It appears the act of dropping out is truly getting hard indeed, following news that post-apocalyptic, counterculture mainstay Burning Man will be connected to the outside world during this year’s festival with cellphone service. While some posit that the emergence of service is merely a result of increased coverage being provided to the nearby town of Gerlach, NV (Pop. 499), the fact remains that an event defined by its manifestations of authenticity, progressivism and escapism, has just gotten a little more, well, conventional.
The SFist imagines the impact from a constant stream of desert tweets and Facebook updates to be the final straw [...]

Burning Man, the annual party held in the desert of Northern Nevada celebrating radical self-reliance through equally radical self-expression has long been supportive of the local communities that put up with overwhelming yearly migration of some 40,000 participants.
And staying consistent with Burning Man’s informal ‘gift economy’ and last year’s theme of the “Green Man,” the event is putting it’s money where it’s mouth is and installing a 90-kilowatt solar system for the school system in Gerlach, a town just North of the event site.
Black Rock Solar is a non-profit project developed under the umbrella of the Burning Man community [...]