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Heavy rains that poured down on 70,000 Burning Man attendees have also awoken hundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' from their slumber. The small creatures, known as fairy shrimp, were encased in a thick shell for years until rainstorms drenched the Nevada festival, typically a dry wasteland, and provided an optimal environment to hatch. The crustaceans were spotted emerging from the mud pits as revelers escaped the flooded desert and will start laying more eggs over the next week. Fairy shrimp are known as 'living fossils' as similar forms date back to the Cambrian Period, more than 500 million years ago....

No need for psychedelic substances: The cultural milieu at the week-long annual art festival known as Burning Man is enough to alter your mind. Research published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Emotion Science in July found that an individual’s social and cultural environment influenced how they controlled their emotional responses

I am probably the only FReeper who enjoys the end of Summer Burning Man Festival. That said here is a link to the Main Page Black Rock City A link to the UStream Live Feed

Ten thousand more people are expected to be on hand in the Nevada desert for this year's Burning Man festival after federal officials increased the event's attendance cap. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued a special recreation permit to the nonprofit behind Burning Man, San Francisco-based Black Rock City LLC, that allows 60,900 people to attend the arts festival, up from 50,000 last year. Officials announced the increase on Tuesday.

Organizers of the Burning Man festival are challenging the federal government's decision to place them on probation for exceeding the crowd cap last year.

RENO, Nev. - The biggest prior threats to Burning Man's annual regeneration in the Black Rock Desert were U.S. land use laws, undercover cops and the media-perpetuated perception that the largest outdoor arts festival in North America is really just an excuse to get naked and do drugs. But that was before the teeth-gnashing "ticket fiasco." Two decades after the free spirits moved their party from San Francisco's Baker Beach to a dried up ancient lake bed 120 miles north of Reno, the annual pilgrimage with its drum circles, decorated art cars, guerilla theatrics and colorful theme camps has become...

Northern Nevada will host one of the largest and most innovative art and cultural events in the nation this week, yet most local residents have never experienced the weeklong Burning Man Festival. Western Nevada College offers a fascinating glimpse into the Burning Man culture of self-expression and self-reliance through a photography exhibit that portrays the art, costumes and energy of the event. “The Culture of Burning Man,” showing through Oct. 15, is made possible by the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and is curated by local artist Maria Partridge.

Thousands of euro of Irish taxpayers’ money has been spent building a wooden ‘temple’ that will be ceremonially burnt to the ground at a hippy festival in America next month. As the nation faces yet another austerity budget, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal that €9,000 has been given towards building the Temple Of Transition – a giant timber structure that will be torched at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert next month.

For the first time in the event's 25-year history, tickets to Burning Man have sold out. With more than a month left to go before the gates to Black Rock City open at midnight on Aug. 28, burners have already started a mad scramble for spare tickets through various message boards and online networks.

His humanitarian campaigning has earnt him the nickname St Bono. Off duty, however, the U2 singer seems to have been tempted into a spot of hell-raising. Pictures show the 48-year-old with his arm round two bikini-clad girls as they carouse at a beach bar in St Tropez. He also joined his angel-faced companions for more drinking and dancing aboard a private yacht. Bono is usually seen in his role as rock star, family man and anti-poverty campaigner, work for which he earned an honorary knighthood. Only last week, he appeared at a conference to make a call to ‘change the...

As the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and the so-called C.E.O. of hip-hop, do you think the outrage over Don Imus’s prickly language and his firing might broaden into a crusade against song lyrics? It already has broadened to lyrics. It’s been that way since 1983. They’ve been yelling at me from Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys till now. What do you make of Barack Obama, who recently said that rap musicians should reform their lyrics? What we need to reform is the conditions that create these lyrics. Obama needs to reform the conditions of poverty. I wish he really...

Broncos right cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed this morning. After leaving a nightclub in a limousine, Williams was shot and killed near 11th and Grant in Denver. The team confirmed the death of Williams. A female passenger also was shot, according to a source familiar with Williams. Williams was 24. "I learned from the Denver Police Deprtment that this incident has occured," Williams' agent, Jeff Griffin said early Monday morning. "No other details have been released. I sincerely offer my condolences and feelings to his family." Williams was the Broncos' starting right cornerback and played his final game...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 April 10 Unusual Rocks in Death Valley Credit & Copyright: Joe Orman Explanation: How did those big rocks end up on that strange terrain? One of the more unusual places here on Earth occurs inside Death Valley, California, USA. There a dried lakebed named Racetrack Playa exists that is almost perfectly flat, with the odd exception of some very large stones, one of which is pictured above....