Page 163: Gematria, Cows, and UFOs

Destiny Jones’ Tweezer post on page 163 of The Billionth Monkey references the conspiracy theory that links UFO sightings to mysterious cattle mutilations. For details, check out Bill Ellis, “Cattle Mutilation: Contemporary Legends and Contemporary Mythologies,” Contemporary Legend 1991, 1: 39–80. Suffice to say, this is such a well-known trope that it was hilariously lampooned in the first episode of South Park, as seen in the following clip: http://southpark.cc.com/clips/149573/inside-out-cows

Unfortunately, the video linked above can't be embedded on other sites, but when you click on it you'll see a scene from the classic debut episode of South Park.

The Tweezer update, as with the others, contains a few numerological goodies:

• 87 (from the number of “likes”) = לבנה, the moon…to which, in Western esoteric kabbalah, milk is attributed. This also references the old saying that the moon is made of cheese.
• 385 (from 5,383 followers) = שפה, cheese.
• 333 (from 3:33 pm) = ChVRVNZVN, Choronzon (repeated from an earlier post, this one is thrown in just for fun; no bearing on the content of the social media post)

And since we’re on the topic, every shop described on pages 164 and 165—The Alien Zone, Not of This World, Roswell Landing, International UFO Museum, Starchild—is real…except for the Crashdown Café. That one is a fictional location from the TV series Rowsell. Lovecraft often used the narrative technique of listing a couple of real things (say, books on magic) and then slipping in something wacky and fictional like The Necronomicon. For generations to come, people will chase around looking for it like it’s real. Hilarity ensues.