June 15, 2005

Moving rocks of Racetrack Playa, Death Valley.
posted by Mr. Knickerbocker 18 years ago
  • Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. One said, "The flag moves." The other said, "The wind moves." They argued back and forth but could not agree. Hui-neng, the sixth Patriarch, said: "Gentlemen! It is not the flag that moves. It is not the wind that moves. It is your mind that moves." The two monks were struck with awe.
  • Very interesting post!, but that third link is pretty bad. First off, the researcher's name is Paula Messina, not Paul. Second, the "His conclusion? It makes no sense." remark is out of nowhere. Paula Messina's Ph.D. dissertation states "There is ample evidence that high wind velocities and dust devil activity aided by unique surface slickness characteristics may explain the overwhelming number of trails found in July 1996."
  • Yeah, I included the third link because of the picture, with the sharp uturn at the end. But I think the site owner was saying Messina's conclusion makes no sense, not that Messina's conclusion was that it makes no sense.
  • I just noticed I failed to include the link with a bunch a maps of the many paths of specific rocks. I can't recall where the link was either. Sorry.
  • The two monks were struck with awe. At his shameless rhetorical gazumphing, which was deep with half a meaning.
  • so these rocks, they roll?
  • Do they gather any moss? or hum "Satisfaction" when no one's looking?
  • Has anyone considered the "crazy lizards did it" hypothesis? Personally, I think it has at least some merit.
  • That's weird. I'm a playa hata.
  • As Hui-neng left the two monks he saw Hung Jen sitting on a bench in the temple courtyard. With a smile Hung Jen looked up at Hui-neng and said. "Fucking n00bs"
  • It's an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the marketing department of this company.
  • I heard that it's been a long time since these rocks did roll.
  • Monkeyfilter: shameless rhetorical gazumphing, deep with half a meaning
  • nice one, Pleg
  • Here's the page with the map of individual rock's paths: http://geosun.sjsu.edu/paula/rtp/page3.html in the lower right corner.
  • Thanks, rjd. That's actually a beter page than the on I found. Clicking the next button takes you t a list of all the rocks, which you can click on to see individual paths.