A Wave of Zoo Fires

Several zoological park fires and fires near zoos/animals have occurred during the last week of 2017 and the first week of 2018. The timing seems bizarre, to say the least. And for a few people and animals, deadly.

A full wolf moon occurred on New Year's Day.

December 17, 2017 - Santa Barbara Zoo

The Santa Barbara Zoo’s visit from two of Santa’s reindeer has been cut short by the Thomas Fire.
The zoo welcomed two male reindeer Nov. 22, an adult named Holiday and a first-year calf named Lightning.
On Monday, Holiday and Lightning had to return home to the “North Pole” (by way of Windswept Ranch, near Tehachapi) as the Thomas Fire continues to burn nearby. The pair were originally slated to be at the zoo through the new year. "Reindeer evacuated from Santa Barbara Zoo due to Thomas Fire," by Kaytlyn Leslie, The Tribune News, December  19, 2017.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/fires/article190486459.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/fires/article190486459.html#storylink=cpy

December 23, 2017 - London Zoo

A fire that began in the Animal Adventure section, then spread to Animal Adventure Cafe & Shop in the Outer Circle of the London Zoo, near Regents Park, killed Misha, an aardvark and four meerkats, on December 23, 2017.

About 70 firefighters tackled the blaze at its height in the Animal Adventure section....
One person was taken to hospital and eight were treated at the scene.
The zoo said an aardvark called Misha died in the fire and four meerkats were still unaccounted for, presumed dead. "London Zoo fire kills aardvark and meerkats," BBC News, Dec. 23, 2017.

December 28, 2017 - near Bronx Zoo

A century ago, they came from Italy — Belmont was where chandelier makers, tailors and the workers who built the Bronx Zoo, just a block over, raised their children. These days, more of the young people zipping by on scooters or walking to class at the public school around the corner have families with roots in Puerto Rico, Jamaica or West Africa.
When a fire tore through one of the buildings late on Thursday [December 28, 2017], killing 12 people, children were at the heart of the tragedy that has shaken the neighborhood. The fire was started by a 3-year-old boy playing with burners on a stove, the authorities said. The youngest victims were 8 months, 2 years and 7 years old. ~ "In Fire-Scarred Bronx Neighborhood, a World of New Arrivals, Children and Community," by Rick Rojas, New York Times, Dec. 30, 2017

December 31, 2017 - near Berlin Zoo

At least one person was reported injured and hundreds evacuated after smoke poured out of the [the zoo train station] buildings.
The fire broke out at the Zoological Gardens station in Berlin, Germany — adjacent to the park.
It is one of the most important public transport junctions, and a mass evacuation was carried out according to a police spokesman.
German media showed smoke billowing out of the train station, just yards from the site of the deadly Christmas market attack in December 2016. "Casualties reported in zoo blaze horror," Anthony Blair, Daily Star, Dec. 31, 2017.

December 31, 2017 - near Liverpool International Horse Show 

A fire destroyed all cars in a 1,600 capacity multi-storey car park next to the Echo Arena in Liverpool, on Sunday, December 31, 2017. The fire started on the third level; the horses were on the first level and all were evacuated safely.

The Liverpool International Horse Show was cancelled as firefighters tackled the huge blaze next to the venue on Liverpool's waterfront. No injuries to any horses or people were recorded.

January 2, 2018 - Woburn Safari Park 

Thirteen monkeys have died in a fire at Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire, [in the UK] believed to have been sparked by a faulty generator.
The blaze started in the patas monkey [Erythrocebus patas] house within the drive-through enclosure of the park in the early hours of Tuesday [January 2, 2018]. It was spotted by security guards on a routine patrol and three appliances from the Bedfordshire fire brigade attended. "Fire Kills 13 Monkeys at Woburn Safari Park," The Guardian, Jan. 2, 2018.

January 2, 2018 - near Bronx Zoo

A dozen people were hurt, though all are expected to be OK, as a six-alarm fire swept through a multistory building near the Bronx Zoo early Tuesday [January 2, 2018], drawing more than three dozen fire units and 150 firefighters to help battle the flames.

The 5:30 a.m. fire broke out in a tin-roof furniture store, where the gates were down, on Commonwealth Avenue in Van Nest and rapidly spread up to apartments in the mixed-use building. More than two hours later, flames were still raging. ~ "9 Children Among 23 Hurt as Another Inferno Devours Building in the Bronx," by Tracie Strahan, NBC New York, Jan. 2, 2018.

More than three dozen units and 150 firefighters are battling a massive fire inside a building near the Bronx Zoo, according to the FDNY. Chopper4-NBC New York

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Thanks to Mike Playfair for some info.

Drawing of giraffes and an eland watching a fire near the Oakland Zoo, March 2017.

Theaters and Theater Suspect On Fire

All things, oh priests, are on fire

The eye is on fire; 

Forms are on fire; 

Eye-consciousness is on fire; 

Impressions received by the eye are on fire.

~ Buddha - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, 

founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.

Fires have been traditionally associated with equinoxes. This year's September equinox, also known as the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere, will be on September 22, 2012. To be exact, this will occur at September 22, 2012, 14:49 GMT.

Intriguingly, after a week of the "World on Fire" allegedly caused by a film, the fires have moved onto and into theaters:

At least one person has died as demonstrations against an anti-Islam video erupt across Pakistan, a day after protesters tried to storm the US embassy in the capital, Islamabad.
Angry demonstrators set fire to two cinemas in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police and witnesses said on Friday, as the country began a day of protests.
One protester was wounded when a cinema guard opened fire as crowds armed with clubs and bamboo poles converged on the Firdaus picture house, "smashing it up and setting furniture ablaze," according to Gohar Ali, a police officer.
Witnesses said a separate rampaging crowd stormed the Shama cinema, notorious locally for showing films considered to be pornographic.

~ Aljazeera, 21 September 2012.

Protestors attacked Capri, Nishat and Prince cinemas in Karachi, as they marched on the main M.A. Jinnah road in the city’s downtown area.
According to DawnNews, Capri and Nishat cinemas were partially damaged while Prince cinema was set afire by violent mobs.
~ DawnNews, 21 September 2012.

Meanwhile, yesterday, September 20, 2012, during the newest hearing for alleged Aurora movie theater shooter James Eagan (= fiery) Holmes, he showed his new look.

Let's see the visual evolution we have been given by the media and/or the courts.

The first view of the suspect was in his initial open court arraignment.

Then there was the release later the same day of the "booking" photograph, which may have been taken some time after he was arrested on July 20, 2012 up through when he was arraigned, days later. His beard growth appears contemporary with the court appearance growth.

The Internet soon was awash with recently "old" photos of Holmes, with the red/orange fluffy hair style and similar beard growth.

The Joker is historically shown with green hair, but examples were found of orange-haired ones too, which may have served as Holmes' copycat source.

Now comes the closed court hearing of September 20, 2012, two months later, with new drawings and a new photograph of James Eagan Holmes. 

Who do the eyes remind you of?

Humm?

The booking photograph (above) is of Jared Lee Loughner, the confessed shooter of the January 8, 2011, Tucson, Arizona, incident. That event killed six people, including Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Roll, as well as a 9-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green, the granddaughter of former Chicago Cubs manager Dallas Green. The shooting also left 14 others wounded, including some critically, like U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (Democrat, Arizona-House 8th).

Booking photographs are funny things. Some questions have been raised about whether or not the first image widely distributed of Loughner (above and on the right, below) has been altered. See here for a larger discussion of that issue. A later "original" photograph of Loughner (below, left) has since been released.

Some photoshopping of the Loughner (below) has been clearly labeled as such.

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Other recent fire news, as compiled by DRN, and shared:

Venezuela refinery fire spreads as death toll reaches 48 (8/27)

4 hours of fire and chaos: How the Benghazi attack unfolded (9/12)

Rare ‘fire devil’ caught on film (9/19) (Filmed on 9/11)

29 Dead, 46 Injured in Mexico pipeline fire (9/19)

Groundbreaking held for RI nightclub fire memorial (9/19)

French Muhammad Cartoons ‘Fuel on the Fire’ (9/19)

Photos: Fire wipes out more than 500 shanties in Bangladesh (9/20)

World On Fire: Updates

The Muslim protests have now spread to Australia. Police said that, about 1 pm on Saturday, a group marched from Sydney Town Hall to Martin Place, where a confrontation occurred between protesters and police outside a building housing the US consulate. Police used capsicum spray on the protesters, who at times pelted officers with bottles. Up to 500 people stormed through the city, working their way through Pitt Street before moving to Hyde Park amid a heavy police presence. The crowd ran on to the Australian museum.

Also on Saturday, 9/14/2012, thousands of Chinese besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing, hurling rocks, eggs and bottles as protests broke out in other major cities in China amid growing tension between Asia's two biggest economies over a group of disputed islands.

Well, we knew this was coming...and more (see Cycles).

Read below, for Friday events.

The Master opens today, September 14th, in LA and New York City. 

Director Paul Thomas Anderson also steered Magnolia to the screen.

Bomb threats hit Texas, North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri on Friday. 

Protests spread from one end of the Mideast all the way across Asia.

The world seemed ablaze on September 14, 2012. 

Here cars in front of the US Embassy in Egypt are on fire.

A Hardee's, a KFC and an Arby’s restaurant were set on fire 

in the city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on Friday.

Thousands of people streamed off university campuses in Texas and North Dakota on Friday after phoned-in bomb threats prompted evacuations and officials warned students and faculty to get away as quickly as possible.

The Texas university received a call about 8:35 a.m. on Friday, September 14th, from a man, allegedly with an Arab accent, claiming to be with al Qaeda who said he had placed bombs all over the 50,000-student University of Texas at Austin campus, according to spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon. He claimed the bombs would go off in 90 minutes and all buildings were evacuated at 9:50 a.m. as a precaution, Weldon said.

UT’s JJ Pickle Research facility in North Austin was also evacuated. The facility houses a a fully functional nuclear reactor operated by the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab department.
No bombs went off. No bombs were found.

Similar events occurred in Fargo. North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani said 20,000 people were evacuated from his school's main and downtown campuses in Fargo after the school received its bomb threat Friday morning. Officials did not immediately release details about the North Dakota threat.

No bombs went off. No bombs were found.

Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, posted a campus alert about potential danger during chapel break period, which happens at 11:15 a.m. Friday. The unspecified threat was made via a "graffiti message."

No bombs went off. No bombs were found.

Campus officials say a small college in Hiram, in northeast Ohio were evacuated because of a bomb threat. Hiram College posted a statement on its website saying it received a bomb threat Friday afternoon and was taking the threat seriously.

No bombs went off. No bombs were found.

Hiram is a very Masonic name. President Garfield attended Hiram College. He was a Masonic president. Interesting that he was initiated at the Magnolia Lodge. Very Fortean.

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD (1831-1881)

Twentieth President (July 2 - September 19, 1881)

MASONIC RECORD Initiated: November 19, 1861, Magnolia Lodge, No. 20, Columbus, Ohio. Owing to Civil War duties, Brother Garfield did not receive the Third Degree until November 22, 1864 in Columbus Lodge No. 30, Columbus, Ohio. On October 10, 1866, he Affiliated with Garrettsville Lodge No. 246, Garrettsville, Ohio, serving as its Chaplain in 1868-1869. Brother Garfield then became a Charter Member of Pentalpha Lodge No. 23 of Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1869; in fact, he was one of the Petitioners for the Lodge Charter.

At noon on Friday, September 14th, a man walked into the Richard Bolling Federal Building, 600 E. 12th Street, Kansas City, Missouri, and said he was a terrorist. A bomb-sniffing dog has detected the presence of some sort of explosives inside the vehicle (above) of the man, which was outside the building. The Kansas City Police Department ordered the bomb and arson squad to his vehicle, located in the Fletcher Daniels State Office Building parking lot, 615 E. 13th Street.

No bombs have gone off. The dog detected explosives. No bombs have been found yet.

As all this was happening (and more?) in the US, the following hotspots ignited, according to several media sources:
~ Demonstrators breached the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia;
~ American school in Tunis torched;
~ German Mission in Khartoum, Sudan was set aflame;
~ British Mission in Sudan attacked;
~ Security forces in Yemen block streets near U.S. Embassy and killed two;
~ Fires and rocks being thrown at U.S. embassies in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt;
~ Effigy of Obama burned near Jalalabad, Afghanistan;
~ Thousands demonstrate against the U.S. in Gaza City;
~ Protesters throwing rocks and gasoline bombs near the American Embassy in Libya;
~ Demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
~ Thousands in Srinagar, Kasimir protest;
~ Hundreds in southern India;
~ Demonstrations in Indonesia;
~ Protests in Qatar;
~ Demonstrations in Kuwait;
~ Protests in Iraq;
~ Crowds continue gathering in Libya;
~ 5000 marched in the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, burning the American flag;
~ Troops fired over demonstrators in Jos, Nigeria; and
~ Hundreds of protesters set fire during attacks on restaurants in Tripoli, Lebanon, resulting in one dead.


Meanwhile, Fox News shares this:

Volcanic ash spews from the Volcan de Fuego or Volcano of Fire as seen from Palin, south of Guatemala City, Thursday, September 13, 2012. The long-simmering volcano exploded into a series of powerful eruptions Thursday, hurling thick clouds of ash nearly two miles (three kilometers) high, spewing rivers of lava down its flanks and forcing the evacuation of more than 33,000 people from surrounding communities. Photo: Moises Castillo.

Yes, Fox News said "as seen from Palin." The media gods do have a sense of humor.

Sep 14: Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in Guatemala after the Fuego volcano eruption, which the specialists estimate to be the most powerful since 1999 in this Central American country, media reports said.

Manitou: Fires of the Great Spirit

Over the weekend, specifically on the Eve of St. John's Day and St. John's Day, June 23-24, 2012, wildfires swept over Colorado, encompassing nature, homes and cabins (shown above). Readers here were probably not too surprised by these events considering the past.

Upon closer inspection, the epicenter reveals yet another name game. The news reports have signaled the fires have been concentrating, at least in one major outbreak, on Manitou Springs, Colorado.

A wildfire burns west of Manitou Springs, Colorado, on Sunday, June 24, 2012. The fire erupted and grew out of control to more than 3 square miles early Sunday, prompting the evacuation of more than 11,000 residents and an unknown number of tourists. (Credit: Christian Murdock, The Colorado Springs Gazette)

Manitou Springs is a "name game" wonder. The settlement was "Manitou" until changed in 1885. "Manitou" is a term for the "Great Spirit," in its most basic interpretation. The main street through the town is a direct route to Pikes Peak. One of the town's major attractions, Briarhurst Manor, is a Victorian manor house built in 1876 by the founder of Manitou Springs, Dr. William Abraham Bell (April 26, 1841–June 6, 1921). Bell earlier had been the 32nd parallel expedition's photographer, as the southern route for the Union Pacific Railroad was being mapped in the late 1860s. (See more on the significance of the "Bell" name here.)

In my breakthrough article, "Devil Names and Fortean Places," published in Summer 1979, in Fortean Times 29, I looked at how names used by Native Americans, First Peoples, and other indigenous folks have left their sinister/spiritual feelings on the land, whether the names used be devil, diablo, hockomock, or manitou.

In my Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures, I reprinted and expanded on this "devil names" article in Chapter 3. There I note the following about the name Manitou,

...the WPA guides are wonderful books for tracking down the origins of place names. One of my favorities is the story behind Lake Manitou, Indiana. “Manitou” is an Indian word demonstrating some power and connection to the unknown - “The Great Spirit,” similar in a fashion to what we are talking about here regarding “devil.” According the WPA guide for Indiana (page 436), Lake Manitou was inhabited by three “monster devilfish” that began destroying all the fish there after arriving from Lake Michigan. “They even drove the wild game away, for when the buffalo, elk, deer, and other animals came to the lake to drink, fearsome serpentine tentacles shot out and dragged them beneath the surface of the murky water.” The prayers of the Natives exterminated the monsters and out of gratitude, they named the lake after the Great Spirit. While the exact details of the encounters may be shrouded in folkloric overtones, the underlying nature of such stories are an intriguing bit of evidence for some historical links to real events, as we have seen over and over again. The land reveals its secrets for those who wish to look.

To expand a bit on the meaning of Manitou, the generally accepted definition is "a supernatural force that according to an Algonquian conception pervades the natural world."


But the lines between "god," "spirit," "Great Spirit," "evil spirit," "demon," and "devil" are very thin in how Manitou was used or understood by Western settlers or invaders. The notion of a continuum is at work here, with most North Americans of nonnative background considering Manitou to be a positive "spirit" term and the other end of the range being Hockomock (and its other forms) being a negative "devil" word. For Amerindians, the differences may not be so clear, for example, as any concept can hold both "good" and "evil" meanings. In the Hockomock Swamp, Massachusetts, naturally, there exists both ends of the continuum.


Western Europeans, using an Algonquian name, have now painted the landscape of North America.


Wikipedia points out, "In 1585 when Thomas Harriot recorded the first glossary of an Algonquian language, Roanoke (Pamlico), he included the word mantóac meaning "gods" (with a plural ending). Similar terms were found in nearly all of the Algonquian languages."

Besides Manitou Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, and Lake Manitou, Fulton County, Indiana, other Manitou forms that show up on the landscape of North America include:

Province of Manitoba, Canada

Manitou Island, off Keweenaw Peninsula, Lake Superior, Michigan

North Manitou Island, off Leelanau Peninsula, Lake Michigan, Michigan

South Manitou Island, off Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan

Manitou Island, White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron, Ontario

Manitouwadge, Ontario

Big Manitou Falls, Douglas County, Wisconsin

Manitou Island, one of Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, Wisconsin, and

Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.

New Fire Near USS Miami

There was a new fire discovered near the USS Miami (SSN-755) on Saturday, June 16, 2012.

The Navy Times published this:

A Maine shipyard is investigating what caused a small fire outside a nuclear-powered submarine that was severely damaged by another blaze last month.
The fire was reported about 7 p.m. Saturday in the dry dock where the Miami is located, The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard said.
A shipyard employee doused the fire with a portable extinguisher before the shipyard’s fire department arrived, and the ship’s reactor was never in danger, officials said. No one was hurt. The shipyard did not release additional information.
The latest fire was reported less than four weeks after a May 23 fire heavily damaged the submarine while it was in dry dock for an overhaul. That fire damaged the torpedo room, crew quarters, and command and control areas in the front of the submarine, but the nuclear propulsion components at the back of the sub were spared.
The Navy has estimated repair costs at $400 million (see Miami repair estimated at $400M).

For more on the post-May 23rd regulations that were installed, see all of the article here.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Fire Department responded to a report of another potential blaze aboard USS Miami on June 6, but it turned out to be a false alarm (see Firefighters respond to false alarm on Miami).

As I noted earlier (see here), the intriguing timing of the original fire of the USS Miami at the Maine shipyard, and the disruptive flights landing in Miami and Maine served as sorts of foreshadowing of some immediate weird incidents. These events were precursors to the wild but brief outbursts of synchromystic cannibal news that began in Miami.

In the wake of cannibals, what might be ahead as we rush to the naturally strange St. John's Day on June 24th, with its fires and Forteana?  

Occupy Beltane

by Loren Coleman


May Day is a traditional day for pagan, political, and power events of all kinds. The ancient Celtic fertility holiday celebrates the rites of Spring with much frolicking and fun. May 1st is also traditionally recognized as International Workers’ Day.

In 2012, expect something a little more than usual. Do not be surprised by what you discover occurring on this first Tuesday in May this year. Get ready for Occupy Beltane.

Bloomberg News states, "Calls for a general strike with no work, no school, no banking and no shopping have sprung up on websites in Toronto, Barcelona, London, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, among hundreds of cities in North America, Europe and Asia."



The conservative CNS News reported on April 19th: "As part of Occupy Wall Street’s call for a nationwide 'general strike' May 1, elements within the group are looking to shut down bridges and tunnels in both New York and San Francisco. Occupy Oakland, the most radical of all the local Occupy groups, passed a resolution April 15 that vows to shut down all travel from Marin to San Francisco."

What I shall call "Occupy Beltane" events are planned in 115 cities throughout the U.S., from college towns such as Amherst, Massachusetts, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Pay attention to what landmarks get the media spotlights: the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Holland Tunnel, and other symbolic (phallic) sites. Or as Adam Parfrey points out to me, the "new World Trade Center will be erected."

Keith Haring's 1978 Drawing Of The Twin Towers

At this time, it is unclear how involved (if at all) the movement Anonymous will be in the May 1st events.

Anonymous at Scientology in Los Angeles

Beltane or Beltaine (/ˈbɛlteɪn/) is the anglicised spelling of Old Irish Bel(l)taine or Beltine (modern Irish Bealtaine [ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲə], Scottish Gaelic Bealltainn [ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲ]), the Gaelic name for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on the first day of May.

The date is known by several names, including Kala-Hanv (Breton), Cala Me (Cornish), Giamonia (Gaulish), Belltaine, Boaldyn (Manx), Cétshamain (Modern Irish), Bealtuinn (Scottish-Gaelic), Cyntefin, Dydd Calan Mai, Calan Mai (Welsh).

Beltane is the time of the May Pole, the ultimate phallic symbol, celebrating the fertility of both the earth and of mankind. It is a time of sexual liberation, of love and growth. It is the youth of the year, and like any youth, it is fertile and sex is on the brain. This year, it will be a time for more. Although the planners are not talking about it, the significant of "fire" behind the day may not be denied.


Whether the name of the day is translated as "shining fire" or "Beli's fire" is uncertain; the Welsh name for the day is unhelpful--Calan Mai, which simply means "First of May."


The Beltane fires were lit on the hill of Uisnech; according to the text The Fitness of Names, the practice was begun during the age of the Nemedians, by the druid Mide; it, like the Samhain fire, became the source for all the fires of the season. It is said that the druids would drive cattle through two bonfires on this day in order to prevent disease.

Watch the name games too. 

Being a "Coleman," "Coalman," "Coal man," one of the perceivers, the ones that began the beacon fires at the Beltane hilltops on the Old Track, the leylines, I've done a good deal of research on the name "Cole." 

It can be a first name employed as a nickname for Nicholas (one of the power names identified by Jim Brandon). More commonly Cole is the common surname, derived from the Old English "cola," meaning "coal" - that coal in those Beltane fires on the high points of the leylines.

I'll be watching the "fires" (whatever that might mean) during this Occupy Beltane moment.

Anniversary Footnote:  United States President Barack Obama took to a White House podium a year ago on May 1st, to tell the world that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed. Osama bin Laden was killed in Bilal Town, Abbottabad, Pakistan, on Monday, May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am local Pakistani time by DEVGRU/SEAL Team 6, a United States special operations military unit. Threats of terrorist incidents from a weakened al Qaeda have been mentioned for May 1st, American time. Few officials publicly feel such attacks will be carried out.




Sources: News articles (see above), Jones Celtic Encyclopedia, Dedroidify, Drudge Report, and Wikipedia. The medieval tract is also called Cóir Anmann ("The Fitness of Names").