From rhythm.com!bpowell Tue Jun 30 02:45:02 1998 From: bpowell@rhythm.com (Bob Powell) Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 02:42:43 -0400 X-Mailer: Z-Mail (3.2.3 08feb96 MediaMail) To: burn@rhythm.com Subject: lots-O-stuff Cc: bpowell@dnai.com, bpowell@rhythm.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi Burners, So I did some design work this weekend, and some phone calls this morning. I have several things to report back to you. I have info on: Playaland Designs: 1) the design of the tetherball 2) the design of the swing 3) the design of sound/projector towers/gates 4) the design of a group shade structure 5) the design of Playaland itself Rentals: 1) the cost of a generator 2) the cost of a rental truck 3) the cost of balloons and helium tanks Costumes: 1) vests/jumpsuit excursion Forgive me if this is a long email, but I wanted to get some of this stuff out to you guys to hear your feedback. Please take the time to read it and tell everyone what you think. Questions I think we should address very soon (62 days to BM!) are: 1) What things do we really want and what should we split the costs of, and what should we individually contribute. 2) The design of playaland itself (depends a little on 1) 3) Who is going to arrive when, and so how does stuff get set up. It seems best for me to give some of the general info up front, and then we can go back to address these other issues: Playaland Designs: ------------------ The Design of the Tetherball: So I had a great meeting with Peter Knowlton yesterday. Peter is a structural engineer with the LA city, and loves collaborating on projects like this. He knows all about materials, steel, connections, stresses, etc. If any of you saw my steel cross structure at SIGGRAPH 1995, Peter is the one who helped me design it. He can design something that is really safe and functional. Dave, Sylvia et. al may wish to run their designs past Peter for any helpful suggestions. I'm sure he'd be happy to provide feedback about what is safe, and what might break. So it looks like the 15' tether ball is a total go. The materials are relatively inexpensive, and there aren't too many issues about welding/etc. I have .gifs of the designs that I can post. It looks like the tether ball will have a max radius of 14', almost the height of the pole itself, or a 30' diameter. We could shorten the rope a little and make it a 24' diameter instead. This will take a large chunk of the playground (but it's gonna be GREAT! A 15' tetherball is going to be bitchin'.) So I recommend that we consider a retangular, vs. square, playground. Why do I care about this now? Why not just get out to the desert and set it all up? Don't worry, I'll get there... The Design of the Swing: The design of the swing is a lot more intense. It involves several welded joints, moving parts, lots of bolting, and about 150 drilled holes. This is so that the entire swing set can be assembled and dis-assembled on site. It's also made almost completely out of industrial strength steel, to support 3 people on one swing. I have to meet with the machinist that works at R&H, and maybe albe to work with us on this, to help me build it. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to drill steel and weld at my place! ;0) Depending on the costs of assembly, I may or may not be able to do the swing idea. I think the steel is relatively cheap. It's the labor to put it together that might be hard. It's designed so industrially to be sure that it won't fall on anyone, or tip over, no matter who jumps on the thing and how out of control they can get. At 15' tall, you can get a lot of force going on something like this, and I want to be sure it's safe, esp since I'm not going to be there all the time to watch out for crazy people. I also have some .gif diagrams of this if you'd like to see them, tho Peter is re-working the drawings based on our discussions yesterday, and we'll have something new very soon. The Design of Sound/Projector towers/Gates: So, I want to propose the idea of building wooden "towers" at the 4 corners of Playaland. I think these towers would be relatively cheap, could be initially built at my place, and then hauled up to BM. Why do I think towers are a good idea? 1) We can use them to demarcate Playaland. Create a real space. 2) We can use them to elevate Niki's stereo system off the ground. 3) I'm looking into projection devices for Playaland. We could mount projectors into the towers and point them towards screens or the playa itself, and keep them out of the dust. 4) We could put the generator under one of the towers to help hide it. 5) It would give us something to create a gate with, and something that would allow us to decorate with balloons, and the Playaland (tm) logo. ;0) Peter and I discussed some 8' tall retangular structures that could be staked out pretty easily and/or counter weighted, which would have selves for speakers and projectors. Do you think this is a good idea? Do we all want this? I think it would add a lot to the overall camp presence. I think we could build all 4 of these things in a weekend. We could also burn them at the end..... The Design of a Group Shade Structure: Peter has had a alot of experience with public tents. We did a quick design using two braced poles and several guide lines that could support a parachute and/or desert camoflage (sp?) netting. I think a group shade structure, perhaps where we could cook, would be a very good idea. We'll definitely need someplace to get out of the sun in the afternoons. Shall we work on this too? Should we split the cost of a parachute or camo netting? The Design of Playaland itself: Well, if we do the towers, then I'd like to get a rough idea about the shape of Playaland. If I know that, I can set up and test the projection stuff, and know how screens may (or may not) work in the space. For example, I don't want to set up a screen that'll be blocked by the tetherball pole. Also, should we schedule a shakedown of these structures somewhere about a week or two in advance of Playaland? It seems we should really assemble this stuff someplace first, before hauling it out to the desert. That would be either the weekend of August 22nd, or the weekend before, Aug. 29th. This would also give us hard deadlines to get shit done by. I vote for the 22nd, because then we have a week to fix any bugs. Also, we could play with the stuff ourselves first! :0) Rentals: -------- The Cost of a Generator: So, because I'm investing time and moolah in getting this projector idea rolling, and because we've talked about stereos and christmas lights, I got on the phone today about renting a generator. Here's the low down. Generators generally come in 3 sizes for rental in LA. 1000 Kw, 3000 or 3500 Kw, or 6000 KW. By our rough estimates on power consumption, I think we should go for the 3000 Kw. This should give us a good safety margin for any electrical thing we want to plug in. Also the price differential between 1000 Kw and 3000 Kw is small (~ $20.00). I called 6 places. The best deals I could find were: Cole's Equipment Rental: a Coleman Powermate, 3000 Kw, 25 amps $40/per day or $160/week + deposit Fisher Lumber Honda EB (suppossed to be good) 3000 Kw, 21 Amps $45.00/day or $180.00/week (+ deposit) (Near my house) Wannamaker Rents Honda EB - 3500 W, 21 Amps $35/day or $140/week (in Burbank tho) If we went down to 1000 KW there wasn't a substantial savings Quality Equipment Rentals Multiquip 1000Kw $30/day or $120/week We should reserve these at least 2 weeks in advance. Should we split the cost of renting a generator? Should we have it for a week or just 3 days? (The difference between a week and 3 days is usually only $40, because the price break for a week is calculated at 4 days.) The Cost of a Rental Truck: I'm assuming we'll need something big for all the stuff we're hauling up. Sure won't all fit in my car... So I called Ryder and Uhaul: Ryder Truck Rentals: 10 ft - $250.00/week + $0.25/mile 15 ft - $275.00/week + $0.25/mile UHaul (only rents 14' for out of town moves): 14 ft - $19.95/day + $0.49/mile So checking a mileage calculator on the web I got (LA->Gerlach) 626.6 miles. Assuming it's 650 when each way when we're done, or 1300 miles round trip, it'll be: Ryder 15 ft - $275.00 + 325.00 (mileage) = $600 UHaul 14 ft - $140.00 + 637.00 (mileage) = $777 for a week's rental. I'm thinking that the cost of these trucks violates the "cheap" rule of Playaland. I am open to options. There was someone at Gigsville that had a big truck. I'll contact them and check out if they still have room, and when they are leaving. I think they were talking about $100-200 to chip in for everything. This is, of course, an important issue to what we can bring and how big it is... The Cost of Balloons and Helium Tanks: Ok, here's some good news. I called two places on tanks. One woman was so entralled by our idea that she wants all the info about it, in case she can come. The overall best deal (because of the big tank) was: A - Ballooningdales: 1 tank for about 650 balloons was $80 + tax + deposit 1 nozzle $4.50 + tax + deposit and then we can purchase balloons in a variety of colors at 144 balloons/bag from $14.20-14.80/bag, depending on color (i.e. ~ $15 a bag). And $2.00/roll of ribbon 500 yrds (or enough for about 500 balloons). Three or four rolls would do us. They also had some 3 ft wide balloons which might be great to attach to the towers if we build them, for $1.62 each. Anyone want to split the cost of some balloons? I bet they could add alot to the atmosphere. Also, someone suggested possibly making gates FROM baloons. Much easier than wood, but wouldn't have any shelving. Costumes: -------- I'm doing a vests and/or jumpsuit excursion to the LA garment district tomorrow to see what's available. Wish me luck. Once again, cheap is the motto. Who want's some kind of vest or clothing to paint a logo on? What is your size? Pending Questions: ------------------ I know that all this stuff seems like a lot, but to really get something cool going at BM, it does take a little planning. Remember that big ass rocking horse from last year? That wasn't brought up in a volkswagen... So here are some pending questions that seem to come from the stuff above: 1) What things do we really want and what should we split the costs of, and what should we individually contribute? - If we want electricity, it seems we should split the cost of the generator (and gas). We will all benefit from that. - If we all think the towers are a good idea, it seems we should split the cost of the wood. The labor is easy. Let me know what you think. - If we want a shade structure for the camp, I think we should split the cost of a parachute or tarp (about $40.00) and camo netting (maybe $100?). Also we could bring up the tent poles and cableing. - If we all want balloons, then we should probably split the cost of the tank rentals and balloons. - I don't know the best solution for hauling stuff up yet. If I only do the tetherball, then the only big thing might be the generator, posts for towers and/or shade structure, and/or balloon tanks. If we rent a truck, we should do it as a group if people want that. Please let me know what you think about the truck issue. - Vests? Jumpers, etc? For example, a sample budget might look like this: 1 3000 Kw generator for 1 week ~ 200.00 (with gas) 2 tanks of helium ~ 180.00 (with nozzle + tax) 9 bags of balloons ~ 140.00 (with ribbon) wood and bolts for towers ~ 100.00 camo and parachute for shade ~ 150.00 --------------------------- $770.00 This is assuming no truck. On this alias currently we have 17 people. Assuming some don't come and others do, or roughly about 15 playalanders, this would only come out to be about $51.33/each. Of course, the more people we have, the cheaper it is (and conversely, so tell all your friends). Renting a truck would about double that cost. This is just an example folks, just to help us decide what's reasonable. Personally, I'm still contributing the tether ball, projectors, and possibly the swing, Dave & Sylvia the teeter-totter, and others labor and time (and stereo!). We should figure out how we can split this stuff tho, so we can plan accordingly. 2) The design of playaland itself (depends a little on 1) If we do the towers (seems like a good idea to me) then can I map out a space and submit it for ya'll approval? I'm thinking of something simple, like 40' x 25'. 3) Who is going to arrive when, and how does stuff get set up. So after all that, I'm probably only going to be at BM from Saturday -> Monday. I had to choose between working on Babe II or being at Burning Man for the week. I chose the 4 months of employment. However, I'm willing to put in the efforts to get all this stuff up and running before hand, but I won't be there when BM opens to set it all up. If we don't set up -> anything <- till Saturday afternoon, I'm a little worried about having 1000 sq. ft of clear space in Gigsville. Is anyone going from LA early and willing to help with setup on site? Preferably we can do the dry run together a week or so early. OK, that's it. I'm done. I hope you made it this far. Please let me know what you think! Thanks, Bob -- Ever notice how adults can get really silly and happy when they happen upon a playground and let go of their seriousness for a while? ---- PLAYALAND ---- http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/people/davet/burn/playaland.html