What a effen joke.

[candiru]

And out of nowhere.....Ken Feldman....the dreamer of dreams and HMFIC of the camp told me to get a bicycle two weeks before Charlie departed.

And why I asked.

Because you need a bike to get around on the playa....and he handed me a ticket.

Engineer, that made me choke right up. THAT'S a fucking burner right there.

[engineerbender]

Engineer, I have a story....

A couple years ago, i was building/fabricating a 3 link rear suspension set up on my 62 Impala ragtop. I had it all figured out, right down to the last Heim joint. I had, in my mind, built and designed the perfect set up. And it was, except for one glaringly obvious problem. But I didnt see that at the time.

So I put fab'd all the parts, assembled the components, and as i was lowering the frame off the stands, the mistake I made reared its ugly head! I had put the pivot point of the wishbone on the wrong side of the centerline, thus reversing the pivot angle of the differential as it relates to the driveshaft.

An obvious mistake that would have been apparent to me, had I not been dwelling on the minutia of other aspects of the job.

What im trying to say in a rather somewhat loquatious fashion is that I suspect the same thing happened to the org. It looked great on jackstands, but when it was put on the ground, the end result did not match what was expected. A simple design flaw.

The time for us to be angry will be next year, if the same design parameters that were employed this year are repeated next. In the mean time, try to get a ticket. If you succeed, there is a seat next to me on the golf cart...[/quote]


LOL. I get this. I totally get this. I fabricated stock cars. That is where my welding skills developed. And I get exactly what you wrote. And I do pray to see you on that golf cart cruise by G and ten o'clock. Find Charlie the Unicorn and ask anyone there where bender is.....They will find me. They usually do.

BUT THIS WAS ALL NOT NECESSARY. And the lowest income burners are going to get hit the hardest. Why? Because that is how this world works outside of the playa, And that sucks sweaty dusty ass.

Love you man.

[engineerbender]

And out of nowhere.....Ken Feldman....the dreamer of dreams and HMFIC of the camp told me to get a bicycle two weeks before Charlie departed.

And why I asked.

Because you need a bike to get around on the playa....and he handed me a ticket.

Engineer, that made me choke right up. THAT'S a fucking burner right there.

Yes he is. He made that shit happen. AND he told me that i had done my work....that once on the playa if i did not want to lift a finger to do Charlie that I was cool not to. But i had already bought into the dream. His dream. Big time. And we got that shit rolling. And I will do anything for him. As a friend. As a burner. As the HMFIC of that camp. And i told him that if I am assed out of lottery that I will make sure all the upgrades are done to that unicorn this year.
Period.

But the truth is that if there is a ticket to us as a camp that me buying it will be a priority. Because I have a skill...possibly THE single skill to really have for a large metal project. And as such I will end up buying that camp ticket and someone else might not go. And that hurts to think about. I'd rather the other person go and the camp can whore a welder from robo heart or urge overkill next door.

Ive accepted that fact that the fates might not smile on me this year. That my ice machine, generator, and stuff I have already purchased for this burn may have to wait. That my own sheetmetal origami crane will fly another year...

[engineerbender]

The questions you're asking have been asked and answered many times around here already.

It's a matter of resourcefulness and what you're comfortable doing. Some camps/projects don't start doing anything until their slots are full, dues are paid, and all the money is raised. Others do some advance planning, work out some estimates for the numbers, and then proceed with the work and try to get tickets sorted.

Such is with our camp (chop shop bicycle repair camp). At this point, many of us do not have tickets. In particular, one of our members who builds bikes for a living. He brings more tools/stands/parts than your average default world bike shop has. As of today, he is not sure of his plans. Those of us that have tickets will be there for sure, though I am sure we will be a smaller camp than in years past.

If push comes to shove, I will load my TIG, chop saw, plasma cutter, and various hand tools on a golf cart, and roam the playa doing mobile fabrication/welding/mv repair.

Either way, Ill be there, and if there are fewer and smaller theme/sound camps then so be it. Maybe this will be the "Burningman unplugged" year.

I know who you are....I've seen you. You do clean work. You help out a lot of people. Charlie the Unicorn only destroyed on bike this year, Mine. LOL.
And people think that the tools are heavy, But moving them what 5 times. Screwing up your shop. cleaning them. back in the shop. It beats up on the body.
And the fact that you do this. Well in reality it does not mean much to those who have never had that experience.

You all inspire me to shut the fuck up and wait to see what happens. But there is a time crunch ahead. And which dreams can be created start to get rushed.

You make it on the playa come to 10:00 and G. Come get some ice from me. That is if i make it up. 80 LBS of ice each day...and no lines.
Water cooled. Ready for action.... but no tickee no washee.

[engineerbender]

LMFAO

Freeburningmantickets.com

Brilliant.

Brilliant.

Made me smile.

[junglesmacks]

[youtube][/youtube]

[engineerbender]

STUBHUB. Yesterday 89 tickets cheapest at 1k
Today 123 tickets. Cheapest over 1k

[Killbuck]

.

[robrob]

engineer: i'd say having a plasma cutter and welder on premise falls somewhere in between "quart-sized ziplock full of molly" and "nice rack and no sense of shame".


you'll be fine. see you in the dust!

[engineerbender]

engineer: i'd say having a plasma cutter and welder on premise falls somewhere in between "quart-sized ziplock full of molly" and "nice rack and no sense of shame".


you'll be fine. see you in the dust!

God I hope so.

If you make it. come by came charlie. 10 and G. ask for bender.
I hook you up with the ice we are making.

[engineerbender]

I got a post blocked.

Even though that exact thing is posted in about three to four different discussion posts.

You hear that giant sucking sound.

It your system. I'm sitting on my ass texting and emailing the project heads asking what we are doing. Will it be the 20K upgrades to the art car or the 5k upgrades? I need to do my homework. I need to plan ahead. I need to source the best materials around.

But they do not have the information because 85% of the camp lost the lottery.

But hey lets just get high and hope for the best right. Be patient. Be positive.


The reality is that I will go because I fabricate. The reality is also that I'm stepping over someone else to have that ticket within a camp. In fact I'm stepping over thousands of individuals that are not in camps and are SOL about getting a ticket the tier/lottery way.

Learn to weld. Learn to weld well.

THIS IS THE SYSTEM YOU SET UP THIS YEAR.

[ranger magnum]

Engineer, man I feel your pain. All I want to do is build/fix shit this year on playa too. I got lucky; we got one ticket for my lady. So we are on. Hell, i postponed getting a new RV until I found out for sure we were both going, cuz if she wasnt then I sure as hell wouldnt. So when I hear that camps like yours (as well as all of them I suppose) are short the core guys, man it hits home.

I will come find you for sure. We are always @ 9:00 and around b/c/d, though this year we are trying to get placed in the 9:00 plaza.

[engineerbender]

Engineer, man I feel your pain. All I want to do is build/fix shit this year on playa too. I got lucky; we got one ticket for my lady. So we are on. Hell, i postponed getting a new RV until I found out for sure we were both going, cuz if she wasnt then I sure as hell wouldnt. So when I hear that camps like yours (as well as all of them I suppose) are short the core guys, man it hits home.

I will come find you for sure. We are always @ 9:00 and around b/c/d, though this year we are trying to get placed in the 9:00 plaza.

Would love to see you. Glad to hear you got a golden ticket to the Wonka factory. Or find the pink candy mountain and Charlie the unicorn art car. Regardless of what happens if I'm there. The upgrades that were originally planned for Charlie should be amazing. But waiting to see who I need to blow to get in.

[quadraspleen]

But waiting to see who I need to blow to get in.

Everyone on ePlaya (including me)

[engineerbender]

168 tickets on stub hub.
the event is officially out of available tickets.
low income and the magical step program are it.

unless you have to do the nasty (scalp) just to get in.
or skydive in.

this is not a good depression...its great depression.

Love to all.
See if the Gods will smile.

futility 2.0

bender

[knowmad]

"The Burner spirit means a synthesis between restraint and freedom, between voluntary subordination and conscientious leadership, between pride in oneself and consideration for others, between rigor and compassion. Unless a balance is kept between these qualities, the Burner spirit is in danger of degenerating into soulless routine and narrow-minded dogmatism"

That sounds a lot like religion! You. Are. So. Right! Balance is the key.

There Is no God But Simon! and Trishntek is his prophet!

[engineerbender]

"The Burner spirit means a synthesis between restraint and freedom, between voluntary subordination and conscientious leadership, between pride in oneself and consideration for others, between rigor and compassion. Unless a balance is kept between these qualities, the Burner spirit is in danger of degenerating into soulless routine and narrow-minded dogmatism"

That sounds a lot like religion! You. Are. So. Right! Balance is the key.

There Is no God But Simon! and Trishntek is his prophet!

If you want to be inspired then we gotta build it. In the real world. In real time. One stitch, screw, weld, or paint brush at a time. We spend real money and sacrifice our bodies and time to feed our souls and to feed yours. Its pretty much March now. Another month before things shake out. That leaves three months max.

Much can be done in three months. Much can not.

I hate settling for 2nd rate experiences. In anything. Especially something meant to inspire me, you, the world.

But there is an old saying that when something needs to get done there is a choice. Fast, perfect, or cheap. You only get to pick two. It will not be the third.
Fast and cheap will not be perfect
Perfect and cheap will not be fast
Fast and perfect will not be cheap.

Since Fast is a given this year. you get to pick one. Fast and perfect or fast and cheap.

[Dentonite44]

I love you

[Galaxo Magic]

Find yourself in the picture.

I am NOT in this picture because I am a Futurama character!

[Savannah]

I am NOT in this picture because I am a Futurama character!

I'm quite Leela sometimes. Who are you?

[Galaxo Magic]

I am NOT in this picture because I am a Futurama character!

I'm quite Leela sometimes. Who are you?

You think I'd tell you in an open forum? Bite my shiny metal ass!


Threw you there, didn't I?
Fry

[Savannah]

I am NOT in this picture because I am a Futurama character!

I'm quite Leela sometimes. Who are you?

You think I'd tell you in an open forum? Bite my shiny metal ass!


Threw you there, didn't I?
Fry

You didn't throw me for long. You seem to have a conscience, so I didn't buy your Bender claim.

[stinkyfoot]

The cult of Larry Harvey (which I'm not asserting he ever wanted in the first place) is very devoted and reluctant to admit the board's humanness because that is "negativity", or the fact that even talented people eventually get out of their depth and need help because "they know better than we do". As a recovering former executive who has owned smaller businesses and served larger businesses, I feel quite clear that the organization has gotten too big for them to run effectively, and that they need some high power assistance. Like the frog in a pot, the heat has been going up so slowly that they didn't know they were getting boiled until after the fact.

I'm not volunteering; my experience was in for-profit, not non-profit, and I didn't have to suffer volunteers; if someone did a bad job I could fire them and there would be 2 others applying for the position. But there are serious MBA's out there with serious skills who can see the implications of the changing climate and the implications of their policy decisions. If the board loves what they've created and really want to preserve it through this transition, I would suggest they hire a few.

Yep, there are the vision people (LH, for one) and then there are people who can implement and delegate that vision. It's actually fairly astounding that BM has retained such clarity of vision for 25+ years while the event grew, and I give the BMORG all the credit in the world for that. For instance, forming an LLC to protect "the brand" was an unpopular move at the time, but it was absolutely essential to keep BM out of the hands of those who would merely exploit it. And I don't think the ticketing mess is an indictment on that vision/philosophy, it's simply a matter of logistics and scale. It's time for them to realize it's outgrown their little band of friends' ability to manage it by themselves, which I think they have, actually. The Burning Man Project, the move to non-profit status, etc. It's just bad timing that popularity of the event exploded before such administrative transitions were complete.

Coming from a creative consulting background, I see these types of pairings between the pragmatists and the visionaries pretty often, and while it works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't, and not for the reasons you think. What happens is that the pragmatists almost always want to do things the way they're always done, and that can often come into conflict with the vision people, who want to make sure their vision is presented with some level of fidelity.

That's not the result of some malfeasance on anyone's part, that just because visionaries tend to think up stuff that's never been done before and pragmatists are always trying to find ways to do things that have been tested and vetted. We already live in a world that's dominated by pragmatists because they tend to grab control of money streams, and people always trust them to do things right.

So it's easy enough to say that the LLC is nothing but a bunch of silly artists and they should hand over running the event to people with more practical qualifications, but, in practice, you're talking about a real risk of turning the event into some corporate ad-fest faster than you can say Coachella.

To me, it's not astounding that the Borg has retained such clarity of vision for 25+ years. To me, that's the result of a very deliberate decision to not run to some other professional or organization who 'knows better' the second some need to scale up or get more complicated presents itself, but to cultivate some of those magical unicorns that happen to be good at both fabrication and art who most likely don't come from either background.

[Savannah]

Well said.

[theCryptofishist]

Certainly a very different viewpoint.

[Galaxo Magic]

You didn't throw me for long. You seem to have a conscience, so I didn't buy your Bender claim.

Good news everyone, I do a great Farnsworth voice!