B u r n l o g

This deep article highlights Jim Mason of the Berkeley Shipyard, the upcoming Escape from Berkeley race, and the Mechabolic fame and how regulatory and electrical power disputes with city officials has led to all kinds of innovations including gasification cars, high-capacity and portable combined heat and power (CHP) and solar power in shipping containers, and other intriguing green ideas.

Power From the People by Brian Doherty

[Jim Mason:] “I wanted to take up power not from a Luddite ‘the world is being destroyed’ mentality that we should all do nothing, sit in a corner, and not consume at all, or since we can’t, just do a little and feel guilty anyway,” Mason says. “I wanted to take it up as a culture of potential abundance, of doing and engagement.”

So he and some of his pals experimented with living large off the grid. Tea, shmea; they needed to operate three-phase industrial power tools. So they scrounged transformers and off-the-shelf generators from junkyards, bought inverter arrays on eBay, assembled solar panels and switching stations. It took them many months and many failures along the way, but they ended up cobbling together a system that successfully supplied their workshop with electricity, controlled by a snazzy computer program that made it possible to trace all operations online. Though it tended to trip out at least once a day, Mason hopes eventually to offer a version of the power system bundled together in one shipping container as a “powertainer” for off-grid use in the Third World and elsewhere.

I’m always amused that so many people associate Burning Man with “Hippies”. It’s just some sort of brain-dead cliché certain outsiders are overjoyed to foist on anything counter to anything I suppose.

On the Playa, where are flowers and trees to hug? Who there is wearing organic hemp clothing or, it hurts to even say it, tie-dye? Nobody’s growing their own food in the dust bowl Playa. Drum circles are relatively sparse in actuality. The preciousness associated with the usual vegan-earth-drunken-love-and-peace-please mentality is pretty much ripped apart for fun out there. So, tell me, what’s so “Hippie” about the Burn?

Ah shucks, in gouging a cliché I had to illustrate with a bunch of “hippie” stereotypes…

From Earthday Events:

“YOU WOKE UP on Sunday and saw the rain pouring down and thought ‘Well, I can’t go to Earth Day now.’

Sure, you were all set for the free concerts, like the one on the Mall — and maybe you were even going to wear this old tie-dye shirt you got that one time from your friend who went to Burning Man, and it was gonna be sweet, man. But the rain…”

UPDATE!
Our good pal M~ sent a snarky list of “hippie words and phrases and what they really mean”.

Note also the truly amazing “Astral Chakra Matrix” so you can “magically manifest your ‘prayerformance’ troupe name, playa-name or next CD name with ease.” Finally, thank Goddess!

A few enlightening hippie definitions:

Burningman
A huge art installation in the desert that many hippies have mistaken for a model of Utopian society which they attempt to recreate in their hometowns for the next 51 weeks. Ignoring the fact that everything about it is completely unsustainable.

Festival
A party; usually dressed up to have some kind of socio-political or spiritual significance. This of course has little impact on the number of bad trips, fights, and misuse of the land that takes place. Often doesn’t change anything but gives revelers the impression that it has.

Gifting
The act of dumping your useless crap on other people.

Gift Economy
Two possible meanings:
1) Great until you end up with a bunch of “landfill fodder” from people who missed the point or
2) Rich people giving away free drugs

Tribe
MySpace for hippies.

Wiccan / Pagan
Subscribing to a belief system to prove to everyone that you don’t subscribe to belief systems.

Tom Price (Environmental Manager of Burning Man and Director and founder of Black Rock Solar) is interviewed by Robert Knox at Environmental Graffiti.

Price, the “environmental hero” (PEOPLE magazine), had this to say:

“Solar costs on average $10 per watt to install, and the rebates were $5. But about half the cost is profit and labor, and we realized that if we weren’t interested in making money, and could get volunteers from Burning Man to help build and install it for not very much wages, then we could build it pretty much for free–which is exactly what we did. The great thing about the environment and community of Burning Man is that it’s very much a do-ochracy, so when someone has a good idea there are very few impediments to making it happen.”

Poosie at Tribe.net was kind enough to post a large chronological list of Regional Burn events around the globe:

2008 Events:

Kiwiburn5 – Feb. 1-4, 2008 - Whakamaru Domain, Mangakino, New Zealand
www.kiwiburn.com
newzealand@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/nz.html

FrostBurn – Feb.15-18, 2008 - Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
www.frostburnpgh.com
pittsburgh@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_pa_pts.html

Wisconsin Pre-Compression – March 22, 2008 - Milwaukee, WI
clevian.com
wisconsin@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_wi.html

BC Recompression – April 4-6, 2008 - Vancouver, BC
www.recompression.com
vancouver@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/ca_bc_van.html
PreHeat – Florida – April 18 – 20, 2008 - Florida
www.flburners.com/
www.floridapreheat.com/
info@floridapreheat.com
florida@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_fl_sw.html

InterFuse – May 1-4, 2008 - Boonville, Missouri
midwestburners.com
stlouis@burningman.com
kansas@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_mo.html
regionals.burningman.com/us_ks.html

Toast! – May 8-11, 2008 - Witch Well, Arizona
www.toast-town.org
arizona@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_az.html

Rebirth – May 15-18, 2008 - Big Island, Hawaii
www.kapilina.org
hawaii@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_hi.html

Playa del Fuego – May 22-26, 2008 - Odessa, Delaware
playadelfuego.org
washingtondc@burningman.com
baltimore@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_mddc.html

Burning Flipside – May 22-26, 2008 - Austin, Texas
www.burningflipside.com/
www.burnaustin.org
denton@burningman.com
austin@burningman.com
houston@burningman.com
dallas@burningman.com
elpaso@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_tx.html

Element 11 – May 30 – June 1, 2008 - Grantsville, Utah
element11.org
utah@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_ut.html

Critical Massive – June 2-8, 2008 - Methow Valley, Washington
www.ignitionnw.org/criticalmassive
seattle@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_wa_sea.html

Apogaea – June 5-8, 2008 - Front Range, Colorado
www.apogaea.com
denver@burningman.com
boulder@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_co.html

Scorched Nuts – June 19-22, 2008 - College Corner, Ohio
www.scorchednuts.com/
columbus@burningman.com
southernohio@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_oh.html

Dark Skies – June 19-22, 2008 - Location TBA
darkskies.vegasartists.com/
lasvegas@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_nv_lv.html

Wisconsin Compression – June 21, 2008 - Milwaukee, WI
clevian.com
wisconsin@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_wi.html

SOAK – June 27-29, 2008 - Portland, Oregon
www.burningmanportland.com
portland@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_or.html

FireFly – TBA - Vermont
fireflyartscollective.org
bostonburners.com
info@fireflyartscollectve.org
boston@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_ma_bos.html

Nowhere – July 9-13, 2008 - Zaragoza, Spain
en.goingnowhere.org/HomePage
euroburners.com
europe@burningman.com
uk@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/eu.html
regionals.burningman.com/eu_uk.html

Transformus – July 16-21, 2008 - Deerfields, in Horse Shoe, North Carolina
www.transformus.com
www.dirtysouthernburners.com
northcarolina@burningman.com
wilmington@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_nc.html

Wisconsin Decompression – Sept. 20, 2008 – Milwaukee, WI
clevian.com
wisconsin@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_wi.html

St. Louis Decomp – Sept. 26-29, 2008 - St. Louis, Missouri
www.gatewayburners.com
stlouis@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_mo_stl.html

Chicago Decomp – Sept 27, 2008 - Chicago, Illinois
www.burningmanchicago.org
chicago@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_il.html

AZ’s 7th Annual Decompression – Oct. 3-5, 2008 - Gateway Ranch, Flagstaff, Arizona
arizona@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_az.html

LA Decomp – Oct. 4, 2008 - Los Angeles, California
la@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_ca_la.html

Playa del Fuego – Oct. 9-13, 2008 - Odessa, Delaware
playadelfuego.org/
washingtondc@burningman.com
baltimore@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_mddc.html

Myschevia (TBA) – Oct. 9-13, 2008 - North Texas
ntxb.org
denton@burningman.com
austin@burningman.com
houston@burningman.com
dallas@burningman.com
elpaso@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_tx.html

SF Decompression Heat The Street Faire – Oct. 12, 2008 - San Francisco, California
www.burningman.com

Afrika Burns 2008 – Oct. 16-19 - South Africa
afrikaburns.com
southafrica@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/za.html

Fuego De Los Muertos – Oct. 17 – 19 - San Diego, California
www.fuegodiego.com
sandiego@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_ca_sd.html

Denver Decompression – October 18, 2008 - Denver, Colorado
denverburningman.com/
denver@burningman.com
regionals.burningman.com/us_co.html

Lightning in a Bottle

Music and Live Entertainment

The stages will be live and in effect starting on Friday from 3pm till midnight, and from around 10am to midnight on Saturday and Sunday. Three whole days! After midnight expect special surprises, acoustic jam sessions and other fun stuff to carry the festival through the night. And there’s no need to dash out on Monday. The gates close Tuesday at noon, so you’re free to stick around ’til then and enjoy the forest!

The gate schedule is as follows:

Thursday May 22 – Gate opens at 4pm and closes at 4am

Friday May 23 – Gate opens at 7am and closes at 2am

Saturday May 24 – Gate opens at 7am and closes at 2am

Sunday May 25 – Gate opens at 7am and closes at 8pm

Monday May 26 – No Entry.

Upon entry, all guests will be required to register and receive a wristband, which must be worn AT ALL TIMES throughout the duration of the event.

In and outs are strongly discouraged, except in the case of emergency. You don’t want to miss anything anyways, right?

The spirited chaps and lasses at Neverwas Haul are currently endeavoring to incur benefaction by public acquisition of exclusive and superlative Goggles via the Ebay Aetherwebs.

ITEM!
Genesis of the illustrious Neverwas Haul is recounted in brief: Aether Emporium wiki / Neverwas Haul

If you’re down south a bit and like all things fire, drop by and visit PyroSpin

Also, check out a profile article in a local rag: Santa Barbara’s PyroSpin

Firestarter by Joel McConvey.

“JEJU-DO, SOUTH KOREA—Every year on Jeju-do, a small island off the southwest coast of South Korea, thousands of people get together and set a mountain on fire. That’s the point of the Jeju Jeongwol Daeboreum Fire Festival, which this year fell on March 1. The idea is to celebrate the first full moon of the lunar new year (the Korean word “Daeboreum” translates as “Great Full Moon”), and to recreate the traditional annual burning of harvest grasses to exterminate harmful insects and ensure a frutiful year.

“That’s the official line, anyways. The truth is that it’s a great excuse to stage a spectacle that brings hundreds of tourists to Jeju from the Korean mainland, and to ratchet up the media attention for Korea’s tourist industry (which, while nowhere near as muscular as those of China or Southeast Asia, does a decent business among Asian travellers). And, you know, to set stuff on fire.”

Trusty Daniel Terdiman from CNet News wrote this article on a new documentary called Burn on the Bayou and the Burners Without Borders crew who have done so much with so little for so many abandoned in need:

‘Burn on the Bayou’ showcases Burning Man participants’ post-Katrina relief efforts