# Nothing ever happens here. Well, except for the Boulder **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113 "2014-05-10T04:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/1 "2014-05-10T04:32:13Z")
I miss all the Good Stuff in town. This happened about a mile from my house. [http://www.whdh.com/story/25478136/video-boulder-stops-inches-from-saugus-church](http://www.whdh.com/story/25478136/video-boulder-stops-inches-from-saugus-church) They’ve been doing construction behind this church along the main drag in town, dynamiting the bedrock, and the resulting boulder rolled _toward_ the church building, stopping literally a foot short of the wall. They later removed the boulder by spending three hours reducing it to manageable-sized chunks. Without dynamite, I assume. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/2 "2014-05-10T05:26:49Z")
I once worked for a guy who needed a boulder removed. He hired a couple of guys who said they knew what they were doing, but the guy was cheap. The blowing up guys arrived looking like Appalachian Americans. My friend was worried and went in to look over his insurance policy. The AA’s crawled around the rock and drilled holes, then covered the rock with mattresses. When they set the dynamite off, my friend was on the other side of the road…but he said the rock just burped and then the AA’s were busy picking their stuff up and asking for their money. Cash, of course. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/3 "2014-05-10T14:46:22Z")
In other Boston-area news, the Bouldah shoulda used its blinkah: > **[Boston drivers urged to 'Use Yah Blinkah'](https://news.yahoo.com/boston-drivers-urged-yah-blinkah-152949275.html;_ylt=AwrBJR5lO25TtioAYZLQtDMD)** > > BOSTON (AP) — Perhaps the reason notoriously aggressive Boston drivers don't use their turn signals is that no one's ever put it in terms they understand. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/4 "2014-05-10T14:53:32Z")
I know a guy that does boulder removal for a living. When a boulder is too big for the excavator, they call him. Mostly new house foundation work. I wonder how the heck he gets through airport security? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/5 "2014-05-10T17:32:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > [http://www.whdh.com/story/25478136/video-boulder-stops-inches-from-saugus-church](http://www.whdh.com/story/25478136/video-boulder-stops-inches-from-saugus-church) I thought Ernest Hemingway was dead. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/6 "2014-05-10T17:43:47Z")
To be fair, the boulder **was stopped** just inches from the church. It didn’t just halt because God willed it, like the pastor is trying to make out. It hit a concrete porch and iron railing. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/7 "2014-05-10T17:58:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It didn’t just halt because God willed it, like the pastor is trying to make out. It hit a concrete porch and iron railing. You’d think a competent God would’ve prevented the boulder from rolling loose in the first place. Unless God was just showing off, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/8 "2014-05-10T18:06:16Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > You’d think a competent God would’ve prevented the boulder from rolling loose in the first place. Unless God was just showing off, I guess. Sometimes God has [better aim](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25975251). Or (gasp) maybe it’s just physical laws at work? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/9 "2014-05-10T18:12:24Z")
[This is my favorite boulder/structure interaction story.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRroYOJkrg8) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/10 "2014-05-10T18:20:29Z")
It was nice of God to not let the boulder go through the wall, but why did he have to mess up the railing? That just seems kind of petty to me. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/11 "2014-05-10T18:29:08Z")
Anyone else read “Saugus Church” as “sausage church”? Because that’s some religion I think I can get into. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/12 "2014-05-10T18:30:10Z")
That statement can have several interpretations. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/13 "2014-05-10T19:46:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > To be fair, the boulder **was stopped** just inches from the church. It didn’t just halt because God willed it, like the pastor is trying to make out. It hit a concrete porch and iron railing. Actually, it doesn’t appear to have hit the railing. It stopped short of that. As for “miraculous”, we’ve got mixed feelings. All this excavation is in the service of construction of a school behind the church. The article says they do a lot of charity work, but once the school goes in, traffic along this main street, which is already pretty bad, is going to be outrageous twice a day (This church is right next to a traffic light, and is down the street from the way in to the High School) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/14 "2014-05-12T17:16:22Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Anyone else read “Saugus Church” as “sausage church”? Because that’s some religion I think I can get into. Wurstboro Baptist Church. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/15 "2014-05-12T21:16:16Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Anyone else read “Saugus Church” as “sausage church”? Because that’s some religion I think I can get into. Amen to that, I’d love waking up every Sunday morning to bangers & mash. Hey, that works both ways, too! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nothing-ever-happens-here-well-except-for-the-boulder/688113/16 "2014-05-14T20:03:08Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Sometimes God has [better aim](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25975251). Or (gasp) maybe it’s just physical laws at work? Nope. Though the barn got trashed, the massive rock narrowly missed the farm house.