The Matazone blog

How cool is this? A bunch of architecture students are getting university credits by going to Burning Man and building a structure there. Frankly, I think that’s pretty damn awesome – it gives them all the design side of the process and then the practical experience of making sure the damn thing stands up when the desert wind blows up. What a great way to get through university!

In other news, Apple released the iPad and were trying to keep it free or ‘adult’ material. Guess how long that lasted? Less than a day. Oops. The internet exploded into popularity as soon as you could put pictures on it, and guess what those pictures were of? The home video camera became popular because people could use it to video themselves in private moments. Why did Apple think that they might be able to keep the iPad smut free? On a more realistic level, a good business model should take a realistic approach to human desires and respond to them, and so tech will only succeed if it can support people’s needs.

There are some brilliant photos from the Burning Man festival over at Burn Monkey. Phil Steele’s images really capture the spirit of the event – fun, profound, silly, beautiful, passionate, and ready for the end of the world.

Many images contain partial or full nudity, so it’s probably best to not click on this one while at work, eh?

Answer: running a 31 mile marathon in a Nevada desert. Why on earth woudl you do this to yourself? Personally I think entering the marathon could probably be used in court as evidence on insanity, but some people will be doing it at the Burning Man this year. Bonkers. Absolutely bonkers.

The Burning Man festival has long been an interest of mine after I attended in 1999 and 2002. I will get back there again! In the meantime, the art that is produced there continues to amaze me.

Here’s a lovely selection of photographs from the 2009 Burning Man festival, taken by Wendell DeLano.

And here are a few favourites from the set:
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Enjoy!

There’s a festival called Burning Man that I’ve been to a couple of times in America, but beyond being a cool get-together, there’s also an agenda of ‘leave no trace’. The idea is to make sure that you leave places in as good, or better, state as the one you find them in. I like to apply this to as many activities in life as is practical, and one of the ways of doing this is to support renewable energy sources.

A little while ago I sent a donation over to a small town in Lovelock, Nevada. Due to budget cutbacks, they were having to lay off some of their teachers. The organisers of Burning Man stepped in and asked the world if we could send a donation to build a solar array. By removing their electricity costs, they could afford to save jobs, keep teachers, and be environmentally friendly too.

The project has come to fruitition, and there’s even a lovely plaque with ‘Matazone’ on it, listed among the supporters.

I went through some hard financial times over the years, and it was thanks to the support of the visitors to this site that I got through them and I’m now in a position to help others. Keep passing on the favours and we’ll make this world a better place for everyone.