Help... What is there for an audio/monitor tech?

[Mushroom]

I thought I posted this before but my computer had a heartattack and so it must not have gone up...

I have a bit of a dilema... (for this you need a bit of back story back story is in Blue ) I have known about BM for a long time, but like everyone else thought it just a bunch of hippies rolling around in the mud wink wink nudge nudge.

Recently a friend of mine pointed me to Erowid and I just happened to come across a real BM story rather than the ones you see on various cartoons and fell in love! I told him I wanted to go and he siad he did too.

Now I'm the type of person when I want to do something I want to do it NOW! and if I can't I will read and look at as much as I can untill I can do it (which is a really good thing because I tend to learn a lot this way.) The more I learn about it the more anxious I get.

I told my mom that I wanted to go and I wanted her help to plan out the trip (the trip only I wanted no money or anything else... well maybe the sleeping bag but its not like she uses it) we had a huge fight about it and it came down to well if your friend isn't going I don't want you to go.

Seems great right? Wrong, I talked to him and now hes got issues with going GAH! he wants me to sell the event to him but unfortuanty as a virgin burner I don't know enough.

So here's the question: What is there for an audio/monitor tech that is rarely seen with out a laptop or a psp?

[yes I've explained to him that there is no electricity and you have to make your own so he wants to bring a big ass generator and leave it running the whole time and I told him not only would that be rude but you can't possibly have enough gas for that. To that he said well we'll just drive to town then I explained the distance, size and gate rules along with the no driving on the playa rule (which, since we plan on having our van as the main part of our camp, is a problem) So no were at the question stated above as it has become my task to find something for him to do because no matter how much he reads he won't read anything about (basicly he's doing this because I'm in advertising and about to drop out of school and head to the real world as my school won't teach me any more)]

[jpx]

So here's the question: What is there for an audio/monitor tech that is rarely seen with out a laptop or a psp?

tell him that the lights are going out someday and what will he do then?

[AntiM]

Tell your mom there are plenty of responsible folk who'd help you out if you need assistance, sounds like she sees your friend as some type of protection or guardian. You'll be flying solo at some point in your life, tell your mom this will be one of those times.

What is there for your friend? Everything and nothing, but he will never discover what if he can't let go of his electronic toys for a week. One damn week. Is he that insecure?

[phil]

I told my mom that I wanted to go and I wanted her help to plan out the trip (the trip only I wanted no money or anything else... well maybe the sleeping bag but its not like she uses it) we had a huge fight about it and it came down to well if your friend isn't going I don't want you to go.

I have a problem with this. If you need your mom's permission, I'd say stay home.

[timburly]

Your website says your 22......whatcha need mom's ok for? Hell bring her along haha

[BAS]

Well, he could always check out alternative energy methods. (There is even an entire camp devoted to alternative energy-- the Alternative Energy Zone(http://www.ae-zone.org/) -- it is one of the largest camps at Burning Man!) (Now, I wouldn't want to subject delicate electronic devices to playa dust, but that wasn't the question.)


Honestly, even though I spent the entire week really sick, I still found enough to do, even if it was watching people on the stage in Center Camp. You'd have to have a pretty severe lack of imagination to get bored in Black Rock City!

Just my opinion.


B.

[mojo]

Burning man is packed with more scientifically astute, smart, creative people than I could ever imagine in one place. The population of serious techies from the bay area alone is huge.

If he needs to be reassured that he will be entertained, leave him at home because he's a pussy.

[gyre]

Some people aren't interested in going.
Better get used to it.

Let him read The Man Burns Tonight.
If that doesn't do it, forget it.

I have a background in audio engineering.
I don't go near canned music out there.
I can stay home for that.

He's afraid of being bored?
Sheesh.

Where does he live?

[mdmf007]

Mushroom -

tell his ass to go to youtube, or metacafe.com and just type in Burningman into the search bar. Video is the best thing you can do to show him. Words do not do it justice.

[gyre]

Like video does?

There was a fairly good overview someone posted on b man experiences.
The panoramas are pretty good if you have a monitor big enough to display full width. Several sources for those.

Guva has the best uchrion vid.

I still think the book tells you more than photos.

[DVD Burner]

Mushroom,

Have you tried finding someone else that your mother likes that does sound to go with?

I did sound the first year I went. I got tricked into going.
my friends made a deal with me because I did not want to go either.
My friends paid me to do sound and hooked me up with a hotel room if I didn't like the event. Chauffeured me up in a white with red interior 62 Lincoln, ( you know the one with the suicide doors.) all the way up to the hotel.

needless to say, I saw the hotel once the night we arrived.

I never saw that hotel since.

[Zane5100]

I have known about BM for a long time, but like everyone else thought it just a bunch of hippies rolling around in the mud wink wink nudge nudge.

Yeah, there's an accurate impression of the event.

Your "friend" can bring along a couple of deep cycle batteries, an inverter, and then can play with his laptop all he wants.

Hope he doesn't value the POS highly, as the playa environment tends to be hard on electronics--and the dust is especially hard on CD/DVD drives.

As a wise man once said, don't bring anything out there that you (or your friend) aren't okay with having destroyed or go missing--and that includes your friendship.

BTW, if you're still having to clear things through your mom, you may not be quite ready to deal with the environment out there--unless your friend is going to play Jiminy Cricket.

[mdmf007]

BRC is a geeks mecca, your friend will be amazed at what he finds there.

amongst other amazing projects theres the -

mondo spider
uchronia
and
1/2 the sculptures are kinetic somehow.
and every 100 yards is another commercial sized club dance scene.

There is no way your friend will see 3/4's of what is there. Every year I come back and browse the web during the work day, and still come across photos of stuff I didnt see when I was there. HUGE SHIT TOO - like trapeze artists, and dragons the size of a school bus, not little posters or knickknacks. And sever the umbilical cord would ya?

[gyre]

Lindsay the electric giraffe.

[Mushroom]

wow wow wow! I didn't expect that many people to reply... ok so to answer all your questions... yes Im 22, I have been living on my own since I was 17. No I don't need my mom's permission persay, however if I ever need her help in the future she loves to pull up past shit like well you went to that event... I never did when I was that age, Yes I know that is petty but that is a Jewish mom for you.
No my friend isn't afraid of being bored, if you read the whole story (which I'm assuming most people didn't cause it was long ) he was the one who suggested it... I am in advertising and he wanted me to sell it to him. Yes there were complications with him thinking about pulling out but that was due to rules at the event.

As for power were thinking bout getting a sloar charger, car battery and an inverter.

again back to the whole Jewish mother... my mom likes very few of my friends so no to get her off my back another friend is not going to cut it, I am going with other friends and she know that, she just doesn't trust them.

And no Im not bringing my mom along, its actually to dangerous for her since she hasn't had her knee operations and then even after that we would have to find some way of scootering her around lol

OK I think thats everything TC all

[gyre]

What is a psp?
And I still can't understand the last sentence of your first post.

I did two weeks with 16 D batteries and some AAAs.
I did help some people burn up a few hundred gallons of propane.

I think many mothers do that sort of thing.
Do you think jewish mothers are different in toronto?
A friend of mine from brooklyn is unconventional in some ways, but his mother is considered a classic jewish mother even among new york jewish mothers.
When I told his mom how many burned out cars we had passed on the turnpike in the snow, he thought her head would explode.
She made us eat, of course.

Be sure to follow the Canadian Identity Act when you attend.

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=16297

[BAS]

Weird..., my DAD sounds a lot like a Jewish mother...! (I wonder if I should tell him...? )


B.

[Mushroom]

ok a PSP is a playstation portable (becomes extremely usefull with the many hacks out there however tehy will make your warantee void if applied.

Yea, Im not wo big ont he understanding how much power things take (I'm learning and I think we'll be fine with some batteries but still reading up on it.)

No I don't think Toronto Jewish mothers are any different than anywhere else, btw my mom doesn't live in Toronto with me. Yes all parents are protective at least I hope they are, however I have noticed this around my friends that the only ones who seem to effectively guilt their kids into doing something are the Jewish ones... now maybe that is just because we're pansys or maybe they are just really good a guilting I dunno either way its not about my moms permission its about how many times shes going to bring this up later and use it against me.

The last sentence? you mean about being in advertising? Ok, at this time I am in school for advertising, within advertising there are different jobs for example art director, copywriter, media planner, etc etc. I personally am better at aranging the pretty pictures and words on a page (the art director) than I am at comming up with the words (copy) and actually selling the product. And of course the entire point of advertising is to sell the product.

When selling a product you look at different target groups and there are some easyones and some extremely hard ones (and ofcourse some in the middle too) My friend is in one of the hardest groups to market/advertise to as he not only is a techie but a skeptic and usually sees through most marketing/ advertising schemes (especially since he has taken advertising him self, and you can't advertise to an advertiser) The whole reason he wants me to "sell" BM to him is for practice but seeing as I have never been I need others to tell me who have been.

In the end, me going depends on my skills as an advertiser (and saving up enough money).

[gyre]

my task to find something for him to do because no matter how much he reads he won't
read anything about (basicly he's doing this because I'm in advertising and

It was on the 'about' where you lost me.
I do grasp marketing fairly well.

A lot of mothers and women in general are good at bringing things up forever.
It's a good approach if you want someone to quit listening to you.
Just nod and smile.

From what I've seen and heard, jewish mothers do seem to be remarkably unsubtle and self righteous about guilting, like it's their job.
Most people pretend they aren't doing it.
I've never heard a nonjewish guy say they couldn't marry someone because their mother wouldn't let them!!!

[Mushroom]

my task to find something for him to do because no matter how much he reads he won't
read anything about (basicly he's doing this because I'm in advertising and

It was on the 'about' where you lost me.
I do grasp marketing fairly well.

ohhh ohhh! thats what you were talking about... I meant he won't read much about burning man for example this forum. (And you would be surprised at how many people don't get marketing)

A lot of mothers and women in general are good at bringing things up forever.
It's a good approach if you want someone to quit listening to you.
Just nod and smile.

From what I've seen and heard, jewish mothers do seem to be remarkably unsubtle and self righteous about guilting, like it's their job.
Most people pretend they aren't doing it.
I've never heard a nonjewish guy say they couldn't marry someone because their mother wouldn't let them!!!

Fair enough, my mom just happens to excell at bringing up the past and guilt tripping people and she just happens to be Jewish so she gets the "Jewish Mother" title; but as far as Jewish mothers go she is quite accepting I mean my hunnukkah present this year was a grow your own girlfriend just to show me she accepts that I'm gay (and thinks im pathetic cause I can't get a real girlfriend).

[gyre]

So? You have a hysterical jewish mother.
But will she let you date a nice non-jewish girl?

[BAS]

ohhh ohhh! thats what you were talking about... I meant he won't read much about burning man for example this forum. (And you would be surprised at how many people don't get marketing)

Will he read the Survival Guide? Reading the Survival Guide is pretty important if he decides to go.

Would a good marketing strategy be to tell him that if doesn't come you will constantly pester him about "what a great time you had out there and how great a time he would have had if he had come" for year and years afterwards?!?


B.

[AntiM]

Sex sells, right? Imply he'll get laid. Or are we dealing with facts?

(humor humor humor, that was a joke!)

[Zane5100]

Back on subject and ignoring your mother issues--don't bring out a regular car battery if you're planning on using it as your primary power source. A car battery is not designed to maintain a consistant voltage for an extended period of time. What you're needing is a marine or deep-cycle battery. You need to check into the amp hour rating of the battery as well. If you get a battery that is used, it is probably worn out and will not hold a charge for as long as it would when it was new, so think hard about where you get the battery.

As to using a solar panel for recharging, you need to get the highest wattage panel you can afford (I wouldn't consider anything smaller than a 55W panel) and have a voltage control circuit so you don't overcharge the battery and risk an explosion.

It's usually best to have 2 batteries--one for back-up and can charge while you run on the other one. If your power consumption is minimal, you may not have to re-charge while you're out there--but to do that you'll need to figure out your power load vs. the battery's A/hr rating.

[Zane5100]

Yea, Im not wo big ont he understanding how much power things take (I'm learning and I think we'll be fine with some batteries but still reading up on it.)

Learn Ohm's and Watt's Laws for a start.

[gyre]

Get him these.

http://www.dadafootwear.com/

[Mushroom]

So? You have a hysterical jewish mother.
But will she let you date a nice non-jewish girl?

LOL. I have yet to find a girl who can last long enough for me to bring her home to meet the family. So I suppose we'll see.

Will he read the Survival Guide? Reading the Survival Guide is pretty important if he decides to go.

Yea eventually he will (before the trip)

Would a good marketing strategy be to tell him that if doesn't come you will constantly pester him about "what a great time you had out there and how great a time he would have had if he had come" for year and years afterwards?!?

No 'cause he knows I'll eventually give up, however you may be on to something he will have to see my "dissapointed" face and well that seems to work well on him.

Sex sells, right? Imply he'll get laid. Or are we dealing with facts?

Lmao! no he already knows he's not getting any from me and unless I go out and find him a girl I doubt he'll bring one back to the van... but you never know

Yea, Im not wo big ont he understanding how much power things take (I'm learning and I think we'll be fine with some batteries but still reading up on it.)

Learn Ohm's and Watt's Laws for a start.

I think I should learn to hit the right keys first... I mean "W" is no where near "T".

And Yes back on topic... We were planning on using the car battery as a stablizer (sp?)so from what I understand (and correct me if i'm completely wrong) the solar panel would work like the plug on the wall and the battery would work like an adptor? I'm using my printer as model for this...

Ok wait maybe that wasn't the best model. So the solar is dc and the battery turns it into ac? or it just stores it... theres something else involved to I just can't remember what it was and well its 3:40 am here.


Awsome shoes gyre

EDIT: its actually 2:40 my computer is just being dumb.

[gyre]

Wait'll you see the shoes I'm bringing.
Really flash gear by the same co in red and blue.
No speakers though.

2:40-You must be on Canadian time.


Batteries are dc.
You need an inverter to convert to AC.

Did you read the Man Burns Tonight?
Fiction, but tells the story.
Tay's Novella has the best description of art at burning man

[Mushroom]

Wait'll you see the shoes I'm bringing.
Really flash gear by the same co in red and blue.
No speakers though.

2:40-You must be on Canadian time.

Yup!

Batteries are dc.
You need an inverter to convert to AC.

Thats what its called! I knew it was something with a erter on the end!
I can't sleep yet cause I have to leave for work in 2 hours and if I sleep now I won't wake up in time.

Did you read the Man Burns Tonight?
Fiction, but tells the story.
Tay's Novella has the best description of art at burning man

No, I haven't read it yet too much going on with school and work... but I should be able to get to it this week... yay lazy teachers canceling class!

[gyre]

Here's Tay's book
The Girl Who Tried To Catch the Man

http://burningnovel.blogspot.com/

Not all upbeat, but then neither is anything.

And a thread about some other books too.

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 75&start=0

What?
You don't like my shoes not having speakers?
They are much more flash than the ones in the new dada ad.