Summary of a Burning Man presentation, Nov. 11, 2010

So it turns out that the Burning Man Festival is nothing like what I had preconceived it to be. There are actually some really interesting things, related to design and social interaction, going out in Black Rock’s desert. Along with a large amount of fire, so I understand.

The first thing from the Burning Mans presentation that surprised me was that the festival was first in San Francisco, until it out grew available space, after five years. Next, I was intrigued to learn that the festival was not just a hedonistic ritual preformed every year, as an excuse for a large outdoor party. There is actually an intense effort put forth over a short period of time in order to create an inhabitable city for 50,000 people. This is no small feat for two incredible reasons. The first is that the city is build in the middle of nowhere and in some of the harshest possible environmental conditions. The remote location, the brutal temperatures and severe storms provide for make for difficult living conditions. But also probably, contribute to the festival’s success; because participants are required to coexist and provide assistance when needed in order survive the difficult environment. The second surprise is that the design of the city is done in seven days.

There are Ten Principals to the Burning Man Festival that contribute to its success.

1.      Radical Inclusion - which means that anyone can join.

2.     Gifting – this is unconditional giving, you give with nothing expected in return.

3.     Decommodification - resist consumption, the only things sold are coffee and ice.

4.     Radical Self-reliance – rely on inner resources.

5.     Radical self-expression – self expression of inner feelings.

6.     Communal Effort – cooperation and collaboration.

7.      Civic Responsibility – valuing civil society and individual rights and responsibilities.

8.     Leave no Trace – leave it like you found it.

9.     Participation – transformative, everyone needs to go in the activities.

10.  Immediacy – social interaction is important

These principals work for a community that is very short term, but, could not work for a society over an extended period of time. I think that if these principals were used for longer than a week, once the excitement worn off a bit, people would probably become a jaded “gifting” to the same person or exhausted from their “radical self-expression.”

Over all, I was really impressed by the Burning Man festival. There were several facts that left me pleasantly surprised. I is good to know that there are people associated to the festival, that do charitable work year round from the revenue generated by the week long event. The art, cars and all round ingenuity of the participants also was extremely impressive.

Any event that leads to building a three-story duck mobile that shoots fire can be all bad!

Santa Claus: Should he wrap his presents?

As this is our first Christmas with a child, the issue has arisen – should Santa Claus wrap his gifts?

I say “yes” for three main reasons:

(1)   Tradition – Santa Claus always wrapped the gifts he left under the tree for me.  I would come down the stairs on Christmas morning to find all the packages waiting for me – which leads me to my second reason …

(2)  Wrapped gifts prolong the fun.  It takes time (and a little effort) to unwrap them, so you are surprised one gift at a time (rather than seeing everything at once).

(3)  Our child is nine months old and all he will care about is the paper and boxes.  Shouldn’t Santa give him what he wants – lots of paper to tear and throw around?

My wife says “no.”  Here’s why:

(1)   Tradition – Santa Claus never wrapped the gifts he left under the tree for her.

(2)  Some things have to be put together and need batteries (they can’t stay in the box to be wrapped).  Shouldn’t Santa go ahead and take care of those things so that our son can get up, see them, and begin playing with them immediately?

(3)  The look of pure joy that our son will have when he sees everything sitting there waiting for him.

So, what do you think?  Please weigh in and help us decide.

Cam Newton for Heisman?

If Cam Newton is the most outstanding player in college football, should some (alleged) illegal activities prevent him from winning an award that is earned on the playing field? I say no. Consider this, Reggie Bush won the Heisman in 2005, and he took money while playing at USC. Yes, he gave the award back but no one asked him to do so. If Newton did take money, which I personally do not condone, that is just a tiny fraction of the money and hype that is being generated for Auburn, the SEC and all of college football.

As far as cheating goes, obviously it’s not the right thing to do. But, Cam Newton is not going to his classes to learn life skills or for his own personal development. He is going to class, if he even does, just to bide his time until Saturday. English or any other college class will not help him next year in the NFL.

The Heisman stands not for character but for quantity. Quantity in terms of production; yards gained and touchdowns scored and most importantly, as in number of wins. Cam Newton is doing a ridiculously good job of all of these. Almost single-handily carrying his team to a birth in the national championship game. The Heisman is not an award that is based on morals or standards. It is about recognizing the most outstanding college football player during that year.

New Orleans Cemetery

 

I learned something new on my inaugural trip to New Orleans. We took a short guided tour of the city to learn some of the history and see some things that we might otherwise miss. The tour made a stop in a cemetery, where we were enlightened on the details of the burial process in New Orleans. Now, I knew that below grade burials were not a good idea in this region, what I did not know is what really happens in those above ground tombs. Well, it turns out that in the heat and humidity of the Deep South, those chambers are actually small ovens! After a funeral, the body is placed inside on a small rack and the door is sealed shut. Once shut, the tomb, by law, cannot be open for one calendar year. It has been determined that this is the amount of time it takes for the body to “cook” and fall down to the bottom and join the rest of his or her family. Lovely!

You might ask “what happens if someone has two or more family members die within a calendar year?” Well, that was addressed. The person in waiting must go into a pre-tomb tomb and wait for their turn. Fantastic! I am really happy to be in the landscape architecture field. I am also happy not to be in the cemetery business.

New Look Revealed!

This classic fashion statement rears its head only once every decade! Following these unforgettable icons…

 

Awesomely Bad Fountains!

http://posingfacts.blogspot.com/2010/01/top-10-most-shocking-bizzare-fountains.html

I found these beauties look for precedents for the fountain on our first project. I have to have the last one for a water feature I’m going to install at my house. Oh wait! My son does that already!

Fountain Detail

I somehow stumbled on to this website from one our texts that we are supposed to be reading. I thought that it is a nice little detail to an otherwise ordinary store front. It’s too bad thought it is rather impossible to design something like this in the States without fear of some sort of lawsuit.

http://lisastown.com/inspirationwall/2009/06/16/flow-florm-stair-discovery/