Greetings from the Black Rock desert (Preamble in case you didn't know it: I'm currently at the Burning Man festival, in the Black Rock desert, in Nevada, USA. www.burningman.com.) Just to prove it can be done - laptop -> Playa 802.11b network -> tachyon satellite uplink. Ping time of approx 1000ms, so uploading my photos isn't an option. In fact even checking my mail isn't an option, which is just as well because the whole point of being here is to get away and besides, Stef would stamp on my laptop. So don't expect me to read any replies until I'm out of the desert. The main problem with this mail is that you're expecting me to try and describe what Burning Man is like, and Barlow said last night that one of the best things about Burning Man is that it defies reduction into information. In other words, there is no simple explanation that I can possibly fit into this mail, especially not if I'm to get everything ready in time for Shabbat. (We've got a whole load of interested Jews from across the religious spectrum, a few sefarim and a kosher chicken. This is going to be interesting.) Burning Man is utterly and completely unique. No, *really*. Twenty-four hours here should be enough to convince anyone that nothing like this happens anywhere else on this planet. 22,000 people have turned up in a massive isolated area with the intention of doing their own thing and having a fantastic time while doing it. It's not like a music or arts festival where you turn up, be an audience and go home. You come with a group, you create something amazing, you become part of the community, then you go home. The community creates the event itself. Okay, here's another way of putting it: You get here, you pitch up, you sit outside your tent/shelter/vehicle/giant wooden pink lizard covered in fairy lights and just watch the world go by, and you will see the oddest vehicle you have ever seen in your life until two minutes later. 22,000 very creative people who have the inclination and the technology. It's NUTS. Go look at the photos on the website. But I'm sounding excessively awe-filled and just spouting hyperbole, so I should also mention that THE DUST, OH MY GOD THE DUST, THE DUST JUST GETS EVERYWHERE. There is nothing that the dust will not penetrate, especially given the wind, which is very blustery and occasionally you can't see very far because there's just so much dust. And it's 104 degrees here (40 degrees in real money) and you have to drink TONS. You get no sleep because the parties don't end until sunrise and by 9 AM your tent is too hot to sleep in. And of course there's usual humourless Californian hippies, but there aren't all that many of them, considering. (How am I going to see anything in my tent tonight?) In three days' time I will return to Reno and check into a lovely hotel with a lovely shower and lovely room service and I will leave white footprints all over their carpet. I will also make extreme use of a vacuum cleaner. Anyway, it's late. I've got to change, gather my gefilte fish and instant chicken soup and leg it across to the corner of 6:30 and Lover, picking up a few Israelis on the way. (Yes, of course there are Israelis here.) Give my regards to the other civilisation. -- Yoz, of the Burning Man County Croquet Club