts is approximately the size of Rhode Island.; 1/28/20, 9:50 AM
rehajm said...: It will be back on its way as soon as the sheriff stops watching it.; 1/28/20, 9:52 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Very dense. Even more dangerous than a large boulder the size of a large boulder.; 1/28/20, 9:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: This is so squarely in my zone of humor.

I love stuff about size — big and small.

I have laughed 10 different times reading and rereading "Large boulder the size of a small boulder."

Just laughed again writing that.

If you ever want to get me to laugh at your jokes, just remember "Large boulder the size of a small boulder." That's my style.; 1/28/20, 9:55 AM
reader said...: A small boulder that identifies as a large boulder.; 1/28/20, 9:55 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: It's too big for a small boulder, but too small for a large boulder. Is it even really a boulder?; 1/28/20, 9:56 AM
tcrosse said...: Jumbo shrimp.; 1/28/20, 9:56 AM
Kevin said...: Large boulders, small boulders, and other large boulders the size of small boulders.; 1/28/20, 9:58 AM
Fernandinande said...: That's how we talk in this neck of the woods.; 1/28/20, 9:58 AM
Nonapod said...: Tagging on to my ealier post, there's a whole wikipedia article on unusual units of measurement (because of course there is).

Something interesting I saw there:

The term "Minute" usually means 1⁄60 of an hour, coming from "a minute division of an hour". The term "Second" comes from "the second minute division of an hour", as it's 1⁄60 of a minute, or 1⁄60 of 1⁄60 of an hour. While usually sub-second units are represented with SI prefixes on the second (ex: milliseconds), this system can be extrapolated further, such that a "Third" would mean 1⁄60 of a second, and a "Fourth" would mean 1⁄60 of a third, etc. These units are occasionally used in astronomy to denote angles.[68]; 1/28/20, 10:00 AM
traditionalguy said...: Large or small, that one looks just the right shape to roll down hill by itself. Or is it a War of the Worlds craft about to unscrew its lid?; 1/28/20, 10:03 AM
Lucid-Ideas said...: "LARGE...SHARK-TYPE FISH!!!"

- Steve Zissou; 1/28/20, 10:03 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "ten was the figure most frequently quoted, for people's minds ran mostly to round numbers in those days"

-Shiloh; 1/28/20, 10:04 AM
tcrosse said...: When Letterman was a TV weatherman in Indiana he once reported hail the size of canned hams.; 1/28/20, 10:07 AM
rhhardin said...: Mallarme on Edgar Allen Poe, "This strange voice ... A still block of stone fallen down here onto the earth from out of an unknown disaster."; 1/28/20, 10:07 AM
Beasts of England said...: That’s my style.

I saw this one earlier today: a restaurant website shows ‘Open Daily’ and in the same frame ‘Sun - Closed’.

http://purveyorhuntsville.com/; 1/28/20, 10:09 AM
Fernandinande said...: ISO 14688-1:2002 says a "large boulder" is larger than 24.8031", which is actually the size of a small boulder.; 1/28/20, 10:10 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Size is in the eye of the boulder beholder.; 1/28/20, 10:10 AM
Howard said...: As a geologist, I approve this characterization. On a human scale, it's a large Boulder, but on a highway scale, it's small.; 1/28/20, 10:10 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Large boulder the size of a small boulder

So about average.; 1/28/20, 10:13 AM
Ralph L said...: I imagine the writer meant "small car," but he was bowled over by the size of it and flubbed it.; 1/28/20, 10:13 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: It's too big for a small boulder, but too small for a large boulder. Is it even really a boulder?

Milo and Tock walked up to the door, whose brass name plate read simply "THE GIANT," and knocked.

"Good afternoon," said the perfectly ordinary-sized man who answered the door.

"Are you the giant?" asked Tock doubtfully.

"To be sure," he replied proudly. "I'm the smallest giant in the world. What can I do for you?"

"Are we lost?" said Milo.

"That's a difficult question," said the giant. "Why don't you go around back and ask the midget?" And he closed the door.

They walked to the rear of the house, which looked exactly like the front, and knocked at the door, whose name plate read "THE MIDGET."

"How are you?" inquired the man, who looked exactly like the giant.

"Are you the midget?" asked Tock again, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Unquestionably," he answered. "I'm the tallest midget in the world. May I help you?"

"Do you think we're lost?" repeated Milo.

"That's a very complicated problem," he said. "Why don't you go around to the side and ask the fat man?" And he, too, quickly disappeared.

The side of the house looked very like the front and back, and the door flew open the very instant they knocked.

"How nice of you to come by," exclaimed the man, who could have been the midget's twin brother.

"You must be the fat man," said Tock, learning not to count too much on appearance.

"The thinnest one in the world," he replied brightly; "but if you have any questions, I suggest you try the thin man, on the other side of the house."

Just as they suspected, the other side of the house looked the same as the front, the back, and the side, and the door was again answered by a man who looked precisely like the other three.

"What a pleasant surprise!" he cried happily. "I haven't had a visitor in as long as I can remember."

"How long is that?" asked Milo.

"I'm sure I don't know," he replied. "Now pardon me; I have to answer the door."

"But you just did," said Tock.

"Oh yes, I'd forgotten."

"Are you the fattest thin man in the world?" asked Tock.

"Do you know one that's fatter?" he asked impatiently.

"I think you're all the same man," said Milo emphatically.

"S-S-S-S-S-H-H-H-H-H-H-H," he cautioned, putting his finger up to his lips and drawing Milo closer. "Do you want to ruin everything? You see, to tall men I'm a midget, and to short men I'm a giant; to the skinny ones I'm a fat man, and to the fat ones I'm a thin man. That way I can hold four jobs at once. As you can see, though, I'm neither tall nor short nor fat nor thin. In fact, I'm quite ordinary, but there are so many ordinary men that no one asks their opinion about anything. Now what is your question?"

"Are we lost?" asked Milo once again.

"H-m-m-m," said the man, scratching his head. "I haven't had such a difficult question in as long as I can remember. Would you mind repeating it? It's slipped my mind."

Milo asked the question again.

"My, my," the man mumbled. "I know one thing for certain; it's much harder to tell whether you are lost than whether you were lost, for, on many occasions, where you're going is exactly where you are. On the other hand, you often find that where you've been is not at all where you should have gone, and, since it's much more difficult to find your way back from someplace you've never left, I suggest you go there immediately and then decide. If you have any more questions, please ask the giant." And he slammed his door and pulled down the shade.; 1/28/20, 10:17 AM
Amexpat said...: What looks large from a distance,
Close up ain't never that big.; 1/28/20, 10:18 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I assume he meant to type, "A large boulder the size of a small dinosaur's nut sack is completely blocking east bound lane..."

Danged auto-correct.; 1/28/20, 10:19 AM
CJinPA said...: Ralph L said...
I imagine the writer meant "small car," but he was bowled over by the size of it and flubbed it.

--
You might be right and now I'm crestfallen.; 1/28/20, 10:20 AM
WK said...: Wikipedia can be your friend....
In geology, a boulder is a rock fragment with size greater than 25.6 centimetres (10.1 in) in diameter.[1] Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.[2] In common usage, a boulder is too large for a person to move. Smaller boulders are usually just called rocks or stones. The word boulder is short for boulder stone, from Middle English bulderston or Swedish bullersten.[

There are also common sizes for hailstones...... golf ball; baseball..... maybe there were no sports with balls large enough to describe boulders.; 1/28/20, 10:24 AM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Fernandistein @10:10 AM: An ISO Standard expressed in Imperial units? Seems like I retired from engineering just in time.

We are truly in the End Times, brothers and sisters.; 1/28/20, 10:25 AM
rhhardin said...: Remove the boulder in your own eye before you criticize the speck in your brother's eye; 1/28/20, 10:32 AM
CJinPA said...: Big boulder, small boulder?

Bill Murray and Steve Martin just want to know What is that thing?; 1/28/20, 10:35 AM
Equipment Maintenance said...: Schrodinger's boulder; 1/28/20, 10:38 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Bill Murray and Steve Martin just want to know What is that thing?

Be careful what you ask for! Phil Harris found out..; 1/28/20, 10:39 AM
Nonapod said...: a boulder is a rock fragment with size greater than 25.6 centimetres (10.1 in) in diameter

That seems strangely specific. I wonder why it's not exactly 10 inches or exactly 25 centimetres?; 1/28/20, 10:42 AM
CJinPA said...: Unknown said...
Bill Murray and Steve Martin just want to know What is that thing?

Be careful what you ask for! Phil Harris found out..

--
Touche; 1/28/20, 10:42 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: An over the shoulder boulder holder holds boulders both big and small

Otto Titsling Invented the first over the shoulder boulder holder.

The result of this swindle is pointedly clear:

Do you buy a titsling or do you buy a brassiere? ta DAH; 1/28/20, 10:50 AM
Fernandinande said...: Fernandistein @10:10 AM: An ISO Standard expressed in Imperial units? Seems like I retired from engineering just in time.

The ISO standard itself actually says 630mm (=24.8031"); I like inches because I'm primitive.; 1/28/20, 10:51 AM
Nichevo said...: Question is how do you remove it; do you get a bulldozer all the way down there, or something with cables and pull it down the hill, I don't like that one myself, or perhaps they blow it up? I would assume pushing but what size vehicle do you need to push that size boulder? And where does it fall? Will they hoist it up on a flatbed and drive it away? Anyone have an idea how big this "small" boulder actually is?; 1/28/20, 11:00 AM
pacwest said...: It has to do with inconvenience of location. Since it was on the road rather than the shoulder it was a big small boulder. Had it been on the shoulder it would have been a small big boulder. Obviously.; 1/28/20, 11:01 AM
CJinPA said...: Question is how do you remove it;

You get it rolling down hill and let South San Miguel handle it.; 1/28/20, 11:02 AM
Sam L. said...: Amused, I am.; 1/28/20, 11:04 AM
readering said...: What's the vehicle the size of a large boulder in front?; 1/28/20, 11:06 AM
Fernandinande said...: This like Biden saying that dumb kids are as smart as smart kids.

From the picture, with 8" wide tire tracks, the boulder is about 58" wide and 38" tall.; 1/28/20, 11:20 AM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Unknown @10:17 AM: OK buddy, one more joke like that and I'm going to try to find out where you live.; 1/28/20, 11:21 AM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Fernandistein 10:51 AM: Thanks for that. My nap this afternoon will be much more peaceful for that knowledge.; 1/28/20, 11:25 AM
Ralph L said...: What's the vehicle the size of a large boulder in front?

Looks like a Chevy Tahoe or Suburban.; 1/28/20, 11:26 AM
Fernandinande said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/28/20, 11:58 AM
Fernandinande said...: Technically speaking, the boulder weighs as much as 1.192982 Chevy Suburbans, so it's also a heavy boulder with the weight of a light boulder.; 1/28/20, 12:01 PM
Fernandinande said...: A duck weighs 0.000447368 Chevy Suburbans, so the boulder is not a witch.; 1/28/20, 12:12 PM
Tomcc said...: Any paleontologists out there? The size of a dinosaur egg, maybe? It looks smaller than even a small car; say a Smart car.; 1/28/20, 12:12 PM
Fritz said...: Nonapod said...
a boulder is a rock fragment with size greater than 25.6 centimetres (10.1 in) in diameter

That seems strangely specific. I wonder why it's not exactly 10 inches or exactly 25 centimetres?

The scale is based on powers of two, with sand at 1/16th to 2 mm: Sediment size scale.; 1/28/20, 12:21 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: For those interested, the rock is sitting on COn145, which runs essentially from Dolores in the south up by Telluride in the middle, ad then meanders west by north west towards UT, ending right before Naturita, which I think a couple decades ago was briefly famous for its long distance (over a mile) prairie dog hunts. Somehow though the animal rights people thought that killing prairie dogs before they can hear the sound of the gun was uncivilized, or something. Unless that was nearby Natura. Telluride, the county seat, is located in gorgeous country. The rock appears to be maybe 5 miles WNW of Telluride. Before I did a bit of research, I figured that was one of 2 or 3 mostly likely places for the rock. My memory is of a wide right swing in the road, with a cliff essentially hanging almost over the road. Apple Maps shows the roadwork, while Google maps shows the road stopped up by Placerville, 10 miles beyond that, which is much flatter, so I am going with Apple here.

Maybe a decade and a half ago, I was driving back and forth a lot between PHX where my partner lived (and we spend half the year now) and Summit County CO. I had maybe 4 routes that I would rotate through. To the west, there was the fast route up through the Navajo res, Monument Valley thence to Moab and I-70. Next one East included CO 145, from Dolores up through Telluride, heading east just beyond this rock, and tying into US 550 at Ridgeway. Third one was up US 550 from Durango, through Ridgeway, Montrose, and the turning east towards Paonia, coming out by Carbondale, on the road to Aspen. That route was maybe the most beautiful, but is one of the worst places to be in the state when there is snow, esp on the Million Dollar Highway section over Red Mountain pass between Silverton and Ouray. Sections of the road look like they were just glued it to the side of a cliff. Over the last century CDOT has lost more plows (and drivers) plowing that section than anywhere else in the state. Gorgeous route, but slow. The Dolores/Telluride route is much safer and dependable in the winter, plus a bit faster. And then, my fourth route was up US 285 from Santa Fe, all the way up to FairPlay, then turned left on CO 9 popping over the pass into Breckenridge.

Even though Colorado has been invaded by liberals, and is getting very crowded and expensive, I still believe that it has more beautiful mountain scenery than anywhere else in the country. Definitely in the lower 48. My kid is the fourth generation to extensively explore the western half of the state (i.e. ignoring the Kansas suburbs east of I-25). I just wish that my partner could tolerate the weather in the winter there, so we could live there instead of in the middle of an ugly desert, which is where we are now.; 1/28/20, 12:22 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Fernandistein said...
A duck weighs 0.000447368 Chevy Suburbans, so the boulder is not a witch.

The boulder might float, depending on how small it is. So it is kind of important to solve the mystery of just how big that boulder is.; 1/28/20, 12:25 PM
Gospace said...: The boulder was put there by the great Indian brave who has been lost for a long time. He went on a quest to win the hand of the Indian Chief's daughter and never returned. His quest was set in the mountains, and there are signs put up by the tribe everywhere to help locate him. I'm sure you've seen them yourself and have glanced around trying to find him. They're located mostly in the passes by steep hillsides: "Watch for Falling Rock!".; 1/28/20, 12:30 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “ A duck weighs 0.000447368 Chevy Suburbans”

Are you talking an average Burban? I had a 2500 Suburban at one point, the 3/4 ton version, and it was a monster. Used to use it to pull my 1/2 ton one wheel drive Tahoe out of snow banks a number of times when I was living by, coincidentally, Tahoe. I could tow both the Tahoe and an Audi A4 with it at the same time, and actually did it once. Around town, it was the worst vehicle I ever had on gas, but turned out ok when I drove it from western NV to CO, thanks to its overdrive. Better than the newer, lighter, Tahoe that didn’t have overdrive.; 1/28/20, 12:31 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/28/20, 12:45 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/28/20, 12:49 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: A duck weighs 0.000447368 Chevy Suburbans

Laden, or unladen Suburbans?; 1/28/20, 1:28 PM
Tomcc said...: Forget about that coronavirus:
Giant boulders tumble onto southern Oregon highway
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/01/giant-boulders-tumble-onto-southern-oregon-highway-driver-hospitalized.html
The boulders are vengeful!; 1/28/20, 1:32 PM
Gospace said...: But are they giant boulders the size of large boulders?; 1/28/20, 1:41 PM
Tomcc said...: There's a photo at the link; "giant" is a fair description.; 1/28/20, 1:45 PM
gilbar said...: i cannot Believe the number of times this has happened to me!
When you're driving;
Small boulders the size of Small boulders, are bad enough;
But the Only Thing Worse, than a Large Boulder the size of a Small Boulder...
Is a Large Boulder the size of a Large Boulder: That's REALLY BAD; 1/28/20, 1:59 PM
Chris-2-4 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/28/20, 2:13 PM
walter said...: Boulderdash!; 1/28/20, 3:33 PM
Christy said...: Fernandistein at 12:12, that is exactly the kind of joke that makes me howl with laughter.; 1/28/20, 3:50 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Well, large-ish.; 1/28/20, 4:07 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: For years I commuted on California SR-74, the infamous Ortega Highway. I guess I drove that winding two-lane mountain road about 4,000 times without much drama.

A couple of weeks ago a largish, smallish boulder about the size of the one in the picture tumbled into the eastbound lane. Some poor sap on his way home from work, no doubt thinking about a cold beer and his NBA League Pass, came around the curve at 60 mph, hit the rock, and died. Ecclesiastes 9:12.

Gee, I guess that wasn't very funny.; 1/28/20, 4:28 PM
Jeff said...: Where's Sisyphus when you need him?; 1/28/20, 5:32 PM
Rusty said...: dwarf shortage; 1/28/20, 6:55 PM
madAsHell said...: I was driving a 1973 Mercury Capri across Colorado. I had started earlier that day in California.

Somewhere on I-70 west of Denver, I thought I saw a grocery bag on the road. No big deal, but let me change lanes. I dodged a bullet.

In Cleveland, I learned that people will dump their un-wanted refrigerator, or couch on the freeway. This was WAY before YouTube.; 1/28/20, 9:47 PM
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dustbunny said...: It looks large to those who don’t know boulders but really, those who KNOW boulders know it’s just a small boulder. Seems clear to me.; 1/29/20, 5:09 AM
dustbunny said...: To the boomer rubes it’s a large boulder but to us readin’ and good spellin’ elititists it’s a small boulder.; 1/29/20, 5:15 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Could one of these witch doctors make boulders disappear from the road? That must be the relevance.; 1/29/20, 4:39 PM