Driven to Flames
No understanding of the blaze.
Not on the day’s grocery list.
No context.
Might have been more expected in India or Tibet or even bizarrely in front of Wall Street.
(Image: Georg Slickers. WIKI commons)
Such an extreme choice, setting oneself on fire.
What is protest worthy of ultimate sacrifice here?
Maybe some of the choices weren’t organic?
Paper or plastic: both are bad?
The chickens aren’t free range? Not given a choice for dinner: with or without hormones?
Concerned about the chicks’ lack of sleep with the 24 hour lights in the hen-house?
What about the milk? Are the cows really happy – or is that just marketing?
Soybeans and corn to end world-wide hunger – not to fuel cars going to the mall?
Moses and the Burning Bush (Richard Simon. WIKI Commons)
The possible causes are endless
And it’s possible no one will ever know.
No note of explanation.
No final words have been found.
Doesn’t compute:
the lack of complaints,
the lack of warning,
the lack of guilt tripping.
What’s the point?
How’s awareness to be raised?
Flames. (Image: Giovanni Dall’Orto / WIKI Commons)
We demand an answer!
Something to justify the jolting fire!
They are trying to puzzle it out. 
(Probably reaching out to Magic 8 Ball or even Ray Bradbury)
How did it happen?
One of such hope.
One with so many watching.
One with so much financial and emotional investment already given.
Searching. Searching. Searching. Why?
Maybe some clue from raging data dashed into the internet?
Maybe a last minute plea to peers?
WALL-E: pull in a signal and interpret!
Curiosity Rover: any ideas from Mars?
Mars Rover Curiosity. (Image: WIKI Commons, public domain. NASA artist rendition)
Why on earth would a Fisker Karma set itself on fire in front of a grocery store?
It doesn’t makes sense.
It’s sort of a smart car. From a company supported by tax dollars.
Spoiled?
Smiling Fisker Karma (Image: Xnatedawgx. WIKI commons)
Or just tired of waiting?
”Exclusive: Fisker Karma Hybrid sets itself on Fire And Burns While Owner Gets Groceries”
(VIDEO and article by Jalopnik. Aug. 11, 2012.Woodside, California)
Pondering the mysteries of the universe,
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Read more:
- “Fisker Karma Fire in Texas Garage Being Probed by NHTSA” (May, 2012. Bloomberg Businessweek. This investigation was a high security secret affair…the whole yard was covered with tarps to prevent TV helicopters from seeing anything.)
- “How Fisker got $500 million in government loans for a fuel economy flop”
Burning Bush. (Image: St. Issac’s Cathedral, St Petersburg, 1848. US public domain. WIKI Commons)
Hmm, the linked article said the car’s engine was from GM. I wonder if there’s any connection between the Fisker fire and all the Volt fires …
Hmmm. There’s also “great mystery/discussion” on the cause(s) of Volt fires. All I can say is wish they would stop handing out bonuses to all the GM workers until they get that GM all on its’ own two feet again and debts paid…and yes they are getting bonuses – have a young relative working there who went to Hawaii with his last year; probably Paris this year for them…a tad annoyed here.
Thanks for lighting up the discussion
A car that sets itself on fire. I’ll pass.
That car’s not helping its’ cause – whatever that is…still waiting on WALL-E’s report. Thanks for driving over
That Moses and the Burning Bush window is gorgeous. I’d love to see that one with sunlight behind it.
As for the Burning Car – Maybe it secretly was designed for the crowd that shows up at Burning Man. Or maybe it’s our modern version of the marvelous one-hoss shay.
But the first word that popped to mind when I read this? Schadenfreude Sometimes I just can’t help myself.
Oh, you thought about Burning Man, too! (Worried any pix from there would be too much). Any possibly the car is simply the “new” planned obsolescence? (they need us to buy more cars…jobs program!)
Thanks for parking to chat a bit
At least it waits to set itself on fire when it’s parked and not when you’re driving down the road.
The car’s choice/timing makes you wonder just what it is thinking! Thanks for shifting gears to chat
The technologies are still being worked out, I see. Well, just about every kind of car seems to have set itself on fire at one time or another. Maybe it was just ashamed of being designed as a luxury car when “green” energy should be available to us all if it’s going to make any difference in the way we consume fuel.
It’s so discouraging. Electric cars existed before Henry Ford got really started – they were marketed as a “lady’s car” since you didn’t have to get out and crank them to start them. There has been quite a bit of controversy that the company did design a luxury car instead of economical ordinary person’s car that was expected – Fisker justifies it by saying that’s the market that will purchase and they must build the company and profit. I do have a real concern about trading big oil for big electric (electric / energy providers are not our friends here – highest electric prices to consumers in the nation). More research needed on those car batteries and what happens to those batteries once they stop working. Sooner or later, I guess. Thanks changing lanes to chat
I’ve never heard of this car. I don’t want one. I like cars that take no initiative regarding combustion. Cars that wait patiently in the grocery parking lot. Cars that don’t need to be the center of attention. That’s my kind of car.
Best phrase ever! New goal for new cars:”Cars that don’t need to be the center of attention.” Thanks for dropping that off here.
The most astonishing thing to me? The California owner, on finding his/her car on fire, called Fiskar, the manufacturer. The owner had to be told, by Fiskar, to call the fire department. Oh. My. God. People can be so stupid.
Isn’t that the oddest thing? Maybe he was wondering whether to put water on the fire or not – NOT! They retrained fire fighters here with what to do if the burning car is electric. Shocking? Thanks for zooming past
Just another car looking for some ‘hot’ fun and waiting for the girls who only wanna have fun…haha…could not resist, AND the car really looks like it is smiling!!
Too funny! Hot time in the old town tonight. (and swear that car IS smiling….what is it up to?) Thanks for turning in to chat
Hot times! Thanks for honking!
Ralph Nader could probably have a field day with this one! Talk about “unsafe at any speed….” The mind boggles.
I had forgotten about “unsafe at any speed…” Thanks for driving that over!
VW’s have been catching fire forever. Maybe the Fisker Karma (who thinks up these names?) was working through some past life karma…
Our original VW never caught fire – but it did have a tendency to float off in high water. Maybe this Karma had some recycled metal from a Pinto or Corvair? Thanks for steering over to chat
Well done. I definitely thought it was a person at first.
Who is smart now?
Things are often not what they seem…but you have kids, so you know! Glad you took time to drive over to chat.
My pleasure.
This is crazy. I’m glad they weren’t in the car when it decided to burst into flames. A car named ‘Karma’ bursting into flames…a bold statement about what this world is coming to?
The name and incident is just too wacky to ignore. Thanks for parking for a minute to mention that!
Hey ho! I passed you an award, it’s up to you if you accept it or not, either way is fine!
Always glad when you have time to park and chat. Will be over to grab the award (and I promise to write that post…shortly – or so…)Thanks for thinking of me and for shifting gears to visit.
Everyone thought Galileo was wrong, Thomas Edison would have delighted at discovery of a self igniting car… Sometimes it pays to be different.
Galileo did have an especially hard time. Edison – probably delighted each day at discoveries (once he stayed away from school- those will kill creative thought).
Maybe that’s what’s needed – somewhere someone is going off in a completely different direction – totally out of consideration – to only stumble across a totally unexpected solution. Hope so. Reworking old ideas doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Thanks for parking to unpack those ideas.
I love how this started out. I was certain it was a person who set him/her self on fire. Then it turns out to be a car. Love the twists your writing takes!
Never pays to get to comfortable…especially in one of these cars? Thanks for meandering through
When the post shifted from a person to a car…amazing! Very well written, illustrated, and thought-provoking. Good job!
Writing should keep the reader on their toes? Glad you enjoyed the ride – thanks for driving over to chat
Any chance the car might have been protesting the high cost of gas? : )
Or it was protesting the veggie diet of ethanol-baed fuels? (that extra bulk causing digestive issues?…not uncomfortable gas, surely) Thanks for driving over.