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Most everyone has heard of Burning Man, the annual event where free spirits gather to do… well, just about whatever they feel like… and culminating in the burning of a giant wooden effigy at the end. The event is held on public land in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, and sees up to 70,000 attendees every year.

This year, though, Nevada Bureau of Land Management officials have hesitated to issue a permit for the event, unless certain requests for their own staff are fulfilled. Considering this is an event where tens of thousands of people are simply camping out in the desert, some of the requests are, shall we say, questionable.
What could be so ridiculous? Well…

• Flushing toilets
• A laundry with washers and dryers
• On-demand hot water
• Air conditioning
• Vanity mirrors
• Refrigerators
• Couches

And the real winners:

• 24-hour service bar that includes, but is not limited to, Choco Tacos, Chobani yogurt, and chilled 100% fruit juice
• Sirloin steaks and ribeye during hot meals

Basically, the impression is that the BLM would like the Burning Man organizers to provide BLM staff with a resort in exchange for an event permit. The anticipated cost for these extra amenities is more than $1 million – on top of the fee for the permit itself. BLM spokesmen responded to criticism of these requests, saying that they were not “extravagant,” but comparable to amenities provided to deployments in Afghanistan.
[via Reno Gazette Journal]

Doesn't the inclusion of these amenities kind of defeat the whole purpose of Burning Man?

GasBandit said:

Basically, the impression is that the BLM would like the Burning Man organizers to provide BLM staff with a resort in exchange for an event permit. The anticipated cost for these extra amenities is more than $1 million – on top of the fee for the permit itself. BLM spokesmen responded to criticism of these requests, saying that they were not “extravagant,” but comparable to amenities provided to deployments in Afghanistan.
[via Reno Gazette Journal]

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It's actually infinitely more likely that some VIPs want to do the whole hedonism thing at Burning Man, but without associating with the actual people in Burning Man because it's full of people on god knows what. These people have missed the entire point of Burning Man... but they'll get their way, because Americans always bend over backwards for the oligarchs.

GasBandit said:

...comparable to amenities provided to deployments in Afghanistan.

Click to expand...

[DOUBLEPOST=1435986076,1435985726][/DOUBLEPOST]I read that out loud to Aussie and his reaction was almost exactly like the baby's.

UUUGGGHHHHHH...... What?!?!

You were lucky if you got back in time to actually enjoy a shower, and to have it be hot. HAHAHAHAHAAAAA... Steaks issued out were when the big wigs might come out of there command compound, or some special visit by a supposed VIP. Probably a few of you know better than me, but unless you were attached to a major base that had constant supplies flew in, you were lucky to see some of the stuff in a few months.

I know the large base in Kuwait had amenities that I've never seen at any base before, but there was no 'chobani yogurt'. Maybe ice cream. They were in the process of actually paving some parts of it when I passed through in '08, but don't know what they have done since then. These guys are just being jerks, because they know that people with money attend and assume that they actually support the event. Oy vey...

AshburnerX said:

It's actually infinitely more likely that some VIPs want to do the whole hedonism thing at Burning Man, but without associating with the actual people in Burning Man because it's full of people on god knows what. These people have missed the entire point of Burning Man... but they'll get their way, because Americans always bend over backwards for the oligarchs.

Click to expand...

I have friends that've gone to Burning Man multiple times, and this is becoming more and more common. Trust fund kids are going to events like this, Bonnaroo, etc and kind of ruining the atmosphere of the events for people that've been going for years upon years. Bad attitudes, irresponsible drug use, etc etc.

And the BLM has dropped the VIP compound requirement. Burning Man has it's permit now.