43 comments

  • cmrx64 21 hours ago
    https://news.wttw.com/2026/09/11/rock-star-meet-guy-who-exca...

    here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!

    • Stratoscope 17 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.”

      • cr125rider 2 hours ago
        Man this guy found his life’s calling. Love to see it.
    • mathgenius 9 minutes ago
      They should name it after this guy, the Pitelka rock.
    • xnx 3 hours ago
      That rock couldn't have been found by a better guy.
      • Bluestein 2 hours ago
        Even a rock has a soulmate! Not I.- /s
    • ComputerGuru 2 hours ago
      TFA has a picture as well; just scroll down.
    • aktenlage 17 hours ago
      Thank you, great read.
  • matthewsinclair 21 hours ago
    Surely it has to be “Boulder McBoulderface”?

    [0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36225652

    • samgranieri 4 hours ago
      I was going to suggest just this! I love Boaty McBoatface.

      But as a resident of the Chicago area, I’m partial to Da Rock

      • aceazzameen 3 hours ago
        Can have the best of both worlds.

        Da Rocky McRockface

        • tanseydavid 3 hours ago
          Rocky McRockface is the perfect name and gets my vote.
        • MegaDeKay 1 hour ago
          Came here with that same name in mind. It would be a stone cold crime if that wasn't picked.
    • senectus1 56 minutes ago
      Missed opportunity to call it "Rocky Bouldoa"
    • underdeserver 1 hour ago
      I wonder if there'll be an episode of Hello Internet on it.
    • tjwebbnorfolk 2 hours ago
      I think this is the only valid name
  • pfdietz 0 minutes ago
    Crystal
  • Stratoscope 22 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.

    • swingandamiss 2 hours ago
      I like "Orchard Rock" because it's not some stupid reddit'ism.
    • phlakaton 15 minutes ago
      So they completely ignored the discoverer's suggestion. Humbug.
    • lbriner 3 hours ago
      Just call it "Dwayne Johnson"?

      Then in generations to some, old people can explain that Dwayne Johnson was the King of Wrestling and then became King of Hollywood.

      • adzm 2 hours ago
        Naming things after living people is bad luck
    • wpm 1 hour ago
      Shakin my damn head where is "Rock and Roll McDonald"
    • jhatax 5 hours ago
      Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.
    • robotnikman 3 hours ago
      I like 'Da Rock' because it reminds me of da orks from Warhammer 40K
    • deepspace 2 hours ago
      How is 'BDU' not the top choice?
    • toddmorey 2 hours ago
      Beanie’s Baby
    • whycome 5 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

      • jhatax 1 hour ago
        O Rock Damn.
    • RaftPeople 4 hours ago
      Ditka
      • anonymousDan 4 hours ago
        I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.
  • JoeAltmaier 5 hours ago
    "Mother's Love"

    Because, we so often take it for granite.

  • toddmorey 2 hours ago
    “I am going to show you where on earth in the future we will find the biggest rock: Space.”

    https://youtu.be/aO0TUI9r-So?si=7fNwDvf86GpVFxDR

  • chrismcb 1 hour ago
    That boulder must be the size of a large boulder.
  • bcaulfield 21 hours ago
    Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.
    • cestith 9 hours ago
      Or Rudy Ray Moore.
  • fortran77 1 hour ago
    I thought a 50 ton boulder would be bigger!
  • PyWoody 4 hours ago
    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.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Boulder

  • syspec 3 hours ago
    Interesting, the construction worker who found is said he never found one that big in all his years working in the field.

    I had no idea that would be rare, what makes it relatively rare?

  • ternaryoperator 5 hours ago
    Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?
    • crisnoble 4 hours 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...
    • waltbosz 3 hours ago
      I thought the same thing. My back yard is full of huge rocks. Nothing quite that large, maybe 1/3 of that size. A few doors down there is a boulder twice as big as the O'Hare one.

      I'm speaking in volume. I'm not sure of the mass of these boulders.

    • quickthrowman 36 minutes ago
      In an area that was covered by a glacier in the last 20k years, yes.

      Chicago was covered by ice during the most recent glaciation, which means that boulder is probably a glacial erratic covered by till leftover from the movement of the glacier.

    • hoppyhoppy2 4 hours ago
      Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.
    • Yizahi 4 hours ago
      Medium-rare I would guess
    • tptacek 4 hours ago
      Not from the look of it.
  • thehappypm 2 hours ago
    The pioneers used to ride those babies for miles!
  • wffurr 4 hours ago
    Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.
  • willmadden 28 minutes ago
    I nominate "Boaty McBoatface".
  • lukeify 5 hours ago
    O’Hareball!
  • huxley 5 hours ago
    “A large boulder the size of a small boulder"

    https://time.com/5772944/large-small-boulder/

    • entrope 3 hours ago
      I was going to suggest something in that vein, perhaps "a giant boulder the size of a large boulder" to distinguish it from its Coloradan cousin.
  • karlkloss 17 hours ago
    Rocky McRockface
  • mikewarot 17 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.

    https://youtu.be/s7_z-SGxUAs?si=vUKYBWYvG7nncszd&t=924

  • whycome 5 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

  • markstos 2 hours ago
    O'Bollard.
  • dbcurtis 3 hours ago
    Years ago, a company that I worked for had a huge boulder in the parking lot area that had simply been built around. At some point, facilities decided they were going to remove the boulder. Employees printed up some tee shirts that said "Save the BFR". Because, you know, it was a big rock.
  • JoeAltmaier 5 hours ago
    Pictures or it didn't happen?
  • AmazingEveryDay 1 hour ago
    What means "prehistoric boulder", are not essentially all boulders prehistoric? I just don't know what a historic boulder would even mean. Something in Raiders of the Lost Ark?
  • mrlonglong 5 hours ago
    Bouldery McBoulderface.
  • MadrasTh0rn 3 hours ago
    CHIrock or CHI (shy) stone
  • lifeisstillgood 3 hours ago
    “Deep Crust” surely?
  • futuresoonpast 2 hours ago
    Rocky, obvs.
  • shmilia 5 hours ago
    Bean
  • nyc_data_geek 4 hours ago
    Rocky McRockFace
  • ashton314 5 hours ago
    Peewee Pebblestone
  • wewewedxfgdf 5 hours ago
    Big Boy Boulder
  • contingencies 4 hours ago
    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 Park Conservatory, an amazing historic plant collection with one of the world's best ferneries, very close to downtown. https://www.lincolnparkconservancy.org/projects/conservatory...

  • pvaldes 5 hours ago
    Stonehangar, of course
  • mindslight 20 hours ago
    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 19 hours ago
      In New England they made stone walls out of them. Of course most where smallish

      https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/history/hist...

      In “original” England they did as well.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone

      • mindslight 8 hours ago
        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.

    • acomjean 19 hours ago
      In New England they made stone walls out of them.

      In “original” England they did as well.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone

  • powerbroker 22 hours ago
    There is another rock sitting alongside a chief artery about 25 miles NW just beyond Schaumburg. Silly to give these things a name.
    • Stratoscope 21 hours ago
      There are big rocks everywhere. But surely we can be allowed to have a little fun?
      • powerbroker 20 hours ago
        OK, OK. just drag it up to Schaumburg. Put it next to the other rock. Then call it 'micro-henge'.
        • Stratoscope 19 hours ago
          That works for me! Can you help me drag this 50-ton rock?
  • dhosek 1 hour ago
    [dead]
  • poontangpoo 3 hours ago
    [dead]
  • aaron695 17 hours ago
    [dead]
  • hal-eisen 5 hours ago
    How is it possible that NONE of the candidate names refer to Colbert? Especially given his time with Second City.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_The_Colbert...

    • nonethewiser 4 hours ago
      I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?
    • tptacek 4 hours ago
      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.
      • dhosek 1 hour ago
        And at least Odenkirk sounds like he’s from Chicago (because he is). Colbert’s time in Chicago was a short part of his life.
        • tptacek 1 hour ago
          Berwyn, technically! Our neck of the woods. :)