Bilbo's Random Thought Collection

This meme recently appeared on my Facebook feed: I didn't know whether to be sad or angry, so I settled on both. And I figured I might a...

Let me begin by clearly stating that I'm no saint. I have behaved badly from time to time, and have done things that, in retrospect, I a...

If you are one of my many friends on Facebook, you may already have seen all or part of what follows ... feel free to stop reading and come...

When I was growing up, my parents insisted that we show respect and good manners. They set the example, and expected us to follow it. Now...

One of the most overused adjectives in modern news reporting is anonymous . According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it has thre...

The day before a special congressional election in Montana, GOP candidate Greg Gianforte, enraged by questions posed by a reporter that he ...

If you spend much time on Facebook, you have probably seen this recent post that has been making the rounds - Given the reaction by ...

You've almost certainly heard this famous quote from the story "Beyond This Horizon" by science fiction author Ray Bradbury ....

There was an interesting article in the Washington Post last week: Nine Things About the Tokyo Subway That Will Drive Washington Commuters ...

Because I have impressionable grandchildren out there ... Or, as they say in Virginia Beach during Spring Week ... Thank you. ...

We all have stories about bizarre behavior exhibited by people using their cell phones in public. I've written here about the clueless ...

An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I had gone into a local book store to buy some books for my granddaughter*. After leav...

This little meme has been making the rounds on Facebook ... I think it's pretty accurate. It seems as if nowadays many people...

I've been pretty cranky lately about the lack of good manners in my environment. I was raised by parents who believed strongly in good ...

Along with all the other rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution* is evidently a new one: the right not to be offended. You have p...

As I get older, I find that more and more things irritate me, one of which is the idea of assumed informality. Here's an example ... a ...

Last Monday in this space we discussed the idea of lost skills - the things our grandparents were able to do that we today generally can...

If you remember your childhood fairy tales*, you will remember the story of Sleeping Beauty, who was saved from a curse by the kiss of Prin...

You all know, of course, about the recent terrible events in Stubenville, Ohio , in which a drunken 16-year-old girl was raped by two membe...

Every once in a while (as you know if you've been with me for very long) I get an almost uncontrollable urge to capitalize on my parent...