Author: Paul

The Burning Man festival is held each year from the last Monday in August until the first Monday in September. Started in 1986 in San Francisco, it moved to Black Rock Desert in 1990.

The culmination of the festival is the “burn”, held on Saturday night, of a large statue of a man (hence the name of the festival) made out of flammable materials.

Those who got sand in places they wish they hadn’t included:

• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• LawnBoy
• Phil Ower
• Ben S
• David Kozina
• Eloy Cano
• steve willis
• Paul Voestermans
• Luís Filipe Miguel
• Maureen
• Andy McConnell
• mehmet durmus
• Steve Hoge
• Chris Nason
• Cloudspotter
• Gillian B
• ndrqu
• Steve J
• Marisa Boraas

And those who came after to help clean up the “MOOP (Matter Out Of Place)” (after the hint):

• donaaronio
• Dackelz.HP
• Max_Power

This little corner has a lot to look at. In addition to the Sutro Baths, there is also The Cliff House, a giant Camera Obscura (the building is in the shape of a camera), plus Lands End, Seal Rock, and a whole bunch more. About 250 M further to the south, about 20 M from the shore, is also the epicenter of the 1906 Earthquake.

But this contest was really all about the Sutro Baths.

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Built in the late 1800’s by former San Francisco Mayor Adolph Sutro, the baths were at one point the largest indoor swimming establishment in the world. In 1937, after the baths had declined because of the depression, the largest pool was converted to an Ice Rink. In the 1950s, Playland, an amusement park, opened at the site. The complex burned down under suspicious circumstances (as in, the developer left down while the fire was still burning) in 1966.

Today, the ruins of the baths are part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area

Those who took a dip included:

• LawnBoy
• Phil Ower
• steve willis
• Paul Voestermans
• Andy Hoxie
• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• Steve J
• David Kozina
• Skip
• Max_Power

And those who waited until it burned down

• Cloudspotter

At various points in its existance it was a pool, an ice rink, and even the site of an amusement park.

Dry Creek Quarry was the filming location for one of the most important battles in contemporary literature, The Battle of Helm’s Deep (also known as The Battle of the Hornburg) from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

For those unfamiliar with the books and/or movies, Helm’s Deep was an impenetrable fortress that was attacked by Orcs, who found and exploited a vulnerability and came very close to swamping the complex. Saruman’s forces were defeated in the end, with a race of sentient trees (hence the hint) called the Huorns delivering the final blow to the Orcs. The design of the location for this scene in the movie is detailed in depth in a group of message posts that were combined in the page at this link.

For those who question the importance of this battle, I’m forced to point out that there was actually a Lego set made of it (the very hallmark of an indicator of vital knowledge).

Those who beat back the Orcs before the hint were:

• Steve Wills
• Gillian B
• Lighthouse
• Garfield

And those who crawled out of the forest for an single point:

• Phil Ower
• Marisa Boraas
• Maureen
• donaaronio
• Dackelz.HP
• Farceur

Caroline Island (also known as Millenium Island) sits nearly 30° east of the anti-meridian, yet, because of a 1985 realignment, it is officially west of the International Date Line, and is, in fact, the farthest easterly point west of the date line.

Fun fact: Because of the political nature of realignments of the date line, it has become quite an eccentric line. The farthest westerly point that is officially east of the date line is Cape Wrangell on the Aleutian island of Attu at about 172° east. That makes for a 38° separation of the points, roughly the width of Australia.

Those who found it on Day+1 included:

• Farceur
• Paul Voestermans
• steve willis
• Garfield
• mehmet DURMUS
• Christian Groenne
• Phil Ower
• Gillian B
• lelie
• Chris Nason
• Jesus Rodriguez
• Bryan Hix
• Lighthouse
• Bill Close
• Marisa Boraas
• Maureen

And with a hint:

• steve simmons
• Steve J.
• Luis Filipe Miguel
• donaaronio

Any further east, and you’d be west.

Constructed in 2006 by sculptor Andrew Rogers, the Bunjil Geoglyph depicts the eaglehawk that the Kulin aborignal Australians revered as a creator.

The work has a wing span of over 100 meters, and over 1500 tonnes of material were used in its construction.

Those who flew with Bunjil after the Trickster Crow opened his bag of winds included:

• Lighthouse
• steve willis
• Garfield
• mehmet DURMUS
• lelie
• Phil Ower
• Farceur
• Chris Nason
• donaaronio
• Paul Voestermans
• Steve J
• Marisa Boraas

And after the hint:

• Maureen
• Max_Power
• ashwini agrawal

He’s an eaglehawk, his brother is a bat and he was tricked by a crow.