Fertility 2.0 - The street names of 2012

[theCryptofishist]

Good guess, Savannah, but I'm sticking with my original thought: Stalin's Leadership into the Workers' Paradise.

[shykat]

Well, this proves it. Larry is a hippie.....

[trilobyte]

I'm glad they went with flower names. Wait til you guys see the pistil, it's gonna be the proverbial rug that ties the whole room together.

As for the reserved camp space, it's more of a shift than it is gobbling more real estate. The number and size of registered/placed camps this year is very much in line with what we had last year (the placement team will be making announcements about that very soon), for every camp that threw in the towel or are just taking the year off, another has taken its place, and the upsizing appears to have balanced out the downsizing. I think the design may help draw people into the avenues, the evolution of neighborhoods will continue. I'm really happy to see that they're continuing to develop the boulevard G concept. We were camped on G last year, and the additional width gave us a parade of amazing mutant vehicles throughout the week.

[Bounce530]

Yep, after looking at prior years maps, it's clear that the reserved real estate has been shifted down the spokes more.

[Eric]

I'd have rather enjoyed "ammonia, biomass, compost, dirt..." Oh, well. I imagine I"ll mostly just refer to them all by the letters anyway, rather than memorize an alphabetical series of apparently random flower names. Or maybe I'll learn the "asshole, balls, cock..." series that y'all seem to use.

I use "A, B, C, ..."

Other than the fluff factor, I don't see any reason to memorize un-needed information for a week. Hell, I'm lucky if I can remember the name of the cute boy I'm making out with by Weds, having to remember the stupid street names would just make me stressed!

[junglesmacks]

Please just watch the ribs this year, Eric. I don't know what kind of a beast of a man you were making out with last year.. but hopefully this year's is a little more gentle.

[catinthefunnyhat]

I think edelweiss is a bizzare/inspired name.

Essentially the street names are kind of just a phonetic alphabet, right? I mean, people could use whatever words they want to talk about a street, and as long as the words they picked started with the right letters, whoever they were talking to would know what they meant. But edelweiss, being a German word, isn't exactly spelled like it sounds. How many people, hearing it, will think "ah, adelvise" and go to A?

Most of the others are fairly straightforward. I guess there's the possibility for geranium and columbine to be misinterpreted as "j" and "k," but probably most people are familiar enough with those words to not make that mistake. But eidelweiss? Oh, that's going to be fun.

TTG: About the columbine thing -- it might help to think of Burning Man as an opportunity to "reclaim" that word. It belonged to the flower first, and it still does. Yes, it was stained by association with the murders at that school -- particularly for the survivors and people who knew the victims -- but if we taboo every word which has become stained in such a way, then (a) soon there won't be many words left, and we'll have to make up a new language; and (b) we hand too much power to the perpetrators of evil events. Better, I think, to strengthen the original association.

Note to self: Shut up, hippie.

[trilobyte]

Back in my first year (2004, Vault Of Heaven) the streets were named for the planets. It was kind of hilarious to see people in various states of sobriety/stupidity getting confused about which order the planets were in...

@catinthefunnyhat - yeah, just worry about remembering the first letter. A lot of people make up their own street names as well. It doesn't really matter what they're called as long as you can find your way.

[tattoogoddess]

Very good way of looking at it catinthefunnyhat. Thanks

[ygmir]

"What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?"

[Savannah]

"What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?"

Love?

Good guess, Savannah, but I'm sticking with my original thought: Stalin's Leadership into the Workers' Paradise.

[theCryptofishist]

I'm glad they went with flower names. Wait til you guys see the pistil, it's gonna be the proverbial rug that ties the whole room together.

I love it when you talk dirty to me, trilo.

[theCryptofishist]

I'd have rather enjoyed "ammonia, biomass, compost, dirt..." Oh, well. I imagine I"ll mostly just refer to them all by the letters anyway, rather than memorize an alphabetical series of apparently random flower names. Or maybe I'll learn the "asshole, balls, cock..." series that y'all seem to use.

I use "A, B, C, ..."

Other than the fluff factor, I don't see any reason to memorize un-needed information for a week. Hell, I'm lucky if I can remember the name of the cute boy I'm making out with by Weds, having to remember the stupid street names would just make me stressed!

Indeed. Except for the cute boy part. I wonder if I can shadow Eric for a day or two this year and learn from the master...

[theCryptofishist]

I think edelweiss is a bizzare/inspired name.

Essentially the street names are kind of just a phonetic alphabet, right? I mean, people could use whatever words they want to talk about a street, and as long as the words they picked started with the right letters, whoever they were talking to would know what they meant. But edelweiss, being a German word, isn't exactly spelled like it sounds. How many people, hearing it, will think "ah, adelvise" and go to A?

What we are going to get is 5,000 people singing Christopher Plumber, none of whom will be able to explain why Austria has a navy.

TTG: About the columbine thing -- it might help to think of Burning Man as an opportunity to "reclaim" that word. It belonged to the flower first, and it still does. Yes, it was stained by association with the murders at that school -- particularly for the survivors and people who knew the victims -- but if we taboo every word which has become stained in such a way, then (a) soon there won't be many words left, and we'll have to make up a new language; and (b) we hand too much power to the perpetrators of evil events. Better, I think, to strengthen the original association.

I tend to look at it as an unfortunate thing for the llc to have to explain. Maybe no outsiders care enough to read about the street names, they do tend to focus on sex and drugs and skip over city planning.

[BoyScoutGirl]

So... what are these M and N streets all about?

Dotted lines? Invisible streets? MAYHEM?

[Savannah]

Hehe.

They added a street or two on the fly, in years past, so they're planning for the possibility and/or likelihood in advance.

[theCryptofishist]

Actually, I find "Dandelion" interesting, too. it's invasive in this country, and pretty much treated as a weed, but is, in fact, edible. The story is that it was brought over by Italian immigrants. I don't know if that's true.

[danibel]

So... what are these M and N streets all about?

Dotted lines? Invisible streets? MAYHEM?

I like Mayhem. And then maybe Narnia for N.

[trilobyte]

If I'm not mistaken the street names aren't just flowers, but things bees love (and bees love dandelions).

Placement has the ability to add names and streets if necessary. Based on the population and space used last year it probably won't be necessary, but it's a plan they've got on the books just in case.

[BoyScoutGirl]

Placement has the ability to add names and streets if necessary. Based on the population and space used last year it probably won't be necessary, but it's a plan they've got on the books just in case.

Good to know. If they had to use it, I probably would have stumbled onto the street sign after a late night on the deep playa and thought it was a prank: "M? Bah, it doesn't go up to M! Therefore I must go in the opposite direction!"

It only goes up to 11.

[SnowBlind]

So... what are these M and N streets all about?

Dotted lines? Invisible streets? MAYHEM?

Hehe.

They added a street or two on the fly, in years past, so they're planning for the possibility and/or likelihood in advance.

Yeah, I remember in 2010, when we had the huge population jump, DPW added London and Mumbai streets in the middle of the week. I thought it was funny to start surveying streets again in the middle of the burn.

[Eric]

Indeed. Except for the cute boy part. I wonder if I can shadow Eric for a day or two this year and learn from the master...

That would imply I know what I'm doing. I just attack what I think is pretty & don't really care if they say "no". It's not like they're the last pretty boy I'm going to see and I sure ain't looking to marry them.

What we are going to get is 5,000 people singing Christopher Plumber, none of whom will be able to explain why Austria has a navy.

OohOoh! Ask me, ask me! I know!

[theCryptofishist]

Eric
Do you swear not to sing Edelweiss?
Trilo
So "Fertility 2.0" = pollination?

[Simon of the Playa]

Simon of the Playa wrote:
"What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?"


Savannah wrote:
Love?

ding ding ding...

[theCryptofishist]

Simon of the Playa wrote:
"What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?"


Savannah wrote:
Love?

ding ding ding...

That was rigged!

[Simon of the Playa]

i never play games i can't win...

[H.G.Crosby]

A fascinating connection regards the Rites of Eleusis. These mystery rites were widely regarded as the high point of Greek religion. They centered around the goddess Demeter who was the Great Mother deity. The myth regarded nature's seasonal death and resurrection and represented it in the story of Demeter, her daughter Persephone and her abduction by Hades. Persophone or Kore was sometimes called honey-like and the moon (among other reasons because the moon is also called a bull and Taurus is its exaltation). The rites were conducted by the Hierophant and Hiera, the Hierophantides (2 females) and the Panageis Priestesses or Milissae - meaning bees. The function of these priestesses is still not known.

There are coins from Ephesus from the 5th century B.C. that depict a queen bee as a symbol of the Great Mother. Ephesus was known throughout the ancient world for its temple to the Great Mother Goddess.

In the Roman Mithraic rites, there were different levels or grades of initiation. One was termed the Degree of the Lion. The neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry writes: "The theologians have used honey to symbolize many different things since it combines multiple powers, and is both cathartic and preservative in its effects. Many things are kept from rotting by honey and it clears up persistent wounds. It is sweet to the taste and is gathered from flowers by bees which incidentally are born from cattle. When they pour honey instead of water on the initiates in the Lion Mysteries, they call upon them to keep their hands pure of all that which is painful, harmful, or dirty …"

(Porphyry, On the Cave of the Nymphs) Porphyry also says that souls coming into the world are "born from cattle, and the god who secretly impedes incarnation is "the cattle thief".

What could he mean by this statement - born from cattle? It seems that Porphyry is making an allusion to the Neoplatonic principle that souls descend into incarnation (the Many) and ascend back to the Monad (the One). The summer and winter solstice being the two gates (sometimes referred to as "mouths") in this process: the gate of Cancer (summer solstice) being the one through which souls descend and the gate of Capricorn (winter solstice) being the one for ascending. The key to Porphyry's statement is hidden in the astrological symbols. The sign of Cancer is ruled by the moon (Kore was sometimes called the moon and also Melitodes meaning "honey-like") Souls were thought to descend into incarnation from the lunar sphere. And the moon is exalted in the sign of Taurus, the Bull. Recall the Taurus symbol: the crescent crowning the circle.

[theCryptofishist]

[AntiM]

Alyssum will be pronounced "asylum". Betcha.

I have columbines all over my backyard, purple, garnet, yellow and cream. Gorgeous.

[theCryptofishist]

Whoops. I meant: