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The Splitting of Giant Rock (10 years on)
Duece of Clubs ^ | 5-1-2000 | Doug H. (and website owner)

Posted on 01/09/2010 4:52:44 PM PST by UCANSEE2

I was in need of a California road trip real bad, so after provisioning with ten bucks worth of beef jerky, Triscuits, a can of aerosol cheese, a case of beer, guns and tools we shoved off and headed away from town.

Ended up at Giant Rock about dusk and discovered that Giant Rock is now Giant Rocks. Seems a couple of days earlier some religious freaks with no outdoors sense built a fire under the Integretron facing side of the rock. The fire blazed all night and stressed the rock internally until it fractured and sent an apartment sized boulder crashing to the ground.

Unfortunately nobody was hurt in the "accident". Now I hear the Shiterra Club wants to put a fence up around the rock - imagine that.


TOPICS: Outdoors; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: california; giantrock; graffiti; hippies; newage
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Cyber-Sliding led me to this interesting story on a website with some great pictures. It's good to take a break from the SAME OLD STUFF.

ABOVE is just an excerpt. Please read the whole letter!

I thought the author's comments on 'a new age' would be interesting, looking back at it 10 years later.

Has it happened????

1 posted on 01/09/2010 4:52:46 PM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: UCANSEE2
That was one BIG rock!


2 posted on 01/09/2010 5:00:51 PM PST by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin
That's not a rock, mate. This is a rock:


3 posted on 01/09/2010 5:27:30 PM PST by frankenMonkey ("Natural Born Citizen" - US Constitution, 1787; "Words have meaning" - Barack Obama, 2009)
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To: frankenMonkey

I’ve climbed to the top of that rock.


4 posted on 01/09/2010 5:53:25 PM PST by NCC-1701 (ON 1-19-09 GAS WAS, ON AVERAGE IN MEMPHIS, $1.43 A GALLON.)
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To: frankenMonkey

Is that really monolithic?


5 posted on 01/09/2010 6:11:05 PM PST by raybbr
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To: raybbr
It's referred to as "The world's largest monolith", but the Wikipedia site for Uluru, aka Ayers Rock, notes that the term is "ambiguous". From the further description, it sounds like it is an exposed tip of bedrock, which makes sense.
6 posted on 01/09/2010 6:51:12 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: UCANSEE2

Duct tape will fix that.


7 posted on 01/09/2010 7:12:11 PM PST by Moltke (DOPE will get you 4 to 8 in the Big House - HOPE will get you 4 to 8 in the White House.)
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Shameless OT question (since beef jerky is mentioned): I grew up with beef jerky, but unfortunately it’s virtually unknown in Europe. I make my own from time to time, but it’s time consuming and getting it ‘right’ is a bit of hit-and-miss. Sooo, given the dollar-euro exchange rate, I figure I could just buy large batches straight from the US. Any suggestions for a high quality brand to look at (i.e, not exactly Lowrey’s)? Lots of offers on the net, of course, but which brand is worth giving it a try? TIA!


8 posted on 01/09/2010 7:26:47 PM PST by Moltke (DOPE will get you 4 to 8 in the Big House - HOPE will get you 4 to 8 in the White House.)
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To: UCANSEE2

I thought the birth of that red moo-cow in Jerusalem a couple years ago was supposed to bring on a new age or something.

Or is that only for the joooz?


9 posted on 01/09/2010 8:26:26 PM PST by sinanju
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To: frankenMonkey

Oh well, sure. Anybody can claim a rock is big iffen ya bury the bottom half under ground.

I’ll bet most of that isn’t even visible. /sarchasm 8<)


10 posted on 01/09/2010 8:31:07 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: NCC-1701

I thought the natives consider it bad juju to climb Uluru.


11 posted on 01/09/2010 8:56:17 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...

For those about to rock...


12 posted on 01/09/2010 9:06:16 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Happy New Year! Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Landers, California Something about Giant Rock seems to attract grandiose claims. Some say it is the largest free-standing boulder in the world. There are also WWII-era tales of a German spy blowing himself up with dynamite in a room hollowed out under the boulder. In the late 1940's, George Van Tassel (builder of the nearby Integratron) lived under the boulder and established the location as UFO Central; conventions of the faithful were held at Giant Rock into the 1970's (Van Tassel himself was said to have been abducted by extraterrestrials). Out here in the desert, all such assertions are as trustworthy as a mirage and can vanish just as quickly. But the rock itself remains; these days the site is the domain of partiers, campers and dirt bikers. The large detached piece seen in this photo broke off on February 21, 2000, probably due to lingering heat from a bonfire the night before. Even this event was seen as fulfillment of a prophecy ... just the latest grandiose claim associated with Giant Rock

13 posted on 01/09/2010 9:17:50 PM PST by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: UCANSEE2

The Barrack in Washington is starting to crack too.
Maybe the same kind of density?


14 posted on 01/09/2010 9:31:24 PM PST by cruise_missile
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To: raybbr; frankenMonkey; Robert A. Cook, PE; dr_lew
Yes, but that's not important right now.

scroll 3/4 down the page

15 posted on 01/10/2010 3:15:53 AM PST by skeptoid (AA, UE, MBS (Piled High and Deep))
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To: fieldmarshaldj

I heard that after I got home and read more about Uluru. Since I’ve also been to the top of the dome at St. Peter’s Basillica in Rome, I consider the reverance due and paid evened out.

The view from the top of both is great, btw.


16 posted on 01/10/2010 12:50:20 PM PST by NCC-1701 (ON 1-19-09 GAS WAS, ON AVERAGE IN MEMPHIS, $1.43 A GALLON.)
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To: NCC-1701

bttt


17 posted on 01/10/2010 12:55:25 PM PST by ConservativeMan55
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To: sinanju
I thought the birth of that red moo-cow in Jerusalem a couple years ago was supposed to bring on a new age or something. Or is that only for the joooz?

No. And I think we are in a 'new age'. It kinda sucks, though.

18 posted on 01/10/2010 12:57:46 PM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: Moltke
Duct tape will fix that.

Send RED GREEN there. He'll have it back together in nothing flat.

19 posted on 01/10/2010 12:59:13 PM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: Fred Nerks

OH, come on. Everyone knows fire can’t melt rock, or steel. Just ask Rosie.


20 posted on 01/10/2010 1:02:02 PM PST by UCANSEE2
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