Burning Man

burning man : leisure activity :: dotcom : sound business model

(ps no it doesn't)

since everything dries immediately in the desert (it's like 110 degrees out during the day) nothing smells at all

so many different crowds of ppl go that you can avoid whatever people you dont like (hippies, ravers, whatever) -- not to mention there's always about 1000 things going on simultaneously so you can go to what you like and not go to what you don't like

i'm pretty anti-hippie myself

i'm going in two weeks -- i am psyched (douglas will be there again also!)

i'm not sure about the CA contingent, so i can't comment on that

Actually, that comment is from a friend of mine who goes to Burning Man every year (translation: he' s serious)

a) like with anything else some of it is crap and some of it is really cool
b) everything gets set on fire so if you didn't like some of the art that's ok, it'll all be up in flames at the end

DUN NUH-NUH-NUH NUH-NUH-NUH NUH NUH NUH-NUH!

Granted, I think part of me dies any time someone says they "feel like an artist." That's me. But the rest is actually supposed to make it sound good?

Is it called "Bill Graham Presents©: Mountain Dew eXtreme™'s Burning Man 2003" yet?

no. not connected to that case. i regret mentioning it.

Don’t regret it!

There is a notable police presence (real police, not the Black Rock Rangers, who are there to keep minor problems from turning into major ones), though not big enough to put a damper on the event (imo).

The dude who managed to set fire to the man early, in 2007, was later found with incendiary materials in Grace Cathedral in SF.
https://www.sfweekly.com/archives/burning-man-arsonist-paul-addis-backstory-murder-threats-arrests/article_6710a4f0-adc4-505b-80b2-86a5799f0276.html

fucking pyros, man, he probably moved on to the forests after that.

Xp that’s the dude who killed himself. When he was in jail, courtesy of Larry et al. he was deprived of his psych meds.

attempting to burn the man early is somehow a cardinal sin at a festival of anarchy yet the gavle goat…

It's a crime there, though.

“festival of anarchy” sure Jan

haha

hehe

you know what never gets the attention it deserves? the $2.7M Federal PPP Loan received by Burning Man, the $45M+ yearly revenue, & $30M in assets. also, $2.4M in salaries for executives (highest is $790K a year) which puts each of them within the top 5% of income in the country.

— Tommie Sunshine ✊ (@tommiesunshine) August 26, 2025

Never thought I would be reading a Tommie Sunshine tweet about ethics in party throwing

im willing to be in charge of burning man for only $780k a year

nobody gets a job by undercutting an incumbent. you’d do a slightly better job for $850k though

https://sfstandard.com/2025/08/30/burning-man-black-rock-city-ai-san-francisco/

Daksh Gupta, the 23-year-old cofounder of AI code review Greptile, said Burning Man hasn’t really been part of the zeitgeist since he moved to San Francisco in 2023.
Gupta, who has become a poster child of AI boom’s grindcore culture, summarized the current mood among young tech workers in San Francisco as incompatible with the Burner sensibility: “The current vibe is no drinking, no drugs, 9-9-6 [work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week], lift heavy, run far, marry early, track sleep, eat steak and eggs.”
Many VCs, too, have forgone pausing their investing for the week. Daivik Goel, who is participating in the current Y Combinator batch, said he has back-to-back investor calls this week in the lead-up to Demo Day on Sept. 9.

Many VCs, too, have forgone pausing their investing for the week. Daivik Goel, who is participating in the current Y Combinator batch, said he has back-to-back investor calls this week in the lead-up to Demo Day on Sept. 9.

There are at least 5 elements to this sentence that leave me completely baffled

grindcore culture? that does not mean what the writer things it means unless these AI tech yups are listening to Pig Destroyer while begging for VC money

First homocide of BM25, a partygoer was found this morning murdered in a pool of his blood:

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/burningman/article/man-found-dead-homicide-burning-man-21024542.php

Another VC in her late 20s said that apart from a handful of crypto investors, no one in her circles is on the Playa this year.

Because those folks love nothing more than to play expensive games of make-believe...

First homocide of BM25, a partygoer was found this morning murdered in a pool of his blood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uW47jWLMiY

"looks like someone is practicing... radical self-exsanguination"

...said Burning Man hasn’t really been part of the zeitgeist since he moved to San Francisco in 2023

those were the days, man.. you should've been there

Saw a bunch of salt-encrusted vehicles with grimy bicycles on the Bay Bridge yesterday, heading back home.. they won't wash the car for a week, to make sure you know where they were

good luck to their cars, rip to their bikes

No, the bikes were covered in neon faux-fur, they should be okay

sorry, back to that dipshit upthread: “The current vibe is no drinking, no drugs, 9-9-6 (work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week), lift heavy, run far, marry early, track sleep, eat steak and eggs.”

I barfed in the my mouth. But thinking of all the early Whole Earth Catalog-ish dudes who got 'Silicon Valley' off the ground (Woz et al)... wonder what they would think of this monster of their own creation? "marry early, track sleep"? Where the fuck does this shit come from? or maybe that's just *his* 'current vibe

Bill Atkinson invented Hypercard after an acid trip. Bill Gates otoh was always a square. So there's been a range. It does feel like a lot of people in the tech industry now would be just as happy at a hedge fund, that seems new.

cant work from 9 to 9 every day run far lift heavy and sleep, let alone have time for yr young spouse

tho tbf he didnt say he was sleeping much just tracking it

Bill Gates dropped acid at least once--he's talked about it. He said that he was sitting around thinking that a table that he was sitting at was going into his eye.

oh wow!

Wish I didn't have to go into work until 9 a.m.

would much rather be at burning man than exclusively around rich tech bore-bombs, thankfully i can choose neither.

j-bae is either driving out tonight and staying in elko or leaving early tomorrow morning. he had a great time and i'm looking forward to hearing about it. i'm glad he's fine and not murdered. i don't mind being an audience for his burner stories, although hearing the same one for the tenth time a year later can be a little trying lol.

the entire faux-straightedge work all the the time thing is still very based in biohacking and weird beliefs about human existence. I'd imagine it's still very recognizable to SV oldheads, just coming at things from a different angle than they did

it's also based on amphetamines I think

it's also based on being dumbasses.

probably comes from growing up playing video games and getting a taste for minmaxing and item acquisition, then it kind of everts and now the game is the player and their body is the character

i'm always gonna be a video game hater. "it makes your brain glow and they are beautiful pieces of art!!!" nah dog you're just sitting in front of another screen nursing mental illness.

they're less toxic to society than Freud has been

theyve got mario too

Info on the murder out there.

Burning Man Project has confirmed that the deceased participant has been identified as Vadim Kruglov, from Russia.
The tragic incident occurred during the Burning of the Man on the night of Saturday, August 30, 2025, near the intersection of 8:30 & I Street in Black Rock City.

The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office is treating this as a homicide.

FSB assassins at Burning Man, what’s on yr ipod

did he fall out a window

def some weirdness around this case...

in some instances he's being heralded as this BM vet who:

poured his soul into our community: building the camp, creating an art installation, always ready to help others, and being kind and responsive to everyone. His energy and contribution will forever remain part of the Burn’s history

then others (including the girl he carpooled with) that are saying that he was a first timer and he only knew a couple people there.

xxp
EDM, surely.

wtf xp

I guess someone can be a first timer and also kind & responsive? Don't see a major contradiction there... maybe first-timers are inherently more enthusiastic than 1990's veterans

First timers can also help with art installations and setting up camps.

In fact, a good way for first timers to find people to camp with is to help an existing camp in your area with a build project months before the event.

sad stuff if he was an enthusiastic newcomer who was really pitching in. that’s the part that sounds appealing to me. also letting go of a lot of my judgment and embracing weirdos. it’s nice to do that

I wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t have friends who were vets. My first time I was on the documentation crew, helped with a friend’s art installation and got to drive a car on the playa … </suzy>