Articles written by Duane Gundrum

What is Helium

About me - Duane Gundrum

A communications/political scientist from Northern California. Author of the novels "Innocent Until Proven Guilty" and "Thompson's Bounty". My most recently completed novel is a humorous Greek epic called "The Ameriad". I am currently working on a book of

+ more bio information

RSS Feed

Creative Writing > Humor Humor: Fantasy: 1 of 79
King Nekka and the Fruity ThingsIt happened a long time ago in a kingdom on the far side of the world. Well, actually, it wasn't that long ago; come to think of it, it was pretty recently if I remember correctly. But it was a school night so we couldn't stay out very late. In other words, it happened a little while ago, and i... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Economy Why poverty exists: 1 of 24
Defeating poverty takes more than just studying it.During a recent graduate course I took the subject concerned the concepts of poverty in America. The information read in class was all very scholarly type of information that looked at the problem from the outsider perspective, and the reading list included one book of someon... More..
Arts & Humanities > Citizen Journalism Should bloggers and citizen journalists have an opportunity to get credentials so they can cover Congress the same way mainstream media journalists do?: 2 of 24
One of the foundational processes of the creation of the United States was the ability for the common person to be able to make one's opinion without any constraints from government being placed in one's way. Several centuries later, we have somehow forgotten the struggles that our forefathers experienced to make sure that th... More..
Creative Writing > Essays Essays: Secret love: 1 of 8
Once in everyone's lifetime a critical moment is reached with a significance that has a life-impacting effect. For some, it is a bush with death that brings about this feeling; for others, it is the realization of something previously unknown; for me, it was the moment I asked out the girl of my dreams.For over six years Ann ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > News Industry How the media uses scare tactics to portray potentially negative news: 8 of 55
Terrorists are not the only fear mongers in the U.S. these days. No, this new group of fear mongers is much more sinister, and it does its job just by constantly reminding us of what we really don't want to hear: They tell us that it is not safe. But unlike terrorists who seem to want us to change our ways, but probably would... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Soldiers & Veterans Why Americans should support the troops!: 12 of 80
Part of the problem of "supporting the troops" is that it becomes a political issue when it never should be. It becomes partisan when it never should be. It becomes a defensive mechanism when it never should be. But it has become just that.The whole idea of "supporting the troops" has morphed itself over the last few years in... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Presidential Elections 2008 The Obama cult: Is the Second Coming nigh?: 6 of 37
One of the problems with the Obama cult is that he rode a very fortunate wave that literally swept out Bush and his cronies. A lot of people became Obama-maniacs, mainly because they were looking for an alternative to "business as usual". Now, this is usually where a writer will then reveal that he or she really hates Obama (... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Elections (Other) Will a third-party candidate ever become president in the US?: 4 of 18
Unfortunately for third party candidates, the odds are always going to be stacked against them. This has less to do with the party structure than it does to the "winner take all" system that we have built in this country. What I sometimes find fascinating and somewhat hilarious is that when the United States was "bringing dem... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Culture & Community Women ignored as video game players: Consumer market untapped: 3 of 12
I used to work for a computer gaming company that was known as the one gaming company that made games that attracted a large segment of women. Other companies used to try to attract the same crowd of female players, but they never really got it.Our company made city building games that eventually morphed into the most popular... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Culture & Community Violence and video games: Why the ESRB ratings aren't working: 5 of 19
Video games have a very interesting history in how they have devolved into an entertainment mecca of negative perceptions. Unfortunately, the process of influencing the direction of violence and sex in games has less to do with condemnation and more to do with simple economic, positive reinforcement. I say this having worked ... More..