Bath Salts??

In case you have not noticed, there has been a rash of strange happenings around the country wherein men become crazed when confronted by law enforcement, yell gibberish, attack people for no apparent reason, and race about, stripping off their clothes. I have noticed these especially in Florida, which is an extremely odd place, full of nut jobs (just check out http://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan). Here is a San Francisco man in a subway station - http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/naked-man-san-francisco-bart-subway-video.html.  The phenomenon is not limited to Florida, but has also occurred here in my hometown and California and Maine that I know of.
It reminds me of a long lost but unforgotten misbehavior called streaking. Drunken college kids would dart about naked, usually un-confronted by law enforcement. Perhaps they spewed gibberish, perhaps not. They did not attack people, just gave some a bit of a shock.
The current phenomenon seems to be fueled by bath salts, according to some reputable New England sources and others. It turns out that this is all quite legal and pretty common, especially among hicks and stupid people; according to daughter Abby some of her college mates from Pennsyltucky are familiar with such things.
Some fun, eh?

Personal Ponderings

Inspired by a recently received grand bathroom reader (True Remarkable Occurrences; John Train, Clarkson N. Potter) I began wondering about some common figures of speech than do nor make any sense. To read this fine book, I go and take a dump. I can also take a whiz in the snow out back. Take it where? Is it just lying around somewhere it should not be? One would think we would wish to leave such things, not take them with us.
Recently I have noticed the phrase "on the ground" cropping up all over the place - my morning paper, the radio, TV; everybody is citing "sources on the ground " or "activists on the ground", or "facts on the ground". Even NPR and the BBC do this. So are there airborne activists, sources and facts? That fly around and look at stuff? Why don't we ever hear from them? Perhaps some are in the rivers and oceans? Why not just say where these sources etc. actually are? Of course they are on the ground, unless they are birds or drones. Or fish.

Activist on the ground?

Here is something else I ponder- do deaf people worry about the sounds of flatulence? Does being deaf enhance the sense of smell enough to give them the same joy of flatulence that hearing people have from the sound of a robust release of pent up wind?

Just a few items to occupy the mind on a cold winter day.