They sure are, here is a link to their lecture series at
Burning Man this year, they've just posted a tentative schedule of
the talks happening at the Entheon Village during the week. Check it
out here:

http://www.matrixmasters.com/pn/BM-talk ... edule.html

I would like to pass on a possible design flaw with using sewer pipe for your center pole. Updated Shade Plans We are actually using a radio tower for the center pole. I wouldn't imagine sewer pipe would work very well. The radio tower will have no issues bending in the wind. Thanks for your commen...

What about circles for holes? There wouldn't be any weak points or anything flapping then? I just have no idea what size to make the holes.

1) hope the chute isn't white. If it is you need to dump it on ebay ASAP. I'm curious, why would white be a problem? Ours is a light green. You can see it here: http://wiki.jonnay.net/many/ourshade I did a parachute one year and found that small, inverted 2" chevrons work OK. What is a chevron? Don...

Thanks Phil, I had already found those links and read them, but the difference is the size of shade. We set up ours as a test and found, that even though it wasn't hot out, we found it quite hot underneath. We also had some wind, not as strong as found on the playa and feared the sail effect. I beli...

We bought a freaking huge parachute (100 ft) for our camp and we are concerned about it trapping air since our center pole is only 20 ft tall and the sail effect. We heard that if we use a soldering iron it wouldn't fray. I think that's a brilliant idea rather than just cutting holes. So far we have...