A San Francisco couple went to Burning Man. But wait, it gets worse. While they were gone, the housesitter they found on TrustedHousesitters.com rented their apartment out on AirBnb, the Guardian reports. The sharing economy has gone mad, and San Francisco is a monster of its own creation.

Guess what, those swarming insects aren’t the only bugs on the Burning Man playa these days.

I believe in the power of an almighty God who is both just and terrible in his wrath: America’s least favorite gathering of startup dorks on MDMA is swarming with a plague of nightmarish, biting bugs.

Amid the ravers, art freaks, and dust-covered Earth mothers of Burning Man 2014, one man likely stood out from the rest: Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and all-around conservative icon, who made his first trip to the playa this year.

A man at a Burning Man facsimile festival in Utah died after running into the ceremonial fire at the closing ceremonies on Saturday. Police are investigating the case as a suicide.

Over at io9, George Dvorsky writes about "the biggest burning man ever"—and hmm, that tent city looks familiar...

What's Italian Harry Potter lookalike and former boyfriend of Amanda Knox Raffaele Sollectio been up to since he was exonerated of murder charges and released from prison? Why, he's doing what anyone would do in his situation: writing a book about his sex with Amanda Knox, and going to Burning Man.

You know that I love a time-lapse video, so how could I resist one of the ludicrous rich people's druggie playground that is Burning Man? Sure, this thing is more played out than rolling around on E in the desert, but there's something great about watching a bustling city come together over the course of a few days and then putter out.

Not all of the vehicles present at last week's Burning Man Art Conference and Business Workshop were RV campers inhabited by radical CEOs. Some of the things-on-wheels that people drove around the desert were actually quite artistic and inspired! This fire-shooting steampunk octopus, complete with moving arms and eyes that pop out, is one such example. Needs a few additional safety features, but it's still probably safer than a Pinto.

Unless you're wealthy, you've probably been spending Burning Man Week moping about how you couldn't afford tickets to America's favorite festival of radical self-expression this year. But make no mistake: Those rich people touring the playa on their Mad Max cruisers are suffering, too.

If we didn't attend the week-long Burning Man festival in Nevada every year, we probably wouldn't be the deeply spiritual, open-minded individual that we are today. We'd just be another emotional eunuch living in America, ignorant in the ways of radical self-expression. Sadly, we and our collection of fruit-flavored body paints and hovercrafts won't be able to go hang out on the Black Rock City playa this year, because last week festival tickets completely sold out for the first time in its 25-year history.

The small Nevada towns near the 'Burning Man' festival site are effectively jobless and broke after USG Corp., which owns a gypsum mine and produces wallboard, announced the closure of its local operations. What will happen to the drug festival?

Everybody's favorite animated fat kid and Our Dark Lord (Chtulhu) made the world a better place on last night's epic end to South Park's "Coon Saga." Watch as Justin Bieber's head is popped like a pimple!

A New Mexico man was picked up on the side of a highway last week with his back, ass, and prosthetic leg engulfed in flames. He apparently lost a drinking game after only being able to down six beers.

MTV has a poll up with some rather horrible suggestions for where they should film the ill-fated second season of the most important sociological experiment of our time. Sorry, but these just won't do. We have some better ideas.

The annual pilgrimage of Bay Area pyromaniacs to a Nevada desert playa is over; now comes the inevitable Burning Man hangover, in which participants and haters alike bemoan the bacchanal's worst excesses.

Sidewalk graffiti at 18th and Dolores in San Francisco's hipster-heavy Mission district. (Photo by Melissa Gira Grant)

So about 50,000 artsy-lefty, sexed-up, chanting, New Aged nutsos got together in Nevada's Black Rock Desert to do all sorts non-traditional spiritual stuff, and the Lord took notice. He (She? It?) smote 'em Old School with a massive sandstorm yesterday that sent many of the occultists running for shelter before they could close the festivities with the traditional burning of some man.

If Burning Man were still held at Ocean Beach, it would be a lot greener. Eighty-seven percent of the 27,000 tons of greenhouse gases generated by this year's party on the playa come from participants driving and flying to and from the event, according to the Cooling Man project. Cooling Man wants Burners to spend ten dollars each to buy carbon offsets. As a former theme-camper, I know money is tight for attendees this week. So I found you a discount to $9.07:

It's time for the annual bacchanal of burning fossil fuel and using drugs known as Burning Man. According to a tipster, "Google has a total of five big-rig hospitality trucks camped out at Burning Man for the Google elite and some other Valley bigwigs." Hope they stocked up on water, condoms and 2C-B! For those of you who would prefer to stay home and relish the widespread availability of parking, Scott Beale has assembled a handy guide to experiencing the scene on the playa without getting any sand somewhere uncomfortable. [Laughing Squid] (Photo by Dana Robinson)