Bilbo's Random Thought Collection

In 2013 George Friedman, of the global intelligence firm Stratfor.com, wrote an interesting analysis of the national strategy of North Korea...

I tend to be a generally positive person, but the way things are going lately, it's hard to keep looking on the bright side, especially...

India is one definitely one of the most bizarre nations on earth. On the one hand, it has a space program and a booming high-technology sec...

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

Agnes and I have a lot of friends and relatives living in Europe, and we communicate with them often by phone, e-mail, and the occasional i...

Now that I'm retired, I'm faced with all the malarkey that goes along with my status as an increasingly senior citizen. Social Secu...

Another busy morning, so just a quick post for today ... You may have seen the news reports about the death of mixed martial arts (MMA) f...

There was an interesting story on CNN the other day about a US Treasury Department investigation into ... of all things ... where the so-ca...

We've entered a dangerous and traumatic time for the nation. Crazy people with guns run around shooting people, while other crazy peopl...

Back in the 1950’s, when ol’ Bilbo was a student in grade school and our homework was done on clay tablets in cuneiform, our parents worrie...

The election is over, thank goodness. We're done with attack ads and robocalls ... until the next election. The hundreds of thousands o...

Warning - political-religious rant. Come back tomorrow for something lighter. You have been warned. A while back in this space, I offe...

A few years ago (back in July of 2009, to be exact) I wrote a post in praise of toilet paper . And today, in the interest of your continued...

If you watch TV shows like " Criminal Minds ," " Hannibal ," and " Law and Order: SVU ," you could be forgive...

You may have read of the recent spate of random attacks in which young people approach a victim and strike the person as hard as possible, ...

If Congress can't get past its endless buffoonery and cheap political posturing, the government may run out of money and have to partia...

Yes, Dear Readers, just when you thought things couldn't get any crazier, I note that today is  Go Armed to Starbucks Day . From the li...

One of the most valuable tools available to those who treat mental illness is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , c...