'Burning Man' Festival in Nevada Cancelled This Year, Will Move Online (sfgate.com) 45
"We don't think it's practical for us to continue waiting and hoping for the best," explains the official Burning Man site, adding "public health and the well-being of our participants, staff, and neighbors in Nevada are our highest priorities."
And thus, SFGate reports that the 2020 festival's communal creation of Black Rock City scheduled to begin August 30th "will now be built virtually after organizers decided Friday to cancel this year's Burning Man event due to the coronavirus pandemic." "After much listening, discussion, and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision..." the organizers said in a statement online. "Given the painful reality of COVID-19, one of the greatest global challenges of our lifetimes, we believe this is the right thing to do." While building the physical city in the Nevada desert is off, the event itself is still on, with this year's "Multiverse" theme taking place online.
"On a virtual playa, there's no limit to who can participate," organizers said. "Like That Thing in The Desert, we will have costs and will need to create some kind of 'ticket.' We're working out those details and will share them as soon as we can."
The official Burning Man site seems energized by the uncertainty: We're not sure how it's going to come out; it will likely be messy and awkward with mistakes. It will also likely be engaging, connective, and fun.
Some of you who already purchased a ticket for the playa may need that money now more than ever. We're committed to providing refunds to those who need them, but we're also committed to keeping Burning Man culture alive and thriving, and to ensuring our organization stays operational into next year's event season — which will require substantial staff layoffs, pay reductions, and other belt-tightening measures. Burning Man Project's survival is going to depend on ingenuity and generosity. Luckily, our community is rich in both.
Whether you have already purchased a ticket, have been waiting for the Main Sale, or are simply supportive of our vision and mission — if you have the means, it is our sincerest hope that you will consider donating all or a portion of your ticket value, and/or making a tax-deductible donation to Burning Man Project. This is going to be a tough year for us, as we know it will be for you, but we will get through it together...
We will tackle this challenge the same way humans across the globe are doing right now — by drawing strength and inspiration from one another. We are all Burning Man."
And thus, SFGate reports that the 2020 festival's communal creation of Black Rock City scheduled to begin August 30th "will now be built virtually after organizers decided Friday to cancel this year's Burning Man event due to the coronavirus pandemic." "After much listening, discussion, and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision..." the organizers said in a statement online. "Given the painful reality of COVID-19, one of the greatest global challenges of our lifetimes, we believe this is the right thing to do." While building the physical city in the Nevada desert is off, the event itself is still on, with this year's "Multiverse" theme taking place online.
"On a virtual playa, there's no limit to who can participate," organizers said. "Like That Thing in The Desert, we will have costs and will need to create some kind of 'ticket.' We're working out those details and will share them as soon as we can."
The official Burning Man site seems energized by the uncertainty: We're not sure how it's going to come out; it will likely be messy and awkward with mistakes. It will also likely be engaging, connective, and fun.
Some of you who already purchased a ticket for the playa may need that money now more than ever. We're committed to providing refunds to those who need them, but we're also committed to keeping Burning Man culture alive and thriving, and to ensuring our organization stays operational into next year's event season — which will require substantial staff layoffs, pay reductions, and other belt-tightening measures. Burning Man Project's survival is going to depend on ingenuity and generosity. Luckily, our community is rich in both.
Whether you have already purchased a ticket, have been waiting for the Main Sale, or are simply supportive of our vision and mission — if you have the means, it is our sincerest hope that you will consider donating all or a portion of your ticket value, and/or making a tax-deductible donation to Burning Man Project. This is going to be a tough year for us, as we know it will be for you, but we will get through it together...
We will tackle this challenge the same way humans across the globe are doing right now — by drawing strength and inspiration from one another. We are all Burning Man."
Burning Man did the right thing. (After UFC...) (Score:1)
It's amazing to me that Dana White canceled UFC 249 (https://journal.burningman.org/2019/07/black-rock-city/leaving-no-trace/burning-man-seeks-a-sustainable-future/) long before the "sustainable Earth" Burning Man people did.
https://journal.burningman.org... [burningman.org]
It's a good thing they canceled it. The transportation there... the housing conditions... the lack of medical care for
the infected... the distance to the nearest hospital -- if there are beds free -- and the time to get there would be a
disaster worse th
Re: Burning Man did the right thing. (After UFC... (Score:1)
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Apples/Oranges. I absolutely agree that cancelling was the right thing to do, but given what we currently know about this virus, there's a pretty drastic difference between a bunch of people in a huge open desert and a bunch of people crammed into seats in a poorly-ventillated indoor arena.
Re:Burning Man did the right thing. (After UFC...) (Score:5, Insightful)
You may be ignorant of the burning man orgies...
A perfect environment for the corona virus and many others.
Re:Burning Man did the right thing. (After UFC...) (Score:4, Funny)
You may be ignorant of the non-burning-man orgies.
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"Apples/Oranges. I absolutely agree that cancelling was the right thing to do, but given what we currently know about this virus, there's a pretty drastic difference between a bunch of people in a huge open desert and a bunch of people crammed into seats in a poorly-ventillated indoor arena."
Indeed, the latter has ambulances arriving within minutes, hospitals next door.
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Yes, the difference is that the people in the desert are also fucking.
However, they bring poorly-ventilated indoor spaces with them, so that's the only major difference from the standpoint of virus transmission.
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Perhaps it's an indicator people are starting to take this virus seriously.
Depends on your definition of 'serious'.
All I'm seeing, mainly, is people being panicky animals and not thinking -- or being ridiculous animals and running amok spreading bodily fluids everywhere. Damned few people are 'taking it seriously' and managing to be intelligent, sentient, civilized beings at the same time.
Want to help? Encourage people to stop hoarding everything. The world is not, and will not, turn into a Mad Max movie.
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The world is not, and will not, turn into a Mad Max movie.
So you're saying that in the future past 1979 we won't be trying to outrun cops in our "V8 Interceptor" dubbed into "American English" or did you mean that post 1981 we won't have a minority-hating megalomaniac DIKWIA "actor" trying to rule a place he's never been in before while hoarding fossil fuels and trying to control everyone and everything. Cause I pretty much think if you meant Mad Max 2... we're there now.
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UFC needs an union! (Score:2)
UFC needs an union!
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A quick search reveals that UFC 249 was planned for April 18. Burning Man is Labor Day which is in late August. So duh! Of course they waited longer to cancel because they had months more time to think about it and see how things were developing.
Good riddance (Score:3)
The nature will get a break from the hordes of bored yuppies.
Isn't the point licentious craziness? (Score:2)
Where on line is the naked sixty year old with a dildo hanging our of his ass supposed to run through your dining experience?
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Uh... Second Life?
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Zoom?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0... [nytimes.com]
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"I once witnessed a "businessman" (wearing a suit, carrying a briefcase) in SF out of nowhere, in the middle of the day, pull down his trousers, bend over with his ass pointing towards the street, squirt out a jet of liquid faeces, pull up his trousers and walk off like nothing happened."
I guess where you come from, people just shit in their pants, as god intended.
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The nature will get a break from the hordes of bored yuppies.
It's a playa in the Black Rock Desert. It doesn't have any 'nature.'
Re:Good riddance (Score:5, Interesting)
There's loads of wildlife out there and I ain't talking about fairy shrimp. Even found a fox in a traffic cone one time hiding from the event happenings. Most adorable deadly thing I ever did lay eyes on.
If you're some bored yuppie type prancing about in pink fur leggings a shirt and no pants for a few days of drugged-out debauchery you will never catch on there's living things in the desert though.
Besides the wildlife "nature" there's also the matter of trash build-up over the years for hundreds of miles in all directions affecting recreational users of these public lands. Rec users are more likely to leave gross amounts of trash without making any effort, sure. However the sheer volume and institution of the yearly event with event-goers who are "pack it in pack it out" conscious yet dump their greywater and blackwater or abandon odds and ends of metal stakes and anchors in the ground has hammer fucked anyone else's legitimate use of these lands. You will get a flat tire trying to drive out there during non-event times exactly because of the millions of yuppies leaving their stakes in the ground. Clean-up crew cannot (and does not) find everything; BLM inspections only require the post-event to pass an inspection of random samples filling no more than a 1 gallon zip-lock bag with the odd pubic hair or raven feathers and only in the direct area of the event site. The road to hell being paved with good intentions... well you can see these literal roads to hell being paved year over year from aerial and satellite imagery. The playa is heavily compromised by these event operations and needs a break. Already the exact event site is moved between a few possible sites because of this factor... this is not conjecture just the way it is.
It is criminally insidious that a for-profit non-profit has taken over public lands in much the same campaign as would a commercial oil fracking operation. "We're law-abiding" "We're doing it for you!" "It's good clean fun" "Look away there's nothing to see here!" ... commercialized tourism of public lands with a monopoly on this desert. What ought to happen is another enterprise swoop in and insist to the BLM that Burning Man LLC is no longer the only organization that may bid on exclusive rights to the land, it should be some kind of random lottery for the contract itself. Bring in Sierra Watch and have them bid occasionally so we don't know for sure if the event will happen or not. Unfortunately the BLM hates Burning Man event but loves their sweet sweet annual teat of $5 million dollars permit fee.
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Nature? Have you seen Black Rock Desert? There's pretty much no ecosystem to speak of there to mess up, that's why they selected the place.
Good (Score:2)
That thing was gathering for conformists and elitists anyway. Realized that when they prosecuted people and called the cops on them.
Huh? (Score:2)
Not that they should hold it as per normal anyway, not now.
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"Seems to me that having 'Burning Man' online is like watching fireworks on TV; what's the point?"
If you saw one firework, you saw them all. TV or live.
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The blue ones are better than the red ones.
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Kudos to our capitalist hating overlords! (Score:2)
They will certainly find a way to continue to capitalize on burning man...
it's not a festival (Score:2)
it's not a festival
In other related news... (Score:2)
Finally a Burning Man I can attend... (Score:3)
There is nothing about this cultural anomaly called Burning Man that makes it worth traipsing into the desert for a few days.
This year I can attend virtually, get my hipster nerdy side on and attend a bunch of zoom meetings from my air conditioned couch, with plenty of water on tap, no dust or sunburn. The only question I have is how are they going to burn the effigy virtually? I suppose it will be much more ecologically sound this year, if nothing else.
Have fun kids... I think I'll head to work myself.
Great News! (Score:1)