Greetings.

   Since spheres and orbs seem to be the thought of the season, I pondered about the reason why people say "You've lost your marbles".

   Think Saturn.
   Think ball on surface.

Happy Meditations.

A criminal was placed in solitary confinement in a cell without no window.  In the pitch dark, he had a source of amusement--a marble.  He continually tossed it in the air and caught it.  When he fumbled it, he followed the sound of its rolling and retrieved it.   But one day, he tossed it and heard only silence.  "This is impossible: what goes up must come down!" he thought.  His puzzlement over this mystery and sole source of activity drove him mad.  Later, when the guard opened his cell and took him away, he noticed a marble near the ceiling in a spider web.  Thus, this prisoner's descent into madness is the origin of the expression: "Have you lost your marbles?"

Don