A Strange Year at The Burn

Why, you ask?  Arson, suicide, record attendance, luxury? Burning Man Entrance 1.  There is Internet service this year.  And the service is pretty good.

2.  As blogger Justin Berton explains, The Bureau of Land Management expects this to be the largest Burning Man ever at 46,000.

3.  The Man was the victim of arson and burning early Tuesday morning.  The blogging community and commentors I've read seem to be amazed that someone who set the fire would be accused of something that was meant to be burned.  Funny, they forget that it is meant to be burned in a controlled way with no people around and a fire department present for safety.  This arson had neither of those.  Though no blog that I could find has reported this, I heard totally unsubstantiated rumors from two random people on The Playa that the arsonist was a mentally ill member of the building team who wanted revenge for some reason.

4.  I'm not trading or watching the markets.  I haven't even logged into any of my research or trading software.  Okay, I did read the news a bit so I at least know, generally, what's going on.  But I'm not watching if any of my limit or stop orders have been executed.

5. Sadly, Burning Man had its first suicide in 21 years. No one on the Playa seems to know about it but I haven't been talking to people today.

6.  Dust storms. Dust storms are totally normal.  We were trapped for an hour inside a piece of artwork until we decided to go out with our goggles, masks and hats. After 45 minutes of being pelted with rocks and sand in 10 foot visibility, we retired to the RV I've been hiding out in.  Yes, my 30 foot RV that cost $2500 for the week (in the unlikely event thatI get my $1000 cleaning deposit back).  And yes, it gets the same gas mileage as a muscle bound Ferrari.  (At 65-Miles Per Hour I was getting 8 miles to the gallon).The RV At Burning Man