First Time Burner..........Hopefully going this year

[smiffman]

Hello all, new to the community, always wanted to go just never the right time. Well this year is going to change and I'm going. Just need tickets, but will enter the STEP and will try on JUL 31, so fingers crossed.

[Monkeystyle]

Good luck in step. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

[Savannah]

Welcome, Smiffman!

Glad to see you've done your homework. Definitely get your time off, make your shopping and packing lists, plan everything you can that is fully refundable, and tell your friends and family you're looking for a ticket so they think of you first. The people who do all that are the ones who are ready to go when the ticket appears. (Every year we see people on ePlaya who gave up too fast, but end up with a ticket . . . and their boss says "Wait. You want HOW many days, to do WHAT?")

If you haven't networked with people near you via the "Regionals" link on the homepage, do that too. Burners like to sell tickets to other Burners instead of faceless scalpy types.

[smiffman]

Thanks Savannah, I will get all in order before my trip (see what I did there) "positive reinforcement". I have already requested my time off too. Now to start to figure out what I can contribute.....

[Savannah]

As far as contributing goes . . . here are some ideas to get you started:

* Take care of yourself out there. If you fall down, someone will help you up, but . . . do your best to be self-reliant.
* If you're artsy, consider bringing your art.
* Volunteer . . . a bit. Lamplighters is great for virgins; they allow walk-up volunteers, daily. Don't exhaust yourself your 1st year.
http://www.burningman.com/participate/volunteer.html

* Gifting . . . it's not as hard as you think. It needn't be planned--look for a need and fill it. But here are some things given/received:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=34974
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=25128
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=38967

. . . Don't stress out about these things too much.

[smiffman]

Thanks for the links Savannah, this will be a major help, already have ideas bout my gifts and wut not. I plan on making stickers and a water cannon of some sort.

[FossaFerox]

Thanks for the links Savannah, this will be a major help, already have ideas bout my gifts and wut not. I plan on making stickers and a water cannon of some sort.

A water cannon might be a bad idea. Getting the ground wet is frowned upon in general. Aside from the water trucks that wet the roads EVENLY to keep the dust down, you're only supposed to sprinkle potable (read: clean, pure, drinkable water) sparingly to prevent mud puddles from forming. Playa mud is a nightmare.

Stickers are also a bit unnecessary. The best gifts aren't trinkets. Even the ones that involve some physical item are seldom about the item itself, they're more about the experience. Don't stress out about making gifts: BE your gift.

[lucky420]

Stickers are cool! I puts them on lots of things....

[Monkeystyle]

Yeah, I agree with lucky. While useless trinkets might be potential moon, stickers, patches, stamps, and branding, are all good visual reminders of your experience that you can take home.

[smiffman]

Yeah, I agree with lucky. While useless trinkets might be potential moon, stickers, patches, stamps, and branding, are all good visual reminders of your experience that you can take home.

Yeah that is what I was thinking, but will def be researching more on the do's and dont's of playa behavior. I have axed my water cannon idea for the simpler spray bottle/mister perhaps. Thanks for all the info.

[Fidget]

Spray misters are a great idea! My girlfriend and I were thinking of doing that this year. We have a cooler backpack and were going to fill little hand held spray bottles with ice water and hand them out to the particularly sun drenched folks we see! I think we were also planning on parasols and hand fans as well!

[FossaFerox]

Yeah, I agree with lucky. While useless trinkets might be potential moon, stickers, patches, stamps, and branding, are all good visual reminders of your experience that you can take home.

Yeah that is what I was thinking, but will def be researching more on the do's and dont's of playa behavior. I have axed my water cannon idea for the simpler spray bottle/mister perhaps. Thanks for all the info.

The garden misters are a FANTASTIC thing. You can spend 15 minutes in a busy intersection and make everyone's day. Just get in the habit of asking before you spray or being absurdly good at reading body language. A lot of people don't like being sprayed, and some are even scared of it. This goes double if you go the extra mile and add any essential oils and what have you to the spray. Most people will love you for it but some might not (sensitive noses, allergies, etc).

I gave some of my lemon-water hand spray (tiny spritzer bottle as opposed to the garden sprayers) to a LEO with permission, but he was visibly nervous about accepting the offer as he'd been advised not to let anyone spray him with anything for fear of being dosed with LSD. When I explained that lemon juice fights the playa dust by being acidic he caved. XD

[lucky420]

Yeah, I agree with lucky. While useless trinkets might be potential moon, stickers, patches, stamps, and branding, are all good visual reminders of your experience that you can take home.

Yeah that is what I was thinking, but will def be researching more on the do's and dont's of playa behavior. I have axed my water cannon idea for the simpler spray bottle/mister perhaps. Thanks for all the info.

The garden misters are a FANTASTIC thing. You can spend 15 minutes in a busy intersection and make everyone's day. Just get in the habit of asking before you spray or being absurdly good at reading body language. A lot of people don't like being sprayed, and some are even scared of it. This goes double if you go the extra mile and add any essential oils and what have you to the spray. Most people will love you for it but some might not (sensitive noses, allergies, etc).

I gave some of my lemon-water hand spray (tiny spritzer bottle as opposed to the garden sprayers) to a LEO with permission, but he was visibly nervous about accepting the offer as he'd been advised not to let anyone spray him with anything for fear of being dosed with LSD. When I explained that lemon juice fights the playa dust by being acidic he caved. XD

I really don't understand why people think they'll just get randomly dosed. I sure as hell wouldn't waste any good drugs on someone who wouldn't want/like it.

[FossaFerox]

As far as I know it's an urban legend that dates all the way back to the 70s, specifically that people would dose girls at Grateful Dead concerts to watch them trip. I doubt there's any truth to any of it but it is a potential possibilitty. With 68,000 people coming together I don't think it's impossible that one of them would be warped enough to consider a drug trip to be the perfect gift to give to strangers.

[Monkeystyle]

If someone is doing that then they are sick, and wrong, and crazy, and they can pm me closer to the event to find out where my camp is...

[theCryptofishist]

Yeah, I agree with lucky. While useless trinkets might be potential moon, stickers, patches, stamps, and branding, are all good visual reminders of your experience that you can take home.

Yeah that is what I was thinking, but will def be researching more on the do's and dont's of playa behavior. I have axed my water cannon idea for the simpler spray bottle/mister perhaps. Thanks for all the info.

The garden misters are a FANTASTIC thing. You can spend 15 minutes in a busy intersection and make everyone's day. Just get in the habit of asking before you spray or being absurdly good at reading body language. A lot of people don't like being sprayed, and some are even scared of it. This goes double if you go the extra mile and add any essential oils and what have you to the spray. Most people will love you for it but some might not (sensitive noses, allergies, etc).

I gave some of my lemon-water hand spray (tiny spritzer bottle as opposed to the garden sprayers) to a LEO with permission, but he was visibly nervous about accepting the offer as he'd been advised not to let anyone spray him with anything for fear of being dosed with LSD. When I explained that lemon juice fights the playa dust by being acidic he caved. XD

I really don't understand why people think they'll just get randomly dosed. I sure as hell wouldn't waste any good drugs on someone who wouldn't want/like it.

Ah, now you are drifting close to calling my dead husband a liar; Decompression 2003? Although, I'm thinking that other drugs--perhaps cheaper--might be involved.

And there are all sorts of nasty mind fuckers out there. Plus, Scott did represent an authority figure.

[lucky420]

No fishy I would never call someone who was so close to you a liar. Even though I didn't know your Scott I know you. You have so much honesty and integrity that I would find it unimaginable that you would be married to one.

I just am dismayed that people would waste drugs on someone who didn't want them.

Then again people do shit that is evil and mind blowing all the time.

[theCryptofishist]

That was somewhat very tongue in cheek. It's hard to keep saying that I know it isn't true because someone dead had it happen a decade ago. And I wasn't there when it happened. I believe Scott, but it gets to be a long chain of "someone on the internet is quoting someone dead blah, blah, blah" for people who don't know me.
I'm sorry I took that confrontational wording. It was clumsy of me.

(((((Lucky)))))

[lucky420]

((((Fishy))))

Miss you!

[FossaFerox]

As far as I know LSD is one of the only drugs that can be potentially absorbed through the skin. I don't think any other psychedelics, empathogens/entactogens, or research chemicals are transdermally active. This is a serious blessing as from what I've heard it's getting harder and harder to find LSD, making this kind of passive/sneaky dosing much less likely. Still, I don't blame people for being paranoid. Unknowingly taking something like that would be terrifying.

So yeah, to reverse the drift a bit, just make sure people are okay with being misted before you mist them. 99% of people will consider it a blessing, but for that one person who spends the next hour or two worrying... yeah. Consent is awesome.

[BBadger]

Every single reference to LSD being absorbed through the skin has been anecdotal to my knowledge, even Hoffman's first encounter with the molecule, which was supposedly at about 10k the potency that most people would encounter. So I'm really not sure if the molecule really does absorb through peoples' skin or if it was via other forms of administration such as rubbing eyes or licking fingers. You'd probably have more luck if you sprayed someone's face and it got into their eyes.

[FossaFerox]

I can guarantee that LSD can be absorbed READILY through the skin. Second hand knowledge having seen it happen to someone. Nicotine is also active transdermally (hint: they sell it in patches with stabilizers to make it a gradual time release, nothing special is required to make it mobile). That being said, and looking back at all this thread drift... *clears throat* drugs are bad! More to the point, this is all discussing the hypothetical fear someone may have of being dosed via mister. Regardless of how likely or possible it is, the FEAR exists, and you could make someone really worried for a couple of hours.

[lucky420]

No, drugs are not necessarily bad.

[Joeln]

No, drugs are not necessarily bad.

Gotta agree with you Lucky.
Not so good for me though, and I gave them every imaginable chance to prove otherwise...

Thank god I can still drink!

[lucky420]

No, drugs are not necessarily bad.

Gotta agree with you Lucky.
Not so good for me though, and I gave them every imaginable chance to prove otherwise...

Thank god I can still drink!

Yep as long as you know what you can tolerate and maybe have someone around if needed. As adults if you want to experiment/use you can do it in a responsible way...

I do drink but have to monitor myself. I used to get extreme hangovers...

[theCryptofishist]

Yeah, he was sprayed in the face, so I assume the eyes, maybe the mouth. Like I said, he's not here to clarify. Does anything readily get through the skin? After all they were using it for tobacco.

[BBadger]

I can guarantee that LSD can be absorbed READILY through the skin. Second hand knowledge having seen it happen to someone.

You can't guarantee it. You merely saw someone who may have had it on his skin. Did you also control for the conditions that occurred afterwards? Did you observe whether they refrained from touching parts of their face or any areas where mucus membranes exist?

What you observed was at best correlation, but not so much causation. Anecdotal evidence could also conclude that one can get a cold or the flu via exposure to the skin. However, we know better: one has to actually bring those viruses and bacteria into the body via mucus membranes for damage to occur. That's why you shouldn't touch your face anytime while exposed to such germs. Your skin is an incredible protective organ; it has to be to protect our bodies from external toxins.

Overall, part of the problem with all this is that, since LSD's ban, little clinical research has been done on its effects. Maybe it absorbs through the skin, maybe it doesn't. I haven't found any documentation anywhere that proves that LSD is readily absorbed through the skin. If anything, for every claim that a friend of a friend tripped from handling, but not dosing LSD, there's another refuting the claim or pointing out the anecdotal nature of the claim. Even Hoffman's experiences with the molecule were not extensively documented, and he was using extremely high potencies. Furthermore, one should conclude that the lack of consistent validation of the claim, for such an incredibly potent molecule, should imply that if there is any absorption, it is an extremely poor method of administering it. Spraying someone's neck with some diluted LSD-water will probably do nothing unless it gets in their mucus membranes.

Nicotine is also active transdermally (hint: they sell it in patches with stabilizers to make it a gradual time release, nothing special is required to make it mobile).

Nicotine is nothing like LSD. For one, nicotine is produced by plants in the role of an insecticide. Caffeine also acts as an insecticide. Both are "designed" to be absorbed and to kill its consumers via ingestion or contact.

Lysergic acids amides affect their hosts usually through ingestion. They're also produced not so much by plants, but by fungi. The closest natural analogs of LSD are lysergic acid amides, produced by: ergot fungi found in rye, a symbiotic fungus in sleepy grass, and found in the seeds of some species of plants such as morning glories -- possibly via mycorrhiza fungi. The ergot fungus in rye is a parasite, not an insecticide, and insects actually help the spores to spread. In sleepy grass, the fungus protects the grass by causing ergot poisoning when the grass is consumed, notably by larger herbivores. Horses, for example, will eat a lot of sleepy grass, feel sick and sleepy (hence the name of the grass), and never eat that particular grass again. In morning glories and other plants, the lysergic acid amides are concentrated in the seeds and act as poisons on the digestive system.

LSD on the other hand is a synthetic molecule. Its potency far beyond that of any natural lysergic acid amide. Yet even then, your skin is extremely protective against it, because a poison such as lysergic acid could cause extreme problems for the body (like induced labor). Moreso than the naturally occurring LSA, LSD is also an incredibly fragile molecule. Heat, light, acidity, etc. can all break down this molecule with ease. I wouldn't be surprised if LSD were destroyed on contact with the skin.

[bluemiragemi]

Holy thread drift! I learned something very important though - bring lemons to the playa. Create lemon water. Combat alkaline dust. Thanks <3

[smiffman]

Holy thread drift! I learned something very important though - bring lemons to the playa. Create lemon water. Combat alkaline dust. Thanks <3

Thread drift indeed, Still first timing here.... thanks for all the info, I will def be not putting any sorts of stimuli in my spritzer just good ol H2O and possibly lemons.

[smiffman]

Spray misters are a great idea! My girlfriend and I were thinking of doing that this year. We have a cooler backpack and were going to fill little hand held spray bottles with ice water and hand them out to the particularly sun drenched folks we see! I think we were also planning on parasols and hand fans as well!

Parasols are brilliant! Yoink.