Articles written by Mark Hammerschmidt

What is Helium

About me - Mark Hammerschmidt

I write and edit proposals and reports for a large engineering company. Some days, I look out the window and imagine the Executive Summary joins hands with the Statement of Work, and they dance together in a world of figures and stats.

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Health & Fitness > Depression The stigma surrounding depression: 2 of 19
Depression is a strange beast. The word is so quickly flung around so often placed into the wrong context that it has really lost its effectiveness. True feelings of depression are overpowering and can often incapacitate the sufferer and make even simple tasks seem overwhelming. Too often you hear someone over coffee say some... More..
Religion & Spirituality > Self-Healing When life hits you hard: 18 of 139
I learned two things from my ex-stepfather, Dave. The first was that as a seventeen-year-old pacifist, I could throw a pretty good right hook (I suppose a footnote to this lesson would be that I also learned that I could make my mom's life just a little bit more complicated with the sudden loss of my "cool"). But I wouldn't c... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Political Values Why is the death penalty not a deterrent: 4 of 28
Nobody thinks they are going to get caught. Every crime, when committed, is the perfect crime. It isn't until Johnny Law comes knocking on the door that most criminals' hearts drop into their stomach and a little light bulb pops up above their heads and they remember the one thing they overlooked that led the cops right to th... More..
Sciences > Earth Science (Other) The case for respecting the Earth: 4 of 26
Think about it... What have the past 100 years done to our planet. The industrial revolution introduced a phenomenon that will likely result in the end of days for human beings-a rape of the planet.Look at the relative history of Earth. Human beings have depleted the resources of the earth more in the past 100 years than in t... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Lifestyles Looking for adventure in life: 2 of 13
I can count on two things happening every day: (1) I will hit every red light and railroad crossing between wherever I'm coming from and wherever I'm going, and (2) I will at some point daydream about a life outside of a cubicle.I caught the movie "Castaway" the other night on USA or TBS or AMC or one of those stations that p... More..
Society & Lifestyle > North American Culture Defining the American dream: 10 of 51
This morning, I read an article that Chuck Klosterman wrote on Brittany Spears. This was about a pre-K-Fed Brittany and he was at a photo shoot she did for Esquire. She was pantless and he was excited to be one of the few, select few to get to see Brittany without her pants on. Much to his dismay, everyone but a few females w... More..
Creative Writing > Humor Humor: Excuses not to write: 8 of 38
You know how it works. You're riding the train into work... or mowing the lawn... or taking a bath... whatever it is you're doing... you are suddenly struck with a wonderful idea... the million dollar idea... the one that will launch your career and shoot you into superstardom.But you don't do anything about it. You spend the... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Elections (Other) Why you should vote in the next election and why it's worth it: 19 of 82
Sometimes I'm ashamed to be an American. We are so gullible and easily swayed. George W. Bush stole the election in 2000. So what did we do in 2004? We gave it back to him. Bullied by threats of terror and a nation under John Kerry.Here we are again. The idea that John McCain even has a shot has me baffled. Are we so ignorant... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Social Values & Norms The decline in movie theatre etiquette: 5 of 16
The decline of movie theatre etiquette is a paradigm for the general decline of civilization. Several factors contribute to it, but the biggest cause is the failure of role models to teach kids how to respect others.Here's an example. Last week I took my kids to see a movie. We found our seats and sat down. Another family cam... More..
Education > Education (Other) Should teens have sex education in schools?: 49 of 139
More and more, parents are leaving it up to the schools to raise their children. They don't want to carry the responsibility that goes along with educating their children on any aspect of life. They will, however, be the first to criticize when they don't agree with what their children are being taught.The main problem (and t... More..