The Burning Man Organization put up 40,000 tickets in the main sale lottery that concluded yesterday. All of those tickets were distributed, and now the cries of discontent are rippling through burner circles across the world.

Spin Cycle Camp set up a survey regarding the ticket lottery. You can participate here: http://isopop.com/2012/02/01/burning-man-ticket-survey/ The results are collected in this Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkytVXBS75t-dDdQaWFEREhzS2laTEI3VGY3RFVhMFE#gid=0

Seems like a consistent 33% success (67% failure) rate among respondents. That rate jives with the experience of my own camp having only 2 of the 6 of us who registered for the lottery ‘winning’ their tickets.

I’m not a statistician, but can anything be inferred from this success rate to estimate the total number of lottery registrations? I think it’s possible that over 100,000 registrations were in the lottery system requesting around 170,000 tickets! That is incredible!

There are already scalpers posting ads on StubHub and Ebay (DO NOT PATRONIZE THESE SELLERS) for tickets at obscene prices. It will be very interesting to see what the Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP) looks like. If there isn’t a glut of unwanted tickets available through STEP, then the event truly just hit an inflection point. The culture dynamics will be instantaneously affected. Will it be for better or worse? That is the question.

https://twitter.com/#!/raindrift/status/164957453732155392

Pavilion design by Rod Garrett and Andrew Johnstone

This thing is going to burn BIG! It’s essentially a giant chimney. It gives me butterflies just thinking about it!

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 29
Copyright 2011 by Rob Brezsny

http://FreeWillAstrology.com

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In Botticelli’s painting The Birth of
Venus, the goddess of beauty and love is shown arriving on dry land for
the first time after having been born in the ocean. Naked, she is trying to
cover her private parts with her hand and thigh-length hair. Her
attendant, a fully clothed nymph, is bringing a cloak to cover her up.
Analyzing this scene, art critic Sister Wendy suggests it’s actually quite
sad. It symbolizes the fact that since we humans can’t bear the
confrontation with sublime beauty, we must always keep it partly hidden.
Your assignment in the coming year, Capricorn, is to overcome this
inhibition. I invite you to retrain yourself so that you can thrive in the
presence of intense, amazing, and transformative beauty.

amen

Solstice Man 2011 from DhammaSeeker on Vimeo.

You can easily accomplish this level of nirvana by combining the synchronized folder technology of Dropbox and the power of the free, open source, light-weight, and easy-to-use password manager KeePass.

Step 1: Open a Dropbox account, and install it on each computer you want to synchronize passwords.

Step 2: Download and install KeePass. You can even use the portable version and save it to your Dropbox too.

Step 3: Create and save your KeePass Password Database File anywhere you want in your Dropbox.

From now on, you simply use KeePass with the Password Database File saved on your DropBox and you’re good to go no matter what computer you are using.

#winning

In 2010, I couldn’t wait to leave the playa to get relief from my stinging hands — though I also knew I’d be back for more. Now in 2011, idling in the queue to exit, I have a longing to stay. I felt comfortable here this week, and I’m afraid that I’m developing a strong sense of home for this place.

Standing in the crowd after the Temple burn last night, I was trying to puzzle it out. To figure out in my head space why, among all the diverse cacophony, I felt as if I knew all of these people. Realizing my folly in venturing into head space, I’m content to sink back into heart space and simply smile. Smile in recognition of the unity that makes us one.

Satellite Photo of Black Rock City 2011

I got the inspiration to post this sign from a snapshot on the wall of the cubicle next to mine in my default world job. It’s a picture of a sign in front of the Woolworth Building in New York City.

photo by Gene Han

I’m amused at how the meaning of the sign shifts depending on it’s physical context. Outside of a building in New York City, it’s an off-putting warning to the innocently curious. Within the city limits of Black Rock City, it’s a sly reminder of the principle of Participation (one of the ten principles of Burning Man).

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

There are no tourists in Black Rock City — only participants. Though sometimes we all need a reminder.