The hippies really do seem to be winning. Not only has the tree-hugging environmentally conscious consumer and corporation become somewhat of a standard barer in the marketplace, but also, one of technology's driving goals seems to be finding and perfecting more sustainable alternatives for everything from car design and alternative fuels to farming methods.

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At around 3am PST today (6am EST), the Burning Man figure caught fire.  He is supposed to be burned on the 6th day (Saturday) of this 8 day festival....sources suspect arson.  The 35,000+ person experimental community festival  is held annually in Black Rock City, Nevada.  The figure is still standing, but damage has yet to be assessed as to whether figure needs to be rebuilt...

Could it be the business men disguised as business hippie douchebags trying to sabotage the anticorporate hippie douchebag lifestyle?  On second thought these guys are most definitely too high on designer weed to pull off something like this.  Its probably the green hippie douchebags from Coolingman, peeved about the festival's carbon footprint...developing...

Albert Gore III, the son of Al Gore has been pulled over for speeding, and was arrested for having a bunch of Rx meds in his car (that he didn't have prescriptions for).  Gore has been in trouble a couple of times before for marijuana and the likes, and we hope he can solve his problems and settle down a bit.  A somewhat of a quiet fellow when he attended Harvard University, he generally kept to himself and was not a very visible student. 

No word on whether he will be serving jail time, etc. but he certainly seems to be following the general trend of younger people increasingly abusing Rx Meds, a lot more than Marijuana experts say.  People have been snorting Ritalin and Adderall for a long time, so I guess we can't say we are too suprised (and the prescription rate on these things has skyrocketed).  But question:  Who ever figured it was a good idea to snort these things, or that it would do anything?!  I guess kids a boarding schools have WAY too much time on their hands.

The Gore's seem to be tacking the issue head on, and we hope they can figure it out so Al can continue his Green efforts!

Today the New York Times reported on Freegans, a growing group of people who actively scorn consumerism and live off the detritis we normal people create.  No word yet on whether they espouse the ethos of free love, but don't be surprised if you see one of these guys scavenging around a dumpster near you.  But like most reactionaries, Freegans revolt against the very system that supports them, namely consumer waste.  We certainly applaud their move to go Green, but lets not completely go bonkers, we still need like our ipods and cell phones, etc.

Take for Example Adam Weissman, who states:

“If a person chooses to live an ethical lifestyle it’s not enough to be vegan, they need to absent themselves from capitalism,” said Adam Weissman, 29, who started freegan.info four years ago and is the movement’s de facto spokesman.

 Sorry Adam, but if we just up and did what you said, you'd have nothing to live off of.  Don't bite the hand that feeds!

Lastly, just because you find something free in a dumpster, doesn't mean its worth smiling about.  Wtf is this girl going to do with angel wings anyways? 

[Photo: New York Times]