I hope it's not mean to say that his question totally MMD.

Occasionally, there are some interesting characters on public transportation. Some days are better than others.

This morning getting on the bus I passed by a seat adjacent to a tall, thin, white man spouting statements like "I hate The White Woman... the White Woman hates me because I have bad teeth... Ice Cube and George Clooney told me that... I have no friends or family... I do not need people... people are irrelevant... I am alone... I hate The White Woman."

The speech was directed at the passing scenery out the window. And it continued for 20 minutes with slight variations here and there. Everyone else was either ignoring him, snickering or rolling their eyes. All I could think was, "Oh boy, it's Tuesday. Better hit the books."*

The man I sat next to was also a self-talker, although his was a more Rainman-like rambling obsession with how the windows had to be shut because of the air conditioning. He was very concerned about this. And honestly, rightfully so - there are year-round stickers on almost every window letting riders know that the air conditioning works best with windows closed. TriMet is very serious about this and clearly makes no assumptions about the wits of their ridership. (I appreciated his tenacity. It was hot on the bus.)

A nearby woman mentioned to him (after he almost accidentally hit her in the head while ensuring her window was closed) that the air conditioning was not, in fact, on. At this point the man's obsession turned to making sure every window in the near vicinity was open. (I was grateful. It was hot on the bus.)

If I'd sat next to the first guy I would've moved immediately. I almost got punched by a man spouting vile back in Oakland so I treat them carefully, and from a distance.

The second guy was totally harmless, so I stayed put. And I'm so glad I did. If I'd moved I probably wouldn't have heard him mumble out loud to himself, "wait, is [tall thin white man] talking to himself? I thought he was on a cell phone but I think he's just talking to himself... that's weird."

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*Sadly, the link to the study is no longer valid and a quick scan of teh intarwebs revealed nothing. Little help, Whedon Universe?