Google *Hearts* Burning Man

Excerpt from Bloomberg's "Game Changers" series about Google. Burning Man reference at the 2:01 mark. 

The documentary first aired 28 October 2010.

Eric Schmidt @ Burning Man
2007 (via Gawker)

Yesterday it was announced that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt was stepping down from his position within the company. What this has to do with Burning Man per se is absolutely nothing. Except that this blog is dedicated to the art, culture and community (drink!) of Burning Man. To that end, Schmidt and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are burners with both Page and Brin in attendance at the festival almost as long as they've been running their company.

The story goes that Schmidt got the job at Google because he was the only candidate for the position that had been to the event according to Silicon Valley journalists John Markoff and Gregg Zachary.

In 2003 Business Week reported that after Schmidt landed the job "one of the first orders of business was joining his new 20-something colleagues at Burning Man.... Sitting in his office shortly after his return, tanned and slightly weary, Eric Schmidt couldn't have been happier. "They're keeping me young," he declared."

There's an entire chapter devoted to Burning Man in the national bestseller book published in 2005 about Google: "The Google Story" by David Vise, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post in which the author describes Burning Man as a "counterculture" commune event of about 18,000 people held yearly in a "desolate stretch of Nevada's Black Rock Desert" that attracts "a motley assortment of other technologists, artists, anarchists, intellectuals and free spirits" and where "nudity and drugs mingled easily," "buying and selling were forbidden" and "advertising is banned." That's not to say you couldn't buy "burning man" as a Google AdWord though. We're just sayin'.

The first "Google Doodle" circa 1998

Google loves Burning Man so much that in 1998 the Google logo on the website's landing page was altered during the week of the event to include an image of the Man to one of the "o's" in Google. This was the first of what would come to be known as a "Google doodle". The intent was to send a comical message to Google users that the founders were “out of the office.”

In his paper entitled "Burning Man at Google: a Cultural Infrastructure for New Media Production" Fred Turner, Associate Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, believes that elements of the Burning Man — including the building of a sociotechnical commons, participation in project-based artistic labor and the fusion of social and professional interaction — helped to shape and legitimate the collaborative manufacturing processes driving the growth of Google.

While there now may be a job opening at Google the CEO position has already been filled by Larry Page. But if you're thinking it might be kinda cool to work there, according to Future Boy, a one-time guest on the BURNcast podcast, you not only need a "degree from a top-notch university and a stratospheric GPA. But Page and Brin also have a preference for hiring Burning Man attendees...."

BTW, we're told that Google enjoys camping within a stone's throw of First Camp, the playa compound of the Black Rock City LLC's senior staff. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say "hi".

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.

iGoogle Gadget: Countdown to Burning Man!

Oh, how we love this gadget that's installed on our iGoogle desktop by Mark Laramee. It's modeled after the Mac dashboard widget created by the Builder at BurnItMan.org. It's set to Pacific Daylight Time.  You can also just grab the embed code in the window below or  if you prefer to customize it a bit, get it from Google here.

Now some people think that Google is evil and getting too big for their pants.  But in case you didn't know, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google are long-time burners and like to camp next to First Camp.

WTH is First Camp?  First Camp is kinda like the "First Family" if you'll pardon the analogy.  It's where BMorg's big wigs hang out the week of Burning Man. It's just left of the 6 o'clock radius and Esplanade if you're walking towards the Man from Center Camp.

I'm told that Google's camp location is supposed to be a big secret so don't tell nobody, OK?

Ha! Playa rumor or not? You decide!  ;)



Grab the code!
<center><script src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://dismalnv.com/externals/burn_widget5.xml&synd=open&w=320&h=300&title=Countdown+to+the+Burn!&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js"></script>

Google Presents Cooking for Burning Man 101

On Wednesday two Google chefs presented “Cooking for Burning Man 101” at the Googleplex as part of the Google TechTalks series. Here’s the “Burner Cooking 101 Handout” handout from the talk.

Anyone who has been to Burning Man before can tell you that it is an extremely harsh and challenging environment physically, emotionally, and culinarily! Come hear two veteran burners/culinary team members talk about the best ways to set up your Burning Man kitchen/food plan. You’ll come away with some useful recipes and vital Burning Man tips & tricks.

For more information on cooking at Burning Man, check out the article on Organizing a Communal Kitchen.

Announcing the Burner Etsy Team!

We are so pleased to announce that things are in the works for a burner Etsy Team spearheaded by the creative energies of Linda Loca, who runs the Etsy shop "Fire Grog Studios".

Loca put in the application for the team with the folks at Etsy and says it should be up and running in about week.

Some of you maybe wondering "WTH is an Etsy Team and why should I care?"

Well, Etsy Teams are groups of organized Etsy members who network, share skills, and promote their shops together. A team forms around a shared location, crafting medium, or another interest.

In this case Loca is building the team around a shared "community" (drink!).

"Actually, the team name is "Etsy Black Rock City Crew" says Loca. "I didn't want to use "team" in the title because, as you know, there is no team in f*ck you."

Aaah, this is how I knew Loca is a true burner!

Now you know me, I can't talk to a creative person without wanting to know more about what they do and why they do it.  Loca told me that she only just started selling on Etsy in October and couldn't believe that there wasn't an Etsy burners team already in place.

"So hell," said Loca. "I'll start one myself, dammit. Cuz that's how we roll. ;) Radical self-reliance and all that rot."

I really admire Loca's "just do it" approach to the entire project.  As my friend Technopatra once told me when I was having a hissy fit that Burning Man is a do-ocracy!  I took her advice and created BURNcast. Radical self-reliance indeed!

"I'm excited at the prospects," says Loca, who envisions this crew as a tool for fellow burner artisans to utilize to great effect by globally promoting each others' shops and items.

Etsy's take? "Teams make us not just a marketplace of individuals, but an interconnected and diverse artistic community."

OK, it's time you played along with us! Click play now!



So now that I've got you psyched you're probably wanting to know how to get in on this.

Well, here's the dealio: since it will take about a week for the crew to be processed Loca has put in place a Google group (http://groups.google.com/group/etsy-brc) you can join right now with a blog and Flickr group soon to follow.  Loca is inviting any burners who have Etsy shops to convo her on Etsy and she'll add you to the crew.

And that's it! More information as things start to take off. Until then, you can find me over at my little Etsy shop.

Burning Man 2010: Look! Up In The Sky!

Jeffrey Johnson from the Burning Man Earth team has arranged for GeoEye to take a satellite image of Black Rock City on September 2, 2010 at precisely 11:41 a.m.

GeoEye is a commercial satellite imagery company that provides exclusive on-line mapping use to Google, which has its logo on the side of one of GeoEye's rockets.

How it works is that the Ikonos satellite orbits the earth every 98 minutes. When you book a location, GeoEye gives you a time when it is over that spot, and it will snap a picture. So everything there at that exact second will show up.

Spy satellites can deliver imagery of objects about a foot across. GeoEye is capable of imagery with details the size of 16" (41 cm), however that level of resolution is only be available to the government. Google has access to details of 20" (50 cm) and maximum commercial imagery was 24" (60 cm).  Any installation that is on the ground will have a nice top down view of it.

One thing that's really important (so pay attention hippies): you can't slow down or speed up a satellite. You MUST be ready at the exact scheduled time because that is when the picture is taken.

So again, save the date: September 2, 2010 at precisely 11:41 a.m.

Any artist that wants to do a project that is captured from space (as in not from the airplanes) must have their installation prepared and ready for the satellite capture at precisely that time.

Johnson says: "That is NOT!!! playa time ... as in, not at 12:00, not 12:15, not "oh shit where is my watch?". I will get the imagery roughly 24 hours later and it will be posted soon thereafter."

Burning Man ... Kate Bohner's Photo Essay

This video comes from Kate Bohner who is linked to having an extramarital affair with Google's CEO Eric Schmidt the year they went to Burning Man together in 2007.  Also that year Steve Jobs put the "enemy" in "frienemy" when, according to Gawker, the relationship between the two companies soured.  The story goes Jobs "broke up" with Schmidt while at a payphone 45 minutes outside of Black Rock City. And purportedly, Bohner had her part in this.

Satellite Imagery from Burning Man 2010

On Wednesday, 1 September 2010, GeoEye’s GeoEye-1 satellite captured imagery from Burning Man. It's now available for viewing through Google Earth. More information and how-to at the Google Earth and Maps Team blog.

The End Of An Era. Stick A Pin In It!

Click to embiggen

Update (3/11/2010): The original map has been pulled off the originating server and is no longer visible. So I replaced what as originally embedded above with this aerial image of Black Rock City. Ain't it pretty? I made a back up of the map that can be seen below.

________________________________

Well it's the end of an era. If you can see the image above it's what's left of our Platial Frappr map, the community (drink!) based map that illustrated where the BURNcast audience was from.

Is Google becoming the Third Pipe?

From the "Third Pipe - The Future of Broadband" comes this blog post in which writer predominantly discusses Google's plans for growth and domination in the VOIP market with brief mention of the Burner boys who run the enterprise. Altogether, an interesting read and the reader comments are noteworthy.

Check out the entire article here.

About Third Pipe: "Third pipe is alternative information resource about the state broadband communications and a strong advocate of establishing a “third broadband pipe” to increase competition and improve service. We are also your “third pipe” to this information - being beholden to neither the mainstream or “new media” - each having their own interests to spin on the issue."

ISO Burning Man

I made this video in less than 3 minutes using Google's new "Search Stories Video Creator". The render time took up most of those three minutes. Give it a try. It's totally fun. If you have a Burning Man related one, send it to me and I'll post it here.

And now a word from Chicken John

OK so I know that everyone is broke and people are downright terrified and the economy and the unemployment (10%? Holy Jimmy Carter Batman!!!) and the rents are sky high and it's raining and we are out of coffee...

I know.

And our partisan government is so confused and ineffective it's like watching 14 year olds on a first date ordering food at a restaurant and noticing the boy is trying add up how much $ he's got and how much he's spent and he just spilled his water and his friends are texting him images of donkey porn and he doesn't have a car or a chance....

I know.

And everyone has a cause and the seals and the climate and the zoo and the little children and the Iraq and the drugs and the gangs and unfair and the union and the harassment and Gavin's hair and the storefronts....

I know.

I know. Listen. I need you lock arms with me for a minute. Take a stroll. I have some bad news. Our friend Hollis was involved in a motorcycle accident. She might could use some help. She is in India. She has a brain injury. She’s on a respirator. A respirator is a violent affront to the human body. To say it’s un-natural is an understatement. Horrible. Horrible is a good word. It’s like a compressor, in an auto garage. The tube is big, like a garden hose. Taped to your face with white medical tape. Forcing air into your lungs. Mechanical contraption would be another good description. Infernal device. This machine keeps the blood in Hollis’ body oxygenated. It’s dealing with breathing while Hollis figgers out how to do that again. She got smacked pretty hard and forgot for a minute. There is a place that can teach her how to do this again. We would like to introduce Hollis to this place. And for this, we can use some help.

Where are the finest doctors? I ask you good people of San Francisco, the City of Art and Innovation? Why right here of course. Where would you want to live if you were the best doctor in the world. You would be at Stanford Medical Center. Of course you would be. The best of all things. Best and brightest. All here. It’s us, actually. We are the best and the brightest. If you argue with me, then you’ve just been here too long. You really need to get out more.

Hollis needs to board at Stanford Medical Center. She has been cleared to travel, and it is reasonable and prudent for her to traverse the 10,000 mile trek safely. How, you may ask, does one travel whilst hooked up to a respirator? In an ambulance. With 2 doctors. A few nurses. A guy in a gorilla suit, I dunno. But there’d better be at least one guy in a fucking bell-hop outfit for $200 LARGE. Yup. Two Hundred Thousand Dollars. You want to charter a medical air ambulance you better sell your Google stock.

I can’t begin to solve the injustice in the world. In my city. On my block. I can’t solve the injustice that occurs in my kitchen, for chrissakes. But a random stranger contacted me about the junk boats the other day, and out of the blue donated $100 to my paypal account to support the project. She is a lady that lives on a boat, and is into things that are ecologically sustainable. It always feels like a freak accident when a random stranger finds out what you doing and wants to help just because you’ve inspired them. It’s the world I wanna live in, so I’m goona donate the $100 she gave me AND I’m gonna add my $100 to it and give $200 towards the $200,000 ambulance ride for Hollis. I just wanna keep it going. Think of it as an philanthropic stimulus package. Hollis was involved in a freak accident. She fell off a rented scooter going 5 miles an hour and got the handlebar stuck in her helmet. I don’t even understand it. But when clowns have accidents of course they are “freak” accidents.

Hollis needs to come home, to get the attention she needs. Always the attention whore, that one. She needs to get on that plane. She needs help. Where are we at? Today, 4 or 5 days after the accident, already $20K has been raised. We got 10%. It can be done. It’s not going to be easy. And there are no angels anymore. All that Microsoft money and the start-up money and the VC money is gone. There is only actual money. But we are many, and Hollis is just one. We can take her. I for one want to be one of the people who helped Hollis and be part of the awesome community that came together when one of us was fucked. Fucked. I mean, she can’t breathe. She needs help.

The amount you donate is unimportant. Ya got what ya got. ANY donation, even one dollar, is important. Her mom, her boyfriend, her sisters, her roommates, her co-workers at Last Gasp, the people in her dance troupe, DPW, Vaude de Vivre… on and on… your donation is fuel that powers the beacon of our community. So what if your donation is small? God doesn’t care if you sing off key, she only cares how LOUD YOU SING!!!!! Every donation not only brings the goal closer, but also invigorates the family. So far there have been 400 unique donations. 5 days, guys. Whoa. That’s kinda crazy.

Donating is easy.

Paypal: elizastrack_at_gmail

I’m donating $200. But I’m an over-achiever. I also plan on making Hollis work the door at some events in the future to pay me back, but that’s another story.

But since I’m an over-achiever, I’m gonna commit to 4 times my $ in a match. I’m gonna commit to raising $800 more by begging my friends and family IN ADDITION to putting it out on this list here. I’m gonna send an email to my 20 closest and mostest and beg for $40. I’m gonna tell them that for $40 they can be a member of the coolest club on Earth. This new group of stellar awesomeites called: Friends of Hollis.

I’m proud to be a member.

http://friendsofhollis.blogspot.com/

Haute Tip

OK, like you know how rumours abound on the playa with the lack of real news outlets and information resources? Right?

So, last year on the playa I got word from a burner that claims to be "in the know" (like aren't we all, right?) that the French have their sites on Burning Man in '08. When pressed, this source refused to elaborate further, which leaves me to wonder WTF?

And I go back to thinking it's just a rumour.

But ah! Que je suis bête!

Then I see something like this on Google Video by French-American.tv and I'm all like: Ah HA!!! This is what they meant!

Then again...meh...who knows? It could be true. Maybe. When I look at this video I'm thinking well, it's rather long. But it does have this certain savoir fair...this...ah, hmm... shall we say je ne sais quoi!

So, whatever. If the French are truly planning on invading Black Rock City, blame Canada. Seriously. From my experiences on the playa last year, I'm convinced that it's a tie breaker between Canadians or possibly Jedi knights with light sabers that will overtake the event. Larry help us, and may the farce be with you. Zout alors!

Burning Man 2011 GeoEye Satellite Image

Click to embiggen

Check out GeoEye‘s annual high resolution picture of Burning Man from the sky, taken on Thursday, September 1st, 2011. The image is remarkably sharp, but it's over 12MB in size so it'll take a few seconds for it to load. See if you can find your camp!

The Google Earth team has turned into a KML image overlay.

Burning Man 2010 in 3D

Click image above to be directed to 3D gallery

Harold Baize has 15 years of stereoscopic photographs from Burning Man and he's just posted images from 2010 on his website.

Baize also posted some brief words to go along with each year of photos and 2010 is no different.

Having attended Burning Man since 1996, he's seen the event grow from less than 8,000 attendees (at a ticket cost of only $35) to well over 50K this year (at a ticket cost of $360).

From his first year in 1996 when the theme was "Inferno" he writes:

In 1996 the theme was a descent into hell and it was like watching a live representation of Hieronymous Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights painting. Pepe’s operas always start late. While waiting I was moved by the warmth of the crowd. A young girl came by giving away hand decorated glow-in-the-dark stickers. It felt much like the spirit of the 60’s counter culture had been mutated into a 1990’s mentality. Hard edged yet spontaneous, honest, and with a strong sense of regard for the well being of others. The open sharing, creativity, and the dramatic landscape of the Black Rock desert dry lake bed combined to make our first Burning Man a very moving experience. We immediately started talking about next year.


1996 was the last year of true anarchy at Burning Man. Camping out at the edge was a little scary. Cars would fly by on the flat playa at very high speed. It was a little hard to get to sleep between the fear of being run over, and the constant thump of rave camps. One man died when, after drinking, he drove his motorcycle into a pickup truck. Two more people were seriously injured when a drunk driver ran over their tent. Things would have to change, there would have to be some rules.

About this past year when the theme was "Metropolis" he writes:

One of the reasons some Yonder [Baize's camp] people decided to quit Burning Man is that they prefer the freedom of the old days. No rules. You take responsibility for yourself. In 1998 I joined a group of people, mostly Yonder and Cultural Workers Union, who meet out in the middle Black Rock desert and recreate the feel of the Burning Man of old. No city. No rules. NO MAN. I suggested the name "Noman". A lot of the Yonder people don't like giving it a name because that makes it an "event" like Burning Man. I don't care. It provides the sense of freedom and connection with the desert that you can no longer get at Burning Man...


Larry Harvey has suggested that Burning Man is an experiment in spontaneous culture. It is a grand undertaking that is constantly evolving. To me the people at Burning Man represent a cross section of bohemian spirits that spans at least three generations, all expressing their uniqueness, but united by the freedom and acceptance of their free expression, and the act of sharing their creations. The biggest problem facing Burning Man is not the bureaucracy, or theft and vandalism; it is the people who act like yahoos and spectators. Yahoos are the drunken and irresponsible people who act like frat boys and don’t respect other people or the fragile desert environment. They don't understand that to make such an event work everyone must respect and help everyone else. Spectators are the lazy people who just come to ogle the naked women (or men) and don’t contribute to the event. If Burning Man can change the yahoos and spectators, and get them to really understand the event, then Burning Man will continue to be an important cultural phenomenon.


On to Burning Man 2011! The theme is "Rites of Passage." Could be a great year.

Need Red/Blue 3D glasses? Get a pair free here. Important: Java based viewer for galleries starting with 2006. Requires Java run time enabled. Google Chrome users need to install Java run time from this site. Please read viewing format information for older galleries Use the drop-down menu in the Java applet viewer to change viewing method.

"Living Working Burning Man" - Panorama Photography by Bradley Milton

As part of Bradley Milton's participation at Burning Man, he produces a series of panoramic photographs entitled "Living Working Burning Man”. This slide show from 2010 provides an introduction to the project but you really ought to go and check them out in higher res here.

Of his work, Milton writes:

"There are so many photos that show the incredible public beauty and vitality of Burning Man. (Over 10,400,000 if you believe Google.) There are far fewer that capture the efforts of the thousands of volunteers and participants who make Black Rock City the event that it is. There are fewer still that capture both the environment and the activity of Black Rock City: the tents, domes, yurts, RVs, trailers and other structures and the burners that live, work and play in them.


'In 2010, the theme Metropolis: The Life of Cities begged for that effort and its result to be recognized, and so as an act of participation, I chose to photograph as many of the outstanding camps as I could, and to photograph them “in the round” – broad panoramas capturing all of the activity in a space, as well as the space itself, all in an instant. The resulting portfolio document begins to document the effort put forward by these campers and the incredible environments they create."

Two Flames: The Story of Green Man 2007

Cross-posted with permission by Doctress Neutopia:

Two Flames: The Story of Green Man 2007
By Doctress Neutopia


Burning Man's founder, Larry Harvey, picked the theme for the annual 2007 festival as “Green Man,” which meant the ecological man. Artwork on the playa was designed to reflect the theme, building a world which lives in harmony with nature.

Actor and retired lawyer, Paul Addis, has been charged with a felony for lighting Burning Man's “Green Man” effigy on fire before the official scheduled time of its burn, September 1st. Instead, he chose to light it to coincide with a rare total lunar eclipse August 28th at 3:00 am. Lighting the fire to coincide with the lunar eclipse, defied patriarchal time, and moved us toward recovering our sacred alignment with the cosmos.

So, what were the reasons why Addis torched the Man? According at Wired interview he said, “The celebration of individual expression and community-building at the core of Burning Man has been lost in recent years as the event has become too "suburban." A spontaneous act like prematurely burning the Man was an attempt to recapture some of the original spirit of the event.”

By lighting the fire, Addis became the personification of Green Man. Burning the effigy during the eclipse took our collective memory back in time to the Neolithic era when the great festivals at architectural monuments such as Avebury, Stonehenge , and Newgrange were held in celebration of cosmic events such as lunar eclipses.

The defiant premature burning of the Green Man reminds me of the story of Saint Patrick. He realized that he would not be able to change the chiefdom system of Ireland by converting one person at a time to Christianity. He needed to make a big statement that would broadcast news about his Christian god, an action that would be talked about around the country long after his action occurred.

During the great annual festival on the Hill of Tara, Ireland 's spiritual and political center, the custom was for the king to light the paschal fire. Everyone in the valley was informed not to light a fire for the night until the king lit the festival's bonfire. The fire symbolized his power and chiefdom.

Patrick went to the Hill of Slane, a hilltop in view of Tara, and gathered wood to light a huge bonfire. Before the king could light the huge paschal fire, which could be seen for miles around, Patrick lit his fire defying the king's authority. Immediately, the king ordered his army to ride with him to the Hill of Slane to fight the army that was responsible for disobeying his word. When he arrived, he found one man, Patrick, who said he lit the fire to tell the world about the light of the love of God within him. The king was so impressed by his bravery, that instead of killing Patrick, he converted to Christianity.

So, you can see that I am in support of Addis' brave action. Setting the effigy on fire before Larry Harvey lit the match challenged his authority. Addis torch was the shamanic art of shifting energies. Perhaps Addis' performance has stirred up the Burning Man ashes so much so that something new and more meaningful has a chance to grow.

Responding to his unscheduled burn, bloggers voiced complaints similar to Addis in that the annual celebration has lost touch with radical self-expression and its spontaneous, subversive roots.

I can testify to the above sentiments because I was suppressed by the Burning Man establishment. In 2001, after attending Burning Man, I wrote a short story about my journey through the Nevada Test Site to Burning Man which ended on September 11, 2001. The theme of Burning Man that year was “The Ages of Man,” so my piece was an ecofeminist look at the Burning Man project.

After posting the story to my web site, I sent the link to the Burning Man editor, so that she could add it on the Burning Man web site page designed especially for stories that participants had written. But my link never appeared on their site. After sending numerous emails to the editor, it became apparent that my story was being actively ignored or censored by the Burning Man establishment.

My essay, and now, my campaign, is about moving the Burning Man festival from northern Nevada 's Black Rock desert south to the Nevada Test Site. The move is not only a symbolic protest against the immortal and stupid war in Iraq, and the commercial culture that supports it, but a protest for changing the direction and funding of the military industrial establishment away from war and armament production toward building a prototype arcology, an architectural theory developed by architect Paolo Soleri, one of the experts in Leonardo DiCaprio's 11 th Hour.

In a world that is heating up because of global warming, our only defense is to restructure civilization by building a network of car-free, toxic free, organic, high-tech/high touch, cradle to cradle industrial arcologies. If artists don't demand our money to be redirected so that we can build a truly creative, awe-inspiring society, who will?

Artists of the world need to come together to protest for the right to use our money and our state land to build 21 st century arcologies. To begin this process, what better place to start than by “Burning the Man” across from the Nevada Test Site where the biggest and baddest burns have been conducted? Isn't it time to Burn the Man at a place where the US government has wasted billions of dollars developing weapons of mass destruction, money that could have gone to assure our species' long-term survival by building sustainable arcologies on Earth and in Outer Space? What greater symbol of peace and love could there be than to take Black Rock City with its population of 40,000 people, to the Gates of Hell—the Nevada Test Site—and demand our money be re-channeled in a way that funds building a new world in an image of paradise?

So, it is time for the Burning Man organization to evolve to the next level of development. To do this takes the superpower of the people under the guidance of the “creative minority.” By overthrowing the US corporate military regime and replacing it with a vision of development that builds a model that fuses together sustainable city design (arcology) and radical creativity (Burning Man culture) there is a chance that artists could liberate the world.

Bringing Burning Man back to its subversive roots could cause shock waves throughout the world media. Burning Man could truly become a social movement that Harvey dreams about fusing art and politics for the transformation and salvation of humanity. To go up against the global corporate military regime, we need to fight fire with fire, symbol with symbol, religion with religion.

But, alas, as in the real world, the Burning Man staff didn't take time out to reflect and understand the significance of Addis' wise action. Instead, they called it a selfish publicity stunt. They rebuilt the Man so that the Saturday night's “Burn” could go on as scheduled. It seems their Green Man effigy was only “green washing.” Rebuilding it to re-burn it only caused more CO2 to be cast into our dying atmosphere and more forests were destroyed to provide more wood for the “ Green Man. ” Addis writes, “ Burning Man should stop the disingenuous Green Man immediately. It's all a lie. If you want to know how much a of a total lie it is, run a Google satellite photo of Burning Man right now and count the number of RVs there. And they're telling me it's an environmental movement? Bullshit. There are people sucking gas up there faster than they are passing it.”

Had Harvey, Burning Man's prophet, actually given up on community building and conflict resolution, and gone for profits as Addis claims? Unlike the tale of St. Patrick, I'm not suggesting that Harvey convert to Christianity, but instead, I'm asking him to find reverence for the sacred Earth, Gaia. Christianity devised the unnatural time system that is not aligned to stellar events which enslaves the world now. It is the Christian judicial system that puts Gaia loving, green environmental activists in prison for acting to save the global ecology. It is the system that arrested Addis and charged him with a 3,000 dollar bail.

What I am asking of Harvey is to rekindle his spontaneous, revolutionary, evolutionary, or lovolutionary roots within him, and rebel with all his heart and soul against the nuclear fire that could cause all of us to become burning people. I'm asking him to embrace the green Goddess within him and move on with the next phase of Black Rock City 's development, making it a sustainable model of a utopian arcology on Earth.

It's time for Harvey to follow the themes of the past two Burning Man festivals: the Green Man and the Utopian Man by finding the way to actualize them. If art can't be manifested into daily life, then the festival is phony. If Burning Man doesn't have a great social purpose for the good of the planet, it is nothing more than a hedonistic, nihilist week of superficial pleasure for the few who can afford the price of the ticket. For the Burning Man staff, the festival then becomes a ten million dollar a year money-making machine for them to live on for the rest of the year as Earth slowly suffocates.

We can transform Burning Man if we allow the royal art of city making to be liberated. By allowing the best and most noble ideas to lead the event, we can find a way to bring an end to nuclear terrorism by rebuilding the world using designs that unite sacred arcologies and radical self-expression.

Can you imagine the mass ecstasy and profound celebration of 40,000 people Burning the Man—the Nuclear Man—across from the Nevada Test Site? What a massgasm! The thought makes my mind radiate with supreme joy! It's fighting the ignorance of poison fire with the intelligence of sacred fire!

Addis stated that he torched the Man as a “reality check.” It's time for a Larry Harvey to cash that reality check, not bounce it.