Logan Frederick

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.

This Friday night was my second night sleeping in my dorm. I, like many other Americans, was awoken at 3am from a sound sleep (or, as sound as possible in a concrete rectangle with no air conditioning) by a text message alert from the Obama Campaign making good on their promise to text all who wished to be notified as soon as a vice president was chosen. As I focused my vision on the small screen in the wee hours of the morning I read this:

“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word!”

Immediately after reading this, I uttered one word: “shit.” Why would Obama chose Joe Biden? The man who (knowingly or unknowingly) passed into the world one of the most notable and racially charged gaffs of the campaign: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy”. (What was he trying to say?) This was the first (and only) morsel of my knowledge that came to mind at 3am. I stared at the springs supporting the bunk above mine as I pondered the move and went back to sleep. Waking up a few hours later, I checked my phone again to make sure I hadn’t dreamed the experience. I read once again, Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his vice presidential nominee. Shit. Then it all dawned on me: Biden was truly Obama’s only choice. Biden provides a perfect counterweight to the Obama’s flaws as articulated by the McCain camp. To the claim that Obama is inexperienced, Biden is a senior senator to even John McCain. To the claim that Obama has no foreign policy, Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. To the claim that Obama’s speeches have no substance, Biden is plain spoken and colloquial. To the claims that Obama is too liberal, Biden will attract the more moderate to conservative democrats. Even to the classical qualification of choosing a vice president (geographically balancing the ticket) Biden comes through–almost. (Although not bringing a geographically balance of the North Carolinian John Edwards, Delaware would still bring more of a balance than, say, a certain other senator from New York.)

Almost exactly 12 hours after making the text message notification, Obama and Biden made consecutive speeches in Springfield, Illinois. Obama spoke of Biden’s strong suits and did not once mention McCain, while Biden split time between speaking highly of Obama and tying the failures of the Bush administration and John McCain, while still calling McCain “a friend.”

Now it’s McCain’s turn to choose a Vice President. My call would be former mayor and failed presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani would almost certainly deliver some votes from former democratic stronghold New York, and hold the more moderate to liberal republicans that may have previously fled to Obama/Biden.

But, as politics (as well as life) always proves–there are no sure bets.

Now, there are a lot of reasons one might conjecture that people in the CS clique don’t like those smiling faces in the Apple clique.  These include expectation of pretty software, over-the-top desire to share ease-of-use stories, and general over-trendiness.  However, for the sake of saving Logan some bandwidth, I’ll omit many of them and get right down to the heart of the issue.

CS majors hate Mac users because they don’t know how good they have it.

During the trial by fire most CS majors must undertake in their initial days in the major, they find themselves miraculously saved by a very special friend.  This friend is with them at all times, constantly willing to streamline file manipulation, batch compilation, and generally do everything they need at the time.  As the young CS major finds themselves with more time, their new friend is able to help them with more benign tasks, like moving around web pages, finding text files that reference particular key words, etc.  Next thing anyone knows, the CS major and his friend are skipping hand in hand down the path of a life-long friendship.

This friend’s name?  Bash, short for Bourne-Again SHell *
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From a news story I wrote today at The Escapist:

A bit of online, in-game sex has resulted in the rapid unemployment of one Funcom employee.

…

Candy: You’re just as kinky as me
Candy: Infact you’re so kinky, you just cybered with a dude
Candy shouts: THIS IS SPARTA
|GM|: then when you are really hot and needing more I can reposition and slide my wet tongue up your face and do small circles again around your belly button and then let my tongue trail down your chin.
|GM|: oh that would really be not good lol
Candy: Love you =]
Candy: By the way, I’ve been fapping to this the whole time.
|GM|: lol why did you want this then lol you gay?
|GM|: are you serious?
Candy: Serious about what?
|GM|: um what’s fapping (not up to par on the ling) lol
Candy: I was joking about the fapping, but I am indeed a dude.
|GM|: lol ok.
|GM|: Glad I put my clothes back on lol
Candy: Yeah probably a good idea. I have aids.

For the rest of this article, visit The Escapist Magazine, where I report video game news Monday through Friday.