As thousands of people remain unable to leave the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert after heavy rains inundated their campsites with ankle-deep mud Saturday, authorities say they are investigating a death at the event.

Attendees were told to shelter in place in the Black Rock Desert and conserve food, water and fuel after a rainstorm swamped the area, forcing officials to halt any entering or leaving of the festival.

The remote area in northwest Nevada was hit with 2 to 3 months worth of rain – up to 0.8 inches – in just 24 hours between Friday and Saturday mornings. The heavy rainfall fell on dry desert grounds, whipping up thick, clay-like mud that festivalgoers say is too difficult to walk or bike through.

  • @underisk@lemmy.ml
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    3010 months ago

    The other takeaway is that more than half the attendees make more than 100k a year so not exactly a minority.

      • ANGRY_MAPLE
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        10 months ago

        It might be a perspective thing, and how you both define “rich”.

        If someone gets by every week on ramen, a salary of $100k/year would seem like a crap ton of money. Doubly so if most of their community is also living off of ramen. One year on that salary alone would be life changing for this person.

        If someone lives in a pricy area and maybe has a few kids, a salary of $100k wouldn’t seem like nearly as much. Doubly so if most of their community makes that much. One year on that salary is just another year for this person.

        For some people, “rich” is not having to worry about starving and knowing that they have a roof over their head. It’s about finally being able to buy non-necessities, and it’s about being able to have things just for enjoyment. Some people are very month to month in terms of costs and bills.

        To others, “rich” is being able to buy expensive boats and cars. It’s about having excess wealth and never having to worry about any monetary problems. These people might think of millionaires and billionaires when they hear the word “rich”.

        Of course some people would consider $100k/year rich. I’m certain that MANY people would take that salary boost in a heartbeat.

        I’m not saying that $100k would set you up anywhere near as much as $1m would, but it’s a hell of a lot more money than many people can make.

        In 10 years, that salary is $1,000,000. For someone making $50k/year, it would take 20 years for them to make that much. For someone making $25k/year, it would take 40 years for them to earn that much. I would feel disingenuous telling someone who makes $25k/year that making $100k wouldn’t be becoming “rich” to them.

        Maybe that’s their monetary sweet spot, and they rely on other things to finish fulfilling their personal definition of “rich”. Family, friends, hobbies, etc.

        • blargerer
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          2710 months ago

          How rich you are on 100k really depends on where you live.

        • @socsa@lemmy.ml
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          1210 months ago

          Bro, median household income in the US is almost $80k. It’s not 1998 anymore.

        • @Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
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          910 months ago

          True for one person but this is household income. A married couple both making $50k would fall into this. While that is definitely not poor by any means. I think it is fair to say that it would be a bit of a stretch to call a person in the us today making $50k “rich.”

            • @Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
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              110 months ago

              What do you mean? The article that was pulling the data used “household income” as the data set… It is exclusively talking about household income.

              • @underisk@lemmy.ml
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                10 months ago

                Yeah I went back and checked. Wrong about that, but I’d like to reiterate that 100k is simply the lower bound of the range provided. It does not mean that any or even a majority of them were making exactly 100k per household. In fact, 15% are listed as 300k which is more than the amount of people attending making less than 30k. Then you also have to consider that households that do make 100k are far more likely to have single-income earners than households only making 50k.