B u r n l o g

Yet more from reliable Laughing Squid today:

Paul Addis Pleads Guilty To Burning Man 2007 Arson Charges

Yesterday in a Lovelock, Nevada court Paul Addis plead guilty to felony arson charges for burning the Burning Man sculpture prematurely at last year’s Burning Man event. He was sentenced to 12-48 months in prison and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution.

Read the comments at Laughing Squid. There’s a lively discussion largely from Chicken John concerning our penal system and responsibilities both he and society plays in this situation.

BBTV interviewed the chaps who constructed the amazing Steampunk Tree House for the 2007 burn. I managed to scale it toward the end of the week on one of the clear and still moments. Soooo lovely that installation…! And it’s for sale.

Matthew Taylor of PeacePower Magazine has an in-depth and comprehensive look at how green the burn was this past year:

Can ‘Burning Man’ Become a Model for Green Living?

Thankfully, he looks at both the pro and con realities of issues with smart interviews on both sides such as use of biofuel generators, algae CO2 processing, gasification, future directions, and more. Here are a few clips:

Solar
This year, Burning Man LLC (”the LLC”) worked with a team of Berkeley engineers from The Shipyard to install a 30-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) array in the shape of the Native, sacred Zia Sun symbol.

Biofuel
About 85 percent of the LLC’s generators were powered by biodiesel this year. According to Price, “We took [out] 11,000 gallons [of petroleum] that were coming from human rights hotspots like Saudi Arabia and Nigeria and instead we’re running it off french fry juice from Reno — thanks, Reno!”

Gasification
…a vehicle [like the Mechabolic] can run on almost any organic material, such as walnut shells or coffee grounds. [Tom] Price sees gasification as the world’s best hope to stop global warming and envisions a future when humans strip-mine landfills for fuel. Mason has made all of his gasification tinkering available to the world for free — open source — which befuddles the investment community.

Plastic
Every year, burners haul hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles to the playa — everyone is responsible for his or her own hydration. However, is this particular manifestation of “radical self-reliance” (a stated core tenet of the event) compatible with Burning Man’s efforts to go green?

Carbon Offsets
“The opportunity is to be strategic and fact-based in how you use the offsets. … If every burner invested in .7 tons of carbon offsets, we’d be the first carbon-neutral city on the planet. If every burner invested in one ton, we’d be carbon negative,” Shearer claimed. Cooling Man reports that it helped to offset 780 out of the 33,250 estimated tons of greenhouse gas emissions generated by Burning Man 2007.

Greener Pastures
Water Woman founder and creator Ray Cirino, a twelve-time burner, talks about how different his baby will be from life on the playa. “Instead of building a city and tearing it down or destroying it, we’re going to keep the city. Burning Man says leave no trace — every single drop of ‘trace’ we’re going to be recycling or composting.”

Did you or someone you know undergo an illegal search and receive a $525 citation from a BLM Officer or Ranger? An increased number of burners did this year. See below for a brief list of what you can do to cope with this situation in the future both on and off the Playa. Any other helpful (and legal) hints are welcomed.

This just in from Jack Rabbit Speaks:

Lawyers For Burners

Calling all Lawyers & Burners
A group of burner attorneys are mounting a grassroots project to challenge BLM citations that may have been issued WITHOUT probable cause and/or where consent to search was NOT freely given. If you or anyone you know was issued a federal citation from a BLM Officer or BLM Ranger at Burning Man 2007 and you are interested in contesting the citation then read on. Please note this only applies to BLM citations; not Pershing County arrests or citations for state law violations.

The same story has been recounted from numerous participants, and if the reports are true, then there seems to be a pattern. It goes something like this. Participant is stopped by BLM Rangers for no reason in particular, or for a very minor reason, and is then told that they have no choice but to allow a search. However, we believe there may have been violations of the Fourth Amendment in these types of an interaction.

Enough is enough! We are looking for attorneys to volunteer with contesting these tickets en masse. This will require getting the facts from each defendant, advising them of their options, filling out pro hac vice’s for each, and traveling to Reno for the hearings and trials. All of the attorneys can get together several evenings and weekends to tackle this project together.

Know Your BRC Rights
Here is a simple guide to conduct on the scene based on ACLU guidelines. Another great organization is Flex Your Rights (see the handy FAQ and, for TV junkies, watch a classroom style instructive video).

NOTE: To illustrate your rights, the following list lends itself to a worst-case-scenario viewpoint of abusive conduct. Apparently, some BRC cops are wiling to take advantage of people they know cannot or will not take the time and money to hire a lawyer and attend court in Nevada. However, these officers are a minority. Most officers are genuinely concerned with public safety and will not abuse their unique privileges.

• SEARCH: You are not required to submit to a search without probable cause (see also Wikipedia). An officer must see drugs or paraphernalia on your person or otherwise have reasonable cause to believe that a crime has occurred, is taking place, or will occur in order to legally search you. Again, police officers cannot search you in the default world or on the Playa without reasonable cause other than briefly patting down your clothing for weapons.
  (Is a light saber a weapon?)
• POLITE: Be polite and respectful. Never bad-mouth or argue with a police officer. Simply ask nicely if there is a charge being made against you and, if not, request that you’d like to be on your way.
  (If the officers’ faces are melting or look like muppets, it’s probably okay to discreetly ask for the nearest chill lounge or portapotty.)
• CALM: Stay calm and in control of your words, body language and emotions. Keep your hands where the police can see them. Don’t run. Don’t touch any police officer. Don’t resist even if you believe you are innocent.
  (Resist the urge to wander off to the nearest art installation or mutant vehicle rolling by.)
• STATEMENTS: Do not make any statements regarding the incident. Don’t complain on the scene or tell the police they’re wrong or that you’re going to file a complaint. Avoid lying if possible as officers are trained to catch it. Better to remain silent than to get caught lying which will exacerbate your situation.
  (The officers also don’t care what your complaints are about the ‘07 burn versus pre ‘96.)
• SCARE TACTICS: Be wary of intimidation and cornering. Harsh words and actions or advice to give up or allow a search because your buddy over there already admitted your guilt are often tricks. Remain calm and stay silent. Remaining silent is a legal right and is NOT considered in court to be an admission of guilt even if an officer might suggest otherwise.
  (If you’re David Best, go ahead and get arrested for open container in a mutant vehicle, only to enjoy a chummy greeting at the Gerlach sheriff’s station and watch as a rookie gets a hand slap! …ahem, so I hear anyway.)
• DETAILS: Remember officers’ badge & patrol car numbers. Write down everything you remember ASAP.
  (Try to focus beyond how kewl their outfits and ATVs are in terms of desert costumes.)
• WITNESSES: Try to find witnesses & their names & phone numbers.
  (…before they wander off to some art installation or mutant vehicle.)
• COMPLAINT: If you feel your rights have been violated, file a written complaint with police department’s internal affairs division or civilian complaint board.
  (Try to do this at home on paper and envelope, not a dusty shred of your shade structure or wrinkled paper bag your ’shrooms are still in!)

Erik Davis writes up a heady and fluent commentary on Paul Addis’ early torching of the Man and how it all fits in past, present, and future.

Burning Men — Part 2: THE ORDER OF THINGS

At the moment, there is little to be gained from asking just how dangerous Addis’ actions actually were (would we think differently if we knew he had planned it out like a jewel thief?). That his act was in some sense dangerous is clear. But how dangerous do we want Burning Man to be? And even before we address that question, it is crucial to recognize how the axiomatic invocation of safety as a trump card also performs its own violence, its own kind of snuffing out.

Look, for example, at the constricted lives of so many kids today, with their helmets and knee pads and car-seats, their time managed, their piss checked, their movements tracked by cell phones and prohibitions against aimless wandering. What has been killed in the process of making them less likely to be killed? Perhaps, in our fearful genuflection before safety, we are deadening our taste for the raw and nervy exultation of cognitive and physical liberty—a liberty which most certainly should include the freedom to attend dangerous and wayward festivals where, if your aren’t careful or even lucky, large burning things might fall on your head.

Note also part 1: Burning Men — Part One: CHAOSMOS

The SF Decompression
HEAT THE STREET FaIRE!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Noon SHARP till 12 am
Public Entrance: 19th & Minnesota

On Indiana Street between Mariposa and 22nd, SF
$10 donation in Black Rock Couture/Costume; $20 in streetwear
All ages outdoors; kids under 12 absolutely free!
Outdoor sound ends at Mariposa Stage at 11pm; 10pm other outside areas

Age 21+ inside Cocomo (club closes 1:30am)

Full Event Info

First we Burn The Man, then we Heat The Street! Come at noon SHARP for a full twelve hours of art, performance, fire, steam, dance, theme camps, green technologies, puppetry, circus, marching bands, DJ’s, Burning Man 2007 imagery, and more, more, more - don’t miss a minute! This Decom will span 6 blocks and include a beautiful art park. Bring a picnic and plan for a full day and night!

A Persian Woman’s View on Burning Man by Maryam Karimabadi.

Dear Miss Karimabadi,

I appreciate your negative opinion on Burning Man. Certainly, while there is much to be stimulated and amazed by at the burn, there is also much to be desired. It will never be the perfect event for everyone at all times. What event could ever be?

I also realize you have a unique view based on your relation to Iraq having lived there. I too am appalled by this travesty of misguided bloodshed rooted on inhumane guile and treachery that is largely the fault of the U.S. Still, to target your anger and revulsion about the war at Burning Man attendees because they’re having a brief, good time is far from useful nor tolerable.

You may as well rail against every single boat enthusiast who took their holiday on lakes around the country while dripping fuels into the waters and propelling exhaust into the air. There were certainly far more people doing that around the country and beyond during the Labor Day weekend.

Why not bitch about the millions of people who stayed at home for the holiday. They no doubt raced around towns in cars, trucks, and SUVs to gather tons of food for parties, most of which is planted, grown, harvested or butchered, packaged, and transported via irresponsible and flagrant use of hundreds of petroleum products. Later, they struck up their millions of barbeques which many environmental organizations are finding as much more of a pollution source than previously imagined. Again, I assure you there were far more people at their homes for the holiday than at the burn.

What about just a single day of the holiday weekend in a major Asian city like Calcutta or Beijing where millions are driving recklessly around blackened city streets in filthy cars with little or no pollution regulations? Then there’s China (and the U.S.) with multiplying coal-firing electrical plants from which perhaps billions are receiving power to do things like leave unused lights on, burn toast, play video games, watch bland TV shows and YouTube videos (sorry YouTube, you’re fun but also the tops in largely mindless drivel), etc. The list goes on.

Why is Burning Man singled out then? Is it because people are expressing themselves creatively? Is that a sin or wasteful compared to more “normal” or everyday behavior? Is there wrongfulness inherent in cutting loose and thinking about new things in a new context while having a good time for just seven days? Would it have been okay if everyone at Burning Man went there to drive around in tens of thousands of cars as though running daily errands? Why does Burning Man deserve your ire especially over countless other arguably more frivolous activities elsewhere that don’t even involve art, some of which at Burning Man was intelligent commentary on the war and other social issues?

In the end, my comments are not even about a comparison of polluting activities. They’re about the absurdity of haranguing one group over another just because they’re not thinking like you would for a few days out of the year. You would appear to be asking everyone to only think of the war at all times. That’s not possible nor is it desirable.

We all have to have some fun time away from a thoroughly mangled world at least some of the time if only to recalibrate our thoughts and feelings and to find new perspectives. Here is where Burning Man shines: alternative ideas and communication which is not always about just partying (see below).

P.S. Since you expressed some concern about the apparent lack of “green-ness” at the burn, I’d like to direct you to a recent assessment of just how green it was. You may be surprised and find it in your heart to rethink the surface of event compared to its own heart.

This How green was Burning Man? article at CNET News.com by Elsa Wenzel has a fairly complete rundown of what was and was not so “green” about this year’s burn.

Seems like, all told, a lot of green endeavor was accomplished, especially by the organizers. Hopefully, there will be continued improvement next year by festival goers as well.

Amber and Marcy have added their lovely shots to Gallery Hop for a total of six galleries!

This Brad Bynum chap has that whole “tellin’ like it is” thing going for him. It’s so funny ’cause it’s true: 10 Things I Hate About Burning Man.

Snips:

I also overheard somebody say, “I only ride a bike for a week once a year.” Perhaps this is why so many BRC cyclists ride like unilluminated maniacs and are completely discourteous to other bicyclists, not to mention foot traffic.

…it seems like whenever I’m enjoying an extra intimate moment with my friends—you know, when we’re talking about our feelings or something—some jerk will walk into the camp, proudly displaying his shaved scrotum and offering up free tantric massages.

Burner yahoos are the ones that are always telling stories that begin “This one time at Burning Man” and end “I guess you had to be there.” They’re the ones with “playa names” like Captain Pajama Pants. The basic rule of playa names is that it has to be something really stupid that you say like it’s really cool. They’re also the ones who say, “Welcome Home,” which is about the most ridiculous greeting ever. They’re also the ones who operate under the insane delusion that Burning Man is anything other than a big party.

Of course, Center Camp is a whole other scene of horrible music: the caterwauling of some deluded, hairy-pitted, folk-chick wannabe on the open-mic stage, a bunch of drum circle jerks in the middle, and whatever unintelligible nonsense the café volunteers are blasting. Then, in the middle of this total cacophony, there’s a bunch of charlatans showing off their ability to meditate. Isn’t meditation based on introspection and listening to the internal rhythms of the body, the lungs and the heart? Why the heck would you chose to do it in Center Camp?

I was cruising down the Esplanade, when some dude wearing bunny ears, holding a red plastic bowling pin walks up and asks me, “Would you like your spanking now?”

“No.”

“OK, fine. go participate somewhere else. Welcome to Burning Man! Don’t come back next year!”

So because I don’t want to participate in your pathetic display of pseudo-sexuality, you think I’m an uptight drag on Burning Man? Well, I’ve got news for you, buddy: Your “participation” contribution adds nothing. There are a thousand places on the playa to get a spanking, why the hell would I want one from you?