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You are here: Home / Climate Change / How about that weather? / Monday Evening Open Thread: The Stranded Burners Are Escaping

Monday Evening Open Thread: The Stranded Burners Are Escaping

by Anne Laurie|  September 4, 20236:17 pm| 102 Comments

This post is in: How about that weather?, Open Threads, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All, social media

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BREAKING: Muddy roads that left tens of thousands of people stranded for days at Burning Man have dried enough to allow them to begin their exodus from the northern Nevada desert. https://t.co/l2Qs7Lf7VQ

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 4, 2023

… Burning Man organizers said they began to let traffic flow out of the main road around 2 p.m. local time — even as they continued to ask revelers to delay their exit to Tuesday to ease traffic. As of Monday afternoon, they said about 64,000 people remained at the festival site.

Organizers also asked attendees not to walk out of the Black Rock Desert about 110 miles (177 kilometers) north of Reno as others had done throughout the weekend, including celebrity DJ Diplo and comedian Chris Rock. They didn’t specify why.

The festival had been closed to vehicles after more than a half-inch (1.3 centimeters) of rain fell on Friday. The road closures came just before “the Man” was to be set ablaze Saturday night. The event traditionally culminates in the torching of the large wooden effigy shaped like a man and a wooden temple structure during the final two nights, but the fires were postponed to Monday night as authorities worked to reopen exit routes by the end of the Labor Day weekend…

At least one fatality has been reported, but organizers said the death of a man in his 40s wasn’t weather-related. The sheriff of nearby Pershing County said he was investigating but has not identified the man or a cause of death.

President Joe Biden told reporters in Delaware on Sunday that he was aware of the situation at Burning Man, including the death, and the White House was in touch with local authorities…

Trailing a plethora of online jokes with lifespans as brief and yet ancient as the dinosaur shrimp on the Playa:

we could fund social security for the next five hundred years by selling tapes of hunter biden explaining burning man to his dad https://t.co/eURT99eqhE

— Mrs. Detective Pikajew, Esq. (@clapifyoulikeme) September 4, 2023

You’re laughing? Influencers at Burning Man are unable to fulfill sponsored content agreements and you’re laughing?

— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 3, 2023


There has never, in the history of man, been a group of people less in need of our thoughts and prayers than those stranded at Burning Man.

— Brasidas (@br4s1d4s) September 3, 2023

My biggest fear is having to listen to burning man attendees talk about it. They probably won’t eat each other and will give themsleves a lot of credit for this, as opposed to the Nevada state government.

— Crabcake Inspector (@ilpomodoro2) September 3, 2023

Two months if you just roll coal at them and then float away https://t.co/kAZoGNfkYQ

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) September 3, 2023

tech leadership trapped at burning man, time to seize the means of production

— dr brames (@realnamepolicy) September 2, 2023

Burning Man attendees need to remember to ration billionaires to avoid overdosing on adrenochrome.

— Chris Wyman (@wymancr) September 3, 2023

flying a plane over burning man to drop pamphlets that say “you deserve this for your choices in life” on the bedraggled attendees. psychological warfare is the key to demoralizing the enemy

— america’s lounge singer (@KrangTNelson) September 3, 2023

Seeing a lot of misinformation on the timeline. Yes, it rained a lot at Burning Man and the “playa” is very muddy, but everything is mostly normal. That said, they really did eat Elon Musk.

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) September 3, 2023

(Some of the best jokes I’ve seen are on Bluesky, but that site doesn’t have an embed function yet — dammit.)

ETA: Neal Katyal’s dispatch, since questions were raised in the comments:

It was an incredibly harrowing 6 mile hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud, but I got safely out of Burning Man. Never been before and it was fantastic (with brilliant art and fabulous music)…except the ending. pic.twitter.com/jhxsOfNp5y

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 3, 2023

Monday Evening Open Thread: The Stranded Burners Are Escaping 1

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Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 4, 2023 at 6:21 pm

    It really is a shame that the last tweet there isn’t real.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    September 4, 2023 at 6:21 pm

    “Let my people go.”

  3. 3.

    twbrandt

    September 4, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    I played bass for The Stranded Burners in college.

  4. 4.

    SpaceUnit

    September 4, 2023 at 6:26 pm

    An alt lifestyle wankfest in the summer desert with only one fatality is actually a pretty good outcome.

     

    Not for the one dude, of course.

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 6:28 pm

    Can the interesting people just start their own version of Burning Man next year and tell the tech assholes, social media influencers, and assorted celebrities or “celebrities” that Burning Man is moving to Death Valley in 2024?

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 6:28 pm

    more than a half-inch (1.3 centimeters) of rain fell on Friday

    I understand it’s a dry lake bed, but is it the catch-all for all dry streams in the area or something? Was it effectively 6″ by the time it all arrived at the site?

    Half-an-inch of rain caused all this media attention??!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  7. 7.

    gene108

    September 4, 2023 at 6:34 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Maybe they should move it back to the San Francisco beach where it started and not tell anyone.

    Don’t get the contempt for the festival. Feels like high school, when people bitched about R.E.M. “selling out”, because they became very popular. Like OMG! Burning Man’s not cool anymore because everyone’s doing it.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    September 4, 2023 at 6:34 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I’ve seen those pictures of him shirtless. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone consume anything so high in saturated fat.

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 4, 2023 at 6:35 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Half-an-inch of rain caused all this media attention??!

    I think it was Neal Katyal’s outfit.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    September 4, 2023 at 6:36 pm

    @Yarrow: Maybe all the wankers could be convinced to attend the second Fyre Festival instead?

  11. 11.

    Kirk

    September 4, 2023 at 6:36 pm

    @Another Scott: Basically, yes.

    It’s a playa. A dried up lake bed.

    There are more factors but that’s the biggest.

  12. 12.

    UncleEbeneezer

    September 4, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    Speaking of wealthy a-holes…

    So JK Rowling doesn’t want us to see that she liked a tweet praising the Taliban? Man, that sure would be a shame if everyone started talking about the fact that JK Rowling liked a tweet praising the Taliban, now, wouldn’t it?

  13. 13.

    Kay

    September 4, 2023 at 6:43 pm

    I’m glad you’re transitioning off Twitter, AL. Elon Musk is an incompetent version of Rupert Murdoch and he’ll be just as damaging to the United States as Murdoch has been.

  14. 14.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 6:44 pm

    Just saw a bit about it on the news. The showed the line of RVs and vehicles leaving. What a mess. I had the impression these people claim to be self-sufficient. Why all the RVs? Can’t they stay in the elements? I’m sure they’re drilling their own oil to run the a/c in their RVs, seeing as how they’re so self-sufficient. *eyeroll

  15. 15.

    Kirk

    September 4, 2023 at 6:46 pm

    @Kirk: Realized I basically just answered Another Scott by using his own words. But yes. The rain did not fall only on the festival, or even only on the basin, but fell on all the dried streambeds that used to feed the lake. So yes, the water got deep – and then sank into the rather finely grained soil and became one of those muds you hate and never forget.

    You know, the ones that you stand in, not on, which stick to everything – EVERYTHING. Raising a foot brings up a blob bigger than Musk’s ego which then oozes and splatters off till your foot’s only as big as Trump’s head. You eat mud and breath mud and eventually you dream mud.

    That’s what they experienced in the Black Rock desert, and they’ll bore us with tales of the experience for the rest of their lives.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    September 4, 2023 at 6:48 pm

    @Yarrow:

    I’m not a camping purist by any means but I do think you have to use a tent if you’re claiming self sufficiency. They could even put tent platforms up! Those are nice and they’d be up off the ground in the rain. RV’s are just lame in this context.

  17. 17.

    glc

    September 4, 2023 at 6:48 pm

    One died.

  18. 18.

    Kent

    September 4, 2023 at 6:49 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I understand it’s a dry lake bed, but is it the catch-all for all dry streams in the area or something? Was it effectively 6″ by the time it all arrived at the site?

    Half-an-inch of rain caused all this media attention??!

    Dry lake beds are by definition at the bottom of a basin that collects water.  So it depends on how large the entire surrounding watershed is.

    They are also dried muck.  Which if you wet it down, turns back into the wet muck that you normally find on the bottom of regular lakes.

  19. 19.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 6:55 pm

    @Kirk: :-)

    Thanks.

    I should have remembered the NWS tweet that I posted all of two days ago. I didn’t realize then that it was only 1/2″ of rain…

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    September 4, 2023 at 6:55 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    So I guess Voldemort really was Rowling projecting, huh?

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    September 4, 2023 at 6:56 pm

    @Kay: I’m glad you’re transitioning off Twitter, AL.

    Except I can’t, not and keep providing content here, until (a) more news sources switch over to a replacement site, and / or (b) that replacement (hopefully Bluesky, which I like best) set up a working embed function where I can share clips without the additional difficulty of screen-capping.

    I love reading my favorite ex-twitter commentors on Bluesky, but I don’t have the mental bandwidth to use that site effectively and *still* scrape web-wide content to bricolage here.  Eventually, yeah, I’ll no doubt be forced to make a choice…

  22. 22.

    Dan B

    September 4, 2023 at 6:56 pm

    @Another Scott: There are 8,000′ ridges surrounding the Playa and the Playa is alkali mud.  Slap paper on both sides of a half inch slab and you’ve got sheeetrock which happens to be the local business.

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack

    September 4, 2023 at 6:57 pm

    Not buying the “Har-har, Biden doesn’t understand Burning Man” joke. Most “normal” people get the gist, and Biden is one of the most normal, non-elitist politicians we’ve had in a long time.

    I do get the “Biden has been briefed on Burning Man” joke, however.

  24. 24.

    Anne Laurie

    September 4, 2023 at 7:00 pm

    @glc: One died.

    One death, given 70,000 people over a five-day period, is not shocking in & of itself.  It may turn out to be related to the event, or it may just be someone who would otherwise have died in their own home / at the neighborhood Labor Day block party.

  25. 25.

    prostratedragon

    September 4, 2023 at 7:02 pm

    Meh, mostly pretty lame.

     

     

    Except that last one.

  26. 26.

    Dan B

    September 4, 2023 at 7:03 pm

    @Dan B:  I went several years in the 90’s and early 00’s.  It was widely varying adventures and mostly 107° with scarce shade or breezes.  Three times was more than enough but was fortunately before it got so elitist.

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 7:07 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Understanding that you’re not a coder (and I’m not either, really), I came across this:

    To create an embedded link, go to https://bsky.link and enter the URL of the Bluesky post you want to embed. The application will generate an iframe that you can embed in your site.

    It would be amazing if it were that simple, but maybe it is??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    September 4, 2023 at 7:08 pm

    I feel like mocking the Burners – loudly, publicly, with ‘man on the street’ opinions from the diners of Ohio to the coffee shops of Berkeley – was a huge missed opportunity for us to come together as a nation.

    Since we didn’t, I second Yarrow’s Death Valley idea and then we try again next year.   =)

  29. 29.

    Dan B

    September 4, 2023 at 7:08 pm

    @Anne Laurie: The first year we went there were almost no rules.  Yahoo’s were driving around in monster trucks looking for titties.  People were digging holes in the Playa, filling them with gas, and then throwing in a cherry bomb.  The roar of medevac copters was constant.

  30. 30.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    September 4, 2023 at 7:09 pm

    @gene108: I think about that often.  Calling someone a sell out back in mid- 80’s or so was the ultimate insult.  Then….boom.   Everyone sold out and no one gave a shit anymore.   Everyone wanted to get paid.

  31. 31.

    Ithink

    September 4, 2023 at 7:11 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I honestly can’t believe I used to admire this woman from a personal life inspiration perspective, let alone her actual life’s work w/ Harry Potter and all the rest; she truly seems like an irredeemably awful bonehead in real life, it seems!

  32. 32.

    Baud

    September 4, 2023 at 7:13 pm

    @gene108:

    Like OMG! Burning Man’s not cool anymore because everyone’s doing it.

     
    That’s something Balloon Juice will never have to worry about.

  33. 33.

    Anne Laurie

    September 4, 2023 at 7:13 pm

    @Another Scott: Screencap from the link:

    Monday Evening Open Thread: The Stranded Burners Are Escaping

    All I can take from that statement is Hahaha, come back when you can code, noobie.

  34. 34.

    Keaton Miller

    September 4, 2023 at 7:14 pm

    As one of the folks “stuck” out here, I agree with one of the tweets: no need to send thoughts or prayers.

    My camp works to feature live music of different genres, mostly from up and down the West Coast from LA to Vancouver BC. There’s always some bullshit but generally people are sweet, genuine, and enthusiastic. Not a hell of a lot of “elites” here.

    The art this year has been wonderful. Highlights for me include a field of 50 foot high poles that sway in the breeze (we called it the flea simulator) and a large “No Dancing” sign in which was embedded a very personal story.

    There is a lot to ridicule at Burning Man, but I still find it a driver of unique experiences and opportunities for growth.

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 7:21 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Thanks for checking.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    September 4, 2023 at 7:23 pm

    @Keaton Miller:

    Thanks. I’ve never been and will probably never go. Nice to hear a first hand update.

  37. 37.

    CliosFanBoy

    September 4, 2023 at 7:24 pm

    (deleted) it was too snarky.

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 4, 2023 at 7:25 pm

    You’re laughing? Influencers at Burning Man are unable to fulfill sponsored content agreements and you’re laughing?

    I’m laughing.

    I wonder if Duane Flatmo was there this year.

  39. 39.

    Miss Bianca

    September 4, 2023 at 7:27 pm

    @Keaton Miller: I think that 50′ pole installation may have come from my neck of the woods in CO – at least, we had one that sounds very similar to what you’re describing erected in someone’s hay field a month or so ago, and the word was that it was a trial run before heading to Burning Man.

  40. 40.

    wjca

    September 4, 2023 at 7:29 pm

    @Yarrow: tell the tech assholes, social media influencers, and assorted celebrities or “celebrities” that Burning Man is moving to Death Valley in 2024?

    And rescheduled to late July for better [hotter, but don’t tell them that] weather.  (If they believe that, we can do a land office business selling bridges to attendees.)

  41. 41.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 7:30 pm

    @Keaton Miller: Thanks for the report.

    Reuters.com:

    National Weather Service forecasters said on Monday the rain was over, after reporting the area received from three-quarters of an inch to 1.5 inches (1.9 to 3.8 cm) of rain since late Friday.

    That’s a bit more substantial than “1/2-inch” cited earlier. And would be expected to cause more problems.

    Good luck getting home!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  42. 42.

    Jim Appleton

    September 4, 2023 at 7:43 pm

    My favorite BM story (and I go back to when it started on a beach) is when in, say around 1990, powers that be stuck a vault in the playa for all the cash loot, with a pipe to drop the $.

    Then they lost the pipe and the vault, and, supposedly, it’s still there.

    Dunno for sure, but heard 100% reliably from the guy they hired for logistics, the late great TC Smith, who never got paid.

  43. 43.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    September 4, 2023 at 7:43 pm

    Reading about Burning Man, I’m getting the distinct impression that it morphed from a party into a situation where, to fund all the art installations, and all the transportation, supplies, and gear necessary to get the art installations in and out of the playa, it kind of turned into a bit of a grifting opportunity.  And who better to grift that rich douchebros who think money buys everything, even being cool?  So the artists put up with the rich douchebros who are paying for everything during a week when they see all their friends and show off all their art, and the rich douchebros think they’re cool, and meanwhile everyone actually making art gets their lifestyle funded for the year.    I suspect that’s how it really works.

  44. 44.

    Roger Moore

    September 4, 2023 at 7:48 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    So I guess Voldemort really was Rowling projecting, huh?

    Not exactly.  See, Voldemort hates people because of their ancestry, while Rowling refuses to accept that trans women are actually women.  I do think someone should ask her what she thinks Voldemort would think of trans people.

  45. 45.

    Gwangung

    September 4, 2023 at 7:52 pm

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: So…not too much of a change from the Middle Ages….

  46. 46.

    Anyway

    September 4, 2023 at 7:52 pm

    OT: Didn’t want this in the Biden huzzah thread downstairs — the one Biden cabinet appointment I didn’t care for was Tom Vilsack. He’s on my shit-list for his behavior in the Shirley Sherrod contretemps. He didn’t deserve another term imo.

  47. 47.

    laura

    September 4, 2023 at 7:58 pm

    Neal Katyal’s shirt is a crime against humanity. So’s the thing inside that shirt.

  48. 48.

    gene108

    September 4, 2023 at 7:59 pm

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    I think about that often. Calling someone a sell out back in mid- 80’s or so was the ultimate insult. Then….boom. Everyone sold out and no one gave a shit anymore. Everyone wanted to get paid.

    I can think of a better variation of the analogy from the 90’s, now that I have time to think about it, is all the posers like Green Day now and they’re therefore not as cool as before. They aren’t as edgy.

    The contempt for Burning Man really feels like something from high school or college, when an Indy band had a hit and got a wider audience.

  49. 49.

    Jim Appleton

    September 4, 2023 at 8:00 pm

    @laura: ?

  50. 50.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2023 at 8:03 pm

    @gene108:

    Don’t get the contempt for the festival. Feels like high school, when people bitched about R.E.M. “selling out”, because they became very popular. Like OMG! Burning Man’s not cool anymore because everyone’s doing it. 

    I don’t get it, either. I hate camping, so I have never attended and don’t plan to, but I can see the appeal. I honestly think it’s just younger hippie-punching.

    And R.E.M. are my favorite band of all time.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    September 4, 2023 at 8:08 pm

    @Ithink:

    I’m a tiny bit sympathetic toward JK Rowling.  She actually does believe a lot of good, liberal stuff, and she has put her money where her mouth is to support good causes.  She believes some awful things, but those awful beliefs come from being too focused on her own issue and ignoring others’.  I’m not saying she should be forgiven, or anything, but I do think her story is tragic rather than contemptible.

  52. 52.

    CaseyL

    September 4, 2023 at 8:10 pm

    @Keaton Miller: ​

    It’s great to hear from someone who was there as one of the art camps.

    I’d also be interested to hear more about what happens to the art and artists after Burning Man: how much of that creative growth flourishes outside of Burning Man?

    About the only social change I’ve seen as a result of the festival is many people adopting the schoolie lifestyle permanently. There are massive schoolie gatherings, much like the giant RV gatherings.

    I don’t mean to be snarky, but it would be good to know how Burning Man effects change outside the festival itself.

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 8:11 pm

    @Suzanne:  How can it be younger hippie-punching when Chris Rock and Diplo and Neal Katyal and Nick Gillespie are there, as just a few examples of a lot of not young, not hippies who are (were) there?

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    September 4, 2023 at 8:14 pm

    @Anyway: Do you know anything about Tom Vilsack besides the Shirley Sherrod incident? I think Joe Biden does

    But personally, I will be glad when Vilsack retires because I think Xochitl Torres Small will take his place. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced her nomination for Deputy Secretary with a 23-0 vote.

  55. 55.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2023 at 8:17 pm

    @Yarrow: ‘Cause those people are rich and famous and most of the people there are not rich and famous?

    Are they causing more harm than anyone else does on vacation? I am failing to see it.

  56. 56.

    Alison Rose

    September 4, 2023 at 8:20 pm

    I almost got talked into going to Burning Man one year in my early 20s, as one of the goth clubs I was at every week always had a contingent make the trip to battle it out in the Death Guild Thunderdome. I declined, and I never regretted it.

  57. 57.

    laura

    September 4, 2023 at 8:21 pm

    @Jim Appleton: you really have to see the shirt- you’ll vomit. Also, wtf is Neal Katyal doing going to burning man, I mean besides ayahuasca?

  58. 58.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 8:24 pm

    @Suzanne: Well, they certainly are getting a lot more media coverage than most people do on vacation. Harm? I don’t know. All those vehicles stuck in the mud may have some effect on the local environment.

    As I said above, maybe tell the tech bros, celebrities and social media influencers it’s going to be in Death Valley next year so the interesting people (I guess those are the hippies?) can have it where they want it and do their thing. I have nothing against the actual artists and musicians and hippies but I have a reflexive disgust for rich people going to Burning Man like Zuckerberg did when he flew in in a helicopter.

  59. 59.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 8:26 pm

    @laura: I don’t understand the shirt.  But I really don’t understand the plaster participation trophy thing he’s wearing from a gold chain around his neck.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  60. 60.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2023 at 8:27 pm

    @Yarrow: Rich people ruin a lot of things.

  61. 61.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 8:29 pm

    @Suzanne: They really do.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    September 4, 2023 at 8:30 pm

    @Suzanne: I once saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac!

    After that I could never go back.

  63. 63.

    Ksmiami

    September 4, 2023 at 8:32 pm

    @Ithink: I think once ppl cross the billion dollar net worth mark, their proclivity to be their own nasty selves comes out.

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2023 at 8:38 pm

    @Yarrow: All of Manhattan. And Brooklyn.

  65. 65.

    Jackie

    September 4, 2023 at 8:39 pm

    @laura: No thoughts about his beanie hat?

    His attire suggests to me he went to have a fun time and forget about lawyering and wearing a suit/tie for a few days. 🤷🏼‍♀️

  66. 66.

    laura

    September 4, 2023 at 8:40 pm

    @Another Scott: I’m guessing it’s where he keeps his weed and his blow, but it just screams unfuckable tbh.

  67. 67.

    Alison Rose

    September 4, 2023 at 8:44 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: God, fuck that TERFy bitch. She is such human trash.

  68. 68.

    prostratedragon

    September 4, 2023 at 8:46 pm

    @Gwangung:
    Just thinking of Michaelangelo and the Medici.

  69. 69.

    Chip Daniels

    September 4, 2023 at 8:46 pm

    Before I saw the pic identified as Neal Katyal, I honestly thought it was the actor who played Buster Bluth on Arrested Development.

  70. 70.

    Alison Rose

    September 4, 2023 at 8:48 pm

    @Roger Moore: The only tragic thing about her is that she had the luck to get famous and spew her vile hatred as far and wide as she wants. I don’t give a shit what good things she’s supported — she is part of a genocidal campaign against trans women and she can fuck off into the sun for all I care.

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2023 at 8:53 pm

    Meanwhile, … Whitehouse.gov:

    This evening, the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19. She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

    A quick recovery to Jill!

    Be careful out there, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  72. 72.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    September 4, 2023 at 8:54 pm

    @Gwangung: yeah, artists have always had to put up with their patrons.

    what I love about medieval art is the reasons why the patrons of the altarpieces always had their portraits in the altarpieces done so carefully:  they must have assumed that the angels are illiterate.  As in, the patrons needed to get their actual portraits painted into the images of the people adoring the Magi so that when the patrons got to Heaven, they could convince the angels that they were the ones who’d paid for that art over the alter:  see, that’s me right there!  And my wife! Can’t you recognize us?

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    September 4, 2023 at 8:54 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Rich people ruin a lot of things, but I’m not sure the media attention is the right basis for deciding if they’ve ruined Burning Man.  From what @Keaton Miller said, the artists and hippies are still having a good time, which means it hasn’t been ruined for attendees.  It sounds as if what happened is the techbros have done what rich people are best at by dominating the media conversation and making it sound like the whole thing is a bunch of rich, entitled people.  Meanwhile, the things that always made it fun are still happening.

  74. 74.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 8:55 pm

    @Another Scott:  It’s really going around. About every other day I hear of someone testing positive. Another one today. They let me know because I was at their home about 36 hours before she tested positive. So, ugh. I’m hoping my recent bad case gives me some immunity.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    September 4, 2023 at 8:58 pm

    Um….what did I just see?  🧐😳🧐😳

     

    https://twitter.com/CampArlington/status/1698832597738995958?t=cM14sRFvuURaBzQQsstmug&s=19

  76. 76.

    BellyCat

    September 4, 2023 at 8:58 pm

    @Keaton Miller: Thanks for this perspective. The cultural disposition to poke fun at creatives who have created a noteworthy legacy celebrating divergent artistic points of view is not among our finer traditions.

    Wonder why the Venice Biennale doesn’t seem to suffer a similar fate. Could it be that gondolas and swanky lodgings are more respectable than tents and RVs? Hmmm…

  77. 77.

    RAVEN

    September 4, 2023 at 8:59 pm

    All those Day-Glo freaks who used to paint their face

    They’ve joined the human race

    Some things will never change

  78. 78.

    Alison Rose

    September 4, 2023 at 9:01 pm

    @rikyrah: That is definitely a totally normal and healthy relationship. Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to fill an eyewash station with battery acid.

  79. 79.

    Kent

    September 4, 2023 at 9:02 pm

    @Ksmiami:@Ithink: I think once ppl cross the billion dollar net worth mark, their proclivity to be their own nasty selves comes out.

    Oh, I think the douche threshold is MUCH MUCH lower than that!

    I lived in an upscale Texas suburb surrounded by GOPer douchebros.  Many of them up to their eyeballs in things like HELOC debt.  That didn’t mute any of the nastiness one bit.

  80. 80.

    BellyCat

    September 4, 2023 at 9:03 pm

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: During several millennia of monarchies, these “douchebros”, aka “patrons”  were the monarchy. Same as it ever was today.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    September 4, 2023 at 9:03 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    Well, I appreciate your trying – I recognize that transitioning will take some time. I think it’s important. Twitter is now racist and anti semitic – that is true- but it is also misogynist. All of these freakish, middle aged racists and bigots also seem to be weirdo incels who are angry no woman wants to date them.

  82. 82.

    hotshoe

    September 4, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    @Roger Moore: ​
     
    “… those awful beliefs come from being too focused on her own issue … ”
    I don’t understand why you think that.

    If I’m that specific famous woman author: I don’t have to love trans folk, I don’t have to accept them into my home or my heart; I just have to NOT be a complete asshole in public about how much I hate them.
    What issue could she have that excuses her decided that not only is she entitled to a platform for hate, she is entitled to sue if anyone else on the same platform mocks her for it?
    If anyone on the entire planet has a choice in how to behave, it’s JK Rowling.
    She could choose to say nothing at all.
    She knows she should choose to say nothing. What’s her “issue” that makes her do things she knows she should not do?

  83. 83.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2023 at 9:06 pm

    @Roger Moore: A good friend of mine is there, and despite the challenges, she’s having a good time. I agree with you….  the rich douchebags suck up attention, but who cares about them?!

  84. 84.

    Jackie

    September 4, 2023 at 9:07 pm

    @Another Scott: Oh that sucks! Not that any time is an optimal time to get Covid, but she was so looking forward to getting back into the classroom!

    May her symptoms remain mild and Joe tests negative. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

  85. 85.

    Kent

    September 4, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    @Baud:

    @gene108:Like OMG! Burning Man’s not cool anymore because everyone’s doing it.

    That’s something Balloon Juice will never have to worry about.

    I think what we NEED to do is start a collection to send Cole to Burning Man next year. Along with the dogs.

    The commentary would be priceless.

  86. 86.

    Yarrow

    September 4, 2023 at 9:09 pm

    @Kent:  Wouldn’t that be Cole and his missus? If she can ride her bike in Tempe in the summer she’ll be fine at Burning Man.

  87. 87.

    Jackie

    September 4, 2023 at 9:10 pm

    @rikyrah: 🤢🤮

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 4, 2023 at 9:11 pm

    @Kent: ​
      The dogs don’t deserve to get sent to a desert in the middle of summer.

  89. 89.

    tobie

    September 4, 2023 at 9:22 pm

    Whenever I hear anything about RV’s, I’m reminded of grifting Clarence Thomas asserting in Harlan Crowe’s sponsored bio pic that he enjoys spending time with regular folks in RV parks. Trying to imagine Ginnie and Clarence Thomas at Burning Man is like entering the Twilight Zone.

  90. 90.

    Kent

    September 4, 2023 at 9:24 pm

    @tobie: They would be at redneck Burning Man, AKA Branson MO.

  91. 91.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    September 4, 2023 at 9:26 pm

    @BellyCat: I don’t think the Venice Biennale has any aspirations to be cool

  92. 92.

    Alison Rose

    September 4, 2023 at 9:28 pm

    @hotshoe: She has often claimed that her obsession with biology and whatever is due to having been a victim of sexual assault. Which, obviously, I wouldn’t wish on anyone and even for her, I am sorry she experienced that. But taking “I was assaulted by a cis man” and turning that into “trans women are just men looking to assault cis women” is disgusting and inane. It’s bullshit she uses to justify her bigotry.

  93. 93.

    tobie

    September 4, 2023 at 9:30 pm

    @Kent: You’re right, of course.  But just as a thought experiment try to imagine what would happen if they took a wrong turn, landed in Nevada, dropped acid and believed they experienced the rapture.

  94. 94.

    Barbara

    September 4, 2023 at 9:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: ​ I don’t think many people care what J.K. Rowling “believes” about a lot of things. They do care that she uses her beliefs to actively harm transpeople, or at least transwomen who seem to especially offend her. What can possibly justify that?​
    Re: Burning Man — I’m not the kind of person who would go to an event like Burning Man and I guess I am just especially clueless because I have no opinion on Burning Man — I barely know what it is. However, I hope they all get home safely. I am sure that this year’s event will all give them something to talk about for a while.​

  95. 95.

    Barbara

    September 4, 2023 at 9:44 pm

    @Alison Rose: This is a grotesque level of narcissistic thinking.  If an injury you suffered is leading you to advocate hurt or hate for other people you need help not enabling.

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    September 4, 2023 at 9:58 pm

    @Barbara: You’re right. And it’s also hard to imagine what personal trauma caused Rowling to depict the wizard-world bankers as a bunch of sneaky and rebellious hook-nosed gnomes. A very suspect choice.

  97. 97.

    Betsy

    September 4, 2023 at 10:20 pm

    @Jackie: Lawyering for child slavery.  Got to buy a heck of a leisure shirt to forget that for a weekend

  98. 98.

    Betty

    September 4, 2023 at 10:26 pm

    @Another Scott: He said it was a piece of art he bought there. Was very proud of it.

  99. 99.

    hotshoe

    September 4, 2023 at 11:22 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    But taking “I was assaulted by a cis man” and turning that into “trans women are just men looking to assault cis women”

     

    Well, yeah, I’m as sorry for her being assaulted as I am for anyone it happens to.

    It’s obvious that whoever that guy was (wasn’t it her first husband?), he would not have been more harmful if he were “pretending” to be trans in order to assault. I mean, he already succeeded in doing what he wanted without having to change himself whatsoever — seems like proof to me that what JKR / the rest of us need to worry about is specifically straight guys.  Just like hundreds of millions of other straight guys, that one committed whatever crimes while acting like any other straight guy.

    It’s even more weird, because she was so close to understanding the issue, ” … what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you’d find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth … ”

    Umm, yeah, JK, listen to the words coming out of your own mouth: at the hands of a violent man.

    Seems obvious to me, the problem is the violent man, not the trans woman.

  100. 100.

    CaseyL

    September 4, 2023 at 11:37 pm

    @Betsy: Kayal also lawyered, quite successfully, before SCOTUS- **this** SCOTUS- against the “independent state legislature” theory that would have ended democracy in this country.

  101. 101.

    Bishop Bag

    September 5, 2023 at 12:45 am

    @Roger Moore: I am reposting this from the restaurant thread down below, My daughter had a lot of fun,,,

    Open Thread??? Yay!!! My daughter texted me at 8:30 last night letting me know that they had managed to to get out of Burning Man yesterday afternoon and were just leaving Reno headed back to Chico. She had been there since Sunday and had a blast with all her friends from the Chico Music and Art Community, Then it started raining on Thursday and rained all day Friday. They only had to be pulled out of the mud one time but got out okay. She and her boyfriend had a blast together. I told her after going through that nightmare that she and her boyfriend would either be much closer friends for the rest of their lives or curse the Day of Their Birth of each other for the rest of their lives… So glad they had a good time in spite of the weather! My friend called it one of those Make or Break Vacations!

  102. 102.

    unctuous

    September 5, 2023 at 12:56 am

    There has never, in the history of man, been a group of people less in need of our thoughts and prayers than those stranded at Burning Man.

    This.

    I lived in several least developed countries and these people can go fuck themselves with their first-world wipipo drama llama faux hippie-cum-libertarian rich ass muthafucka we-be-self-reliant bullshit problems.

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