2,000 Google Employees to Attend Burning Man This Year

 Source: Google Maps

The first ever Google "doodle", 1998.

At $360 a ticket the cost of simply entering the gates of Burning Man this year ain't cheap and is only made more exorbitant when BMorg announced the event sold out two weeks ago.  Since then scalpers have been gouging the market with tickets selling anywhere from $700 to $5,000.  Which begs the burning question: who bought all the tickets and why?

Well here's the scoop: Google bought 2,000 Burning Man tickets to give to their employees this year.

Yup. Read that last sentence again and repeat after me: What. The. Fuck?

Pepe Ozan's "Ark of the Nereids"

Word on the street (the Google Street View Project that is) is that Google is determined to comprehensively map Black Rock City street by street for 2011 which requires a platoon of employees to execute the project. Ergo, they bought a block of 'em on-line (at the highest tier).

Previous attempts by the company to map the city back in 2009 were thwarted when the tricycle carrying the project's camera set-up collided with Pepe Ozan's art car early on Monday morning damaging 3 of the 9 lenses used to capture the panoramic imagery.

Available from Barnes & Noble

While that may be the official story,  according to a confession by Google Employee #69 (who was also the lone camera operator for the map project) he came across a plastic shopping bag full of space cookies and ecstasy while photographing the city along the trash fence perimeter following a dust storm late Thursday afternoon.

"I'm feeling lucky," he said as he hippy-flipped his new found treasure and subsequently failed to complete the assignment.

Either story is plausible but it's worth noting that Burning Man and Google have a relationship that goes back since 1997 as we have frequently reported on this blog.

Furthermore, it wouldn't be the first time Google's benevolent extravagance has effected the playa.  In 2007 it was rumored that the company was behind the 1,200 bikes gifted to Black Rock City for the "Yellow Bike Program" in an effort to further their mission "Don't be evil."

Wedgie Camp Burning Man 1998

Many burners including yours truly have valid concerns about privacy on the playa. Google's Black Rock City Street View has pretty much got our panties in a bunch and we'd hate for their camera crew to catch us with a high wedgie somewhere @ 3:30 and Esplanade for all the world to see.

On the other hand, if reports are true that Larry Harvey, Executive Director of the Black Rock City LLC,  announced that 2011 will be the last Burning Man then capturing a street view for posterity’s sake as well as for future generations to see could very well be a worthwhile endeavor.  Our 2 cents. YMMV.