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The Man Burns on Schedule

At the summer solstice of 1986, two San Francisco men, Larry Harvey and Jerry James, dragged an eight-foot wooden figure down the sand at Baker Beach, doused it, and set it on fire. A few dozen strangers came up the beach toward the light. Somebody played a song. By Harvey’s own retelling, a woman ran forward and held the burning figure’s hand. There was no gate, no ticket, no name on anything, no plan for a second year. The fire was the entire production, free to attend, free to leave, over when the embers said so. Every question anyone now asks about Burning Man is a question about the distance from that evening.

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Life & Love in Silicon Valley

by Terry Gardiner

Living and working in Silicon Valley is a breathtaking experience! Anyone who has an interest in the high tech computer world or even the future of the techno universe must keep a close eye on the valley. It is a high stakes, high pressure, environment where people work smart, meet impossible deadlines and play very hard. Fortunes are won or lost here with the click of the NASDAQ stock ticker and even the lowest employee on the corporate totem pole, the one who sweeps the floor, can get a $50,000 Christmas bonus.

Rich man-Poor man
A typical clean room technician or printed circuit board assembler makes enough money to buy a mansion in middle America but can only afford to rent an apartment here in Silicon Valley. In fact, the rental prices are so high that I see in the paper today a 850 square foot cottage in Palo Alto renting for $2000 per month or a one bedroom apartment, in an undesirable area renting for $1250 per month. The reality is that many Silicon Valley workers drive to work each day from homes located 100 miles away. These commuter families even bring their young children up in the commuter lane; they see them for the 2 hour morning commute, drop them off at childcare, go to work, then pick the kids up for the 2 hour ride home. What a life!

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