There are NO absolutes here, no lines that can be drawn saying that this much is ok, but that bit over there is too much. Absolutes are not required. This principle is this: would a reasonable person see this activity as providing goods or services for compensation or hire? The concept of the "reas...

So... what about having a hired build & teardown crew to come early to setup a private professionally-catered camp but then off-setting that by building a giant horse on the playa and setting it on fire for the enjoyment of the general public? How much art/event/spectacle does a group have to provi...

There is no qualitative difference between PnP for fee camps and a MacDonalds or a Starbucks. All are fee-for-service vendors. Regardless of whether payment is taken before, after or during the event, the essential commercial activity is taking place on the Playa during Burning Man. I think we all r...

Thanks, Joya.

The Burn does have so many facets. For me, it's about the art and pushing the envelope of the possible.

Joya, I adore children. That doesn't mean all places are equally suited to children, or should be.

BTW, advancing an opinion does not call for an ad hominem attack. Disassemble the argument, not the person.

And, thanks for your perspective.

So does that mean you would vote that children should face the same risks as adults? If so, cool, you're much more daring than those hovering parents that drive their kids to school. And you're the exception, not the rule. The presence of children already limits what can happen at the Burn. The firs...

From the BurningMan ticket agreement: I acknowledge and fully understand that as a participant, I will be engaging in activities that involve risk of serious injury, including permanent disability and death, property loss and severe social and economic losses. I take that as some assurance that the ...

Altamont rebutted Woodstock.
Burning Man rebuts itself.

Woodstock was top-down; Burning Man is (mostly) bottom-up. Woodstock was incidental; Burning Man, intentional. Woodstock appealed broadly to 18 to 25 year olds; Burning Man appeals narrowly across people of all ages. Woodstock was an event that became myth; Burning Man, a myth that continues as an e...

Yeah, it's an interesting notion: drive hundreds of miles to BRC, then park your car along the fence and drag your gear a few hundred feet into the desert. Ahh... the Wilderness!

I've camped in Disturbia, and Hushville. At 8:30 and Espanade, and at 4:30 five streets back. I have never camped on the very edge of the city or the Walk-In area. I can't say I have a favorite spot, each one came with a unique set of people and experiences. And changing locations has helped to dist...

Obviously you have no doubts that your favorite spot is truly exceptional.

OK, then, What's the worst spot?

OK, Do you like the action of the Esplanade, or the quiet and space of the outer rim? Is one neighborhood most congenial? Does one part of the city get less dust than the rest of town? Let's hear your opinion on the best address in BRC.

ibdave wrote:

Wind_Borne wrote:Arghhh... some new spam thread just showed up. Posting this will at least knock that thread off the top of the sort.

Fuck Wind, you forgot your Fuck.....

Oh yeah... Fuck!

Arghhh... some new spam thread just showed up. Posting this will at least knock that thread off the top of the sort.

... The way I see it there's little difference in calling for the stoning of women for dress code violations and the public demonisation of queers to the point that some people feel OK with murdering individuals like Mathew Shepherd or accusing an entire group of American citizens of complicity in ...

The way I see it there's two down starting with Falwell and Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah I hope you're not drawing a moral equivalence there. I can tolerate, even be amused by, a man like Falwell; not so one who advocates stoning women for dress code infractions. Sure, zealotry may be a matter...

Bay Bridge Sue, now you're just being Daffy... but I like it.

Came home last night to find three ducks on my back deck. Two drakes doing one hen. A tussling ball of duck feathers and down.

For instance, it takes less energy (and releases less carbon) to put lamb chop on a table in England from a New Zealand lamb than an English lamb. And it's cheaper, too (because it took less energy to raise and deliver). Can you give some more detail on how that works? A well-fed lamb is a lamb no ...

Another fact that i find interesting is our capacity for shipping. Ask a trucker they know this well. Not many trucking companies keep extra tractors sittign idle in case of need. There is only a 3-4% surge capacity in trucking in this country. This means that when there is a Katrina size event the...

Better yet, if you have access to a farmer's market, buy local produce. I've sat on the truck, I know how far those fruits and veggies are shipped at 6 miles to the gallon of diesel. Befriend a trucker who hauls reefer units, the amount of food thrown out is disgraceful, and they often end up with ...

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I'm five weeks from graduation!!!!!! Of course, I'm only receiving my Associates Degree, but it's still an accomplishment. Now the challenge is to find a job and figure out how the FUCK I'm gonna pay for my Bachelors and Masters Degrees... Still, feelin...

In the interest of countering thread drift....

Perhaps Google could show us what New Orleans will look like in 50 years -- a shallow cove on the Gulf of Mexico -- and people seeing that could stop wasting their lives on a doomed city.

Actually, in a capitalist economy, you get less than what you pay for so that a profit is generated. To the contrary... you only buy something when you want it more than you want the money it costs. In a free-market all trades are mutually beneficial. (Mafia protection rackets and fraud don't count...

Why do we have 4 ton SUV's that move one person 90% of the time, and get 10 MPG? ... Because that is what consumers want... Yup. We agree that this foolish obsession with SUVs is not good. We could pass a law against SUVs. There's a word for outlawing what people want: oppression. That never turns ...

MikeVDS wrote:

Seems kind of un-American

... But saying something is un-American to me signifies to me that someone doesn't have a strong logical argument, which I think you do. ...

Indeed I do have a strong logical argument; and you got it: anti-freedom, anti-competition, anti-innovation.

Seems kind of un-American to prevent someone from building how ever many of a product they want.

"Sorry, Steve, you can't make any more iPods!"

Where is this quota set forth? And what is the rational?

Last time I went, there also seemed to be many areas sectioned off with yellow tape that were empty but seemed would have been good areas. To be honest, all the areas marked off with yellow tape annoyed me. Are the markings supposed to be for theme camps? I think it would be nice if someone put up ...

Change, the process of change, dethrones the mighty. In the seventies many worried that IBM and ATT had such power that they would rule the business world (and maybe the political one, too). In the mean time, the Steves assembled the first Apple and Bill wrote Microsoft Basic. So much for IBM. And o...