This is the guy who taught me how to balance rocks. I saw him balancing rocks in Stanley Park, Vancouver about 5 or 6 years ago. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There had to be a trick. Turns out there’s no trick. Everything has a center of gravity. It just takes patience, time, a steady hand, and the right feel to find the balance point. It’s great fun and really soothing. Next time you’re on a shore with natural stone, give it a try. You’ll amaze yourself.
About Jason Fried
Jason co-founded 37signals back in 1999. He also co-authored REWORK, the New York Times bestselling book on running a "right-sized" business. Co-founded, co-authored... Can he do anything on his own?Read all of Jason Fried’s posts, and follow Jason Fried on Twitter.
Watched by Jason Fried on October 17 2008. There are 20 comments.
MB 17 Oct 08
That is so cool, we were planning on hitting the beach this weekend, I might have to give it a try!
Manuel Martensen 17 Oct 08
Alex 17 Oct 08
Nice to look at, but I am happy that our favored beach has now stones. Absolutely No chance to let the kids play save on the beach with these massive stone formations.
David Haywood Smith 17 Oct 08
This is wonderful! I’m definitely going to try it!
Ilija Studen 17 Oct 08
Thanks for sharing. For me, balancing stones was the best part of your Maine video.
Jonas 17 Oct 08
I cant seem to remember the name of the tune in the video… is it from a movie?
Joshua 17 Oct 08
Stanley Park has got to be one of the most beautiful parks in the world – I was born in Vancouver and have been there many times, but never seen Kent before. Maybe next time.
matt 17 Oct 08
it’s called a “cairn”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn
...many up here are not a fan, you might be interested to know.
George 17 Oct 08
JF 17 Oct 08
Oh, I forgot that these mini posts aren’t attributed to anyone. I wrote this particular post.
eric shannon 17 Oct 08
you rock Jason!
AdamLloyd 17 Oct 08
We have cool rock statues in Ottawa too…
http://www.ontariopics.com/Ottawa/Rock-Statues
Tim 17 Oct 08
So, how do you do it? Do you pick specific rocks? I suppose you look for a good spot on the bottom rock (something kind of flat) and then kind of find the right position for the top rock.
Everything has a center of gravity but that’s not enough, you need to find a stable equilibrium.
But I like that! It looks relaxing and on top of that makes you look kind of cool.
Kien Pham 17 Oct 08
very cool…I’ll try it this weekend _
- Kien
busse 17 Oct 08
@Jonas that tune was in the movie True Romance
Natasha 17 Oct 08
I saw something similar, though not quite at the same scale, at a beach in Ogunquit, Maine last weekend. I wondered it it was inspired by your post about the company trip to Maine.
RS 18 Oct 08
You’ll see the author’s name on top of the mini posts now. Thanks for pointing out the ambiguity!
bsingle 18 Oct 08
Looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen when one of the piles collapses and drops about thirty pounds of rock onto someone.
Brett 20 Oct 08
Very cool. And I love the juxtaposition of the chaotic, frothing waves and the still, upright rocks.
I just love comments – you have the Agree’rs (lots of), the Missing-The-Point’ers (matt), and the Defeatist’s (bsingle) and others. It’s a microcosm of a human interaction and opinion.
Richard 20 Oct 08
Hi,
thanks for the video, I already started balancing rocks during a walk and a hike. :-)
It totally improves me life, so much fun, hehe.
cheers -Richard
This discussion is closed.