As Burning Man Goes Virtual, Organizers Try To Capture The Communal Aspect




 

Burning Man — the dazzling, days-long, annual arts and lovefest drawing 70,000 to the dusty Nevada desert — was cancelled this year. But organizers are trying to capture the quintessential, communal arts experience online.

For this year's theme, Multiverse, teams have created 2D and 3D virtual experiences. The program runs Aug. 30-Sept. 6.

The chaos and creativity of Burning Man usually involves thousands of artists and volunteers trekking to the vast, windy, barren desert to build enormous, eye-popping, often whimsical sculptures. This year, you can turn on your webcam or virtual-reality headset to attend an art class or DJ dance party — or even join a virtual group hug.

In the desert, the Burning Man Temple is typically a place spacious enough for people to walk into and reflect, grieve or leave an offering. This year, you can sort of do that at the Ethereal Empyrean Experience with a mobile device, desktop, or VR headset.

Ed Cooke, one of the creators of SparkleVerse, says that to recreate the desert experience, burners — as attendees are called — have set up tents in their living rooms and dressed up in costumes.

Burning Man — the dazzling, days-long, annual arts and lovefest drawing 70,000 to the dusty Nevada desert — was cancelled this year. But organizers are trying to capture the quintessential, communal arts experience online.

For this year's theme, Multiverse, teams have created 2D and 3D virtual experiences. The program runs Aug. 30-Sept. 6.

The chaos and creativity of Burning Man usually involves thousands of artists and volunteers trekking to the vast, windy, barren desert to build enormous, eye-popping, often whimsical sculptures. This year, you can turn on your webcam or virtual-reality headset to attend an art class or DJ dance party — or even join a virtual group hug.

In the desert, the Burning Man Temple is typically a place spacious enough for people to walk into and reflect, grieve or leave an offering. This year, you can sort of do that at the Ethereal Empyrean Experience with a mobile device, desktop, or VR headset.

Ed Cooke, one of the creators of SparkleVerse, says that to recreate the desert experience, burners — as attendees are called — have set up tents in their living rooms and dressed up in costumes.Ref: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/03/908767529/as-burning-man-goes-virtual-organizers-try-to-capture-the-communal-aspect

 

India accuses China’s military of ‘provocative’ movements near disputed border

 

India’s defense ministry said in a statement Monday that China’s People’s Liberation Army on Saturday night “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” in the Ladakh region and “violated” the consensus reached during recent peace talks to settle the standoff.August 31, 2020


Aerial images show stark destruction from Laura

 

Buildings and homes are flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, near Lake Charles, La.

Hurricane Laura Strengthening and Is a Category 4; Catastrophic Strike Ahead Near Louisiana and Texas Border

 

At a Glance

  • Laura has rapidly intensified into a Category 4 as it approaches landfall.
  • Laura will make landfall Wednesday night into early Thursday near the border between Louisiana and Texas.
  • Catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds will affect areas near where Laura makes landfall.
  • Storm surge could penetrate as much as 30 miles inland in southwest Louisiana.
  • Laura is also an inland flood risk as far north and east as Arkansas and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.
  • Isolated tornadoes are also expected from Laura.

Mike Pence to champion law-and-order message at RNC as sports stars protest police brutality

 Vice President Mike Pence will step into the Republican National Convention's leading role Wednesday evening as the party looks to push President Donald Trump's pro-police "law and order" message on the same night sports stars make a historic protest against police brutality.

Pence is expected to make the case that Joe Biden would lead the country in a dangerously liberal direction as he defends the Trump presidency. A major theme of both his address and the night as a whole will be support for law enforcement. The theme of the night contrasts sharply with National Basketball Association, Women's National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball teams announcing they will not play in their Wednesday night games to protest police violence against Black people.

Victor Davis Hanson: American soldiers leave Germany -- and suddenly Germany is upset.

President Trump recently ordered a 12,000-troop reduction in American military personnel stationed in Germany. That leaves about 24,000 American soldiers still in the country.

A little more than half of the troops being withdrawn will return home. The rest will be redeployed to other NATO member nations such as Belgium, Italy, and perhaps Baltic and Eastern European countries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is said to be furious. She claims the redeployments will “weaken the (NATO) alliance.” German commercial interests chimed in that the troop withdrawals will hurt their decades-old businesses serving U.S. bases.

Perhaps, but Merkel surely cannot be surprised. Six years ago, all NATO members pledged to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. Yet only eight of 29 so far have kept their word.

Germany spends only about 1.4 percent of its GDP on defense. As NATO’s largest, wealthiest and most powerful European member, it sets the example for the rest of alliance.

Coronavirus World Map: Tracking The Spread Of The Outbreak

 COUNTRY

CASES
DEATHS
World
21,885,651
773,780
United States
5,438,325
170,497
Brazil
3,359,570
108,536
India
2,702,681
51,797
Russia
925,558
15,707
South Africa
589,886
11,982
Peru
535,946
26,281
Mexico
525,733
57,023
Colombia
476,660
15,372
Chile
387,502
10,513