Playa Phone

isoprophlex

phone rings Stoned burner picks up, mumbles "Uhhh, hullo, who dis?" into the horn while eyeing two giant wasp-colored octopi overhead making love "Hello sir and or madameperson. I won't take up much of your time. See, your number was posted to the pre-eminent forum for everything that goes fast and breaks things." "Uhhh, yeah whatever man" "I'll cut right to it, seeing that you're an important, busy man like myself. I will just take one short minute to talk to you about our lord and saviour, *VC Money*."

dole

Burning man livestream here, still early and setting up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BgytKvsORM Page says it's on "Chomolungma" but it's "Ceiba" on the maps, just in case you can spot the phone on the stream.

krogenx

Would be fun to read if the calls were recorded and transcribed.

throwayay4929

Is Burning Man fun? I got the rather cynical impression that it's mostly very well off tech people and even better off finance/political people. Not trying to be flippant, genuinely curious if my impression is based on reality or am I making things up.

readthenotes1

Did the original founders intend burning Man to be a parody on the trash heap that is 21st century human civilization?

languagehacker

So happy to see that the comments so far are just Burning Man hate. I appreciate SomaFM's impact on my appreciation for electronic music and alternative music streaming services back in the '90s, but outside of that I'm pretty sure it's mostly been a net negative from a cultural standpoint in total.

solfox

Our first time out on the playa together, my girlfriend and I stopped by this phone booth and made a couple of calls. And because we stopped, we saw the FSM camp next door, and a giant sign saying "Weddings Here", so we inquired. They offered us free rings and then announced our wedding over a loudspeaker. In 2 minutes we had an entire wedding party, complete with best man, an elder to give away the bride, 25+ guests, and an officiant. My newly-minted best man even gave me one of my favorite playa gifts ever as a wedding gift. We opted not to "make it official", though they offered. It was a truly incredible experience. Thanks FSM!

hackingonempty

Brad Templeton did this 20 years ago, https://www.templetons.com/pq/build.html

nandanadileep29

Would be fun to see how the calls went lol

ape4

I looked but I don't see how it works. How does it get power? I suppose it uses a some single board computer and VOIP.

EQVEYWDCHQ

called and got through after three attempts, had a pleasant conversation and it uplifted my mood. thanks!

aaron42net

This phone is my project. I'm happy to answer questions.

1attice

An old injury, but I'm always devastated to see BRC stuff on HN. It's like watching Elon snap a Nazi salute at inauguration: an unwelcome but undeniable admission that something (or someone) admirable can shift smoothly to moral horror without losing (or perhaps even burnishing) its reputation. BRC was an artistic rebellion, and now it's where people like me go to network. I can't take me anywhere.

charcircuit

I bet the dataset of who is calling who is pretty valuable. It's people related to others who were willing to drop a bunch of money to go to the desert, so you know they likely have some disposable income. If this operator isn't collecting this, it may be a good business opportunity for a competitor.

ElijahLynn

This is a beautiful example of hacking, making something useful!

ginkgotree

Brings whole new meaning to "Burner Phone." Nice.

non-

Phun and wholesome project. What service do you use for VoIP?

k7peak

This is great. I have a COCOT myself with an ATA adapter. So so much fun, great job!

teh_infallible

I had an idea like this years ago, only my idea was to put two of these on the playa and have them only call each other. Do you could pick one up, the other would ring, and you could talk to a random person.

Our_Benefactors

Fun! Just wished someone a happy burn.