"Strange" News

I realize that with the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and iPhones, dissemination of information is almost instantaneous these days.  Some of the stories that come out of this fast, world-wide mish-mash are intriguing...  There are several that have recently caught my attention.  The first and foremost has happened here in Boulder, Colorado.  Who murdered Edward Elk on Mapleton Hill? Edward was a large bull elk - a superb trophy specimen - that has been living for the past couple of months between 9th and 11th Streets on Mapleton Avenue.  The area is also known as historic Mapleton Hill. Last week, Edward was reported to have kept a US Postal Service person trapped on the front porch of a house for several minutes; he was unafraid of the PO worker, who shouted and shook his mail bag at the elk. Over the weekend, Edward held his ground and refused to run from a police car with flashing lights and a siren - he was blocking an intersection at Mapleton Avenue and 10th Street.  A local resident let his dog out into the back yard for a late night "pit-stop" and had to go outside to retrieve his dog because Edward was in the back yard, and the dog wanted to bark at him. The home owner said that Edward was not afraid of him at all and would not leave; he finally convinced his dog to re-enter the house without harm.  Tuesday night, residents in the area reported the presence of multiple police cars with their lights flashing.  The resident whose dog barked at Edward says that a uniformed officer said they were going to try to "convince the elk to leave the area" and not to worry if he heard gunshots.  The home owner heard one gunshot. The following morning, Edward was found dead at the edge of his yard.  The really strange thing about this is that neither the Boulder Police, the Boulder Sheriff's Office, nor the Colorado Department of Wildlife have any record of any activities that night regarding the elk.  So the big question is who done it, and why?  The Department of Wildlife is conducting an investigation into Edward's suspicious death.
  The other things that caught my eye concerned naked men.  In Miami, Florida a man was arrested in a home-owners back yard because the man was totally naked and choking the home owner's Rottweiler with his bare hands. The home owner heard a disturbance in his back yard , looked out and observed the naked man choking his dog.  When the owner yelled at the man, the attacker started growling and lunged at the owner, trying to bite him.  When the police arrived, the naked suspect attacked them and tried to bite them also.  He was shot twice in the leg before police could subdue him.  I had to laugh at the final sentence of the report: It is thought the suspect was under the effect of an unknown drug.
  Then in San Jose, California, a naked man with a Samurai sword was threatening folks at a light rail station - this after he was seen clothed and with an AK-15 assault rifle in from a a residence nearby.  Police responded to the assault-rifle report, and then quickly determined that the same, but now naked, man was at the light rail station waving a Samurai sword.  There was a large group of media present when, after more than 2 hours of stand off, the man attempted to climb a fence and run.  The police were easily able to catch the man and place him under arrest.
   Yesterday at a Catholic church in Connecticut, a naked man suddenly appeared before parishioners and a third-grade parochial school class.  He, also, was arrested, but very quickly.  A witness told police that the man appeared very quickly, and that it was frightening even for an adult.
    What the heck is going on here?  Why are naked men doing stupid things?  Again, I realize that the way our world has changed in spreading news is one of the main reasons so many stupid news stories make it around the world. Used to be, things about naked men or women appearing in public were never spoken about; now it seems it's almost a daily happening....