Logan Frederick

I severely slacked at my blogging during my first year of college. The emphasis is on “at my blogging”, as I have certainly not been slacking at my work.

One would think I’d take Spring Break to relax as opposed to crank up the mojo more, but that one person would be wrong. The tens of other individuals who read this probably already assumed I was taking a “working vacation”, a phrase that is one part oxymoron and another part the sad state of my life.

Below is a quick, numbered outline of what I’ve been up to since January and each item’s current status:

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August 22nd marked my two-year anniversary as a News Reporter for The Escapist Magazine. Hitting the two-year mark at the end of my high school and adolescence has made me look back on my time there. I’ve also been asked a few times about the back story behind my joining of the team, and figured I could lay it all out in one memoir post.

The story of my time and many others at the Escapist begins back at Gamers With Jobs, a mature gaming forum with the funniest, most intelligent group of writers I’ve met online. The contributors to GWJ have gotten published in many of the major industry publications, including The Escapist.

I originally found the site via Slashdot, the web home of geeks everywhere, some three years ago. I came from Slashdot, but I stayed for the podcast, the now defunct Gamers With Jobs Radio, hosted by ex-TechTV producer Russ Pitts and GWJ Founder Shawn Andrich. After being a decently active poster, the site’s founders, Shawn Andrich and Sean Seands, announced the launch of the Press Pass, GWJ’s own game news site, and they were looking for writers. Having a lot of spare time during the summer of 2006, I applied.
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It’s that time of year. For many of us, we have started our freshman year at the institution of our choice and have nearly completed the first quarter or semester. Dorms, parties, books, freedom, they’re all part of what makes the college experience great.

Then again, there’s that scary possibility that maybe you’re not going to the ideal place of higher learning? Perhaps the teachers didn’t graduate high school? Or there is a 50 percent chance you’ll be shot?

Luckily, Radar is looking after you with its “Worst Colleges in America” series. It categorizes colleges into multiple folders of fail for your safety. Read on to make yourself feel better about not attending one of the not-so-fine universities:
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The coldest blood runs through my veins. You know my name.

The proceeding post will seemingly lack cohesion. Think of it as a metaphor for life, one not viewed as the continually flowing that it truly is but as an amalgamation of eras marked by major, life-defining events.

The expected articles for the month of October were clearly not completed.

The past month has been a busy one. When I started this blog, it was never intended to be a personal one. With all my knowledge and resources on various topics most of my readers were hoping to read from here, I figured I could continually update once a week and occasionally with a truly insightful editorial.

Plans, much like promises, are rarely easily kept.

It’s not through a lack of effort or desire. I’d probably blame it on prioritization, an apparently undefined word I will term for “the act/ability to prioritize.” “Busy” has also become open to personal interpretation. One could say he is “busy” watching television, as he/she is engaged in that activity. With this definition in mind, October for me was a “busy” month. Not in the sense that I wasted time, more as though it were lost, blown away by the sands of drama and change. Gone are the hours better spent studying, writing, working and succeeding. They were whisked away by days of too much talking and too little acting.

With every mistake one makes, a lesson is supposed to be learned. Yet, I feel like I gained nothing for my troubles. To some extent I egotistically knew much of how life recently would unfold. Personal accounts can attest to that statement. Problems arose when I tried to fight the inevitable, rather than, what I would typically do, allowing the world to spin beneath my feet while I walked forward with my life.

Walking while carrying baggage is made significantly more difficult when carrying others on your shoulders. Of course, it is made much better when you can step with someone who will support the weight with you, instead of adding to it.

I never quite understood why we make mistakes. Most, if not all, are easily identifiable and avoidable before they occur with even an ounce of forethought. Yet we as people are still drawn to do the stupid and purposefully harm our existence, consciously or not. The successful are those who are able to properly decide what is a mistake-in-waiting and what’s an opportunity-for-taking.

If I have gained anything from my experiences over the past month, they aren’t so much lessons as they are ounces of wisdom and reaffirmation of the already known. A person will always have the best tools for leading life available to himself: A sharp mind, strong principles, and the desire for self-preservation. Whenever any of those are lost, so is the self.

Remember, it’s all about number one. Anything that gets in the way of that goal must be erased at the risk of failing oneself.

Some call it cynicism; I call it correct.

I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams. Here I go, again on my own, going down the only road I’ve ever known.

**Note: Technical difficulties are delaying the Economics of the Candidates series. I’m doing my best to hurry the process.**

Expanding beyond the world of Escapist writing, I have landed a position as an occasional editorialist for Giant Realm, a site for “Stuff That Doesn’t Suck.”

With such a descriptive caption, one might not understand that it’s a growing editorial portal with plenty of entertaining articles about music, movies, technology and gaming, all interests of ours. I joined Giant Realm to work for my former Escapist editor Joe Blancato, who left to become this site’s Editor-in-Chief. Joe’s an entertaining guy, promising some great content and making this site worth visiting.

My first story is details Google’s Android project, an open-source phone operating system that will debut with T-Mobile this year. I could explain more on my site, but I figure I’ll pimp Giant Realm and ask you to read the blurb below and then go read the full article:

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No phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe, it’s primitive as can be….

I was profusely salivating, drool flinging from my mouth with every angered snap at the computer. My eyes were enraged. All because I had been blocked.

When you’re a computer nerd who doubles as a writer for an online media company, Internet access is kinda important. Nowadays we pay for it like a commodity anyway. It’s a standby in our monthly bills. Much like our utilities, when we pay for it, we expect it to work.

If only I was so lucky. For nearly two days, I have been browser-less.

It happened at the beginning of the summer too. My computer’s network connection was broken by a Windows update, leaving me without work or a connection to the outside world beyond all the old technologies like cell phones, television, or the often feared “face-to-face” get together. Who does that anymore?

But now is an even more dire situation. Not only am I Internet-less, but without power entirely.

A little time away from the eye-bleaching screens that are pasted everywhere in my life hasn’t been all bad. I’ve returned to die-hard reading, finishing the Blackwater book and starting Free Lunch. Managed to find a newfound appreciation for batteries, specifically the rechargable lithium kind. You’d think it’d fix my sleep schedule too, maybe do a nocturnal-to-normal sleep swap. Not even a violent nature can change my one-meal-a-day diet.

In those times when the lights begin to fade, then sun starts setting, and the last chapter of the paperback in your lap begins to thin, you also get to think. In this hectic world of constant technology and talking, thinking is good. Some do it in the shower, some in the car. When you have no water and nowhere to drive, your day becomes a massive think tank. Relationships and careers are all up for reconsideration.

Does this mean any of my opinions of my lovely girlfriend or finance future change?

God no, why would I give up a life as a wealthy baron with a bombastic Asian wife? The power went out, not my senses.

It’s time to cut through the crap. There hasn’t been enough publicly written that rebuffs the blatantly liberal bias of the internet and media and isn’t purchased by the conservative corporations. With only two parties able to win the presidency, the options are solidly placed on separate sides of the political spectrum with no truly beneficial middle ground.

In order to inform the uneducated or undecided, I will be starting on my first series of blog posts titled “Economics of the Candidates”. Every other day until the end of the series, I will examine the following policies for both parties:

• Taxes
• Business Regulation
• Housing
• Alternative Energy
• Health-Care
• Trade
• Economic Advisors
• War

While no one is truly without bias, I will present the facts and analyze how they will actually act in office with some of my own editorializing. What should come of this examination is a broad, encompassing guide to the platforms of both major US Presidential candidates.

*Note: Congress, the real legislative powers, will be addressed in future posts, but have thus far been pretty passive, so they’re a slight non-issue for now.

**Note: To reveal my own bias before we begin this series, I’m currently leaning 60% McCain, 40% Obama for various reasons that I will explain after this feature is finished. If only Ron Paul hadn’t tried to return to the gold standard and abolish the Reserve, we might’ve had a libertarian candidate we could vote for, but alas, we’re stuck with the same tired parties.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the two largest mortgage companies in America with their roots stemming back to the Great Depression when FDR formed them as part of his New Deal to handle the majority of America’s mortgages and mortgage repackaging. Ever since, these two government-sponsored institutions have monopolized the mortgage market. This means easy money when people are buying homes.

And it means a colossal public failure when the economy spirals out of control.

In January, the combined companies were valued at approximately $60 billion. Yesterday, they stood at $10 billion. Today, little is left except some pocket change.

A government bailout is more humble and face-saving than a bankruptcy. It also implies that the government sees the business as too vital to fail. However, these events will force some $5 trillion in guaranteed mortgage securities held banks and funds (China’s central bank alone holds $340 billion in mortgage-backed securities) around the world to be the responsibility of the government. This “conservatorship” agreement could force taxpayers to support any losses related to collapsed mortgages from Freddie and Fannie.

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Google, the icon of Internet companies, recently released Chrome, an open source browser set to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, as well as Firefox, for which Google is its largest customer.

The browser itself is still in beta, like GMail and every other Google service, and I expect it’ll stay that way for some time. The appearance is slick but goofy, something that Google has become increasingly good at designing for its products. Toolbars and menus are at a minimum; all screen space is efficiently compacted to provide room for more web page. Launching Chrome opens up a “Most Visited” pages dashboard.

Specific features aren’t really the story surrounding Chrome, as those, such as a noticeable absent Bookmark Manager, will be taken care of by the development community due to the free-to-download code. What’s more fascinating is this is the next move in the great Chess battle between Microsoft and Google, with Google putting the King in check.

“Think of Chrome as more than a simple Web browser,” Google declares. “It’s a platform for running Web applications.”

When Google says “platform”, they mean two things: A foundation to run their web applications and a place to display their advertisements. Microsoft’s online tools are lacking in polish and popularity compared to Google’s, which means more and more web users will be viewing Google ads. It’s no longer a matter of Microsoft being unable to crack the online advertising market; now Google is invading Microsoft’s oldest and most secure businesses. Someone in Redmond has to be worried.

Every time I open Google Chrome I might be adding money to its already bulging $12 billion pocketbook. But heck, their code sure does load Youtube videos faster than Firefox.

Whoever wrote CNN’s headline “McCain taps Alaska Gov. Palin as vice president pick” has a dirty sense of humor that I applaud.

Governor Palin has been in office for two years, a degree in Communications/Journalism (so I’m betting she’s great at PR handling), and has a decently pretty face for 44.

Pregnancy rumors and bothersome ex-brother-in-laws aside, the discussion should be over how she’s going to influence the McCain campaign going forward.

All things considered, I’m going to say quite well. At least, I don’t see her doing any harm.

A quick analysis has to address the obvious reason she was chosen: to seduce women voters over to the Republican camp. You know, all those Clintonites who were spurned by the Obama mob. I can see her influence having various effects: She could represent a kinder, younger, more energetic alternative to Clinton, something women may find appealing, or she’ll be considered ditsy and inexperienced. That sounds bad, but it’s not as though McCain had those supporters to begin with, so it’s kinda a nothing to lose shot.

The alternative, picking a man, really wouldn’t have covered any fresh ground for McCain: he’s already old and experienced, yet more moderate than many Republicans and he didn’t need to hardcore support he fought for in the primaries anymore. They certainly aren’t leaving for Obama.

In essence, Palin might be the perfect compliment to McCain: young, vibrant, probably better at PR, attracts a completely separate demographic, but shares values with the candidate and party. Is she the best thing for the country? Probably not, as vibrance doesn’t solely mean you’re ready to step into the Presidency. Her political views will soon be revealed and her ability to convert from the Democratic party could die off well before the election. But for a running mate, I don’t think McCain could ask for more.

**UPDATE** To those who believe this is a “desperate plea for love” from McCain, to you I say: Well, yeah, but he has to, the guy is a tad dopey and not all that compelling except the to World War 2 crowd. I expected someone, well, likable to be his Vice President.

**UPDATE 2** Additionally, for a couple of people who feel she was a “random” pick, I told quite a few people beforehand that it was going to be a Governor we hadn’t heard of and weren’t going to be able to predict. None of the obvious candidates fit the bill of what the McCain camp needed.