The Burning Man, NV

WHAT IS BURNING MAN?
Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind. In this section you will find the peripheral definitions of what the event is as a whole, but to truly understand this event, one must participate. This site serves to try to paint a picture of the Burning Man experience to those who are new to the project, as well as to give those participants looking to keep the fire burning in their daily lives an environment in which to connect to their fellow community members. For a brief yet eloquent overview of the entire event from the time of arrival to the time of exodus, please read "What is Burning Man?", an essay written by participant and one-time web team member, Molly Steenson. Please see archived sections for each year to read more about the art themes, art installations and theme camps for each year.


Here you will find links that will take you on a trip through the past - through the history of Burning Man - from its early days on a small beach in San Francisco through its evolution into the bustling city of some 48,000+ people that the Burning Man event has become today. These people make the journey to the Black Rock Desert for one week out of the year to be part of an experimental community, which challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one's day-to-day life. The result of this experiment is Black Rock City, home to the Burning Man event.


There are no rules about how one must behave or express oneself at this event (save the rules that serve to protect the health, safety, and experience of the community at large); rather, it is up to each participant to decide how they will contribute and what they will give to this community. The event takes place on an ancient lakebed, known as the playa. By the time the event is completed and the volunteers leave, sometimes nearly a month after the event has ended, there will be no trace of the city that was, for a short time, the most populous town in the entire county. Art is an unavoidable part of this experience, and in fact, is such a part of the experience that Larry Harvey, founder of the Burning Man project, gives a theme to each year, to encourage a common bond to help tie each individual's contribution together in a meaningful way. Participants are encouraged to find a way to help make the theme come alive, whether it is through a large-scale art installation, a theme camp, gifts brought to be given to other individuals, costumes, or any other medium that one comes up with.


The Burning Man project has grown from a small group of people gathering spontaneously to a community of over 48,000 people. It is impossible to truly understand the event as it is now without understanding how it has evolved. See the first years page and Burning Man 1986 - 1996 for the legendary story of Burning Man's beginnings and to understand how the event has come to become what it is today. The timeline gives a short overview of what each year looked like. Please also check out the detailed archives for years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Within each of these years are descriptions each year's art theme, theme camps, large art installations, as well as maps, journals of our city being built, the newsletters to the community for each year, issues of the Black Rock Gazette (a daily news publication produced and printed on the playa), and clean up reports for each year, including a list of those sites that failed to "leave no trace". These pages help understand the larger scope of the entire experience, from the planning that happens year-round to make each event possible, to the clean-up efforts which take place for sometimes months after the city has disappeared.


The impact of the Burning Man experience has been so profound that a culture has formed around it. This culture pushes the limits of Burning Man and has led to people banding together nation-wide, and putting on their own events, in attempt to rekindle that magic feeling that only being part of this community can provide. The Black Rock Arts Foundation promotes interactive art by supporting public art that exists outside the event, and has a special interest in supporting art at regional events. Additionally, Burning Man has over two thousand volunteers who work before, during and after the event (many who work year-round) to make the event a reality. To give of your time and talents, please see the Participate section of the website.


If this is your first visit to this site, a good starting point is the FAQ page, the glossary, and the timeline. From here you can stroll through the carefully archived sections for each year. Community, participation, self-expression, self-reliance; these tenets of Burning Man are lifeblood of the Burning Man experience. Whether you are new to this site or are returning for your umpteenth visit, you are encouraged to delve into these pages to expand your viewpoint and definition of these ideals, and to connect with yourself to find your niche in our community. The giving of yourself is the greatest gift you can give to the Burning Man community, and is imperative to the survival of this unique experiment.

Sakura in Brooklyn, New York

Cherry Blossom Season at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens:

Hanami is the Japanese name for cherry-blossom viewing, and the Japanese have long-established customs surrounding this tradition, including picnicking under the boughs of cherry trees and trapping fallen petals in cups of sake. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s peerless collection of cherry trees—-the largest and most diverse outside Japan—-creates a canopy of blossoms in the spring worthy of celebration.

Cherry Blossom Season at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden starts in late March and lasts through late April. Since the season is impacted by the weather, BBG will be announcing the official start of the season when the first cherry blossoms bloom in their gardens!
http://www.bbg.org/discover/cherries

 

 

 

 

Times Square New York

 

Named after the 'New York Times', which moved here in 1924, Times Square is a vibrant, neon-lit area in the heart of the Theater District. Over the years, this area has transformed with increasing number of hotels, office towers, and commercial businesses that have sprung up here. Conde Nast, megastores, and theme restaurants have also set up shop. Times Square remains the city's favorite venue for New Year's Eve, where a huge street party is highlighted by a glitter ball dropped from Times Tower. The Times Square Alliance, which was founded in 1992, works for the betterment and promotion of this most popular New York City attraction.

 

Flatiron on 5th Ave.

The Flatiron Building (or Fuller Building, as it was originally called) is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, New York City and is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. Upon completion in 1902, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city and one of only two skyscrapers north of 14th Street – the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular island-block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street, with 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.
The building anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.            From Wikipedia

Yeah,,,Guinness!

 

http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Podcast.aspxGUINNESS STOREHOUSE® | Podcast | Dublin Tourist Attractions, Ireland Tourist Attractions
www.guinness-storehouse.com
Download our iWalk GUINNESS® Podcast – a free audio guide to Dublin and the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE®. GUINNESS STOREHOUSE® is the number one Ireland tourist attraction and Dublin tourist attraction.

Bar-hop in Dublin 2008

With more than 1,000 pubs and plenty of live Irish music, Dublin can make you CRAZY. With so many choices, it's easy to mix up your drinking between old historic pubs and Dublin's creative in cool spots like Bar & Cafe on Great Georges Street.

 

 

My favorite town in London, UK.

Here's the town I always visit in London; Camden Town

Camden Town has existed only since the 1790s. Until then, the area north of Tottenham Court was given over to open land and fields. This green expanse was crossed by the (now vanished) Fleet river.

This cosmopolitanism is an important part of Camden Towns popularity as a centre for the Arts, media, fashion and music.A great place to live, work, shop and play.

George Orwell (1903-50, real name Eric Blair) lived in Camden during the 1930s. Orwell, a former Burmese imperial policeman, is best remembered for his futuristic novel 1984 and the political parable ANIMAL FARM.

Amy Winehouse lived in Camden and performed there.

Oasis star Liam Gallagher once lived in Camden Town and in their early days the band played some gigs there.

If you're planning a visit, there are a number of ways to get here. Camden Town centre is only minutes from Kings Cross, St. Pancras & Euston railway termini.

My first backpacking trip to Canada summer 1996

Central Park, NYC

Burma & Northern Thailand Border

Decades of internal conflict have negatively affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Myanmar's border areas. Although figures are unreliable, more than one million people are estimated internally displaced in the eastern border area of Myanmar.
The ten provinces in Thailand which border Myanmar are populated by 6.8 million Thais, over 120,000 displaced persons in nine UNHCR-run camps, and an estimated 500,000 to 1 million registered and undocumented migrants. The undocumented migrants are the largest public health concern, as many do not have access to health services, have increased morbidity and present a number of public health risks, such as low immunization rates.
While some members of the at-risk migrant population live in settlements, others are highly mobile, moving back and forth across the border. This raises increased concerns over the transmission of disease, such as multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, meningitis, diphtheria, measles and drug-resistant malaria. Malaria and tuberculosis are particular concerns in the border provinces.

Angkor Wat

ANGKOR WAT was listed in World Wonder List

http://www.tourismcambodia.com/attractions/angkor/angkor-wat.htm


Angkor Wat, in its beauty and state of preservation, is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and a luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the Pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal. Angkor Wat is located about six kilometers (four miles) north of Siem Reap, south of Angkor Thom. Entry and exit to Angkor Wat can only be access from its west gate.
Angkor Wat was built in the first half of the 12th century (113-5BC). Estimated construction time of the temple is 30 years by King Suryavarman II, dedicated to Vishnu (Hindu), replica of Angkor Thom style of art.

BACKGROUND

Angkor Wat, the largest monument of the Angkor group and the best preserved, is an architectural masterpiece. Its perfection in composition, balance, proportions, relief's and sculpture make it one of the finest monuments in the world.
Wat is the Khmer name for temple (the French spelling is "vat "), which was probably added to "Angkor "when it became a Theravada Buddhist monument, most likely in the sixteenth century. After 1432 when the capital moved to Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat was cared for by Buddhist monks.
It is generally accepted that Angkor Wat was a funerary temple for King Suryavarman II and oriented to the west to conform to the symbolism between the setting sun and death. The bas-reliefs, designed for viewing from left to right in the order of Hindu funereal ritual, support this function.

The Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

If you are in west and not far from Uath..You definitely need to go there;
http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htmThe Bonneville Salt Flats | Utah.com
www.utah.com
Imagine a place so flat you seem to see the curvature of the planet, so barren not even the simplest life forms can exist. Imagine the passing thunder of strange vehicles hurtling by on a vast dazzling white plain. This is not an alien world far from earth; it is Utah's famous Bonneville Salt Flat...

couchsurfing community

Bur-packer: if anybody ??? interesting to share info: @ CS community ...etc..

http://www.couchsurfing.org/
CouchSurfing - Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time
www.couchsurfing.org
Ben StricklandSt. John'sNewfoundlandHey, My name is Ben and I am relatively new to the CS community but I absolutely love this site. So far I have been to three meet-ups and I'm in the middle of hosting my first surfers. Two Amazing guy... read more

Globe Trekker shows

Bur-packer: my fav: TV show;
http://www.pilotguides.com/tv_shows/globe_trekker/shows/series.php
Globe Trekker TV.com: Globe Trekker: Browse by series...
www.pilotguides.com
Series 1: 1. Indonesia - The Eastern Islands2. La Ruta Maya3. MoroccoJamaica4. Alaska5. Pacific Islands6. South East Australia7. Vietnam8. North ...

pools..in NYC

Here's to cool down in NYC!

http://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/poolsPools : New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
www.nycgovparks.org
All 54 Parks outdoor pools opened for the season on Tuesday, June 29 and remain open until Labor Day (September 6). General hours of operation are 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.