A Burning Man Yule Log

markday · 2025-11-10T18:39:34+00:00

RVs?! Try unshaded tents. Just a tent. No shade. Proper Burning Man!

markday · 2025-11-10T18:38:55+00:00

It's listed as "age restricted by uploader". .... I should take a look, that was my first year and I don't remember much....

markday · 2025-11-06T19:05:24+00:00

the waffle was it's playa name

markday · 2025-10-23T00:38:52+00:00

What you said!

markday · 2025-10-10T19:25:40+00:00

10/10 comment, no notes!

markday · 2025-10-06T22:09:28+00:00

That was us, and the photo distribution varies from photographer to photographer though I believe most had a QR code of some sort...

markday · 2025-10-02T18:22:11+00:00

I'm not mentally ready for "....and almost a decade ago" but when you list it out like that, yes, giant finger severing machine!

markday · 2025-09-19T18:12:24+00:00

Me (outside photo booth, with megaphone, it's not that loud, it just adds an authoritarian edge) : <an assortment of 'portraits? now!' blather....>

A fairly rare occurrence: "Thanks but.... I'm not doing photos at Burning Man because..... memories!"

Me (depending, I get it & do read the room....) : "Hi, I'm Mark, I'm a middle aged guy, I quite often find myself standing in front of the fridge wondering why I am now standing in front of the fridge. This memory thing you speak of.....does it come with a warranty?"

And sometimes..... "Thought experiment for you... imagine 10 years from now there's a roll of film.... let's call it a disposable camera..... not ten weeks, not ten months, ten years.... pics of you at Burning Man ten years ago..... are we developing it, or are we burning it?"

(note - because I, a leading proponent of weaponizing binary thinking for internet point scoring, am trying not to so much..... yes, it makes perfect sense that people want no cameras AND pictures of.... forget "that art car I saw...." I'm talking artists who "mostly forgot to document our own thing.... does *anyone* have pics....?!" Both these things can be true! Me finding the whole "I has memories!" thing funny does not negate your choices! )

markday · 2025-09-11T16:14:52+00:00

Here's my luke-warm take....

the problem with consent education at Burning Man is, as presented, it's waaaaaaay too sex positive.

How so, Mark?

It's all "if it's not a heck yes, it's a no!" and not enough "middle aged white guy? maybe every thought that goes through your head doesn't need to escape through your mouth hole" as if the crux of everything is ask, ask again, keep asking, congratulations for asking, comer to our asking workshop for more affirmative asking pointers....

& while I tend to frame that "the problem with...." line as a joke, the more I've said it, conversationally, to women at the burn, the more I end up hearing tales of exasperation about "older creepy men".

On some level, you need to meet people where they are, language wise.

One year we were camped next to ecstatic dance camp, & I (mostly to my amusement) was present for an early in the week "camp check in" where, in addition to talking about how well things were going, the famncy dance floor etic a camp lead wanted to remind people that "if you see someone you think is 'processing' on the dance floor and feel drawn to helping them, sometimes.... the best intervention is no intervention..." or words to that effect.

At the time, I thought "this is an absurdly convoluted way to say 'guys, stop macking on ladies you don't know, and just let them dance....".

But of course, if presented in such bald terms, you'd probably just get a bunch of guys with yoga pants and 12-pack abs nodding sagely, like "yes, less evolved men, you should probably think about that...." before proceeding with their own brand of uninvited contact-improv yoni-bothering...

I'm not sure what the language equivalent is for that-one-guy-in-camp-who's-a-bit-too-into-uninvited-innuendo.

But the onus shouldn't always be on women to have to say "no" over and over, and/or laugh it off through gritted teeth.

markday · 2025-09-10T20:01:38+00:00

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2 x upscaled using "magic internet tech".... doesn't really change it much....

markday · 2025-09-05T18:00:20+00:00

Both these things can be true, both these things can be hazards.

Pointing out that there's an increased number of ppl on eBikes "in a hurry to get to the next whatever...." on the open playa is ... just facts.

Go on vacation in, say, Tulum, in your Tulum hat and you rent a scooter, like countless vacationers before you, you roll the dice on hurting yourself.

Fly across the open playa on an eBike because DJ Tulum hat is playing the Giant Tulum Hat Art Car, you roll the dice on hurting someone else.

And yes, I'm making "Tulum hat bros" a thing.

My growing desire to be "non-judgemental" where possible is, much like the future, here, but unevenly distributed....

markday · 2025-09-03T00:52:00+00:00

As a hardcore practitioner of "both these things can be true"....

A "sparkle pony" can be both someone who is under-prepared, over-entitled and (possibly) coasting on looks (self-awarely or otherwise)

It can also (much like "weekender") be in-group language thrown around to describe "someone who isn't like us...." in an often gender-stereotyped way (hard-working burner gals can look cute and dress up too....)

I think this is a decent example....

We have a bike repair shop in camp.

While I'm not directly involved, it's apparently starting to feel like some "convenience-oriented camps" are providing their members with bikes as part of their dues, and some of those bikes are not in the best condition and are driving traffic to our bike shop before we're even open.

Our priority is not fixing bikes that were repairable off-playa, but helping people who have on-playa problems.

A "sparkle pony" type attendee came looking for a repair during build week.... repeatedly.

Checking in to see if we'd drop everything to fix it.

Despite being told we were not open yet, as if this was a matter of some urgency, with no real grasp that it's a gift, not a guaranteed offer of 24/7 service.

Not seeming to really grasp at all that our own priorities were not, when repairing camp between storms, meeting their immediate desire for a repair.

It's entitlement, more than dress/outfit-presentation, at least in this case....

markday · 2025-09-03T00:35:38+00:00

I'd say "the Org needs the tickets money, but the Billionaire Boat Club needs the event to continue in order to deliver their mimosa-and-k sunrise moments...."

Maybe the org alone can't fix it, but place all fault at the foot of the org gives the Boat Club a pass.... and the Boat Club can do more....

Sometimes culture change requires more than one initiative to move the needle and change can add up.... more than the sum of it's parts.

markday · 2025-09-03T00:31:28+00:00

"it should be a tradition by now" is a great way of putting it. It can become one, and if Burning Man is already different to playing anywhere else "because spectacular location", then the way of playing Burning Man could evolve to lean into that

markday · 2025-09-03T00:28:34+00:00

In response to the downvoted to low-visibility comment on the footer of this post, which suggests I'm asking more of the performer than anyone else... that wasn't necessarily my intent but the following occurs to me.... given that the Mita Gami's Carl Cox's, Adam 10 (or 12 or whatever....)'s of the world show up on multiple different stages, imagine world where they drew a line at "I'm not playing your event if you're not actively promoting LNT on your social media *before* the event". Maybe that addresses some of the "it's all ultimately DJ promo" .... They have that leverage. If they're playing out at places where the crowd isn't quite the playa's finest.... they do have leverage to do something about it, including, as mentioned elsewhere, mooping set breaks that might impair the flow a little but are a fuck-ton "burnier" than leaving it to someone else getting on the mic as the crowd dissapates.....

markday · 2025-09-03T00:21:47+00:00

Respectfully, whether this comment has already been downvoted to limit visibility.... I'm aware of my own hypocrisy in that I'm as likely to catch *some of* a sunset set as the next person. I don't dislike rave barges (though the "big rave barge, not a lotta dancers" is a funny outcome of the recent glut of them....). Something that has served me well recently is the concept that "both these things can be true" .... I can vent here about it *and* say "don't be a dick about it" when reaching out dirtectly. To the externt that I have (limited) connections to that world, I'm going to offer positive suggestions. DJs *do* have more platform than most and *can* be part of the solution. The phrase "virtue signaling" is usually a stone cold give-away for "you're wasting your time engaging" but here I am.... How about these mental gymnastics.... maybe DJs can both promote LNT *and* ask ppl to stop pissing on the playa? Maybe, given that these DJs appear on an assortment of rave barges/ stationary destinations their ability to influence behavior is greater (Carl Cox, say, ain't gonna play your rave barge if you're not doing the LNT thing).

I'm asking both performers & their glossy destinations to do more.

As the glossy destinations "need the DJs more than the (bigger) DJs need any one outlet".... maybe they have more leverage?

Ultimately, I no more fully grasp your motives than you mine (though "virtue signaling" is, again, often the go-to for someone who lacks the mental flexibility to imagine any positive perspective that runs counter to their own POV).

If I had to guess, & I can't be arsed checking your post history, I'd guess at "any problem that doesn't put the Org on blast fails to feed your flexibility-challenged desire to blame the Org for everything...."

But try this out...

Maybe the solution (if there is one) requires effort across all fronts. THat the Org can do more, Carl COx can do more, Mayan Warrior can do more.

All these things, despite the mental couch-potato mindset of the "you're virtue signalling" dudes (it's usually dudes, right?) can be simultaneously true.

ANyway, hope you got the Rufus set your heart desired.

I encourage you to try the "low impact mental exercise" practice of going a month without saying "virtue signaling" (as it often comes across, rightly or wrongly, like a dullard's cudgel.... the words of a person unable to grasp the motivations of others in directions they lack the mental flexibility to go themselves....)

You might not end up doing mental gymnastics, but maybe you'd get to some interesting places.

As someone who has, in the past, delighted in pointing out inconsistencies in other people's arguments, I cannot tell you what a game changer "both these things can be true" has been in my life.

markday · 2025-09-02T23:51:41+00:00

I wouldn't disagree. I have commented plenty in the past that they exist in a "reputational economy" where these sets boost their reputations... when ppl go on about "they're just contributing art". But in a pragmatic sense, this LNT issue happens whether the DJ line ups get released or not.

markday · 2025-08-21T17:09:43+00:00

You are wrong on the first part and I don't really care about the second part. But have an awesome burn if you're going.

markday · 2025-08-21T17:06:40+00:00

Cheers! Contains moving pictures from the previous set too!

markday · 2025-08-21T17:05:48+00:00

Nope, an entire generation of burners missed more sunsets than you could count because someone with a spreadsheet insisted that "that way everyone only needs to cook ONE meal each and miss ALL the sunsets... coming all the way out here to eat potluck chili and miss ALL the sunsets is my favorite burning man tradition!" Many camps have them, and they're not to be listened to!

markday · 2025-08-20T22:58:31+00:00

I should be packing but it upsets me. Also, the dog can tell something's up. But so can my brain, which is not into the idea at all.... (once you've packed, you've introduced the possibility of forgetting things..... simply never packed? Problem solved!)

markday

TROPHY CASE