Burn Time

The Georgia burning man event Alchemy has switched to a different time scheme.

Use this app to help keep time with your other burners.

Instead of showing the time, the current hour is represented with a symbol and color.

The color tells you what 6-hour block of time you’re in. The colors are arranged in the usual ROYGBIV order, so most people familiar with rainbows will understand the next symbol after red pentagon is yellow donut.

The number of sides of the shape tells the hour offset from the block. Donuts have no sides, so that represents 0 (it also looks like a zero). Circles have one side, etc. So, green triangle is +3hrs from noon, or 3p.

The symbols both repeat and progress, so a volunteer that sees a yellow triangle will remember they have a shift at green triangle in about 6 hours. Or, if a volunteer knows that their shift is at yellow pentagon and they see yellow cross, they have about 3 hours until their next shift.

If a hippie can remember how to count to five, is familiar with rainbows, and can determine if it is light or dark outside, they can follow along with this system.

To assist the color blind (and maybe to make it more obvious), the addition of a lunar crescent pointing “left” (6p - 12a) signifies the start of the evening. If it is pointing “right” (12a - 6a) this signifies the end of the evening.

Similarly, for the start of the day (6a - 12p) the additional sun ray symbol points left, and at the end of the day, the sun rays point right (12p-6p).