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▲ Chicago O'Hare digs up 50-ton boulder under airfield, asks public for name ideas(simpleflying.com)
72 points by Stratoscope 20 hours ago | 62 comments
▲cmrx64 20 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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.”

▲ComputerGuru 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

TFA has a picture as well; just scroll down.

▲xnx an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That rock couldn't have been found by a better guy.

▲aktenlage 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Thank you, great read.

▲toddmorey 6 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

“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

▲matthewsinclair 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Surely it has to be “Boulder McBoulderface”?

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

▲samgranieri 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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 an hour ago | parent [-]

Can have the best of both worlds.

Da Rocky McRockface

▲tanseydavid 43 minutes ago | parent [-]

Rocky McRockface is the perfect name and gets my vote.

▲tjwebbnorfolk 13 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

I think this is the only valid name

▲Stratoscope 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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 34 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I like "Orchard Rock" because it's not some stupid reddit'ism.

▲lbriner an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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.

▲toddmorey 10 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Beanie’s Baby

▲robotnikman 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I like 'Da Rock' because it reminds me of da orks from Warhammer 40K

▲jhatax 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.

▲whycome 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

▲RaftPeople 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ditka

▲anonymousDan 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.

▲thehappypm 4 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The pioneers used to ride those babies for miles!

▲syspec 42 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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?

▲JoeAltmaier 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"Mother's Love"

Because, we so often take it for granite.

▲bcaulfield 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.

▲cestith 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Or Rudy Ray Moore.

▲PyWoody 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

▲wffurr 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.

▲ternaryoperator 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?

▲crisnoble 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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.

▲hoppyhoppy2 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.

▲Yizahi 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Medium-rare I would guess

▲tptacek 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not from the look of it.

▲whycome 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

▲futuresoonpast 26 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Rocky, obvs.

▲karlkloss 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Rocky McRockface

▲mikewarot 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

▲lifeisstillgood an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

“Deep Crust” surely?

▲dbcurtis an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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.

▲MadrasTh0rn an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

CHIrock or CHI (shy) stone

▲JoeAltmaier 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Pictures or it didn't happen?

▲lukeify 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

O’Hareball!

▲mrlonglong 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Bouldery McBoulderface.

▲huxley 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

“A large boulder the size of a small boulder"

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

▲entrope an hour ago | parent [-]

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.

▲nyc_data_geek 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Rocky McRockFace

▲shmilia 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Bean

▲ashton314 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Peewee Pebblestone

▲contingencies 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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...

▲wewewedxfgdf 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Big Boy Boulder

▲pvaldes 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Stonehangar, of course

▲mindslight 18 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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 17 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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 6 hours ago | parent [-]

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 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There is another rock sitting alongside a chief artery about 25 miles NW just beyond Schaumburg. Silly to give these things a name.

▲Stratoscope 20 hours ago | parent [-]

There are big rocks everywhere. But surely we can be allowed to have a little fun?

▲powerbroker 18 hours ago | parent [-]

OK, OK. just drag it up to Schaumburg. Put it next to the other rock. Then call it 'micro-henge'.

▲Stratoscope 18 hours ago | parent [-]

That works for me! Can you help me drag this 50-ton rock?

▲hal-eisen 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?

▲tptacek 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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.