Burning Man Days 5-6: Burn vs. Rain

More chaos at Burning Man! Torrential rains turn Playa [saline salt basin of ancient inland sea] into [alkaline clay dust sludge] mud pit - 70,000 stranded

(Disaster Weather) Aug. 31, 2025: BLACK ROCK DESERT. What began with a sandstorm tearing apart camps [and destroying this year's Orgy Dome] and art quickly spiraled into something even worse.

Heavy rains turned the Nevada playa ("beach") into a seven-mile-wide mud pit, swallowing bikes, stranding vehicles, and forcing everyone to walk and gates to close once again.

One man was airlifted after a suspected electrocution in the flooded desert [from electrical equipment getting wet and people going barefoot], while thousands more struggled through the bone-chilling nights, abandoned bicycles, and mud-soaked shelters.

With all passenger flights grounded, cars stuck axle-deep, and festivalgoers posting desperate updates, Burning Man 2025 is being called one of the most miserable editions in its history.

[This is not an error or accident by Nature, just part of the experience that is part and parcel of Burning Man, flowing with the elements come what may.]

• More chaos at Burning Man! Torrential rains turn Playa [the saline salt basin of the ancient inland sea] into [alkaline clay dust sludge] mud pit - 70,000 stranded

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Sources:

• sfchronicle.com/entertain...
• sfgate.com/travel/burning...
• sfgate.com/travel/burning...
• sfchronicle.com/entertain...
• Escaping Normal Life; Disaster Weather, Aug. 31, 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Tasers, excited delirium: Last Week Tonight

Tasers and Excited Delirium: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

(LastWeekTonight) March 30, 2025: John Oliver discusses whether Tasers are as safe and effective as the company that makes them claims, the broader effect Tasers have had on abusive policing, and why you shouldn’t test (Axon "exposures") Tasers out on any of your family members, workers, interns, or new recruits. You’d think that goes without saying, but clearly it doesn’t.

Pitch-invading baseball fan tasered by police after performing backflip

Subscribe to the #lastweektonight YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens, or find on favorite social media platform we may or may not have discussed at length on the show: Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, or visit official site for all that other stuff at once: hbo.com/lastweektonight.

US police accused of sadistic (power trip) abuse with tasers