Mastodawn

MicroWave Sep 3, 2023

1 death reported at Burning Man while festival attendees remain stuck in the Nevada desert from heavy rains

1 death reported at Burning Man while festival attendees remain stuck in the Nevada desert from heavy rains - Lemmy.world

As thousands of people remain unable to leave the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert after heavy rains inundated their campsites with ankle-deep mud Saturday, authorities say they are investigating a death at the event. Attendees were told to shelter in place in the Black Rock Desert and conserve food, water and fuel after a rainstorm swamped the area, forcing officials to halt any entering or leaving of the festival. The remote area in northwest Nevada was hit with 2 to 3 months worth of rain – up to 0.8 inches – in just 24 hours between Friday and Saturday mornings. The heavy rainfall fell on dry desert grounds, whipping up thick, clay-like mud that festivalgoers say is too difficult to walk or bike through.

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Flying Squid Sep 3, 2023

I hate to sound callous, but I don’t feel much sympathy for a rich person who went out to the desert to pretend to be a hippie and didn’t check the weather forecast.

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Fecundpossum Sep 3, 2023

I used to run in a party crowd that had a LOT of burning man folks in it. There were a couple of them that had middle class incomes, maybe even leaning upper middle class. Those are usually the ones that had an art car or whatever that they sank some money into, instead of the crap that most upper middle class Americans blow their money on.

But the rest of them? They worked at restaurants, did massage therapy, teachers, etc. normal people with median or lower incomes that would forego other expenses to set aside a little a money for their annual get high in the desert trip.

Yes, there’s a bunch of elitists at the core of the event, but it’s not the majority.

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pandarang Sep 3, 2023

This year's BRC census.

Burning Man Has Gotten Richer, Queerer, Slightly Less White

The annual Black Rock City Census data is out for 2022, and it paints a picture of the desert festival getting marginally more diverse than it was a decade ago, and a fair bit less traditionally heterosexual.

SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports

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Kbobabob Sep 3, 2023

TLDR: The trend of wealthy people is going up while the less wealthy trends down.

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underisk Sep 3, 2023

The other takeaway is that more than half the attendees make more than 100k a year so not exactly a minority.

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Coreidan Sep 3, 2023

100k salary is a decent amount of money but it’s far as fuck from being “rich”.

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ANGRY_MAPLE

It might be a perspective thing, and how you both define “rich”.

If someone gets by every week on ramen, a salary of $100k/year would seem like a crap ton of money. Doubly so if most of their community is also living off of ramen. On year on that salary would be life changing for this person.

If someone lives in a pricy area and maybe has a few kids, a salary of $100k wouldn’t seem like nearly as much. Doubly so if most of their community makes that much. One year on that salary is just another year for this person.

For some people, “rich” is not having to worry about starving and knowing that they have a roof over their head. It’s about finally being able to buy non-necessities, and it’s about being able to have things just for enjoyment. Some people are very month to month in terms of costs and bills.

To others, “rich” is being able to buy expensive boats and cars. It’s about having excess wealth and never having to worry about any monetary problems. These people might think of millionaires and billionaires when they hear the word “rich”.

Of course some people would consider $100k/year rich. I’m certain that MANY people would take that salary boost in a heartbeat.

I’m not saying that $100k would set you up anywhere near as much as $1m would, but it’s a hell of a lot more money than many people can make.

In 10 years, that salary is $1,000,000. For someone making $50k/year, it wwould be 20 years for them to make that much. For someone making $25k/year, it would take 40 years for them to earn that much. I would feel disingenuous telling someone who makes $25k/year that making $100k wouldn’t be becoming “rich” to them.

Maybe that’s their monetary sweet spot, and they rely on other things to finish fulfilling their personal definition of “rich”. Family, friends, hobbies, etc.