Thoughts and Commentary Part 1

From My Journal

One Way to Get in The News

May 2014

Every day, around the world, there are hundreds or earthquakes and tremors according to the Science Channel and other such authorities. There are many places where geophysicists, geologists, seismologists, and whoever else is interested in such things, expect disturbances to occur.

If you asked these people for a list of all the places where they would expect any earthquakes at all, on the very bottom of that list would be Idaho. And that’s what has them befuddled, because hundreds of low-level and medium-sized earthquakes have struck central Idaho in the last few months. These poor scientists are wondering whether the small quakes portend a much larger earthquake to come or are merely the rumblings of a seismic fault previously thought to be dormant. Some states will do anything to get in the news.

Wow! A Toilet Tank!

     According to a Reuters article, written by Jonathan Kaminsky and reported in Yahoo News a gentleman took his family to a Seattle Subway Sandwich Shop for a meal. While there he excused himself and went to the men’s room. When the order was ready his wife tried to get him out of the restroom, and when that didn’t work she left without him.

     After a time, he exited the restroom carrying a large plastic bag. Later employees of the Subway found that the toilet tank was missing, the bathroom sink was stuffed with paper towels, the water was still running, and the bathroom key had gone missing.

     Now this is bizarre, but straightforward. Let’s skip over the sink and towels part. My question is, “What in the world was going through this guy’s mind?” Actually, maybe nothing. However, did this guy need a toilet tank and stealing one from Subway was the first thing that came into his mind? Or was it a crime of opportunity? Maybe this guy saw a toilet tank and thought, “I’m just going to nick this thing and maybe do something with it.” Is there a market for hot toilet tanks? Or did this guy think that Subway was charging too much for his meal and this was his way of evening the score? Maybe this guy is a little unbalanced and has a toilet tank fetish. He may have a whole collection of these things in his basement.

     I hope that Mr. Kaminsky will do a follow-up story on this incident when the Seattle police collar this toilet tank perp.

Crickets, Crickets, Who Got The Crickets

Yahoo News reports that in Bridgeville, PA, six, or so, senior students released hundreds of crickets in the high school. School administrators say that some kind of discipline is defiantly in the culprits future. They know who they were because the school surveillance system caught them in the act. Now, I’m sure the administrators don’t need any suggestions from me about how to discipline students, but guess what, I’m going to put forward a suggestion anyway. And that is, make them recover the poor crickets--all of them. I know a little about catching crickets and this task shouldn’t take six kids more than three or four years.

     And then there is the question, “Where did they get hundreds of crickets?” That’s no small accomplishment. Maybe they have a future catching and supplying crickets to other students who would like to pull the same goofy stunt, or for bait shops, or for all those cricket research labs across the country.

Who Knows - - A Little Urine in Our Water May Be Good For Us

Reuters recently reported that “Portland, Oregon is flushing 38 million gallons of drinking water down the drain because a 19-year-old man urinated in an open reservoir.” Now face it, the only reason they’re doing this is because they know about it. (Duh) All the other people and animals that have peed in that reservoir they are willing to overlook because they don’t know about it. You’re asking, “How do you (me) know about it.” Well if one guy was able to urinate in the water I’m guessing that numerous other guys have done the same thing. And if this is an open reservoir as reported, how about all the stuff that falls out of the air like pesticides, insects, dead birds, and other dead stuff dropped by birds of prey that couldn’t keep a grip on the dead rodents they had recently snatched up. A little urine is the least of their problems. I thought that’s why they had water treatment plants.

Journalist Slips Up Again

     Yahoo news had a report about a 19-year-old man causing a three-car crash when he fainted because he was holding his breath. This happened in a tunnel near the community of Manning, OR, on Highway 26, northwest of Portland.

     The article goes on to tell about the injuries sustained and a few other pertinent facts. However, evidently no one thought to ask this genius the question, “Why in the world were you holding your breath?”