Analogy of the week

From Dan Fagin, "We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation.", NYT :

For the first time, scientists are tracking the migration of monarch butterflies across much of North America […]

The breakthrough is the result of a tiny solar-powered radio tag that weighs just 60 milligrams and sells for $200. […]

Most monarchs weigh 500 to 600 milligrams, so each tag-bearing migrator making the transcontinental journey is, by weight, equivalent to a half-raisin carrying three uncooked grains of rice.

Rick Rubenstein, who sent in the link, commented

I suppose "uncooked grains of rice" has some merit, but "half-raisin"? Who has an intuitive sense of the weight of half a raisin? And there's something very funny about the use of "carrying" — how, and why, is this half-raisin carrying these rice grains? Is this supposed to be a relatable experience?

In defense of Dan Fagin, I can only note that the analogy caught Rick's attention and will probably stay in his memory.

I would have thought that a butterfly weighed more than half a raisin, and maybe it would, depending on the size of the raisin.  This site gives a raisin weight estimate of about 1/3 to 1/2 gram, suggesting that a butterfly weighing "500 to 600 milligrams" would actually weigh as much as one or even two raisins. I'll leave it to readers to evaluate the relation of "three uncooked grains of rice" to a 60 milligram radio tag.