Marc Merlin's 2014 Burning Man Report For Tech Geeks

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Marc Merlin's 2014 Burning Man Report For Tech Geeks

Posted by timothy on Friday September 26, 2014 @05:38PM from the what-he-did-on-his-summer-vacation dept.

marcmerlin writes Haven't been to Burning Man, or missed this year's and would like a summary? Marc Merlin has posted a summary of this year with full GPS map, pictures from the air, and everything neatly categorized, with a track of his 127 miles of biking to visit as many camps as possible. Also, if you plan on going, check out the tips at the bottom of the page.

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Re: Haven't been to Burning Man? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 18:19 · Score: 0

Why dont you follow your own advice,you worthless fuck?
Re:Haven't been to Burning Man? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 18:28 · Score: 0

stfu hipster
Re: Haven't been to Burning Man? by Guy+Smiley · 2014-09-26 18:42 · Score: 1

If you build a man a fire, he'll be warm for one night. If you set him on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
The climate there sucks. by Animats · 2014-09-26 19:00 · Score: 0

I know lots of people who go, but have no desire to go myself.
1. Re:The climate there sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 22:22 · Score: 0
  
  Nor do I. The types of people who go to Burning Man are permafried druggies and now that's it's become commercial, hipster douchebags.
  This is not "News for Nerds", this is the kind of thing that lowlifes go to.
2. Re:The climate there sucks. by drinkypoo · 2014-09-26 22:32 · Score: 1
  
  Amen to that. I want a festival someplace where I don't have to suck alkali dust. And I also want a festival that's about making things, not burning shit down and blowing shit up. The best thing 40,000 people can think of to do with a week is go to the desert and set shit on fire? If one tenth of that effort were spent doing something positive instead of something destructive, what could those people accomplish? How many trees could they plant, or whatever? Instead it's post-post-modern celebration of the destruction of the biosphere, which itself consumes massive amounts of energy just in transporting all those burners.
  That said, if I were testing a stillsuit, that's where I'd go. Otherwise, it just don't make no sense. There's nothing there but what you make. Why not make something somewhere else? Maybe something you're not just going to set on fire.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
3. Re:The climate there sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 23:11 · Score: 0
  
  Disclaimer: I have never been to Burning Man, nor do I think I'll ever go (too far away, too expensive). That said, I think it's the difference between watching fireworks on TV and seeing them in person. For some impressions, you just have to have size, space, dynamic range and lots of people. Yes, many things there look banal, contrived, hipsterish - on a computer screen. But even a mundane laser light show is impressive, let alone dozens or hundreds in close proximity, compared to a slide show on a computer screen. Attend a party in Second Life and you might wonder why people go to parties at all.
  I don't believe that Burning Man is destructive. Carefully preparing things and then burning them is very symbolic (see also: fireworks). With regard to Burning Man, it underlines the temporary nature of the event. From a practical perspective, it's probably also the cheapest and easiest way to remove the large structures. In a sense, they burn stuff so that they can build them in the first place, which is also why Burning Man is in the middle of nowhere: It gives people a chance to start from scratch, to try things without the limitations imposed by something that is already there. Some of that is lost by the commercialization and the ensuing bureaucracy, but it's still not nearly as limiting as doing something of this scale in a (normally) populated area with existing infrastructure.
4. Re:The climate there sucks. by drinkypoo · 2014-09-27 00:38 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I don't believe that Burning Man is destructive.
  But it is. A lot of energy is consumed just getting people there, resulting in a lot of emissions. A lot of stuff is burned that shouldn't be, in spite of attempts to prevent it. What about a festival that's inherently creative? I guess that's not as fun as setting shit on fire.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
5. Re:The climate there sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 00:51 · Score: 0
  
  I guess it's a matter of perspective. Every gathering of tens of thousands of people stresses the environment, no matter how eco friendly these people are and how creative they strive to be. But nothing which is burned at Burning Man was there before. They only destroy what they created earlier. I don't see how you can call it destructive. Wasteful, lavish, thriftless maybe, but just because it's temporary doesn't mean it isn't creative. Is there any reason to believe that your "festival that's inherently creative" puts any less stress on the environment? I think that ship sailed when people stopped being hunter-gatherers.
6. Re:The climate there sucks. by marcmerlin · 2014-09-27 01:57 · Score: 1
  
  I know lots of people who go, but have no desire to go myself.
  The climate is actually mostly ok, but the alkaline dust definitely sucks, I'm not going to say otherwise.
7. Re:The climate there sucks. by drinkypoo · 2014-09-27 02:27 · Score: 1
  
  Every gathering of tens of thousands of people stresses the environment, no matter how eco friendly these people are and how creative they strive to be.
  Yes, I think those sorts of event are generally crocks as well, and hypocritical to boot.
  
  Is there any reason to believe that your "festival that's inherently creative" puts any less stress on the environment?
  Yes, if you keep it local. Instead of centralizing, have more and smaller gatherings. They can still be fairly large, as much as someone can reasonably actually take in at a time.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
8. Re:The climate there sucks. by Applehu+Akbar · 2014-09-27 02:33 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  True enough, but the Burning Man environment has one great advantage for nerds: it's an ultimate test of hardware reliability for your project. If the tech product you're about to introduce will survive BM, it will work in any home or business.
9. Re:The climate there sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 02:45 · Score: 0
  
  Keeping it local only spreads the impact, but doesn't necessarily reduce the overall damage. Yes, there is the traveling, but one might argue that a lot more effort and resources would have to be spent to create many local events with the same value for as many people. Centralization tends to have efficiency benefits, and with a desert location, the highly centralized impact on the environment is probably not a problem. More importantly, radically creative events wouldn't be possible where the majority of participants would not have to travel to the location, so you might as well gather them in one place where they can do little damage.
10. Re:The climate there sucks. by spire3661 · 2014-09-27 03:41 · Score: 1
  
  "There's nothing there but what you make." You hit it right on the head......
  
  --
  Good-bye
11. Re:The climate there sucks. by BringsApples · 2014-09-27 08:11 · Score: 0
  
  It's all about extreme art, that's all. There are some very very smart people that go there, and do all sorts of things. Generally if you go there, you are supposed to hate it at times, as well as love it at times. If that happens to you, then you're suspected to have "gotten it". I've never been, but I know a few gay guys that go regularly. These guys are very intelligent, kind, and very active in the local community.
  
  --
  Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
12. Re:The climate there sucks. by drinkypoo · 2014-09-30 02:13 · Score: 1
  
  Keeping it local only spreads the impact,
  Yes, that is the idea. When your impact is positive, you want to spread it around. If you made an oasis of the place where Burning Man is now, it would benefit relatively few people since people don't live there now; unless you made a whole town, and a lot of people lived there. But I don't propose spontaneous creation of townships, because it's not legally feasible.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Pop Man by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 19:16 · Score: 0

I've noticed Burning Man getting popular over the past few years. Unsurprisingly, it's apparently caused a spike in rapes like what happened in the rave scene in the late 90s.
1. Re:Pop Man by TWX · 2014-09-26 20:10 · Score: 1
  
  Citations please?
  
  I ask because the only person that I'm acquainted with that was raped in a festival-type setting had it happen somewhere down in Mexico on Spring Break during the late nineties when the Girls Gone Wild phenomenon was taking off, and she admitted that she was so drunk that she couldn't put up much of a fight.
  
  --
  Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
2. Re:Pop Man by drinkypoo · 2014-09-26 22:36 · Score: 1
  
  and she admitted that she was so drunk that she couldn't put up much of a fight.
  While that's a Bad Idea(tm), no means no even when it's a drunken, half-assed no. If you don't care enough to listen well enough to hear and observe that no, then you're the problem.
  I'm not one of the people who believes that alcohol eliminates the possibility of consent. If you get intoxicated and consent to sex, well, you consented. The obvious exception is giving people intoxicating substances without their knowledge. There is however a gray area; what if someone else slips someone GHB without their consent and without your knowledge, say, and then that person wants to have sex with you? Well, it's still your responsibility. You should know who you're fucking, and why.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
i heard that Burning Man... by globaljustin · 2014-09-26 19:30 · Score: 2, Interesting

someone told me that DARPA types test out their latest mind control E-M gadgetry at Burning Man...
but to be more on-topic, Burning Man might be a good experience for a "geek"...
forget all the nonsense 'gift economy' techno-hippie blah blah...it's a bunch of artists, weird academics, ravers, drug experimenters, *rich people* who want to pretend to be those things at a high per-day cost, and of course creepers looking to scam or take advantage of people
it's camping in the desert with 60,000 people
now, in my observation, if you ask a typical burner "What is Burning Man all about?" you'll see an interesting linguistic phenomenon: recursive language ontology
the answer to the question is (all too often) not a fact or statement...the answer to "What is Burning Man all about?" is in part **the act of explaining the experience in a mystical, mysterious way**
it's the status of having been there, to say that you know what it's about, not the act of doing drugs or camping or looking at desert art
behold: http://www.burningman.com/what...
now, that said...if you're curious, GO FOR IT!
just do your thing and enjoy the nonsense for what it is...there is some really cool art and tech on display

--
Thank you Dave Raggett
1. Re:i heard that Burning Man... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 20:26 · Score: 0, Insightful
  
  Thanks for explaining to a Greek guy like me what this "Burning Man" happening is: a nudists' camp for "geeks" in the middle of the desert so no black people can come to mess things up...
2. Re:i heard that Burning Man... by Deadstick · 2014-09-27 01:36 · Score: 0
  
  Burning Man might be a good experience for a "geek"...
  At least he'd get to see hooters.
Can someone please tell me... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 19:49 · Score: 0

How this qualifies as news for nerds? Oh, wait, I know! All nerds have autism and severe difficulty doing normal people things, so therefore they would be very interested in this Burning Man thing. Seriously though, why is this on slashdot?
1. Re:Can someone please tell me... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 20:03 · Score: 0
  
  This isn't even news. Some guy posting pictures and commenting on an event (limited to the capacity of a sport stadium this year). Yawn.
2. Re:Can someone please tell me... by TWX · 2014-09-26 20:13 · Score: 1
  
  Burning Man has always had a geek component to it. There's the, "build the man" part, there are the art projects that are one part art, one part creative tech, there are the logistics parts of how to pull-off holding this event in this location.
  
  A buddy of mine that's a huge geek has gone more than once; I've been tempted by my suburn-in-fifteen-minutes skin probably wouldn't serve me well.
  
  --
  Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
3. Re:Can someone please tell me... by maynard · 2014-09-26 21:48 · Score: 1
  
  Some guy posting pictures and commenting on an event
  Nice pictures though. And a direct report from someone who attended rather than filtered news.
  Works for me.
4. Re: Can someone please tell me... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 04:14 · Score: 0
  
  Marc Merlin is an Open Source advocate who works for Google and is famous among Linux nerds.
Warning: page TOO FAT ! by SigmundFloyd · 2014-09-26 20:00 · Score: 1, Informative

Thanks for making my computer unresponsive for minutes. Great job in web design.

--
Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
1. Re:Warning: page TOO FAT ! by bruce_the_loon · 2014-09-26 20:09 · Score: 1
  
  Might I ask what specs/OS you're running? Firefox on Windows 7 on an i5 didn't even hesitate with the page.
  
  --
  Trying to become famous by taking photos. Visit my homepage please.
2. Re:Warning: page TOO FAT ! by thegarbz · 2014-09-26 20:25 · Score: 1
  
  It only uses 400MB of RAM. I think you need a new computer.
3. Re:Warning: page TOO FAT ! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 01:18 · Score: 0
  
  I second that, the page actually caused my nexus 5 to reboot.
4. Re:Warning: page TOO FAT ! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 03:01 · Score: 0
  
  You may want to consider upgrading to Windows 98.
5. Re:Warning: page TOO FAT ! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 04:46 · Score: 0
  
  Really, what is going on with some of these sites? You have a whole bunch of images, which are scaled down to a reasonable size in the page; but the actual image coming over the network is 5000 by 4000 px or something. Total waste of bandwidth. My sister made a site like that, and I explained to here not to upload full rez. Then what are the browsers doing? Holding the full sized version in memory or something? Crappy design all around, and quit telling us to get faster machines. Just fix your shit.
6. Re:Warning: page TOO FAT ! by marcmerlin · 2014-10-01 06:10 · Score: 1
  
  So, out of curiosity, is there a simple quick way to have an otherwise static page return different size pictures depending on the browser? (here they were 1024x768).
  I personally don't like to cripple my pages for less capable clients, and would rather not have to make 2 copies of each page with a user agent switcher or somesuch (great for a commercial site, but not worth my time for a hobby site)
Re: Haven't been to Burning Man? by TWX · 2014-09-26 20:04 · Score: 2

“Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”

Terry Pratchett, Jingo

--
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Nuke it from orbit... by zawarski · 2014-09-26 20:05 · Score: 0

only way to be sure...
nice pics by globaljustin · 2014-09-26 20:17 · Score: 3, Interesting

TFA is great...it's what *I* would want to see...i have burner friends and they always show me 200 pictures of their little group in the same areas...nothing that shows a general survey of what is happening

--
Thank you Dave Raggett
Re:is climate the reason? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 23:10 · Score: 0

Ummm, which above quoted text? Are you stoned or something?
news for nerds? by loufoque · 2014-09-26 23:26 · Score: 1

Since when are nerds hippies?
1. Re:news for nerds? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-26 23:49 · Score: 0
  
  “Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin, and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important—creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.” — Steve Jobs
  http://io9.com/5876304/10-scientific-and-technological-visionaries-who-experimented-with-drugs
2. Re:news for nerds? by loufoque · 2014-09-27 01:50 · Score: 1
  
  Steve Jobs was a nerd?
Re:The climate ROCKS! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 00:18 · Score: 0

Dry heat during the day, no direct sun and 80F with a light breeze at night...
Perfect tripping weather.
Never had anything but a great time during those weekends out there. Kinda sucks there's a shitload of burning man dweebies these days on that weekend but hey, they bring entertainment with them. lol
Re: Haven't been to Burning Man? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 01:29 · Score: 0

Unless the fire is extinguished before too much damage is done.
Jobs really did say... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 01:46 · Score: 0

Whatever would make him the most money, eh?
So... by Balinares · 2014-09-27 01:49 · Score: 2

Burning Man looks like a tentative near-future where robots work the menial crap for us and as we dip our toes in the waters of Culture-like leisure everyone experiments being a hippie and a DIYer artisan and a stoner and a furry and a badass craftsman all at once, and you know what? I'm glad it exists. Bring along the rabbit ears, I'll bring the swiss army knife, and let's see what we can make work.

--

-- B.
This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
1. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 10:01 · Score: 0
  
  > as we dip our toes in the waters
  Sorry bro, no water at Burning Man. Only sand.
2. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 13:05 · Score: 0
  
  Ahem. That's dust. Alkaline dust, my friend.
Re: Haven't been to Burning Man? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 02:09 · Score: 0

Go jerk off in a kindergarten, pedoshit.
Re: Haven't been to Burning Man? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-27 02:15 · Score: 0

Or what? Whatcha gonna do, toilet boy? Hunh?
might be by globaljustin · 2014-09-27 03:51 · Score: 1

I know lots of people who go, but have no desire to go myself.
that part...
seriously...this was in '97 and we had a campus-wide ethernet with Pentiums in every dorm room...so the LAN battles in warcraft, quake, and starcraft were epic...so there was a reason

--
Thank you Dave Raggett
Burning Man by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-28 10:15 · Score: 0

Unadulterated paganism!