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Gone are the days of the technology and currency-free oasis of drugs, dust and art both whimsical and questionable.
In a development sure to be heralded by many as the final shark to be jumped in a long line of previous shark-jumps, there will allegedly be cell phone service on the playa at this year's Burning Man. Lest you imagine a legion of feather-boa'd and goggled douchebags twittering their every move and uploading pics galore to Facebook, NewsPunkSF wagers that this is in fact just new cell coverage provided by Verizon or whomever for the town of Gerlach, NV (Pop. 499) and won't likely have the bandwidth to handle actual phone calls by tens of thousands. But it will probably handle the blessed texting, so you won't be able to shake off those girlfriends/boyfriends quite as easily this year without receiving many a saddy-faced emoticon in return.
TEXTERS BEWARE: True to the punk-ish roots of the event, there have allegedly already been cell-phone swiping bandits on the loose among the playa's early arrivers.
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Just don't text while driving there.
People on the road can turn an LOL into a great big OMG.
I am looking forward to deleting lots of idiots from my Linked In account even before they get back from Black Rock.
I look forward so much to the last week of august when all of those full-of-themselves, think-they're-so-hip, think-they're-so-individualistic/radical-while-they-dress-look-and-act-just-like-everyone-else-on-the-playa-because-they-have-no-creativity-themselves idiots leave the city and tranform it for the rest of us to a better place where people respect others and actually do productive things with their lives.
The playa died years ago when the real burning man was taken over by dot-com wanna-be hipsters trying to prove that they were better than their parents.
It's almost worth the evironmental ruin that they carelessly leave in their wake to be rid of the lot of them for that one blissful week every year.
"I look forward so much to the last week of august when all of those full-of-themselves, think-they're-so-hip, think-they're-so-individualistic/radical-while-they-dress-look-and-act-just-like-everyone-else-on-the-playa-because-they-have-no-creativity-themselves idiots leave the city and tranform it for the rest of us to a better place where people respect others and actually do productive things with their lives"
Anyone that lumps everyone at BM into one pathetic category that doesn't make sense is retarded. To imply people at BM do not respect others and have unproductive lives is shallow, biased and extremely misguided. Of course you can find those kind of people there, but you can find those kind of people at any concert or event.
You could've just said "I'm better than everyone else because I went to Burning Man when it was still cool" and saved us the wall of text.
You could've just said "I'm better than everyone else because I went to Burning Man when it was still cool" and saved us the wall of text.
Much in the same way the rest of us look forward to those weekend Tony Robbins workshops to rid the city of your kind? OK.
FWIW, the cell phone service is being provided by AT&T (not Verizon) and is courtesy of one of the BM theme camps (Flaming Lotus Girls) building a cell tower on the playa.
That said, anyone who brings a cell phone to BM is a flipping idiot, and is completely missing the point. It's like bringing your iPod on a trek to Nepal.
So, the Flaming Lotus Girls' Facebook page says this:
"Verizon Cell Service on the Playa - Is it True? Apparently there is a group who registered for a special permit for a cell tower. They are going to let xxx number of phones register to have access. Those phones will be able to send SMS messages on pl...aya. Plus there is now good cellphone service in gerlach for att & verizon. Its going to be a sad day when everyone can talk on their cellphone at BRC :("
Which makes it sound like it's NOT the FLG that are responsible. They also point to @josephpred, who twittered things like this:
"Three different systems: 1) A permanent Verizon and AT&T systems mounted south of Empire. 2) Third party temp tower near BRC."
"Important cell phone update: Temp site only supports 23 Verizon/CDMA users and no SMS. AT&T/GSM supports 35 users with SMS but limited EDGE."
"RUMOR CORRECTION It isn't two companies, it is a third party that provides service to both. Roaming fees pay for the service"
"3) A project from within the Burning Man community, inside Black Rock City limits. With service gifted via a GSM->VoIP bridge."
etc...
cool! so this means twitpics of motorized penises no longer have to wait until the return from Burning Man. AWESOME.
Is this going to be the Official Hating On Burning Man thread? I guess there'll be more, huh?
i love burning man. it sucks all of the idiots out of the city for one sweet and blissful week.
Yay! It's time to bash Burning Man again! It's the most wonderful time of the year. Gah. I'm going to have to unfollow Burning Man Twits or else go crazy.
Seriously. I've only heard 15 people say "lololol it sucks all the idiots out of the city" so far this week, and it's still funny! I hope I hear it a few hundred more times before Burning Man is over. It's even better when people say it and then laugh at their own joke, because that lets you know it's funny.
Especially since it doesn't suck all the idiots out the city. Zeitgeist is still as crowded as ever on Friday.
So you people have Cubs fans, too. I guess capitalism eventually gets the best of us all.
You really should post an article, the entire text of which is: "Chris Daly. Burning Man. Bicyclists. Go"
You'd have 2,874 or so comments in the first hour.