Problem of Vanishing Street Signs after the Man Burns - WTD?

Gadg · Post by **Gadg** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:07 pm

As someone who volunteers days after the event, it kinda sucks not having street signs. Landmarks are great, but landmarks vanish rapidly. On my last day on the playa, I resorted to counting the rows of porta-poties from center camp to find my street.

How about we bring some extra slats of wood, some spray paint, a stencil, and a sign that reads, "for your thefting pleasure, extra street signs have been provided below". Consider it a playa gift.

-Gadg

birdbrain · Post by **birdbrain** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:15 pm

"for your thefting pleasure"-I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

universalspirit · Post by **universalspirit** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:09 pm

screw the person that said for us to have self reliance in this situation. i was drugged by someone else and needed those damn signs! it's bad enough that as the weekend comes many land mark change as many more camps are set up. needing a sign doesn't make you weak it's not admitting that you need one that does. i will definitely be on the look out for making sure the signs stay up next year.

peggyo · Post by **peggyo** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:37 pm

i made alternate signs for our corner. but they were swiped soon after i put them up.

i kinda like how lost you get after the man burns and with no street signs it adds to the fun chaos of trying to find your way back home.

mars · Post by **mars** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:38 pm

The Man Burns
and we are lost, we are lost

No landmark, no street signs
The city itself disappears

We all disappear
leaving dust, leaving dust

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 6:19 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:My understanding. No streets, no city planning at all. people just camped whereever and drove between camps on art cars. All ended never to return when a man on a motorcycle drove over someone in his very own tent. Streets are a responce to that first festival death. At that time (96) participents numbered in the 100s not the 10s of 1000s. Big difference.

Not sure about details of the pre-1996 layout, other than that the Man was at the center. The 1996 layout featured four "quadrants" -- Black northward, Red westward, Yellow southward, and White eastward toward the Man -- radiating out from Center Camp. There were linear roads north, west, and south, with the quadrants roughly defined as the camping areas along these lanes; eastward, the "keyway" area fanned out so as to provide a more open vista framing out the Man, with the low sandy area of the Quinn River outwash and the mountains around Sulphur in the distance. "Rave Camp" was two miles north. Most of the major theme camps and installations were along the Center Camp circle, the "ring road" about 200 feet out from the Center Camp circle, and the sides of the keyway, with a few around the outer perimeter.

Essentially, the current layout evolved from 1997, which had the Man as the focus, and the main theme camps along the boardwalk-style Esplanade following the southwest rim of Hualapai Flat. Center Camp was at the middle of the camping area street grid, with the relatively short entry road aligned toward it from Route 34. The Man was located northeast of Center Camp, with the low hilly area between Hualapai and Black Rock in the distance, and art installations were sited in the open area fronting the Esplanade on either side of the Man. The 1998 and later plans had pretty much the same features in a larger circular layout.

Check the Timeline page on the main site for population estimates and other notes (1996 - 8000; 1997 - 10,000; etc.).

mars · Post by **mars** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:30 pm

Hmmm...the PROBLEM of vanishing street signs...the PROBLEM...I didn't know it was a problem--I thought it was FUN--silly me--getting lost and disoriented is one of the experiences I cherish at Burning Man. C'mon now, how often do you get to be really lost, without a cell phone? Surrender to the lack of order and control--there is power in getting over the fear of being lost!

I hope "they" don't stop removing the signs! It all has to start going down somewhere.

thedrunkenmonkey · Post by **thedrunkenmonkey** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 11:02 pm

Uh....

As someone who was around after all the signs went *POOF*, I didn't have an issue with it, in my right mind or out of it.

But I really LOVE the idea of taking all of last year's street names and putting them up right after all the streetsigns have been stolen.

Imagine next year...

"HEY....we're reeeeeally...drunnk...now, we live at Caterpillar and 3:30...where the hell are we? This is 11:10 and Earth! What...the...."

dougaldutch · Post by **dougaldutch** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 6:41 am

I accept the point that "landmarks" you've navigated with can change as the exodus begins, but how about using the actual landmarks. Even when its dark you can usually make out a silhoutte of the surrounding hills. From the advice of someone who had suffered the lack of signage issue, told me to use the dips, rises, humps in the hill as identifiers and from different locations on the playa as well. Then couple this using camp "landmarks" and you will get to within a 30mins either way of your camp, then just ask around or wander.

Also for occasions when I was too intoxicated, tired, lazy to see past my own arm let alone the hills, or during a whiteout, I had a set route from center camp, since you can more or less always find your way there, it helped. Not so good obviously for those camped way out.

IMHO it doesn't matter how many street signs you put up after the originals have been appropriated, they will go the same route. Souvenir hunters care not the quality of the prize, but that they have something to walk home with.
DougalD

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 8:31 am

Gadget wrote:How about we bring some extra slats of wood, some spray paint, a stencil, and a sign that reads, "for your thefting pleasure, extra street signs have been provided below". Consider it a playa gift.-Gadg

Better make it a notepad with tear-off sheets, all printed with a "gift". A few hundred sheets per sign should do it! (could even print a message on the back explaining how foul they are for stealing the street signs)

Blenderhead · Post by **Blenderhead** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 10:50 am

universalspirit wrote:screw the person that said for us to have self reliance in this situation. i was drugged by someone else and needed those damn signs!

Oh JesusFuck. Not that the sonofabitch that would do such a thing should'nt be lined up against a wall and shot - but, yeah, the term "radical self-reliance" could be translated into kiddie-speak as "don't take candy from strangers."

XYL · Post by **XYL** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 6:54 pm

mars wrote:Hmmm...the PROBLEM of vanishing street signs...the PROBLEM...I didn't know it was a problem--I thought it was FUN--.

The thing I was most worried about as a BM virgin was getting lost and not being able to find my tent. I'm directionally challenged in the default world and always need maps to find my way around strange places. I didn't know the street signs were going to disappear after the burn. It wasn't fun for me... it was scary, but not debilitatingly so, I dealt with it. At the time I thought it was very inconsiderate of people to steal the signs. I was thankful to the people who replaced the signs with homemade versions.
Next year I'll know what to expect and know that it's custom, not intentional vandalism/rudeness/pranskterism.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 7:24 pm

XYL wrote:....I'm directionally challenged in the default world and always need maps to find my way around strange places. I didn't know the street signs were going to disappear after the burn. It wasn't fun for me...

You didn't use the Black Rock City map handed out at Greeters?

shitmouse · Post by **shitmouse** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 4:26 pm

i love the fact that the signs get black taped or removed.

it might get people to connect and maybe even happen upon a camp that you may have never interacted with.
i would be sad to see them stay up.
-b

calsur · Post by **calsur** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 8:17 pm

I had a little cheapo handheld GPS unit. Waypoint 7 was 3 feet from the front of my tent. On the first Monday night or Tuesday morning, after getting faced with a local, I whipped out my unit. My GPS unit you foul minded pervs, and groaned. 1.35 miles THAT way. Luckly I had stashed a couple of Oil Cans in my pack. It was a long stagger home.

One peice of advice. If you want to go with a GPS unit get it ASAP and work with it. The menu structure takes time to get use to and it sucks knowing the info you need is in your hand and you can not find it.

Dardanian · Post by **Dardanian** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 10:11 pm

If not for the consiteration of 1st time burners I would be sorely tempted to do a bit of social commentary/installation art in the form of "resigning" the posts starting from Day 1, right after they go up.

Monday: All signs resigned to Zulu Time GMT (Nevada time minus how many hours?)

Tuesday: All hours replaced with months

Wednesday: All signs replaced with working clocks staggered 1 hour apart

Thursday: All signs in braiile

Friday: All signs, for a change, returned to their origional printed versions. Just to confuse people.

Saturday: No signs up, just a box of compasses as playa gifts

Sunday: All signs read: "Ask someone."

Just a thought. Again, the only thing keeping me from actually attempting this is worry for playa virgins... they get quite enough thrown at them already without the added likelyhood of dieing in the desert.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:23 pm

hey if anyone out there has the authentic sign for 4:20 i will travel to u and be ur slave for a week to get that sign

-Duke

Ivy · Post by **Ivy** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:54 pm

I'll sell you one for $5,000.

Tiara · Post by **Tiara** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 11:00 am

Folks concerned with lack of street signs should maybe consider bringing a fat permanent marker pen. You can leave a trail behind you, much as Hansel and Gretl did with their bird crumbs, only the BRC version would be to write the correct street names onto each signpost you pass.

Tiara · Post by **Tiara** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 11:01 am

All ended never to return when a man on a motorcycle drove over someone in his very own tent. Streets are a responce to that first festival death. At that time (96) participents numbered in the 100s not the 10s of 1000s.

There's some garbled info in this quote. The first "official" death was a man riding a motorcycle (Michael Furey). Early Monday morning of that same year, two people were seriously injured when a man drove a car through their tent--both lived, and the driver was arrested.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 1:53 pm

Sorry about the misinformation, Tiara. Trying to reconstruct what happened from half-baked memories of newspaper clippings aint the most accurate way to write history. My point was to point out that streets had been created in responce to a serious safety problem.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 2:08 pm

Yeah, I think the first death at burningman was when "rave camp" was a mile or two from center camp and people had to drive out there. Someone ran over a tent with someone sleeping inside. After that, roads and vehicle restrictions.

MoisturePup · Post by **MoisturePup** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:21 pm

Sensei wrote:
Ivy wrote:I actually thought about making replacement signs and putting them up after the originals had been taken as a possible personal project next year.
I had the same notion. A little cardboard, a Sharpie and a killer stapler and you're in business. Thousands would thank you.

How's this for an idea, somebody should just hand write the street names onto the wood polls that signs are on. DWP could do it when the put the permanent signs up. It's a simple solution.

Ivy · Post by **Ivy** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:26 pm

How's this for an idea, somebody should just hand write the street names onto the wood polls that signs are on. DWP could do it when the put the permanent signs up. It's a simple solution.

If it's so simple, why does DPW have to do it?

MoisturePup · Post by **MoisturePup** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:44 pm

Ivy wrote:
How's this for an idea, somebody should just hand write the street names onto the wood polls that signs are on. DWP could do it when the put the permanent signs up. It's a simple solution.
If it's so simple, why does DPW have to do it?

Nobody has to do anything, however because they are already there putting up the permanent signs it would be the most efficient resolution of the issue. We're talking adding 30 seconds to a minute to the process of putting the permanent placards onto the wooden street post. It might also cost DPW $20 extra in permanent markers.

But, you know, if you're really opposed to DPW doing it... we could just leave it to everybody. We won't tell anybody though, it'll be a secret. If you're in on the secret that means your nearest intersections have hand written street names on them!! Wow!!!

mars · Post by **mars** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:08 pm

Have you thought that perhaps it's DPW who takes them down in the first place?

Perhaps the signs aren't "stolen". (It is quite a coincidence that every single street sign seems to disappear at the same time every year.)

Maybe in every burner there's an inner thief just waiting to come out and when the man burns people just can't hold their thievery back any longer.

Perhaps the signs are made with the same materials as the man and they automatically disappear when he does!

Maybe you will find that you have every intention of replacing the disappearing signs, only to discover you can't bring yourself to do it--that the mystery of the disappearing signs suddenly makes perfect sense!

Mars

Kiba · Post by **Kiba** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 2:16 am

Sunday: All signs read: "Ask someone."

I like this one. ^_^

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 11:05 am

if you've made it to burning man and it's your first year (or any year for that matter) what's so bad about getting lost? anyone will tell you at least how to get to center camp information, and there you will meet new friends.

mars · Post by **mars** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 3:39 pm

Yeah![/quote]

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 5:48 pm

MoisturePup wrote:How's this for an idea, somebody should just hand write the street names onto the wood polls that signs are on. DWP could do it when the put the permanent signs up. It's a simple solution.

I'd imagine one of you "burners" would still simply break off the taped-on 2x2s as souvenirs or stove fuel, leaving the metal post for some near-sighted speeding bicyclist to slam into. Again... how about carrying a theme camp map around?

Problem of Vanishing Street Signs after the Man Burns - WTD?

Missing signs...

yeaa, Gadget

the signs

What Problem?

Re: Missing signs...

Re: the signs

re: Vanishing Street Signs, WTD?

Re: re: Vanishing Street Signs, WTD?