Burning Man, 25 years ago, and into the multiverse for 2020
April 16, 2020 9:50 AM Subscribe
In 1995 some friends invited me to Burning Man. I thought it was an overnight rave, so I grabbed a backpack with a change of clothing and my Super8 camera. It wasn't until we entered Nevada that I realized I was going to a week-long festival in the desert. With no food or shelter, and minimal supplies, I lived off the kindness of friends and strangers. [...] The film [...] is unedited—straight from the camera. I only brought two 3.5 minute rolls of film with me (one color and the other black and white), so I preserved film by capturing scenes with short recording—like moving photos. I cut out some under-exposed night footage, but the rest is how I shot it. The music is from a favorite 1995 chillout album by Subsurfing called Frozen Ants.
More from Ammon Haggerty:
More from Ammon Haggerty:
We were a part of the Wicked Sound System dance community, bringing the first DJ sound system to the event. At that time, the music selection at Burning Man was very diverse with live bands (many acoustic) and performance artists dominating the entertainment. Following the first all-night Wicked party, we were asked to move our camp far away so people could sleep—a notion that seem ridiculous today. In 1995, less than 4000 people attended Burning Man, and the event was situated in the very center of center of Black Rock Desert, unlike today where it sits in the corner of the playa (desert). The general lack of rules and boundaries made it an interesting experiment in anarchy and unbounded freedom.Burning Man won't be a physical event in 2020, but instead will be a virutal experience.
My first impression was ohhhh! That's gotta hurt! But, then, how great was that ?!?!!!! The American elevated road trip.
posted by Oyéah at 10:10 AM on April 16, 2020
posted by Oyéah at 10:10 AM on April 16, 2020
With no food or shelter, and minimal supplies, I lived off the kindness of friends and strangers.
“And off to your left, you’ll see an excellent specimen of the species Ponius Sparkleus in their natural habitat.”
posted by panama joe at 10:34 AM on April 16, 2020 [8 favorites]
“And off to your left, you’ll see an excellent specimen of the species Ponius Sparkleus in their natural habitat.”
posted by panama joe at 10:34 AM on April 16, 2020 [8 favorites]
A friend of a friend, when offered a ride to Burning Man in the late 90's, packed:
- a watermelon
The friend who drove her was tight-lipped about how that all played out, but oh boy.
posted by runehog at 10:35 AM on April 16, 2020 [21 favorites]
- a watermelon
The friend who drove her was tight-lipped about how that all played out, but oh boy.
posted by runehog at 10:35 AM on April 16, 2020 [21 favorites]
Love the road trip lead-up, and the sound, and the whole thing, thanks for putting it up filthy light thief.
posted by unearthed at 10:52 AM on April 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by unearthed at 10:52 AM on April 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
This really brings back memories - I went sometime around 95/96/97 and was also unprepared. I remember one of the people in our RV brought along a 20 pound bag of pancake mix that unfortunately didn't get used because there wasn't enough water!
posted by Otherwise at 11:41 AM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Otherwise at 11:41 AM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
California Sunday Mag recently published photos of the first year from Richard Misrach, who had been wandering the West for a couple years at that point.
posted by 99_ at 11:43 AM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by 99_ at 11:43 AM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
My first Burning Man was the year after this, when the People in Charge decided that all electronic music needed to be two miles away from the main camp because Ravers Suck. I was helping with two sound systems, so didn't go to the main camp for the first couple of days I was there. Finally a bunch of us took acid and hopped in a van and drove over one broiling afternoon. I just remember thinking, "This... is it?" A bunch of muddy people and a hamburger shack and some crappy art. Oh, and shitty dudes videotaping any and all naked people. Compared to the Techno Gulag where everyone had gone all out making exotic dance floors and setting up chill spaces and hauling out big speakers and lighting rigs and enormous generators, main camp was not impressive. I mean, it probably was, but the organizers had gone out of their way to make us feel like outsiders, even though every night drunken BRC Townies would drive at 90 miles an hour across the desert into the camp where we were all living and playing music; and then blast off again in the morning completely cracked out, having resorted to shitting all over the playa after filling the few porta potties we had been allotted. The only other thing I really recall about Main Camp was the night of the Burn. Me and my boyfriend at the time taught a crusty Mad-Max type how to blow fire; in thanks he invited us to his camp to shoot propane tanks. I also found two crisp but dusty twenty dollar bills folded together, illuminated on the playa ground by people shooting flame throwers.
Rave friends who had gone through the Black Rock Rangers course, taking very seriously the admonishments to Leave No Trace had spent the first several days begging for more porta-poties after cleaning up piles of crap every morning, and finally staged a very mild Dirty Protest. They took the garbage bags of dried human dung they had scraped up and left them at the door of the main office of the Black Rock Rangers. Those stellar grownups then acted very responsibly, requisitioning a helicopter from some local authority on site, in order to drop the bags of shit on Rave Camp from above. No one should have been surprised that the utter disregard for anyone's safety and the total lack of respect toward those living in the path of very high people in cars would be a problem. Just after the sun rose on the morning after the Burn, some jackass high on drugs drove straight through Rave Camp at high speed and ran over two people sleeping in a tent. The guy I was with at the time and I both witnessed the collision; he flew out to Nevada as a witness for the trial.
So yeah, watching this brings back some very interesting memories of Burning Man before cars and weapons were outlawed.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:02 PM on April 16, 2020 [21 favorites]
Rave friends who had gone through the Black Rock Rangers course, taking very seriously the admonishments to Leave No Trace had spent the first several days begging for more porta-poties after cleaning up piles of crap every morning, and finally staged a very mild Dirty Protest. They took the garbage bags of dried human dung they had scraped up and left them at the door of the main office of the Black Rock Rangers. Those stellar grownups then acted very responsibly, requisitioning a helicopter from some local authority on site, in order to drop the bags of shit on Rave Camp from above. No one should have been surprised that the utter disregard for anyone's safety and the total lack of respect toward those living in the path of very high people in cars would be a problem. Just after the sun rose on the morning after the Burn, some jackass high on drugs drove straight through Rave Camp at high speed and ran over two people sleeping in a tent. The guy I was with at the time and I both witnessed the collision; he flew out to Nevada as a witness for the trial.
So yeah, watching this brings back some very interesting memories of Burning Man before cars and weapons were outlawed.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:02 PM on April 16, 2020 [21 favorites]
I went from like 1999 to 2013 (? skipped a few years towards the end... couldn't tell you which.) I've probably heard half a dozen first-hand accounts from friends that went earlier (maybe as early as 95?). A common theme I've noticed is that no one now considers themselves to have been prepared then (for their first time, in retrospect). The details vary, from, "No, really, we didn't bring any water! Or sunscreen!" (which totally echoes the pre-Labor Day stress dreams that I enjoyed for most of a decade), to "I really wish I'd brought XYZ." (some art piece, some costume, some item of food (probably more bacon): non-critical items).
I think, in large part, if you were going to burning man pre-2000, you really had no chance of arriving totally prepared. You couldn't google up lists of necessities or tips and tricks. Your information about it was probably all coming from your friend that talked you into going. And maybe your friend mentioned the desert and the heat and the dryness, but didn't quite emphasize enough (or at all) that you'd definitely need to bring your own everything.
Anyway, this is my current theory to explain the similarity (that I think I see) in so many early burning man stories.
That video is awesome. It makes me miss the Black Rock Desert, mostly the desert itself.... days spent watching the clouds and the light and the mountains. But also getting completely and happily day-drunk with the wonderful random people camping next to me. :D
posted by ButteryMales at 12:42 PM on April 16, 2020 [7 favorites]
I think, in large part, if you were going to burning man pre-2000, you really had no chance of arriving totally prepared. You couldn't google up lists of necessities or tips and tricks. Your information about it was probably all coming from your friend that talked you into going. And maybe your friend mentioned the desert and the heat and the dryness, but didn't quite emphasize enough (or at all) that you'd definitely need to bring your own everything.
Anyway, this is my current theory to explain the similarity (that I think I see) in so many early burning man stories.
That video is awesome. It makes me miss the Black Rock Desert, mostly the desert itself.... days spent watching the clouds and the light and the mountains. But also getting completely and happily day-drunk with the wonderful random people camping next to me. :D
posted by ButteryMales at 12:42 PM on April 16, 2020 [7 favorites]
oneirodynia, thanks for that story, awful though it is.
ButteryMales, thanks for a view of the years since. Interesting that you mention the difference between how pre-2000 and more recently. I found this video while writing a post on Burning Man, comparing a write-up on the gathering/ festival/ event as experienced circa 1995 to the experience now. The article didn't describe how to survive in the desert for a week, or provide a URL to order tickets. Instead, it was a brief overview of a positive experience with people from around the world, and a phone number to call.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:06 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
ButteryMales, thanks for a view of the years since. Interesting that you mention the difference between how pre-2000 and more recently. I found this video while writing a post on Burning Man, comparing a write-up on the gathering/ festival/ event as experienced circa 1995 to the experience now. The article didn't describe how to survive in the desert for a week, or provide a URL to order tickets. Instead, it was a brief overview of a positive experience with people from around the world, and a phone number to call.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:06 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
You couldn't google up lists of necessities or tips and tricks.
I seem to recall people going camping for days, even weeks at a time, all the way back to the early 1960s, which is when time begins for me.
posted by sneebler at 1:13 PM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
I seem to recall people going camping for days, even weeks at a time, all the way back to the early 1960s, which is when time begins for me.
posted by sneebler at 1:13 PM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
"Last year was better" never was more apt.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:47 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:47 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
The playa is basically petrified fish poop. If you find any living plant, animal or insect on the playa, it was brought there by someone.
When you see people caked in playa mud, their skin is getting slowly burned by the alkaline Ph of the playa dust, and there's probably not enough water to rinse it off.
I had a pair of boots that I wore to Burning Man one year that had playa dust on them for several years later. The dust...the dust...
posted by Chuffy at 1:47 PM on April 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
When you see people caked in playa mud, their skin is getting slowly burned by the alkaline Ph of the playa dust, and there's probably not enough water to rinse it off.
I had a pair of boots that I wore to Burning Man one year that had playa dust on them for several years later. The dust...the dust...
posted by Chuffy at 1:47 PM on April 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
I used to fly rockets on the playa, from way before BM started going there, one year ('96 I think, maybe '95) we went for Labor weekend the same time as BM who were way north of the current location - we go there for basically the same reason BM does (to avoid the CA fire marshal)
BM people would drive down range to watch the rockets, we'd stop launching and wait for them to leave (we stopped going at Labor weekend after that, way too dangerous). Having half naked hippies strolling through the safe part of rocket launch area was an interesting culture clash - the rocket people are essentially half silicon valley geeks and half red-neck gun fans ....
But the burners invited us over for the Burn (no fence, no perimeter in those days) and a lot of us went it was a lot of fun, but the weather suddenly changed (it was like they'd called down the heavens by burning the Man) the wind came in, the rain, an electrical storm (I love the playa's wild weather) tents blew away, lots of people got in their cars, decided to leave and drove ..... into a dust storm (the next day they were pulling out stuck cars all over). As people who'd been going to the playa for years we got into our cars (which were pointing roughly the right way) and drove south to our camp, thinking we were leaving and knew where we were going - we had to shoo them away - still it was all dead reckoning, once the rain cleared the dust we could mostly navigate by the mountains, still I got a little lost, ended up a couple of km too far south at the land-sailor's camp (another group since chased away at Labor weekend by BM), got ask to ask where I was, there was a moth stuck on the radio antenna on the car, reached up to brush it off and it jumped on to my finger .... it was a corona discharge, the lightening storm was still in process ..... dilemma time should I lie flat in the porridge the rain had made of the playa, or get in the truck with the rocket fuel .... I got in the faraday cage. Drove back north to the rocket camp, next day I knocked maybe 40lb of dried mud out of my wheel wells, one guy who'd been driving a street car had made it back but his street car's wheel wells had filled, hardened and worn his tires down to the belts.
As I said we sadly stopped going around BM, as it's got bigger the Org has tried to push other groups off of the playa for longer and longer - luckily the BLM pushes back so we still launch 3-4 times a year, just not that one long weekend. Meanwhile I became a burner, have been to 6-7 burns (depends on whether you count the one described above), took the kids 3 times, worked on a couple of art projects.
The rocketry groups and burners are definitely different cultures but they do share a love for the playa - it's a much cleaner place since we all started coming (but sadly not as flat, no more speeding down it at 140kph, thanks to BM's serpents)
posted by mbo at 2:36 PM on April 16, 2020 [12 favorites]
BM people would drive down range to watch the rockets, we'd stop launching and wait for them to leave (we stopped going at Labor weekend after that, way too dangerous). Having half naked hippies strolling through the safe part of rocket launch area was an interesting culture clash - the rocket people are essentially half silicon valley geeks and half red-neck gun fans ....
But the burners invited us over for the Burn (no fence, no perimeter in those days) and a lot of us went it was a lot of fun, but the weather suddenly changed (it was like they'd called down the heavens by burning the Man) the wind came in, the rain, an electrical storm (I love the playa's wild weather) tents blew away, lots of people got in their cars, decided to leave and drove ..... into a dust storm (the next day they were pulling out stuck cars all over). As people who'd been going to the playa for years we got into our cars (which were pointing roughly the right way) and drove south to our camp, thinking we were leaving and knew where we were going - we had to shoo them away - still it was all dead reckoning, once the rain cleared the dust we could mostly navigate by the mountains, still I got a little lost, ended up a couple of km too far south at the land-sailor's camp (another group since chased away at Labor weekend by BM), got ask to ask where I was, there was a moth stuck on the radio antenna on the car, reached up to brush it off and it jumped on to my finger .... it was a corona discharge, the lightening storm was still in process ..... dilemma time should I lie flat in the porridge the rain had made of the playa, or get in the truck with the rocket fuel .... I got in the faraday cage. Drove back north to the rocket camp, next day I knocked maybe 40lb of dried mud out of my wheel wells, one guy who'd been driving a street car had made it back but his street car's wheel wells had filled, hardened and worn his tires down to the belts.
As I said we sadly stopped going around BM, as it's got bigger the Org has tried to push other groups off of the playa for longer and longer - luckily the BLM pushes back so we still launch 3-4 times a year, just not that one long weekend. Meanwhile I became a burner, have been to 6-7 burns (depends on whether you count the one described above), took the kids 3 times, worked on a couple of art projects.
The rocketry groups and burners are definitely different cultures but they do share a love for the playa - it's a much cleaner place since we all started coming (but sadly not as flat, no more speeding down it at 140kph, thanks to BM's serpents)
posted by mbo at 2:36 PM on April 16, 2020 [12 favorites]
In about 2007 or so, when Second Life was a thing, Danger Ranger was trying to set up a year-round virtual playa, for people to create stuff, connect, etc. I briefly talked with him about using the virtual world platform I was involved with (Multiverse, I think there's a non-profit version still around somewhere, the company folded a few years after the time I'm speaking of), but we couldn't scrape up an engineer. It's an interesting notion, and one I sort of wonder at: aside from one-off camp or group lists or whatever, and the... rather wild e-playa, there's no real central online space for the community that the event has created. That always seemed to not make sense to me, and make total sense, both at the same time.
posted by emmet at 4:34 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by emmet at 4:34 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
I remember the 2007 Second Life Burning Man Sim and it was... Odd, really, even for SL, because for some reason it just didn't translate well. Second Life was already a place of some pretty massive and interesting art installations.
And this was back when I was still interested in Burning Man from afar but knew I would never go because of a lot of complicated feelings about the actual cost, carbon impact and culture of the burn.
It was about this time or earlier I also lost interest because of how many hard core burners insisted I absolutely must go even though I've been to events and parties that would blow their minds and it just started to get really irritating and oppressive.
All that being said it's totally strange and weird that it's not happening this year.
The most bonkers one liner Burning Man story is having met or known multiple people who bring home playa dust in a seasoning shaker bottle to add authentic playa flavor to their food at home.
posted by loquacious at 11:12 AM on April 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
And this was back when I was still interested in Burning Man from afar but knew I would never go because of a lot of complicated feelings about the actual cost, carbon impact and culture of the burn.
It was about this time or earlier I also lost interest because of how many hard core burners insisted I absolutely must go even though I've been to events and parties that would blow their minds and it just started to get really irritating and oppressive.
All that being said it's totally strange and weird that it's not happening this year.
The most bonkers one liner Burning Man story is having met or known multiple people who bring home playa dust in a seasoning shaker bottle to add authentic playa flavor to their food at home.
posted by loquacious at 11:12 AM on April 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
never heard it as SEASONING
For that authentic playa hair look, though...
posted by flaterik at 11:48 AM on April 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
For that authentic playa hair look, though...
posted by flaterik at 11:48 AM on April 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yeah, the seasoning one really hit the cult warning button for me. I didn't believe it until I saw someone actually use it.
The other one was people refusing to clean their cars and leaving playa dust all over the outside and inside of their car year round so it looked liked they regularly drove around Tatooine.
But I knew lots of desert rats and off roaders that do that.
posted by loquacious at 12:40 PM on April 17, 2020
The other one was people refusing to clean their cars and leaving playa dust all over the outside and inside of their car year round so it looked liked they regularly drove around Tatooine.
But I knew lots of desert rats and off roaders that do that.
posted by loquacious at 12:40 PM on April 17, 2020
People who are smart and whom I love have told me I would love Burning Man, but it mostly honestly just seemed like a place to get raped in a more arty way. After putting in a zillion hours building something cool. Nah.
posted by lauranesson at 10:16 PM on April 17, 2020
posted by lauranesson at 10:16 PM on April 17, 2020
One more playa story from friends who work Perimeter, take it with the appropriate grain of salt:
So Perimeter's job is to catch people sneaking in, at night they drive around in dune buggies with night vision goggles .... they also supposedly have a small boat radar so they can spot the metal stuff people carry in with them ... one year they saw a reading coming in straight across the playa ... drove up to them and found a bunch of Navy Seals trying to sneak in who were irked at having underestimated the technical sophistication of their opposition and at having been caught by a bunch of hippies
posted by mbo at 10:14 PM on April 18, 2020 [3 favorites]
So Perimeter's job is to catch people sneaking in, at night they drive around in dune buggies with night vision goggles .... they also supposedly have a small boat radar so they can spot the metal stuff people carry in with them ... one year they saw a reading coming in straight across the playa ... drove up to them and found a bunch of Navy Seals trying to sneak in who were irked at having underestimated the technical sophistication of their opposition and at having been caught by a bunch of hippies
posted by mbo at 10:14 PM on April 18, 2020 [3 favorites]
I have worked gate/Perimeter, can attest to the existence of radar and catching people with it
We got some people that were just crawling thinking they'd evade the night vision.
radar picked them up. they were in full military gear, said they were vets
we were told to put them in the back of our truck and not go less than fifty so they wouldn't jump out, and drop them at the highway
we had seen the people dropping them off; it's not a good way to sneak in
posted by flaterik at 2:22 PM on April 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
We got some people that were just crawling thinking they'd evade the night vision.
radar picked them up. they were in full military gear, said they were vets
we were told to put them in the back of our truck and not go less than fifty so they wouldn't jump out, and drop them at the highway
we had seen the people dropping them off; it's not a good way to sneak in
posted by flaterik at 2:22 PM on April 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
Man, now I want to go to Burning Man just to work on the Perimeter crew. I knew about the night vision goggles but hadn't heard about the boat radar, which is a neat trick, but... may not be legally skookum on land.
I'm honestly kind of surprised there aren't infrared, RF or audio/seismic proximity sensors out there on the trash fence since solid state RF proximity sensing components have been affordable and available for a while now and are used in everything from automatic lighting controls to security systems.
Also I'm having very entertaining thoughts about a bunch of vets, special ops or Seals not just getting busted but also getting "painted" or otherwise designated and pointed out by a bunch of visible and infrared lasers from various points near and far.
I've heard about people successfully sneaking in through the trash and perimeter fence but every success story involved someone solo with minimal gear or no gear just hiking all the way in without being dropped off or supported by a vehicle or being with a group.
I've also heard wildly apocryphal tales about someone doing some kind of a HALO jump to sneak in at night. BRC has an active airport and skydiving community when Burning Man is happening, so it's conceivable to me that this could happen, perhaps with an undeclared/unlogged passenger on a tourist/sightseeing general aviation over-flight just jumping out of a plane that didn't originate or land at the BRC airport or something. (The BRC airport is an official entry point as I understand it with a tower and "customs" office and everything.)
If someone jumped at night without any kind of lights or something and aimed for the open playa away from the lights and camps - especially on a cloudy night - it would be really, really difficult to even know they were there unless you happened to be looking up with infrared or night vision goggles. And there's plenty of room to land out there in the dark and stuff a chute into a bag before anyone notices what's going on.
And if there's something I've learned from throwing outdoor events it's that people will definitely try to sneak in and be weird about it just because they like the challenge, even if it's a free or donation based event.
Many years ago some friends and I threw a sort of Halloween party and rave in a private campground and... things kind of got out of control attendance-wise. Several other raves were busted that night and so lots of those people headed to our little party. Which caused a bit of a traffic jam. Which brought out the LEOs who blocked the road to the campground, and we couldn't really do anything about that from inside where the campground owners were - thankfully - refusing to admit the LEOs and standing up for their private property rights.
This caused many hundreds of people to park miles away and hike in up the dry riverbed next to the campground.
All night long my friends and I were meeting people who snuck in and they didn't know that it was our party and that they were bragging to us about sneaking in and when we'd reveal that we were throwing the party they'd backpedal and apologize, but we were just like "Oh, it's cool! Thank you for going all that way to be here. We were hoping people would figure out you could still get in that way."
As I recall most of these people even voluntarily paid the admission/donation asking price since it was only like $5 or something. Like, there were people wandering around asking where or whom they could pay the donation to. I remember having a huge wad of small bills in my pockets and having to go find the lockbox to get my pockets back.
posted by loquacious at 12:56 PM on April 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm honestly kind of surprised there aren't infrared, RF or audio/seismic proximity sensors out there on the trash fence since solid state RF proximity sensing components have been affordable and available for a while now and are used in everything from automatic lighting controls to security systems.
Also I'm having very entertaining thoughts about a bunch of vets, special ops or Seals not just getting busted but also getting "painted" or otherwise designated and pointed out by a bunch of visible and infrared lasers from various points near and far.
I've heard about people successfully sneaking in through the trash and perimeter fence but every success story involved someone solo with minimal gear or no gear just hiking all the way in without being dropped off or supported by a vehicle or being with a group.
I've also heard wildly apocryphal tales about someone doing some kind of a HALO jump to sneak in at night. BRC has an active airport and skydiving community when Burning Man is happening, so it's conceivable to me that this could happen, perhaps with an undeclared/unlogged passenger on a tourist/sightseeing general aviation over-flight just jumping out of a plane that didn't originate or land at the BRC airport or something. (The BRC airport is an official entry point as I understand it with a tower and "customs" office and everything.)
If someone jumped at night without any kind of lights or something and aimed for the open playa away from the lights and camps - especially on a cloudy night - it would be really, really difficult to even know they were there unless you happened to be looking up with infrared or night vision goggles. And there's plenty of room to land out there in the dark and stuff a chute into a bag before anyone notices what's going on.
And if there's something I've learned from throwing outdoor events it's that people will definitely try to sneak in and be weird about it just because they like the challenge, even if it's a free or donation based event.
Many years ago some friends and I threw a sort of Halloween party and rave in a private campground and... things kind of got out of control attendance-wise. Several other raves were busted that night and so lots of those people headed to our little party. Which caused a bit of a traffic jam. Which brought out the LEOs who blocked the road to the campground, and we couldn't really do anything about that from inside where the campground owners were - thankfully - refusing to admit the LEOs and standing up for their private property rights.
This caused many hundreds of people to park miles away and hike in up the dry riverbed next to the campground.
All night long my friends and I were meeting people who snuck in and they didn't know that it was our party and that they were bragging to us about sneaking in and when we'd reveal that we were throwing the party they'd backpedal and apologize, but we were just like "Oh, it's cool! Thank you for going all that way to be here. We were hoping people would figure out you could still get in that way."
As I recall most of these people even voluntarily paid the admission/donation asking price since it was only like $5 or something. Like, there were people wandering around asking where or whom they could pay the donation to. I remember having a huge wad of small bills in my pockets and having to go find the lockbox to get my pockets back.
posted by loquacious at 12:56 PM on April 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
The radar is very well known and has its own shift schedule (it's called "lighthouse"), so I doubt it's illegal. No idea what KIND of radar it is, I've just been on the receiving end of the radio hearing about bogeys being spotted by it. I thought about doing a shift there but heard it was quite boring most of the time.
posted by flaterik at 1:22 AM on April 21, 2020
posted by flaterik at 1:22 AM on April 21, 2020
The radar is very well known and has its own shift schedule (it's called "lighthouse"), so I doubt it's illegal. No idea what KIND of radar it is, I've just been on the receiving end of the radio hearing about bogeys being spotted by it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=using+marine+radar+on+land
Using marine or aircraft radar on land is definitely illegal in the US and subject to heavy FCC fines. It messes with weather radar, research radar and terrestrial ATC radar. There's a reason why amateur storm chasers aren't allowed to mount marine or aircraft radar units on vehicles to act as DIY doppler weather radar devices.
Either BMorg is, uh, flying under the radar by configuration and keeping the radiation trapped inside the bowl of the Black Rock Playa and someone is turning a blind eye to it under a very liberal "don't ask don't tell" kind of policy or they have some very special and unique permits and permissions going on.
Which is conceivable considering they have a rather busy temporary airstrip with full FAA designations, which would likely come with a whole package of permits that might permit a temporary terrestrial radar station.
Knowing the BMorg a little, it's also entirely conceivable they're just doing it anyway and have a contingency plan to just pay the fines or lawyer up if/when they got called on it.
And there's option C in that they might not be using marine or aircraft radar at all and have something else or some other solution that gets around FCC regs by using a different RF band or system, but stuff like cheap/small RF proximity sensors weren't really a thing until fairly recently, and re-inventing a radar system that doesn't work on the normal bands of radar sounds unlikely because radar uses those frequencies for specific reasons - even with as much tech skills can be found in the BM communities.
Also the nerdy side of me wants to know more about the whole thing. It's probably not super healthy to be continuously sweeping a heavily populated area with any commercially available radar unit powerful enough to detect a vehicle or metal objects and personal effects on someone on foot at that distance.
I'm also very curious about what this does to any WiFi signals or related Ghz band technology out there, because being in the beam path of a radar unit would probably blow WiFi signals out of the water and drown it right out with sheer RF energy, and I know camps and the BMorg themselves have been setting up WIFI networks and coms links to the outside world since as early as the early 2000s or so.
Fascinating.
posted by loquacious at 10:37 AM on April 24, 2020
https://www.google.com/search?q=using+marine+radar+on+land
Using marine or aircraft radar on land is definitely illegal in the US and subject to heavy FCC fines. It messes with weather radar, research radar and terrestrial ATC radar. There's a reason why amateur storm chasers aren't allowed to mount marine or aircraft radar units on vehicles to act as DIY doppler weather radar devices.
Either BMorg is, uh, flying under the radar by configuration and keeping the radiation trapped inside the bowl of the Black Rock Playa and someone is turning a blind eye to it under a very liberal "don't ask don't tell" kind of policy or they have some very special and unique permits and permissions going on.
Which is conceivable considering they have a rather busy temporary airstrip with full FAA designations, which would likely come with a whole package of permits that might permit a temporary terrestrial radar station.
Knowing the BMorg a little, it's also entirely conceivable they're just doing it anyway and have a contingency plan to just pay the fines or lawyer up if/when they got called on it.
And there's option C in that they might not be using marine or aircraft radar at all and have something else or some other solution that gets around FCC regs by using a different RF band or system, but stuff like cheap/small RF proximity sensors weren't really a thing until fairly recently, and re-inventing a radar system that doesn't work on the normal bands of radar sounds unlikely because radar uses those frequencies for specific reasons - even with as much tech skills can be found in the BM communities.
Also the nerdy side of me wants to know more about the whole thing. It's probably not super healthy to be continuously sweeping a heavily populated area with any commercially available radar unit powerful enough to detect a vehicle or metal objects and personal effects on someone on foot at that distance.
I'm also very curious about what this does to any WiFi signals or related Ghz band technology out there, because being in the beam path of a radar unit would probably blow WiFi signals out of the water and drown it right out with sheer RF energy, and I know camps and the BMorg themselves have been setting up WIFI networks and coms links to the outside world since as early as the early 2000s or so.
Fascinating.
posted by loquacious at 10:37 AM on April 24, 2020
The radar is only effective a bit outside the trash fence, so I don't think anything in the city limits is swept at all
posted by flaterik at 3:12 PM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by flaterik at 3:12 PM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
And I don't know where it's set up, but it's definitely not at ground level
I've also heard that if you just go faster than 60 it won't pick you up, but I don't remember the reason
Of course if you're going 60+ we're gonna see you with bare eyes, binoculars, or night vision.
Unless [redacted], of course.
posted by flaterik at 3:15 PM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
I've also heard that if you just go faster than 60 it won't pick you up, but I don't remember the reason
Of course if you're going 60+ we're gonna see you with bare eyes, binoculars, or night vision.
Unless [redacted], of course.
posted by flaterik at 3:15 PM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
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