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Sliding Rocks Bemuse Scientists
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists can't figure out why these rocks — weighing up to several hundred pounds each — slide across a dry lake bed. The leading theory proposes that wind moves the rocks after a rain when the lake bed consists of soft and very slippery mud.
I saw this on TV once! It was this documentary about these very things! They're called Hortas and their intelligent. Apparently they can be taught to mine.
Anyone who has seen an M Night Shamylan movie or been involved in a Usenet discussion about UFO's can readily see that there is one glaringly obvious answer...
IT'S ALIENS GUYS!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!
I got a catholic block.
...nature's version of desert curling?
has anyone checked the mitichlorian levels in the area?
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
... to get to the sex and drugs on the other side!
He whom you called four-eyes yesterday, you call Sir tomorrow.
These stones don't want to gather any moss.
'mmmmmmmmm.... forbidden donut'
GAH! MY EYES!!! Put a warning on that link, geez.
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
... that the rocks slide because the lateral forces exerted on the rocks exceed the static and dynamic frictional force cause by the gravity induced weight of the rock acting across the mud-rock interface. I guess I could be wrong and there are worm-holes involved.
----- There are two kinds of people in this world, my friend; those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
in before some fag explains "begging the question"
but he does hold magnets under the surface of the table, moving objects on top as if by magic, just to bemuse and entertain us
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
is that posting this article in Slashdot is sure to produce a definitive solution to the mystery...
or rather, 100 of them.
Actually, it's caused by the continential tilt. It causes all the loose cannons and nuts and bolts to roll towards California.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
They were obviously moved by his noodly appendages.
Clearly the Flying Spaghetti Monster is moving them with his Noodly Appendage.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 Whoops, silly middle mouse button...
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Obviously, the rocks were casually lurking on Slashdot, when they read "Move along, nothing to see here..."
{rimshot}
because teutonic plate theory was just too crazy to accept...
... although it replaced the even more silly Gaulish plate theory, quickly discarded by history.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
Ironic rock is worse than rai-e-ain on your wedding day, or a free-ee ride, when you already paid.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Hampshire college. Can we look for an explanation that didn't come about from smoking massive amounts of dope in the middle of the desert.
Yeah, I mean heaven forbid tourists actually come and spend money at their tourist-related businesses. I can imagine they're so glad when all that money goes back where it came from! Then their hotels can be nice and empty like they should be.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Rick Rolled while Reading about Rolling Rock Research, by a link Represented as Relevant.
I Require you Rectify this Rankling Repugnance.
Regards,
Ryan
Just -1, Troll talking to another.
In soviet desert, rocks move you?
I'm a satanic clam.
I love places that try to require a tip on the bill. Those places, shoudl I happen to wind up at one unknowingly, will never get a cent for a tip. I'll figure out the actual check total and pay exactly that. The can go scratch on the tip for being retarded about it.
In Death Valley? They'll remember your face and tomorrow you'll end up driving an extra 50 miles for lunch.
"there's no guarantee that even a very capable 4x4 will get you back afterwards"
So ride the rocks!
I wouldn't consider the mad hatter mad. Just reality impaired. He sure can make a mean cup of tea.
Yeah, but you won't know where the rock is when you return! It will have moved!
It's not the wind. It is the earth rotating under the rocks. Not sure of the latitude of the location but the earth is rotating at something around 1000 miles per hour at the equator.
Well, you know of course that why the famous experiment with marbles on a smooth surface works. It's well known that any object on a relatively frictionless surface will slowly drift to the West because of the Earth's rotation. This is why that old design for "air hockey" was unfeasible. That's why marbles on balanced glass always roll Westward. It's how compasses work.
That's also why ice rinks nearer the equator need to be tilted slightly to compensate for the effects of the Earth rotating from under the skaters. I understand that an ice rink built in Quito in 2004 had to be slanted at nearly 7 degrees.
I understand that the government of Indonesia is building a 7 mile long maglev runway that will allow airplanes to be launched at almost 400 miles per hour (wind resistance cuts it down from the full 1000), merely by placing the airplane on the track and letting the Earth's rotation fling it into the air. At that point the engines cut in. The system is expected to cut fuel costs for air travel by almost 30%.
This same effect is what powers that "perpetual motion" turbine that generates power for the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.