Full Moon Tonight & Lunar Eclipse: astronomy & astrology
As I mentioned in my post July Wrap-Up : : August What’s Up, there’s a penumbral or partial lunar eclipse tonight–the third eclipse in six weeks!
What’s an eclipse? Lunar eclipse: earth comes between sun and moon and the earth shadow lands on the moon. Solar eclipse: moon between sun and earth; moon blocks sun from earth.
The moon is full today August 5 at 5:55pm Pacific coast time; it rises at 7:43pm and the sunset’s at 7:40pm. When is the eclipse? Unfortunately for most of us in north America, the eclipse is going on when it is sunlight for us, so we won’t see any of the action, even if we might feel it. But for those more east, like in Africa, Europe and South America, there won’t be much of a show, either, because it’s only a partial eclipse. For more astronomy about this particular eclipse, check out the wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2009_lunar_eclipse
What does it mean astrologically? CHANGE! Read more…
Ventura County Fair Opens TODAY! Join us for the Animal Fair Ride Aug 7 & Fair Parade Ride Aug. 8! Get wild & bring a kazoo!
We went to the animal fair
the birds and the beasts were there
Yep, and those animals were riding bikes! And playing kazoos! And visiting art galleries! And drinking cheap win
e! Then they rode to the fairgrounds and danced to Huey Lewis and the News! Finally, those crazy kazoo playing animals rode their bikes to the beach where they watched the fireworks go off at 10pm!
If this crazy animal sounds like you, put on your animal best and join us at 530pm on the Promenade by the fountain at the beach end of California Street. We’ll ride by 6pm to various art galleries, including Bell Arts to see longtime Burner artist, local muralist, and painter MB Hanrahan’s sho
w at Vita Art Center, C. Lynn Tegenfeldt’s show at Bell Arts, and to Seabreeze Gallery to see Lisa D. Moore’s Waiving PETE. To see her photo album, click here or visit: www.facebook.com/artbeam then we’ll roar back through town to the fairgrounds!
Bring a kazoo, animal wildness, $10 to get into the fair (kids free) plus money for food, and lights on your bike to get you safely home afterward.
Saturday is the big Ventura County Fair Parade which rolls and clomps and marches down Main starting at 10am. If you want to join the Ventura ArtRiders Bicycle & Social Club for some Fair Festive Fun, find us by 9am on Main between Ventura High School and Taco Bell. Wear animal attire, bring a kazoo, and face paint if you have it. If you’re watching the parade, we’ll be at the end–just before Big Bad Voodoo Daddy! Nothing like being the opening band for a group which played a Superbowl halftime show! Maybe we’ll open for Bruce Springsteen next!Where can you get a kazoo around here?
Metal Kazoos $3
Pulse Drumming – more info »
2434 E Main St, Ventura, CA – (805) 648-3786
Bring your kazoo to Burning Man. You never know when a kazoo will come in handy. In fact, bring an extra to share. Because at Burning Man, two peeps + kazoos = parade!
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you
give of yourself that you truly give.” – Kahlil Gibran
Gifting in a LNT Community: Instead of bringing cheap trinkets for
gifts that become MOOP, consider the gift of one’s self. Look around
and pitch in to help keep things clean: offer a tool, an extra hand, a
gesture of thanks. Try giving a smile, a helping hand or a joke. Help
a neighbor set up camp. You are the best gift.
Speaking of gifts, the Earth Guardians at Burning Man collect and record LNT tips for playa living. Visit their website at: http://www.earthguardians.net And for some eco-friendly burner resources, check out http://www.burningman.com/environment/
Here’s the Earth Guardians Top Ten Leave No Trace and Green Your Burn reminders. Read more…
How green can you really be if you go to Burning Man? some have snickered in front of and behind my back. Isn’t Burning Man just mindless, pointless building and burning?
Point taken. Point considered. And, well, no, I don’t find going to the Black Rock Arts Festival aka Burning Man a huge contradiction to my commitment to living more lightly, more greenly, more sustainably on the planet.
Sure, staying home, growing my garden, riding my bike to the beach, turning off all electronics and not contributing daily to the web, etc would certainly consume fewer resources than going out to that big festival in the desert.
Like any vacation or festival, Burning Man has a huge carbon footprint created by all those folks traveling from wherever on the planet to the Black Rock Desert, home of the Burn.
But staying home wouldn’t be as fun or as rejuvenating or as invigorating as a few days of extreme life on the playa.
And to the credit of Burners everywhere, much has been done to green the Burn since the wild days back in the early 90s of Guns, Granola & Videotape when I first started going to Burning Man. Yep, back in those days, people thought nothing about hauling all kinds of stuff out to the playa to use in camp and then burn after, leaving hulking carcasses of half burned couches scattered here and there. And going postal was a verb with many participants shooting up a post office.
Anyway, enough reminiscing! I’ll take the infrastructure, the streets, the lights, the giant shade structUre at center camp. I’ll willingly pay more for my ticket, and appreciate the efforts of the many to green the Burn and make it safe for all the too high boys and girls.
So how to Green Your Burn and Leave No Trace? Read more…
Is the Black Rock Desert Playa 2009 ready to be a Burning Man Playa? Early August Surface Report & Playa Cam!
Word from the PDX Regional “Porn*” (aka Tzara) on-site (few down Saturday) the playa surface is smooth and crusty. Just like we like it. :-) Golden stake Sunday.
The playa’s surface depends on how much and what kind of moisture the Black Rock Desert received the previous winter.
I’ve been out there trying to ride my bike through what seemed like three feet of flour. No fun. Intermittent patches of flour spaced with firm surface wrreaks havac by day and you can imagine how crazy it can be at night to ride on a surface as unreliable as that!
And wet–that stuff’s slicker than snot, and cakes your tires or shoes so you’re inches off the ground. No kidding.
Here’s more about the playa and the web cam there so you can see the conditions of the playa yourself: https://artpredator.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/burning-man-playacam-video/
Burning Man is NOT a Spectator Sport: How to PARTICIPATE
I recently posted HOW TO GET READY for BURNING MAN encouraging YOU to get going on your bike, your camp, and your costumes.
There’s a lot of advice out there on the subject of how to prep and what to wear, but let me warn you, some of it is BOGUS! For example, Squidoo‘s Burning Man costumes site is full of ads for clothes that aren’t appropriate–some are downright dangerous and others–like anything feathery–produce MOOP (Matter Out Of Place).
Because Burning Man is NOT a Spectator sport, footwear is your key accessory–after your bike! This is how you’re going to get around–by foot and by bike. You’re going to walk and walk and ride your bike, and, if lucky, grab the occasional Mutant Vehicle.
So what’s on your feet really matters. If you look through any of the Burning Man Photo galleries linked to on this site, or watch the VIDEO OF BURNING MAN 2008 BY JASON MONGUE http://www.vimeo.com/1959559, you won’t see anyone wearing stiletto heels. Think walking outside. Think sinking into dirt. Think covered in dust.
If you wear stilettos anywhere outside your RV, you’re going to sink and join the evolutionary accidents of our collective past.
Instead, think boots: my main Burner boots include motorcycle boots, purple cowboy boots, knee high zebra fur rave boots, and converse all-stars. As hot as it may be, you don’t want to bare your feet outside of camp. Not only will your feet become disgustingly dirty, you subject yourself to the dreaded playa foot–deep, painful cracks which may take weeks to heal.
And if you’ve ever wondered why so many women wear fur leggings at Burning Man, now you know why: to look cool, sure, but to protect legs from getting so dirty and banged up during fun adventures.
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No you can’t participate by burning what you want where you want.
While this used to be true, because of burn damage to the Playa, people are no longer allowed to just burn what and where they want. It’s also a harmful waste of resources.
Fire is still a huge part of the Burning Man experience. Here are links to a few of of many fire troups who will be performing this year:
• Cinder Circus – Eugene, OR
http://myspace.com/cindercircus Read more…
How To Do The 3:15 Poetry Experiment
HOW TO DO THE 3:15 EXPERIMENT:
Register here. Join our facebook group.
* Begin at 3:15 AM on August 1st (so set your alarms on JULY 31) . Continue each day until August 31.
* You may write any length, style, form, content, voice, rhythm, etc.
* DO NOT EDIT your work. This is raw stuff, baby. That’s part of the experiment. You are welcome to edit, collage, break apart the poems later for whatever purpose you choose, but please SHARE THE RAW STUFF with the rest of the group here or on the website once the experiment is over.
* (Optional) Do not read what you have written until the month is over, except to skim the work to make sure everything is legible.
TIPS: Use an easy writing pen. If you use a felt tip pen beware ink stains on your bed as many a poet has fallen asleep in the middle of writing. If you can help it, don’t even get out of bed! The point is to ride that dream state, that precarious point between sleeping and waking and sleeping.
More tips and examples:
How To Write at 3:15 (a YouTube video)
Jasmine and Jaguar (a 3:15 poem made into a YouTube)
For this week’s Poetry Train, here’sa 315 Experiment Poem from August 6, 2006:
How to Write at 3:15am
Seems like a simple process
you wake up you write
Instead
you set the alarm for 315 you sleep
you wake up–you find your notebook–your pen
you write
But really there’s more to it.
You have to have some light
but not too much.
If you have
moonlight, no
trees, windows, the
angle of light
well then Read more…
Tunnel of Time: Ventucky Burning Man Art Installation
Last night we went over to the Red Barn for John’s Big Birthday Bash and a preview of the Ventucky Burners art installation, a Darwinian Time Tunnel starting with the Big Bang and ending with a slide into the future! 
Each epoch of time was coordinated by small groups of volunteers, mostly locals, with one section by a group in SF. A newbie Burner composed music to correspond with each section creating an audio experience to go along with the visual one, and to transition you from one time to the next. I really enjoyed the beauty, calm and simplicity of the cave art from around the world set on sparkling black velour; the room with the jelly fish and other sea creatures is also a giddy black light experience. The small boy like the bouncing Furbies set amongst blinking LED’s best tied with walking the plank and riding down the slide. 
They haven’t heard yet where they will be on the map but somewhere on the grid to power the blacklights–I’ll be sure to let you know where so you can see it if you’re one fo the 50,000 going out there this year!
Seeing this very cool almost complete collaborative art project inspires me even more to get going with my Burning Man preparations!
Thanks, John, for a great party last night, and for providing the space for folks to meet regularly to plan and build this wonderful addition to everyone’s Playa time! (And thanks also for giving my nephew a much needed bicycle!) Happy Birthday!
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Burning Man starts in 30 days. Are you ready? What should you be doing NOW in preparation?
ONE: Get bike ready.
Beg, borrow, buy a bike. A bike is an absolute necessity in order to get around that big old playa. It’s not like there are bus stops and you never know when an art car might come by that will stop and make room for you. Make sure NOW your bike runs well, and that you have extra tubes. Make sure it’s well lit: blinking rear lights, front headlight, side reflectors. Spend some time getting around by bike so you’ll be in shape and won’t get too saddle sore.
Then start fixing it up! Our Monkey Lectric lights came in the mail and we’re busy attaching them; mine went on last night so I could show it off to friends gathered for a planning party for the Animal Fair Ride Friday August 7 and Ventura County Fair Parade Saturday Aug 8 (that’s right–the Ventura ArtRiders Bicycle and Social Club is an official entry!! We’ll be riding bikes in our animal suits playing kazoos! Great practice for Burning Man!) Please tell MonkeyLectric the Art Predator aka Gwendolyn Alley (Sheridan) sent you!
Being well lit is super important out on the playa both so you can see where you’re going and so others can see you. There are lots of great ways to do it and I’ll add another post on this topic soon with some DIY solutions. This year we’re lucky that it’s a full moon on Friday night which will be beautiful but also make getting around a lot easier.
Give your bike a funky paint job! Source some spray paint and go wild! This makes your bike more fun and more distinct–harder for someone to accidentally grab it. Hot glue fur onto it. Deck your bike out so it matches what you’re wearing so your bike is part of your ensemble–no clashing costumes with bikes!
TWO: Get your lights in order. Avoid glowsticks.
This is kind of a corollary to getting lights on your bike. For years, people on the playa consumed thousands and thousands of glow sticks. They made you findable for your friends, but they create a lot of trash from the packaging to the one use only glowsticks themselves (although they can work for two nights out there if when you get back to camp you put them in a cooler…)
EL wire is the bomb.
And there’s lots of ways to adapt it and use it, especially if you’re somewhat engineering minded and comfortable with a soldering iron. Far better to go to blinkylight.com or elsewhere to find battery operated led lights. Order a bunch to give out on the playa!
Solar lights are easy to source these days, but you want to set them up and get them ready NOW, not on the playa. There are lots of great ones out there or you can modify them like our friend Alan Sailer does and make something really cool. Figuring out something lit to put high at your camp makes it easier to find it at night. Flying flags does the same for you during day. Both make Black Rock City more festive. At the very least, pick up a solar powered lantern. Watch for batteries to go on sale.
THREE: Get your camp on. How you gonna stay cool, fool?
This is something else we’re working on this weekend. We just got a new to us 90 westy van, Baby Beluga, and we’re getting it all rigged up for BMan 09, testing the awning, figuring out shade and other keeping cool strategies. We use rolls of lightweight, thin, insulating material which we move around blocking the windows to keep out the heat and the light. We’re also going to tie dye our new hemp tent for the pop-up on our van, and maybe some flags and bandanas too.
What will you put down on the ground under your shade structure? In case you haven’t heard, it gets dusty out there. Real dusty. People say they’re afraid to go to Burning Man because of the heat; I say, be afraid of the blinding dust storms! Lots of people haul scrap carpet out there; tarps work well also but if someone spills a drink or it rains (and it can big time!) you have a sloppy mess, and it’s certainly not as nice to sit around on a tarp as it is on carpet. Or combine with a lighter, washable drop cloth. Here’s a post about how to get free tarps: Burning Man by Bike plus TARP for the Playa Bound & for the Do Lab
That’s part of what you want to do with your camp–make it enticing, a place you want to hang out in during the heat of the day, to chill, to process what you’ve experienced, a place to eat and drink and stretch your body also. Back in the day, camps used to open to the streets. It was wonderfully like a small town where people hung out on their front porches to watch the world go by.
FOUR: Figure out where you’re going to camp.
If you intend to join an established village, you need to connect with them, the sooner the better. Locations for theme camps are set and you can see who’s going to be where here: If you’re joining a group of people, it’s good to have a plan about where you’re going to be.
Here’s the link for the BLACK ROCK CITY MAP FOR 2009
http://www.burningman.com/preparation/maps/09_maps
This year the theme is evolution so the street names follow suit: Esplanade, Adapt, Biology, Chaos, DNA, Extinct, Fossil, Genome, Hominid, Inherit, Jurassic, Kinship, Lineage with the Center Camp ring road going by Evolution.
FIVE: Get going on gifts. And art projects! And creative clothing!
We have some ideas in this department to encourage people to ride their bikes when they get home. We hear from a lot of people that the only time they ride their bikes is when they’re on playa. Bike riding is fun off playa too!
This the list for what we’re doing this weekend to get ready. Plus we’re going to a party at the Red Barn to check out the Time Tunnel that local Burners are producing. What are you doing to get ready?
For more preparation details Read more…
July Wrap-Up : : August What’s Up
July was a blur!
And not just because of lots of wine at last weekend’s 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma County, California! During July I wrote 41 posts, posting something every day but two.
August What’s Up first including astronomy, astrology, cultural, environmental, and literary events then the July Wrap-Up…
In the night sky for August, a full moon rises eclipses on the East Coast with the greatest effect at 8:39pm local time. According to my 2009 TideLog, it’s not much, just some coloring; here on the west coast, we won’t see anything at all.
Next sky excitement is the annual August meteor show. This year, the waning moon will impact how many shooting stars we’ll see. The height of the shower is Wednesday early evening before the moon gets too high and bright and drowns them out.
A new moon on August 20 means that Burning Man this year over Labor Day weekend will have a full moon!
With regards to the astrological lookout this month, the big news continues to be the pair of eclipses. Think back 19 years and you’ll have a clue about what’s going on right now, because that’s the last time we had a solar eclipse like the one we had two weeks ago–the longest of our lifetime which passed over Asia. Astrology.com ‘s guide for the significant movements of the planets says:
August starts off astrologically with very favorable Mercury aspects. First, Mercury trines powerful Pluto on August 3 making this an excellent time to sign contracts, sell ideas, confirm agreements and, to deepen your understanding of what is workable and what needs to be let go. Then, Mercury sextiles Venus on August 7, which keeps conversations from getting overly intense.
August 5 brings about a dramatic full Moon lunar eclipse in Aquarius.
The full Moon is always an emotional high-tide time, and with the eclipse, feelings will be extra heightened — expect drama! On August 10, Read more…
art predator 