my anus is godot » playa http://pst.org "Nobody pooped, twice." The life and times of Paul Traina Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:17:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 sunrise over the heart of darkness http://pst.org/2008/07/sunrise-over-the-heart-of-darkness/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sunrise-over-the-heart-of-darkness http://pst.org/2008/07/sunrise-over-the-heart-of-darkness/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:42:23 +0000 Paul Traina http://pst.org/2008/07/06/sunrise-over-the-heart-of-darkness/

Sunrise over the Heart of Darkness

Fourth of Juplaya, 2008, Black Rock Desert

Our ([info]anattadoll,  [info]bearandbobcat, and my) camp this morning at sunrise.

]]> http://pst.org/2008/07/sunrise-over-the-heart-of-darkness/feed/ 0 4th of Juplaya packing list… http://pst.org/2008/07/4th-of-juplaya-packing-list/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4th-of-juplaya-packing-list http://pst.org/2008/07/4th-of-juplaya-packing-list/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:12:49 +0000 Paul Traina http://pst.org/2008/07/01/4th-of-juplaya-packing-list/ Continue reading →]]> I’m thinking of heading off to the playa on the bike for the weekend with a couple other ranger friends…

I just ordered a butt pad for the seat, throttle locks, and a new rack for a top-case, all things I could have used for the Mexico trip… but they won’t be here in time for this next trip. 800 miles on the bike for a couple of days in the dust… why am I even considering this?

proposed packing list:

  • water, 2gal/day (Jezz & Jess bringing up)
  • dehydrated food in a bag / MREs
  • energy bars
  • trail mix
  • tent + footprint
  • sleeping bag
  • tiny sleeping bag pad
  • 1 pair army pants
  • 2-3 t-shirts
  • 3-4 shorts
  • 4-6 pair socks
  • dust mask
  • goggles
  • hat
  • sarong
  • sweatshirt
  • sandles
  • riding pants (no liners)
  • riding jacket (no liners)
  • sunglasses
  • phone
  • ipod + headphones, book?
  • toiletries bag & drugs
  • solar charger
  • headlamp
  • suntan lotion
  • chapstick
  • flat fixer
  • tool kit
  • camelback? (ugh)
  • garbage bag
  • ziplock bags
  • camping silverware & plate
  • naglene bottle or other mug for drinks
  • first aid kit (tiny)
  • small baby wipes
  • hand/foot lotion
  • vinegar

Nice to have if taking something bigger than bike…

  • rebar tent stakes, and hammer, and puller
  • camp chair
  • coffee
  • booze & lots of beer
  • camp stove & mess kit
  • ice chest & ice
  • duct tape
  • solar shower
  • more shade
  • gps
  • ham & frs radios


Entry update post-trip:

Next time, do not bring:

  • solio –it sucks, get a better solar charger, maybe one that does AA batteries?
  • ham radio
  • so much food — only ate one to two meals/day
  • fewer shorts and socks
  • vinegar — foot lotion works fine

Next time, bring:

  • figure out a clean way to store/hold bag liners et al if the back of a car isn’t available
  • don’t go motorcycle camping on the playa, just use a damn 4×4 next time
  • more booze, more beer
  • guns
  • shade structure for tent
  • camp chair
  • snow-peak micro camp stove
  • army style tent stakes (optional)
  • corkscrew?

]]> http://pst.org/2008/07/4th-of-juplaya-packing-list/feed/ 0 as the turn burned http://pst.org/2006/09/as-the-turn-burned/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=as-the-turn-burned http://pst.org/2006/09/as-the-turn-burned/#comments Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:16:17 +0000 Paul Traina http://pst.org/2006/09/05/as-the-turn-burned/ Continue reading →]]> WiFi deployment at Burning Man was a total success! The network consisted of a 2.4ghz long haul link back to Gerlach and then a 5.8ghz backbone for the playa which was then rebroadcasted at 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00. We used my gear for the 3:00 and 9:00 nodes and they fit in perfectly. Everyone loved Brad Templeton’s “Playa Phone” and the Internet Cafe was in constant use despite no advertising.

Lessons learned and/or confirmed:

  1. Take your time aiming antennas, find the hottest spots in the lobe, they really DO matter.
  2. Guy stuff down really well, the smallest shift can ruin the work done in point #1.
  3. 5.8ghz is practical for medium haul links if you’ve got too much noise down on 2.4ghz.
  4. Hot stage everything, the last 5% of the work for the Internet Cafe took the longest time.
  5. Put up a splash page and take a bow! Nobody knew who did all the work to give folks Internet.
  6. Ralf and Cliff are awesome folks, give them each a big wet sloppy kiss.
  7. The phone was the single most important user service.
  8. More power is always better. We should have had 100mw, not 12mw for the 5.8 backbone.
]]> http://pst.org/2006/09/as-the-turn-burned/feed/ 0 as the burn turns http://pst.org/2006/08/as-the-burn-turns/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=as-the-burn-turns http://pst.org/2006/08/as-the-burn-turns/#comments Mon, 14 Aug 2006 11:54:51 +0000 Paul Traina http://pst.org/2006/08/14/as-the-burn-turns/ Continue reading →]]> I’m doing my first burning man. I came up with two art projects, but vetoed them because it’s my first burn and I figured it would be better to assist another ongoing project.

Somehow I got the bright idea to assist BMorg in doing some of the wireless distribution for the camp network. I’m busy building LEAF boxes and I’m reminded of exactly how much I completely hate their broken development environment. Somehow over the years, they managed to build a cross compilation environment that doesn’t work on anything other than an X86 running linux and gcc-3.4. Absolutely brilliant. Somebody clearly did not understand the first principle of cross compilation environments and I’ve been too lazy for the past two years to fix it until it broke when I upgraded to gcc-4. All I can say is thank god for Parallels Desktop. I brought up a Debian VM running on my Macbook Pro and whacked B-U enough to at least cross build under recent Linux distributions.

The other LEAF developers don’t feel that having a clean and reproducible cross compilation environment is a priority (being able to reproduce binaries? being able to support branched development? seems pretty basic to me). We’re so totally behind the times in distribution design, that it’s probably time for me to hook up with folks more in tune with my own goals (despite the fact that the LEAF guys are really great people). I think I’m going to go with porting OpenWRT and MADWIF-NG to a PC Engines WRAP target as soon as their buildroot-ng stuff is stable.

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