Mid Autumn Festival aka Lantern Festival aka Zhong Qiu Jie aka stuff your face full with mooncakes!

Time passes so fast, it's once again the mid-autumn festival. Lanterns, mooncakes and chinese tea comes into mind, so does a certain year, an ex colleague, supposingly (it was a secret actually), set fire to his office in my ex-company, committed suicide on this day. For those who do not know, mid autumn festival, besides all the eating of mooncakes and carrying of paper lanterns (rather now it's plastic lanterns with batteries and lights and irritating music playing), I would prefer the paper kind with candles, with the possibility of fire burning through the lantern anytime than that, has another more profound meaning, it's called Reunion. Mid-autumn festival is also Reunion Festival. Families and friends gather together to eat mooncakes, drink chinese tea and admire the moon (quite literally),while kids run around carrying lanterns and playing with candles.

I remembered when I was young, teachers would make us draw activities during lantern festival and I remembered taking home 2nd place in a drawing competition which shows me drawing stick people carrying lanterns around a park (I presume) and a huge yellow moon hanging overhead. I remembered someone taking pictures of me standing underneath my 2nd place drawing and me carrying my present.
I would usually go downstairs at night and join my cousins and neighbours all happily congregating at the bottom of our block with the adults sitting and standing around talking and the kids screaming, running and chasing each other, all carrying our paper lanterns. After which, we would all go to the playground and play with the leftover candles. We would line tiny colourful candles all around the playground, build mini sand birthday cakes and pretend we're having a birthday party and the so-called naughtier kids,(usually the boys) would gather dried leaves and twigs and papers and start a mini bonfire underneath the concrete slabs of the playground... Those were the fun and carefree days!

I remembered one year, after all the fun playing at our void deck, my younger brother and myself came upstairs to our flat, still reluctant to extinguish the candle in our paper lanterns, so mom hanged our lanterns on top of our fridge in the kitchen and we off all the lights so we can see our lanterns shining brightly in the dark house. Finally tired of watching the lanterns, together with our parents, we troupe back to my parents room to watch TV. I had a sudden urge to urinate in the midst of some programme and i walked out of my mom's room in time to see a fire starting right on top of our fridge. The fire from the candle had burnt right through the lanterns and both lanterns were on fire! I screamed for my parents and it was panicked from there. My dad rushed to off the electricity of the fridge and mom rushed to douse the fire from the lanterns. Luckily the fire just started so besides a black patch on our ceiling directly on top of the fridge and a minor burnt on the top of the fridge, there was no other damage. It was a fright, nevertheless for us kids and gave us first hand experience that fire is SCARY, not just fun.
Those were the fun and not so fun days of all my mid-autumn festivals I've celebrated in my life and at present, there is nothing much fun to do on this particular day anymore. Too old for lanterns, mooncakes too much colestrol to consume and chinese tea I get to drink everyday. However, there's one thing that never change, the moon is always the brightest and biggest on this night and there's one thing I've never failed to do on this night, watch the moon and wonder if there're others out there watching us too?!

Happy Mid-Autumn's Festival!!

The Number 11 in Sept 11

Some extracts from the internet after some reminiscing on the Sept 11th 2001 events. Coincidence of the Number 11 in the attack: (Enjoy)

The Number 11 Mysteriously Dominates the Events of
the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks in the USA.

The number 11 has been linked to mystery and power since ancient times. All forms of number research and
study, including Numerology, the ancient science of Gematria, and the secret wisdom of Kabbalah, all give significant importance to 11, and 11 derivatives - 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, and 99.

The number 11 is considered a master number.

The first Great War, World War 1, ended on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month. To this day, victims and veterans are remembered at that specific time. In Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings, the number 11is described as a curious number, and reaching your 111th birthday is an event. The USA skipped sequence numbers on the Apollo moon missions to ensure it was Apollo 11 that landed on the moon. In ancient Egypt King Tutankhamen's tomb had combinations of 11 in the jewelry he wore, and he had 11 oars placed on the floor surrounding his tomb. The number 11, and particularly the number 33, have significance to Freemasons,and other secretive groups.

In addition, there have been thousands of people worldwide who have recently expressed a strong feeling towards 11. This has been widely reported for the last 5-10 years, and is now commonly referred to as the 11:11 experience, referring to the time of 11:11.

The overwhelming quantity of elevens, surfacing from the events, people, and places related to the 9-11-2001 attacks, is remarkable. It is as if someone planned the events to occur around the number eleven. If it was not planned, then the coincidence of the numbers, seems even more mysterious and improbable.

We have also found an 11-year cycle in Osama bin Laden's life. The life changing events occur every 11 years, when bin Laden is 11, 22, 33, and 44.

We have uncovered several patterns of elevens that have occurred before, during, and after the attacks.


The Dates:
The date of the attack: 9/11 - 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.
September 11 has 9 letters and 2 numbers: 9+2=11.
The number 911 is the telephone number for emergencies in North America.
September 11th is the 254th day of the year: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
After September 11th there are 111 days left to the end of the year.
March 11, 2002, marked 6 months since the attack, and fell in the 11th week of 2002.
On March 11, 2002, New York City lit the sky with 88 (8 x 11 = 88) powerful GE bulbs that sent light beams into the sky from the World Trade Center site. The next morning, on March 12, 2002, 11 FDNY firemen were recovered from Ground Zero.
New York City - 11 Letters Flight AA11 & The Target New York City - 11 Letters
The first plane to hit the towers was American Airlines Flight 11.
The Flight 11 call letters were AA11: A=1, A=1, AA=11.
Four of the hijackers on flight AA11 have the initials A. A. for their names: AA=11.
The fifth AA11 hijacker was the pilot, Mohamed Atta, 11 letters, and AA in last name.
Flight AA11 had 92 people on board - 9 + 2 = 11.
Flight AA11 had 11 crew members - 2 pilots and 9 flight attendants.
The target of Flight AA11 was in New York City -11 letters.
The State of New York was the 11th State added to the Union.
Manhattan Island was discovered on Sept. 11, 1609 by Henry Hudson -11 letters.
Trade Center is 11 letters, and Skyscrapers is 11 letters.
World Trade Center Towers is 22 letters - 2 x 11 =22.
The WTC Twin Towers - standing side by side, look like the number 11.
The WTC Towers are each 110-storeys high.
The first WTC tower hit (North Tower) collapses at 10:28 A.M. -1+2+8=11.
The 1st Fire Unit to arrive to the WTC towers was FDNY Unit 1. Unit 1 lost 11 firemen.
The WTC towers collapsed to a height of 11 stories.
After 99 days of burning, NYC declares the WTC fires are extinguished - 9 x 11 = 99.
The World Trade Center fires burn continuously for 99 days, between September 11, 2001 and December 19, 2001. The World Trade Center fire is the longest burning commercial fire in U.S. history.
On September 7, 2002, NYC Medical Examiners announced the revised official
death toll from the World Trade Center attacks was 2,801 - (2+8+0+1 = 11).
On the morning of September 11, 2002 the names of 2,801 victims were read at a Ground Zero
Ceremony. It took 2 ½ hours to read all the names.

The Pentagon - 11 letters Flight UA77 & The Target The Pentagon - 11 letters
The plane that hit the Pentagon was United Airlines Flight 77 -11 x 7 =77.
Flight 77 - 65 on board - 6 + 5 = 11.
The target of Flight 77 was The Pentagon - 11 Letters.
One of the walls of The Pentagon collapses at 10:10 A.M.

Colin Powell - 11 letters People & Places
George W. Bush - 11 letters
According to the FBI, earlier terrorists originally planned to hijack 11 planes.
Thirty days after the attack, the FBI releases a Most Wanted Terrorist List with 22 names.
Mohammed, the prophet of the Muslim faith, died in 632 A.D. - 6+3+2=11.
The Taliban's Manual of Afghan Jihad (Holy War) is 11 volumes.
119 is the area code to Iraq/Iran - 1 + 1 + 9 = 11.
The League of Arab States is comprised of 22 Arab nations - 2 x 11 = 22.
The suspected base of the terrorists is Afghanistan - 11 Letters.
Osama bin Laden's birthplace is Saudi Arabia - 11 letters.
Ramzi Yousef - convicted of orchestrating the 1993 WTC attack - 11 Letters.
The Prime Minister of Israel - Ariel Sharon - 11 Letters.
Deputy PM, & Minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel - Shimon Peres - 11 Letters. President Bush and the White House Elevens
The President of the USA - George W. Bush - 11 letters.
The previous USA President - Bill Clinton - 11 letters.
The US Secretary of State - Colin Powell - 11 letters.
Independence Day in the USA is July 4th - 7 + 4 = 11.
The US President's plane is Air Force One - 11 letters.
George W. Bush's Air Force One is numbered "29000" on the tail - 2+9+0+0+0 = 11.
George W. Bush & Bob Beckwith (11 letters) Fireman #164 - 1+6+4 = 11.

Feb. 25, 2002 Ceremony
George W. Bush & Bob Beckwith Fireman #164
On September 14, 2001 U.S. President George W. Bush visited Ground Zero at the World Trade Center.
In a now famous series of images President Bush uses a speaker (bull horn) to encourage WTC rescue workers. Bush is flanked by a New York City fireman. The fireman is Bob Beckwith and the number on his fireman's hat is 164 (1 + 6 + 4 = 11). Also, Bob Beckwith is 11 letters. George W. Bush & Saddam Hussein's "11 Long Years"
Commencing in early September 2002 President George W. Bush refers to Saddam's last "11 years" in virtually every major speech he gave in September, 2002. The following is a Bush speech on September 5, 2002, as quoted from The New York Times, "For 11 long years, Sadam Hussein has sidestepped,crawfished, and wheedled, out of any agreement he made not to harbor or develop weapons of mass destruction."


Osama bin Laden's History with Plane Crashes and an 11-Year Cycle.
We also note that the September 11 attacks were not the only plane crashes related
to Osama bin Laden. In 1968 Osama bin Laden's father, Mohammed Awad bin Laden,died in a plane crash. Osama, born in 1957, was 11 years old at the time.

Osama's oldest brother, Salem bin Laden, then took over the family business. Twenty
years later in 1988, Salem also died in a plane crash. The plane that crashed was
a BAC 1-11. Father and brother die in plane crashes. There is a notable eleven year cycle in Osama bin Laden's life that begins at 11, when his father dies in 1968. This is the age that Osama "turned to God."
Eleven years later, in 1979, when Osama is 22, Russia invades Afghanistan. Osama
says, "I was enraged and went there at once." Another eleven years later, in 1990,
when Osama is 33, Iraq invades Kuwait, and American forces land in Saudi Arabia.
Again Osama was infuriated, he forms al-Qaeda, and says that Americans troops were
now "in our most holy lands." Another eleven years later, in 2001, when Osama is 44,
Osama's organization attacks America in New York and Washington.

The four life changing events in Osama bin Laden's life occur in an 11-year cycle
beginning at 11 and continuing every 11 years. Osama's defining moments occur
when he is 11, 22, 33, and 44.
Life follows an 11 year cycle at ages 11, 22, 33, and 44.
Osama bin Laden notices dates. The bombings of the USA Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, occurred on August 7, 1998. The American troops landed in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's homeland, on August 7, 1990.

Anthrax Hits America Within Weeks of the September 11 Attacks.
Is this the Eleventh Plague?
On March 25, 2001 CBC Canada Broadcast a Report Called: Bio-terrorism: the Eleventh Plague

Following is an excerpt from the CBC broadcast.

Swarms of frogs, gnats, flies and locusts. Livestock diseased. People with boils. Hail storms that kill, rivers that turn to blood, daytime that turns dark. And the death of the firstborn child.

Those are the ten terrible plagues of the Old Testament. Today, however, scientists and military experts say we should be worried about a new affliction - the eleventh plague. It's the use of living things like plague,smallpox, anthrax, and new diseases like Ebola, as weapons of mass destruction - and mass terror.

Strategic experts say that a dozen nation states and an equal number of terrorist groups may now possess biological weapons. That possibility is why, just six weeks ago, officials evacuated hundreds of people from buildings in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver when it was feared that they had been infected by biological agents.

For a long time, officials in western democratic societies were reluctant to talk about biological terrorism.Talking about it might encourage it. But that's changed in the last few years. The threat of a biological attack against a North American city is now so great that officials feel the topic must be broached. And discussed.
And assessed.

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In my personal opinion, its just coinicidence of events. However, I could be wrong, maybe Osama really did Pray and had some divine interaction with his GOD for that....Interesting though, must have been endless head scratching and fingers and toes counting to get it all right. Personal opinion is not going to hurt anyone, save your comments for your own blog