Megavolt...Megavolt:

One of the perennial favorite projects at Burning Man is the edifice known as Tesla, and its constructer, Dr. Megavolt. Tesla is a million volt Tesla coil which shoots 5-10 foot streamers of lightning. One evening, as Rob & I were walking, we came upon Tesla making its rounds. It had stopped, and a crowd gathered. We screamed "Megavolt...Megavolt..." with the crowd, one primal voice united in desire for lightning. Finally, he came out, dressed in a wire mesh suit with a metal cage over his head. Reaching towards the huge terminals, he channeled lightning with his hands, putting on a show for the crowd. A two-by-four was tossed up, and he held it in the stream of energy, as it smoked and flamed, while he remained untouched.

The Poor Lamplighters:

We were supposed to be camped with the Lamplighters, but they didn't have as much room as we thought and so we camped in the Alternative Energy Zone. They were busy and important and didn't seem very interested in noting our new location so they could redirect people who came looking for us. This was unfortunate, because there were a bunch of different people who were looking for me, for various reasons, and apparently the lamplighter's got rather tired of being constantly pestered about where Patri was camping. In fact, one of my friends thought it was so funny that they were getting annoyed by his daily visits that he started getting random people to go there and ask for me, just to make things worse.

Scumby, Solitaire:

The one thing we did to help people find us was put a sign up on the central bulletin board that said "MUDD" in big letters. As a result, one evening a posse of alums came wandering by to talk. They had graduated around 90, and were part of the group that turned into Scumby, the atwood suite. They had an area called "Scumbyland" on the other side of BM, which featured Human Foosball - a lifesize version of the popular college pastime using real people. Not only that, but one of them was (this is exciting)...The Mudder who wrote Windows Solitaire! The legend is true! And its even true that his Scripps gf did the art for the cards. They also were around for the infamous meth lab bust, and confirmed/denied various parts of that legend. No, the DEA did not enroll an agent as a student. No, there was not enough ether to blow up the dorm, there was only one small bottle. Yes, the bust did involve a SWAT team and lots of vehicles and people with guns and flashing lights and sirens.

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