tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60730310068701636562012-01-27T11:51:28.122-05:00Books and CultureRichard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.comBlogger2511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-19787834386203986642010-03-22T08:28:00.002-05:002010-03-22T08:30:48.478-05:00

I have moved my blog to WordPress. You can read it at its new home here.I'll leave the blog up here for awhile, to let everyone catch up to the new location. Enjoy.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-77741339695847269092010-03-16T14:53:00.002-05:002010-03-16T14:56:07.532-05:00

My post Six Simple Tips for writing a Literary Manifesto is up over the PopMatters Re:Print blog.So you want to write a Literary Manifesto that will make us readers stand up and demand a New Kind of Literature. Here are a few simple tips to help you earn great renown for writing a provocative, ire-raising, Literary gauntlet-throwdown that will be taken seriously by the Literati.Enjoy.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-47136906686621983412010-03-04T07:55:00.003-05:002010-03-04T08:13:01.488-05:00

I haven't been to the UK in nearly a dozen years. Apparently, they're on the cutting edge in keeping teenagers from loitering in public areas through the blaring of classical music by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff. It keeps the kids away because they don't like the music. Then there's this,In January it was revealed that West Park School, in Derby in the midlands of

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-54501165037818338032010-03-03T12:52:00.003-05:002010-03-03T13:03:52.273-05:00

The site Food Network Humor has quickly become one of my favorite web sites to read on a daily basis. Why? Because they find things like this,Paula Deen putting hamburgers on glazed donuts, topped with fried eggs and bacon. I like all of those things, some of them even together. But all of them on one "burger?" I'm feeling backed-up and nauseous just thinking about trying to eat of those things.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-20970638281442214612010-03-03T11:06:00.003-05:002010-03-03T11:11:45.861-05:00

I found this via The Rumpus.You can learn a lot about someone by seeing what books they’ve kept. Perusing someone’s bookshelf can lead to great conversations as you see what interests they have and what you might have in common. I confess that I do this all the time. I'm always perusing the bookshelves of my friends. It does tell you something about them, the kinds of books that they read. But

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-56963902459664933782010-03-01T16:07:00.002-05:002010-03-01T16:23:49.343-05:00

As I enjoy my last year before I officially enter my Forties and henceforth start riding the downward spiral towards death that apparently is inevitable once you turn 40, I got to thinking about some of things I’d like to do before I die. I also got to thinking about some of the things I have no interest in doing before I die.Here are five things that will not be on my Bucket List should I ever

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-9557480247497627262010-02-27T11:10:00.005-05:002010-02-27T11:21:23.388-05:00

The Chicago Architectural Club is running a competition for ideas on what to do with the gaping hole in the Streeterville neighborhood thanks to the un-built Calatrava-designed Chicago Spire.The hole is 76 feet wide and 110 feet deep. Here's what the hole looks like, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.My suggestion: turn it into a politicians-only prison, with a big sheet of glass over the top, so

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-18596658369375636982010-02-26T06:56:00.004-05:002010-02-26T07:38:58.560-05:00

A woman in Germany named Helene Hegemann, who is 17 years old, published a novel called “Axolotl Roadkill.” It was hailed by critics and made the bestseller list. Then this happened;[A] blogger last week uncovered material in the novel taken from the less-well-known novel “Strobo,” by an author writing under the nom de plume Airen. In one case, an entire page was lifted with few changes.As

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-39955541342294795062010-02-20T11:09:00.003-05:002010-02-20T11:13:15.260-05:00

Please welcome one of our future Robot Masters, able to solve the Rubik's cube faster than human beings. It's also a robot made of Legos.I can solve the Rubik's cube, but the fastest I was able to ever do it was in about a minute and a half.[Hat tip: Slashdot.]

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-26126554511681041312010-02-19T10:03:00.006-05:002010-02-19T10:14:14.223-05:00

The other day I received, yet again, another fundraising letter from USC, where I earned my masters degree. So instead of a check, I placed a letter in the return envelope explaining why I haven't donated in the past to USC, and why I won't be able to donate to USC for the next few decades. I've included the letter below in the form of JPGs. You don't have to read the whole letter. I include it

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-50816941285908591152010-01-20T20:54:00.005-05:002010-01-25T10:03:23.336-05:00

In a much-linked to and discussed article at Mother Jones, Ted Genoways the editor at Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR) bemoans the closing of university-supported literary journals and what this means for fiction, specifically short fiction and poetry. He starts off with explaining how whenever someone asks him what he does for a living and he replies, how no one understands what he does or has

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-78386409247621071712010-01-19T19:54:00.006-05:002010-01-19T20:01:34.339-05:00

Happy Belated New Year. Hope everyone's new year has been off to a great start. I've been too busy offline to do much writing online.So here are a couple of links to read and enjoy.Someone thinks we should let poetry die because no one on the street can name a current living poet, and many other things. Some of which I actually agree with. Suffice to say that this is a provocative post on the

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-50007880216114623112009-12-29T10:11:00.004-05:002010-01-10T19:19:30.985-05:00

I saw Avatar this past weekend with my wife. Not the 3-D version. The movie theater near my wife's hometown in rural Ohio just had the regular 2-D version. The special effects were very cool. The characters were one-dimensional and the plot was predictable. But it's a fun, shut-off-you-mind, kind of adventure movie.Though, this opinion is apparently the most wrong one.There are only two approved

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-80664394409511762912009-12-15T21:04:00.006-05:002009-12-15T21:44:27.784-05:00

I’ve got boobs on the brain.And it’s the fault of Ursula K. Le Guin. It started with the following passage from her book Changing Planes in the story “Woeful Tales from Mahigul.”The Vens, contemptuous of all Obtrian religions, enforced public worship of their deity, the Great Mother of the Teats. The Sosa, Astasosa, and Sosasta learned to prostrate themselves before huge mammary effigies, and the

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-48826949695319195982009-12-13T10:43:00.003-05:002009-12-13T10:49:08.098-05:00

Publishers are arguing that they own the digital (electronic) rights to creative works, despite the fact that digital editions didn't exist when the original publishing contracts were signed. From the New York Times,On Friday, Markus Dohle, chief executive of Random House, sent a letter to dozens of literary agents, writing that the company’s older agreements gave it “the exclusive right to

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-48223526355179175822009-12-11T08:37:00.003-05:002009-12-11T08:42:48.495-05:00

for they shall be rewarded with greater buying power." So saith the Son of God.According to Andrew Schlafly of Conservapedia, the man who thinks the English translation of the Bible is too liberal, Jesus was a big proponent of the Free Market. [Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan]

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-85072486286775404652009-12-10T09:44:00.003-05:002009-12-10T09:52:17.142-05:00

I have a recent press release from the National Organization of Woman (NOW). It addresses what some see as a controversy in NOW’s stance against the so-called “botax.”--The National Organization for Women has heard from many people expressing frustration and anger at NOW’s stance against the tax on cosmetic surgery procedures in the current Senate Health Care bill. NOW did not come to this

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-54840304565272188422009-12-08T18:53:00.003-05:002009-12-08T18:58:33.812-05:00

Back at you Transient Reporter. An a capella rendition of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face."[Hat Tip: Buzzfeed.]The group is named Noteworthy and they're from UC Berkeley.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-35446110044372844902009-12-04T14:25:00.003-05:002009-12-04T14:48:37.491-05:00

That's according to Andrew Schlafly of the famed Conservapedia, and son of Feminine Inferiority Advocate Phylis Schlafly, English translations of the Bible have a liberal bias."Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it's professors who are doing the popular modern translations of the Bible." If you trust these people to interpret reality, then I suppose you'll be

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-90858504670741963742009-12-04T07:40:00.005-05:002009-12-04T07:55:39.662-05:00

There is yet another new metaphor for describing certain kinds of women: Cheetah. Blog of the Moderate Left has a post today about this phenomenon.Cheetahs, of course, are part of an increasingly ridiculously expansive meme in which women who have sex are given a cutesy feline equivalent. Are you an older woman who likes sex? Well, then you’re a cougar. A thirtysomething who likes college-aged

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-43093912468196092552009-12-02T20:57:00.005-05:002009-12-02T21:26:39.462-05:00

Apparently, when it comes to wiping our own butts after defecating, men born in the U.S.A. are severely lacking in skills. This is not a scientific observation based on carefully collected data that includes a control group, broken down by race, gender, income levels, age, ethnicity, and metrosexualness.No, this observation comes from Mistress Matisse, someone who has a lot of experience in

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-62847439629754135622009-11-25T07:34:00.003-05:002009-11-25T07:50:46.432-05:00

The dominion of Fiction is over. Memoir is now king of all literary genres.I guess all that's left is for someone to tell all those fiction writers they're wasting their time...Okay, I'll do it."Attention all fiction writers, you are wasting your time and your readers' time with your fictions. Memoir is where it's at. Rip up those tired made-up manuscripts. Get to work on those tell-all memoirs.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-73223105536362545332009-11-24T11:22:00.002-05:002009-11-24T11:25:31.929-05:00

My review of Dominic Pacyga's Chicago: A Biography is up over at PopMatters.com.No book that deals with the history of a city like Chicago could ever be small. A city the size of Chicago is essentially a small country. Thousands of books have already been written about various aspects of the city, from biographies of the city’s politicians, artists, personalities, and captains of industry to

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-76254239703423386202009-11-22T08:16:00.004-05:002009-11-22T08:36:12.942-05:00

Showing that it is never too early to start making your kid insecure and success-obsessed, the New York Times brings you tutoring for pre-school admission tests.Test preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. But the new clientele is quite a bit younger: 3- and 4-year-olds whose parents hope that a

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-47862159793382821152009-11-21T06:44:00.003-05:002009-11-21T06:46:24.383-05:00

You've all heard the news: Oprah is shutting down her daytime talk show in 2011. Which means one thing to writers across North America: you only have two more years to get your books onto her show.Good luck!

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-76055174052627327932009-11-19T11:02:00.004-05:002009-11-19T11:09:18.744-05:00

Every once in awhile, someone says what they really and truly feel deep down, revealing the motivation behind their actions.Bill "Loofah" O'Reilly of Fox Entertainment did this the other day (at least in part),“I don’t care about the Constitution!”Many are distressed and outraged by this. No one who's watched his shouting TV show for more than three excruciating minutes could be surprised by his

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-21513459607697581682009-11-14T20:38:00.003-05:002009-11-14T20:41:17.581-05:00

Everyone else seems to be ga-ga for Lady Gaga, I might as well be, too. ;)Since I heard this song, I can not get it out of my head. And the video is just so...Over The Top.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-43138104298343576772009-10-17T09:21:00.007-05:002009-10-17T09:46:12.605-05:00

Travel and Leisure magazine claims that Chicago's Harold Washington library is one of the world's ugliest buildings. [Hat tip: Chicago Subtext]I admit to having mixed feelings about the building. But over the years I've grown to like it. It does stick out. It does look unique in an overly-referential way. But if you've ever seen the Winter Garden inside,you'll come to forgive its oddness.For

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-1136640542173318142009-10-16T05:48:00.001-05:002009-10-16T05:50:00.171-05:00

Welcome to today's Republican Party.I hope they get used to losing elections.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-36853596791971749202009-10-15T05:58:00.004-05:002009-10-15T06:02:44.276-05:00

How did I miss this (from Wired)?It has now been thirty years since The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy first saw print, and the anniversary serves to remind the world community of geeks of how much we miss Douglas Adams. It’s true that the quality of the books in the Hitchhiker’s series seemed to get progressively worse with each installment (in this geek’s opinion, at least), but there are few

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-1204366214147746872009-10-14T11:50:00.004-05:002009-10-14T12:03:08.518-05:00

Boy, this Time magazine article sure makes me want to run out and buy Pynchon's latest novel, Inherent Vice,Ten Similarities Between Grand Theft Auto and Inherent Vice 1) Fake Versions of Real Cities (Gordita Beach = Manhattan Beach. Los Santos = Los Angeles) 2) Corny, Corny, Corny Jokes 3) Broad characters with no internal lives and silly names spouting insane monologues revealing their

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-21243346868016433962009-10-07T20:04:00.003-05:002009-10-07T20:15:34.215-05:00

Those guys have to be among my most favorite funny people. I love sketches like the Fish Slapping Dance,How Not To Be Seen,The Philosophers' World Cup,and the three movies (all of which I own).Here are 10 Ways They Changed Comedy.P.S. Yes, like many a geek, I have committed far too many lines from the Holy Grail to memory.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-32115863425741796552009-09-29T11:02:00.002-05:002009-09-29T11:05:29.567-05:00

This video has gotten over 800,000 views. It needs more.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-61589421999861536092009-09-02T11:25:00.004-05:002009-09-02T11:34:40.716-05:00

There are those who are willing to wait in line for two hours to eat some delicious encased meats and there are those who are not. My sister and I are in the former category. We waited in line for two hours this past Saturday to eat at Hot Doug's in Chicago."Why?" you ask.Here's why,That is the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris. It was featured

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-39611632433317001652009-08-25T12:18:00.002-05:002009-08-25T12:23:41.987-05:00

What do you get at a company that has no Marketing, Business Development, or Human Resources people?No meetings.The long-running tech-industry war between engineers and marketers has been ended at craigslist by the simple expedient of having no marketers. Only programmers, customer service reps, and accounting staff work at craigslist. There is no business development, no human resources, no

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-62074964867695790042009-08-20T09:57:00.003-05:002009-08-20T10:07:54.552-05:00

In Goodbye To All That, Robert Graves describes very frankly both amorous male relationships in the English boarding schools he attended, the education he received, the torments he suffered in its peculiar (to me) social setting and the realities of trench warfare during World War One. The book was published in 1929.It’s hard not to want to compare it to Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Set next

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-81710701877508602142009-08-09T15:25:00.004-05:002009-08-09T15:35:53.717-05:00

I hate meetings. I hated them even more when I was working full-time as a technical writer. Now I know why. [Hat Tip: The Daily Dish]There are two types of schedule, which I'll call the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule. The manager's schedule is for bosses. It's embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-75034456745712428942009-08-07T06:30:00.003-05:002009-08-07T06:37:57.488-05:00

My quest to get to the bottom of my To Be Read (TBR) pile of books never ends. I always manage to find ways to heighten the pile.I had successfully not bought any books for a few months when an email entered my Inbox from Barnes and Noble. They were offering the complete set of Harry Potter books (paperback) in a boxed set for around $60. (Now it appears to be a little cheaper than that.) Since

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-25041496068922693022009-07-03T15:58:00.001-05:002009-07-03T16:00:00.170-05:00

This is too funny not to post.Thanks to my wife who found this and passed it along.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-53831931306759775292009-07-01T08:26:00.002-05:002009-07-01T08:47:24.562-05:00

This, boys and girls, is why it takes the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department to investigate corruption in Chicago.A politically connected Cook County state's attorney's office employee threatened to use her position to expose her ex-boyfriend as a federal informant against the Outfit, voice mail messages played in court suggest.[snip][Patti] Simone was once spokeswoman for former State's Atty.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-5098260457337066542009-06-30T20:24:00.002-05:002009-06-30T20:46:57.150-05:00

of stories I have yet to write (or might never write),The woman wearing a white tank top and a gray snakeskin-patterned skirt had a smoldering cigarette dangling out of her mouth.“Now what?” he asked the woman who was lying in bed naked next to him. “Phil Van Dyke is wondering how many more ex-girlfriends are going to find him on Facebook,” read his status message.Mike would have been just fine

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-72298359002079521602009-05-30T07:31:00.004-05:002009-05-31T10:26:07.126-05:00

For awhile I was set on acquiring a Sony Reader PRS-505. If you look hard enough, you can find them for as low as $270. But my budget these days won’t allow for an expenditure on something that does only one thing. (There are rooms in the house to be painted and a bathtub to be replaced...ah the pleasures of home ownership.)E-book readers also still suffer from extremes. You can only get a lot of

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-88674976130849985082009-05-12T07:48:00.003-05:002009-05-12T07:52:52.822-05:00

My review of Steve Knopper's Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age is up over at PopMatters.Through countless interviews with people inside and outside the music industry, he’s able to provide an immense amount of depth and detail. This makes Knopper’s book essential reading if you want to understand exactly how the juggernaut record labels

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-90473622416553615362009-04-22T07:43:00.003-05:002009-04-22T07:46:12.901-05:00

My review of Ruins by Achy Obejas is up on PopMatters.When everyone is cheating the system, is it still cheating? From his wife, to his family to his neighbors, everyone Usnavy knows is scheming and scraping for dollars in order to afford the things that make life bearable and functional, like a new pair of shoes, a bicycle, or even real meat.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-49681193798581585142009-04-08T08:54:00.001-05:002009-04-08T08:56:58.600-05:00

This is the best defense of a liberal arts education I've read in awhile.But these are Twittery, fragmentary messages. In her first-year composition course, we'll teach her to craft a strong argument, use contemporary research tools and extend her ideas from a couple of lines to many pages. We'll emphasize writing in her first year and stay after her until she graduates. Writing is crucial.As she

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-29717114205349882852009-04-06T19:16:00.005-05:002009-04-06T19:20:34.336-05:00

Here's what April looks like in Michigan. That's my son standing next to the snowman we built this afternoon.I like winter. Really, I do It's just that this year, Winter as already worn out its welcome. Right now I could do with less Snow Miser and more Heat Miser.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-25055988687607977892009-03-06T14:52:00.005-05:002009-03-06T15:09:45.574-05:00

My 4th Generation iPod died on me recently. This is the second time. It's over four years old. About a year and a half ago, I replaced the hard drive on it. And today, I replaced the hard drive again.This is the old hard drive, the dead one.Why replace the hard drive instead of buying a brand new shiny game and video-playing iPod Touch? Because for $54 (including shipping) I was able to buy a new

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-50775409084015869462009-03-01T11:09:00.006-05:002009-03-01T11:23:37.418-05:00

Late Friday, Amazon.com announced they would disable the Text-to-Speech feature on the Kindle for those authors who want it turned off.Therefore, we are modifying our systems so that rights holders can decide on a title by title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or disabled for any particular title. We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-61808067921621275562009-02-25T10:44:00.004-05:002009-02-25T11:08:46.925-05:00

So it continues. Today in the New York Times we get an op-ed from writer Roy Blount Jr. who sums up the Author's Guild position like this: Text-to-speech technology is improving by leaps and bounds. Soon it will be just as good as publisher-produced Audio Books, which is why the Kindle's text-to-speech must be stopped.What the guild is asserting is that authors have a right to a fair share of the

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-59070516818099795162009-02-11T12:15:00.003-05:002009-02-11T12:49:17.961-05:00

Not to be outdone by Simon and Shuster's CEO, the Author's Guild wants to be declared the Dumbest of Them All,"They don't have the right to read a book out loud," said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. "That's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law."That's right. The ED of the Author's Guild thinks that the Kindle 2's "text to speech" feature is against the law

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-86989286057616781562009-02-10T06:57:00.005-05:002009-02-10T07:11:51.121-05:00

This is one of them,“We do not agree with their pricing strategy,” said Carolyn K. Reidy, chief executive of Simon & Schuster. “I don’t believe that a new book by an author should ipso facto be less expensive electronically than it is in paper format.”From the New York Times story on Amazon's launch of the Kindle 2.That's one of the dumbest quotes I've ever read on the subject.Of course the

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-90692800363563093752009-01-22T08:24:00.001-05:002009-01-22T08:26:07.090-05:00

I was interested in seeing "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," having read the F. Scott Fitzgerald story long ago. But after seeing this,The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videosnow I don't think I need to. [Hat Tip: Daily Dish]

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-27921307752673848202009-01-16T07:43:00.005-05:002009-01-16T07:54:31.203-05:00

getting better.And here I was going to take the kids to the mall (indoor) today...hmm... The local schools are closed. When I was a kid (here's where I begin to sound like a cranky old man) the schools never closed, with the exception of a day or two during the Blizzard of '79. I remember standing outside waiting for the bus in sub-zero temperatures.Having just come in from my short walk to the

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-41153931507261968402009-01-14T13:25:00.002-05:002009-01-14T13:26:49.438-05:00

is just plain bitter.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-6616919419453219942008-10-21T09:25:00.000-05:002008-10-21T09:34:29.688-05:00

A few weeks ago, Adam Kirsch at Slate said this,Unless and until Roth gets the Nobel Prize, there's no reason for Americans to pay attention to any insults from the Swedes.Yes, and Ultimate Frisbee is a real sport.For baby boomers, reading Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint must have been exciting. Here we have a narrator talking about fucking as a form of conquest in a direct way that hadn’t been done

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-81057628007284154052008-09-26T07:40:00.000-05:002008-09-26T07:43:07.803-05:00

Yes, you read that right.Japan's best-known Buddhist nun is reaching out to a new audience by writing a mobile phone novel at the age of 86.It's a romance novel.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-16181608769583790252008-09-05T08:58:00.000-05:002008-09-05T09:02:11.320-05:00

My review of Anna Rubino's "Queen of the Oil Club: The Intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the Power of Information" is up over at PopMatters.To understand the life and career of Jablonski is to understand how control over oil production in the Middle East slowly shifted from a handful of colluding western oil companies known as the Seven Sisters to the governments of those oil-producing countries, and

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-31313679038283253022008-08-18T09:25:00.000-05:002008-08-18T09:28:50.290-05:00

Some of you might (though probably most of you don't) know this, but I will be at the DNC Convention in Denver as a credentialed blogger for MichiganLiberal.com. I'll be in the Pepsi Center during the speeches and Invesco Field on the last night for Obama's acceptance speech. Well, according to the DNC credential people, they will actually let me in...I'm looking forward to this unique

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-47227902147375728462008-08-01T10:58:00.000-05:002008-08-01T11:01:40.078-05:00

My review of the book boring boring boring boring boring boring boring is up over at PopMatters.Anyone who has had even a passing experience with the “Art World” or seen a documentary such as Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? would know that it is ripe for satire. In that aforementioned documentary, for instance, maddeningly flimsy arguments are made against a work’s authenticity which prevent it

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-41624056684462905572008-07-14T09:31:00.000-05:002008-07-14T09:33:24.567-05:00

This is what happens when people who aren't good at satire, attempt to do satire. You get clumsy crap like this.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-37610341212089723192008-06-04T11:53:00.000-05:002008-06-04T11:56:15.501-05:00

My daughter Meredith Irene was born today at 10:01am, weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces.Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!Mommy and baby are doing well. Our son Henry now has a sister!

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-58249518938775974962008-05-28T15:06:00.001-05:002008-05-28T15:15:31.144-05:00

Real life is letting men fuck you over their desks (and enjoying it, which is somehow the worst thing). Real life is regularly running out of money, and then food. Real life is having no proper heating. Real life is physical. Give me books instead: give me the invisibility of the contents of books, the thoughts, the ideas, the images. Let me become part of a book; I'd give anything for that.-

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-19799931546911142782008-05-18T15:19:00.000-05:002008-05-18T15:36:56.789-05:00

My wife and I, while visiting her parents in Ohio this weekend, took a short trip up to Akron to visit the Akron Art Museum. This is quite a gem of a museum.The building itself is an architectural marvel. There's a gallery with a bunch of photos documenting its construction.Of course, the most important thing about a museum is what's inside it. This museum does not disappoint. They have a handful

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-15629006162240814312008-05-14T11:24:00.000-05:002008-05-14T11:27:02.640-05:00

because it's silly and entertaining. William Shatner singing Pulp's "Common People."Plus that's Joe Jackson singing along with Ben Folds Five playing backup.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-27142837544159170082008-05-11T13:43:00.000-05:002008-05-11T14:01:52.940-05:00

via Transient ReporterAccording to LibraryThing, these are the top 106 books that are marked as "unread." Bold is for read, italics for half-read, and regular for unread.Jonathan Strange & Mr NorrellAnna KareninaCrime and PunishmentCatch-22One Hundred Years of Solitude - I was in undergrad, and I didn't read everything as attentively as I was supposed to.Wuthering HeightsThe SilmarillionLife of

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-29099613707350685802008-05-09T14:30:00.000-05:002008-05-09T14:36:44.911-05:00

The historian, essentially, wants more documents than he can really use; the dramatist only wants more liberties than he can really take.- Henry James, in the Preface to Volume XII of The Novels and Tales of Henry James (the New York Edition), 1908

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-70856312278928875272008-05-05T14:39:00.000-05:002008-05-05T14:56:43.968-05:00

I'm late in posting this. Nearly two weeks ago I attended the talk and book signing Valerie Hemingway gave at the Library of Michigan in Lansing as part of the The Great Michigan Read program. (The Nick Adams Stories is the book.) She read excerpts from and discussed her book Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways.She met Ernest Hemingway when she was 19 years old in Madrid while

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-62314173560656438752008-05-01T05:38:00.000-05:002008-05-01T06:32:39.094-05:00

Henry James was one of the Writers You Really Should Read that I, for one reason or another, had not read until now. I had picked up a copy of his "The Portrait of a Lady" at a used book store awhile back. I wasn't sure whether I would like James' writing, having heard it was Literary for the sake of being Literary. Others gushed about his writing and it's High Artfulness.So I finally dived in...

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-68657046543177568182008-04-05T13:03:00.000-05:002008-04-05T13:20:55.363-05:00

Apple now claims that iTunes is the top seller of music in the United States.Apple on Thursday announced that the iTunes Store is now the number one music retailer in the U.S., beating out Wal-Mart. The figures come from data published by the NPD Group.Nearly a decade ago, I was working at dot-com when the name Napster started being thrown around. That's when I realized that kids then, as now,

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-19489935857880628822008-03-31T10:47:00.000-05:002008-03-31T10:53:42.679-05:00

Not only are supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duking it out in the states, on talk shows, on blogs, and the newspapers, according to The New Republic, they're fighting on Wikipedia.There was the day in February when an editor replaced a photo of Hillary on her Wikipedia page with a picture of a walrus. Then there was the day this month when a Hillary supporter changed Obama's bio so

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-90361136282313767142008-03-31T07:33:00.000-05:002008-03-31T07:56:56.332-05:00

Where to Invade Next arrived in the mail with my most recent issue of McSweeney's. The title itself is flippant and funny. But there ends the flippancy and humor.The book is a collection of profiles of seven countries and the reasons for military action to overthrow the current regimes. Edited by Stephen Elliot, this 90-page book has a long bibliography, boasting work by two dozen people in

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-33087268479784230462008-03-30T16:38:00.001-05:002008-03-31T10:54:13.005-05:00

My review of Unsettling Accounts: Neither Truth nor Reconciliation in Confessions of State Violence is up over at PopMatters.Once a torturer confesses to his acts, what is resolved? Can his victims forgive him or find relief? Can the families of dead victims gain anything resembling closure or justice? What responsibility or role should the state play in all of this?Political Science professor

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-10617627055274014522008-03-01T19:01:00.001-05:002008-04-01T20:57:38.077-05:00

Pictures for my post on Michigan Liberal.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-18511142516668537802008-02-27T08:41:00.001-05:002008-02-27T08:52:21.416-05:00

I was interviewed last night by the local NBC affiliate WILX 10 for the story, "What If: Did Michigan's Primary Backfire?"It might have been February 9. Feb. 5 was floated too. It could have been February 26 when Michigan went to the polls.It could have been---but it wasn't.There is a video of the story as it was broadcast. It's next to the article on the right. You have to find the one labeled,

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-70919228039816242502008-02-02T14:52:00.000-05:002008-02-02T14:56:01.694-05:00

Wow. This gave me the chills.Yes, we can.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-30361352810224230222008-01-30T14:12:00.000-05:002008-01-30T14:16:55.741-05:00

My review of Misunderestimated and Overunderappreciated: The George W. Bush Administration as Seen Through the Eyes of the Tribune's Syndicated Editorial Cartoonists is up over at PopMatters.Bush’s presidency has not been bad for everyone, though. In addition to oil companies and defense contractors, cartoonists and comedians have benefited greatly from him. Those in the satire business have been

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-28353192172035765902008-01-15T07:35:00.000-05:002008-01-15T19:27:05.624-05:00

Update: The story was cut from the broadcast. The producer called me to apologize. She sounded very disappointed. Sorry for those of you who had your VCRs and DVRs all set.No joke. Fox News Channel Correspondent Steve Brown interviewed me yesterday afternoon at my home for a report they're doing on Michigan Democrats who plan to vote in the Republican Primary.I'm planing to vote "Uncommitted."

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-46402962545552213482007-12-05T12:53:00.000-05:002007-12-05T12:57:33.374-05:00

I found this short clever piece "The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts) via Slashdot. It uses the words of Amazon's Jeff Bezos against himself and his new Kindle device.Act I: The act of buying When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this. Jeff Bezos, Open letter to Author’s

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-70864933850304692362007-12-02T10:06:00.000-05:002007-12-02T10:09:15.822-05:00

My review of Ron Liebman's Death by Rodrigo is up over at PopMatters.Liebman, a senior partner in a law firm in Washington, D.C., is an engaging storyteller with a lot of knowledge of the inner workings of the legal system that he puts to good use here. It’s fun for the reader, and clearly fun for Liebman, to follow these two unpolished but street-smart attorneys and their sometimes hilarious

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-41161528172613288552007-11-21T15:21:00.000-05:002007-11-21T17:05:34.048-05:00

Normally, on this blog I have written very little about my personal life, keeping it strictly to things related to books, politics, and the occasional technical problem.Two weeks ago, I came across this article by stay-at-home-dad Charlie LeDuff in Men’s Vogue courtesy of Judith Warner’s New York Times blog Domestic Disturbances.I don’t normally read Men’s Vogue. In fact, I didn’t know that Vogue

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-20789240605351640622007-11-19T19:01:00.000-05:002007-11-19T19:15:52.874-05:00

Now Amazon has taken the leap into e-book readers/electronic books/whatever.Weighing just 10.3 ounces, the Kindle is lighter than most paperbacks, which should make extended reading no problem. You can store hundreds of titles on its built-in memory, and add SD cards for additional room. Titles you buy ($10 for best sellers and new releases) are backed up on Amazon, so even if you have to delete

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-33644952739105994952007-11-19T15:05:00.000-05:002007-11-19T15:11:23.593-05:00

My review of Stud's Terkel's book Touch and Go: A Memoir is up over at PopMatters.Studs Terkel is a living legend whose fame as an interviewer has reached far beyond Chicago, the city he has called home for eight decades. Normally, his books such as Race, Working, and Division Street: America, are collections of interviews with numerous people all gathered around a central subject. With his

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-74518996986372761742007-11-18T20:54:00.000-05:002007-11-18T21:18:12.193-05:00

I have previously posted about my problems with wireless access using my MacBook running 10.4.10. That fix didn't last very long.Well, the recent update appears to have fixed it. For at least a month and a half I've been using an ethernet cable hooked up to my "wireless" router to access the internet. right now, I am using the Internet via the wireless card on my MacBook. I hope this is fixed

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-29290954934417522872007-11-10T08:20:00.000-05:002007-11-10T08:44:31.223-05:00

The writer Norman Mailer has died.NEW YORK - Norman Mailer, the macho prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead," died Saturday, his literary executor said. He was 84.Mailer died of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital, said J. Michael Lennon, who is also the author's official

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-90368525045046180772007-11-09T17:55:00.000-05:002007-11-09T18:11:53.533-05:00

The Center for Michigan is a think tank that is decidedly centrist-minded. Actually, they refer to themselves as a "think and do tank." Phil Power a former newspaper owner, whose columns often appear in newspapers around the state, is the founder of the center.Why am I writing about the center?Because they're running a story contest. Yes, a political think tank is running a story contest. Pretty

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-78391993698454670582007-10-11T06:39:00.000-05:002007-10-11T06:42:13.567-05:00

British writer Doris Lessing will be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.Her breakthrough was the 1962 "Golden Notebook," the Swedish Academy said."The burgeoning feminist movement saw it as a pioneering work and it belongs to the handful of books that inform the 20th century view of the male-female relationship," the academy said in its citation announcing the prize.Other important novels of

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-83206756785166075382007-10-08T13:30:00.000-05:002007-10-08T13:33:54.639-05:00

My review of Mitsuyo Kakuta's Woman on the Other Shore is up over at PopMatters.When timid housewife Sayoko lands a job with Platinum Planet, a travel-housekeeping company run by Aoi, the two women forge an unlikely friendship. Seeing Aoi’s example, Sayoko learns to assert herself and the unmarried Aoi gains the kind of deeply-trusted friend in Sayoko she hasn’t had since high school.That’s

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-31093677785069747352007-10-07T12:52:00.000-05:002007-10-07T12:59:04.710-05:00

My review of Hugh Kennedy's The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In is up over at PopMatters.In a little over 100 years after the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632, Arab Muslims controlled an empire that reached out from Medina and Mecca as far west to what is now Morocco and as far east to what is now Afghanistan. They brought Arabic and the new Muslim

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-85153823405183041042007-09-20T08:23:00.001-05:002007-09-20T08:23:52.933-05:00

My review of Peter Godwin's When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa is up over at PopMatters.According to a Zulu legend, “a solar eclipse occurs when a crocodile eats the sun. This celestial crocodile, they say, briefly consumes our life-giving star as a warning that he is much displeased with the behavior of man below. It is the very worst of omens.”There is much life being taken away

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-41123574051877323232007-09-15T08:04:00.000-05:002007-09-15T08:08:39.834-05:00

Here's my first post on Michigan Liberal. It's called, Who's Afraid of a Pig?Enjoy.Yes, Mr. Drolet showed up yesterday with his pig and parked it in front of the State Capitol. The fire truck was parked next to it because police and fire don't want revenue-sharing funds cut from the budget. Those are funds that go to cities to help pay for police and and fire protection.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-22088848081752469452007-09-15T07:22:00.000-05:002007-09-15T08:03:37.517-05:00

I had never heard of Peter Sacks before I came across this Huffington Post article by him. His whining doesn't exactly motivate me to go out and buy one of his books to stop him from whining. He's whining because he's a "serious writer" who doesn't sell well-enough.I am drug down by the sensation that I'm beating my head against the Great Wall of American popular culture, which seems absolutely

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-58148665930290288442007-09-11T07:49:00.000-05:002007-09-11T06:54:16.528-05:00

When the United States has won the War on Terror...All of our soldiers will be brought home.There will be peace in our country and abroad.No one will have to take off their shoes before boarding a plane.There will no longer be any Terror Alerts.We will erect a memorial in Washington, D.C. to the soldiers who have died in the battle against Terror.All of the provisions in the Patriot Act will be

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-12692394853878917462007-09-10T17:10:00.000-05:002007-09-10T16:34:57.733-05:00

In a long, rambling, press release, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis announced that if a tax increase is passed by the legislature and signed into law this year, his party would be willing to vacate the state. Democrats have pushed proposals to increase revenues, including either through a hike in the income tax or sales tax, have been discussed in order to plug the $1.8 billion

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-75248865953852562672007-09-08T08:10:00.000-05:002007-09-08T08:34:01.636-05:00

This is big news for me. Woo-hoo! I'm honored and a little awed to have been asked to become a front page editor at MichiganLiberal.com. Few things will change on this blog. Though I will be posting over there at least once a week.My friend LiberalLucy wrote the very nice and witty announcement. Please head on over and follow the links to check out the other two bloggers GreenTuna and Diane S.

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-29099386298962823322007-09-06T10:05:00.000-05:002007-09-06T10:24:12.386-05:00

It's been reported all over the place: Luciano Pavarotti died earlier this morning.This saddens me, as I'm a big opera fan. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see and hear him perform live. I have only heard him on recordings. (I'm going to be putting on Puccini's Turandot, performed by Pavarotti, Sutherland, Caballe, and Guiaurov, conducted by Mehta just as soon as I'm done typing this

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-80621039721257827642007-09-04T23:03:00.000-05:002007-09-04T22:08:45.957-05:00

[Note: Now that most of my technology problems have been resolved, I return to my irregularly scheduled commentary on books, politics, and culture.]Great, just what I need: another list of enticing books to read that I'll never be able to get to. Groan.Far from the fame and glamour of the Booker and bestsellers is a forgotten world of literary treasures - brilliant but underrated novels that

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-51545068335591452952007-09-04T15:35:00.000-05:002007-09-04T14:50:18.793-05:00

I am the lucky new owner of a MacBook. It's fast. It's sleek-looking. It's got all the wonderful grace and beauty of a well-made Apple product. It's replacing my now officially dead iBook G3.There was just one problem: I could not connect my MacBook to our wireless DSL router. AT&T is our DSL provider.So I called AT&T, who after much time and a couple of people eventually threw up their hands and

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-42101072803739813822007-08-28T19:45:00.000-05:002007-08-28T19:37:16.244-05:00

According to this Associated Press story,Anti-tax activists on Monday began filing paperwork to recall state lawmakers who may vote for tax increases.No tax vote has taken place yet in either the Michigan House or Senate as a possible solution to help fill the $1.8 billion hole in our state's budget. From the way things look, if the MTA (Leon Drolet) thinks a legislator might be considering

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-57405282732878578872007-08-20T06:43:00.000-05:002007-08-20T07:18:59.723-05:00

I've been having some technical problems with my iBook. It's a G3 with 700MHz. Yes, it's 5 years old. I believe in using my computers until they die. That's why I haven't been posting lately.Well, mine did, the other day. Screen went black and it wouldn't boot. So I took it to CompUSA where the technician was kind enough to tell me it was probably a problem with the logic board. He said it would

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073031006870163656.post-86565572043106552192007-08-15T08:45:00.000-05:002007-08-15T08:58:25.274-05:00

As India and Pakistan celebrate 60 years of independence from Britain, the Guardian is featuring a week-long series. It's kicked-off with this piece by Siddhartha Deb.These days it is not hard for an Indian writer to seal himself off from social and political turmoil, but in a country where the chattering classes are only concerned with received ideas about globalisation, progress, nationalism

Richard Hellingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05713326634791016306noreply@blogger.com0