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Andrew Loeb

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This is a placeholder for Gollum real apologies for any Spoilers!

Stephensonia

*The lesson that Andrew Loeb imparts to Randal Lawrence Waterhouse, in some ways, resembles the lesson that Nell, of The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, recieves at the Hands of one of her teachers at Miss Matheson's school for girls, though there is no explanation, such as the one Nell is given by Miss Matheson.

In many ways, though, Andrew Loeb more closely resembles the figure of Dona Soledad, from Carlos Castaneda's Second Ring of Power -- that of an "Enemy". One difference, one amoung many, is that Andrew Loeb appears to be either completely insane, or utterly evil. There is also the question of how effective Mr. Loeb's enmity was.*

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Community entries:Andrew Loeb

In the mid 1980's Andrew Loeb's eccentric Master's Degree Project to determine the energy expenditure budgets of Local Native Peoples would establish his first meeting at the Inter Library Loan (ILL) Department of the University of Washington in Seattle with Randy Waterhouse.CrossAndrewLoebMW.jpg
Andrew Loeb
was meant to be protrayed
by David Cross

What was purely an acedemic pursuit to Mr. Loeb would become Inspiration for a Historicaly Accurate Computer Role Playing Game (CRPG) for Randy Waterhouse. Randy's position as a Clerk Typist II in the ILL Department, and specifically, as the one delegated to work with the rather "oddball" cases, covertly gained Randy the benefit of Andrew's Research.

Over the next year and a half, while one studied, and lived, the acedemic and practical aspects of both What the people's of the Northwest Ate and How this was attained, the other devised methods of how similar data could be turned into a component of a game!

Randy Waterhouse's joy over the sale of his coding efforts, would quickly end, become confussion, then, serve as a Gateway to a Nightmare period, in which suicide was an option, not a strong one, but an option none the less. A casual, overly - generous, attempt to, possibly, infuse the same joy in Andrew Loeb that Randy was experiencing, provided a vunerability through which Andrew was to teach a very important, but extremely vile, life lesson, with the aid of his father's Santa Barbra Law Firm.

Later in life Andrew would follow in his Father's footsteps and become a lawyer himself.

The Fractally Odd Andrew Loeb

As a past Luddite -- Andrew was a suspect in the Digibomber case as was the creator of Tickle Me Elmo doll in our non-fictional world --“… FBI agents looking for the Unabomber investigated Mark Johnson-Williams for six months, he says. He thinks he also caught the FBI's eye because he matched the bureau's profile of the elusive killer in several ways. The FBI was seeking a Northern California resident in his 40s who had been a science student in the Midwest. Mr. Johnson-Williams, 40, lives in Half Moon Bay, near San Francisco. He taught himself calculus as a child and attended Luther College in Iowa. …”

The FBI wasn't wrong in thinking a naked Elmo resembled a bomb. The inventor himself admitted that.

It is Ironic that Andrew's early interest in the Hunting practices of the aboriginal peoples of the Northwest, which appear to have been pursued, unabated, through his lifetime, would form the basis for both the first, and the last, meetings that he and Randy would have.

Cayuse

Andy's first lost cause: are the Cayuse. Wikipedia says: “The Cayuse are a Native American group in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla. The reservation is located near Pendleton, Oregon near the Blue Mountains.

The Cayuse were originally located in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington state and lived adjacent to territory covered by the Nez Perce. The Cayuse were noted horsemen and often used their horse-riding prowess to intimidate other tribes. The Cayuse moved to the Umatilla Reservation after signing a treaty with the U.S. federal government in 1855.

The Cayuse language is considered to be an isolated, one-of-a-kind language that is a branch of the Penutian language group. The Cayuse call themselves the Te-taw-ken, which means "we, the people". …”

*"… It looks like a Cayuse arrow," Randy says.

"Cayuse? You think it was fired by a Cayuse?" Doug demands. Randy admires that Doug, while skeptical, is essentially open to the idea.

"No," Randy says, taking another step towards Amy, and straddling the antitank mine. "The Cayuse are extinct. Measles. So it was made by a white man who is an expert in the hunting practices of Northwest Indian tribes. What else do we know about him? That’s he’s really good at sneaking around in the jungle. And that he’s so totally fucking crazy that even when he’s been injured by a land mine, he’s still crawling around in the undergrowth taking shots at people." Randy’s probing the riverbed as he’s talking, and now he takes another step. Only six feet away from Amy now. "Not just anyone—he took a shot at Amy. Why? Because he’s been watching. He saw Amy sitting next to me when we took that break, resting her head on my shoulder. He knows that if he wants to hurt me, the best thing he could possibly do is take a shot at her."

"Why does he want to hurt you?" Enoch asks.

"Because he’s evil."

Enoch looks tremendously impressed.

"Well, who the hell is it?" Amy hisses. She’s irritated now, which he takes to be a good sign.

"His name is Andrew Loeb," Randy says. "And Jackie Woo and John Wayne are never going to find him."

"Jackie and John are very good," Doug demurs.

Another step. He can almost reach out and touch Amy. "That’s the problem," Randy says. "They’re way too smart to run around in a minefield without probing every step. But Andrew Loeb doesn’t give a shit. Andrew’s totally out of his fucking mind, Doug. He’s going to run around up there at will. Or crawl, or hop, or whatever. I’d wager that Andy with one foot blown off, and not caring whether he lives or dies, can move through a minefield faster than Jackie, when Jackie does care. …"*

Experience

Experience is knowledge of and skill in something gained through being involved in it or exposed to it over a period of time. It generally refers to know-how or procedural knowledge, rather than propositional knowledge. Knowledge based on experience is also known as empirical knowledge or a posteriori knowledge. A person with considerable experience in a certain field is called an expert. If someone is recounting an event they witnessed or took part of they are said to have had a "First hand experience".

Versus to someone like Randy: Experience is a number used in almost all Role Playing Games to measure how far ones character has progressed in the game. It is generally referred to as Experience Points and, usually, abbrevated to "exp" or "xp" in such games.

Once in Luzon

Andrew Loeb's transference of his expertise of Survival in Northwestern American rainforests to a tropical rainforest setting, is the embodiment of Machiavelli's counsel to a Prince;

"To engage continually in hunting, and thus accustom his body to hardships; and meanwhile learn the nature of the land."

and further;

"Then, by means of the knowledge and experience gained in one locality, one can easily understand any other that it may be necessary to observe; for the hills and valleys, plains and rivers of Tuscany, for instance, have a certain resemblance to those of other provinces, so that from a knowledge of the country in one province one can easily arrive at a knowledge of others."

the statement concludes;

"And that prince who is lacking in this skill is wanting in the first essentials of a leader; for it is this which teaches how to find the enemy, take up quarters, lead armies, plan battles and lay siege to towns with advantage."

Remember, also, that there still remain some pocket rebellions with fragmented rebel groups, particularly some communist groups operating in the mountains of Luzon and the Visayas, and a smattering of Muslim fighters who do not recognize the 1996 peace treaty. Outside the cities the countryside is tropical rainforests and are volcanic in origin. The highest point is Mount Apo on Mindanao standing at 2,954 [meter]s tall. Many volcanoes in the country, such as the Pinatubo, are active. The country is also astride the typhoon belt of the Western Pacific and is struck by about 19 typhoons per year.

Not the Cryptonomicon Universe's Unabomber

The Finnish Linus act-alike Van Eck phreaker Pekka who was the first known victim of the digibomber informs us that shittiness does transverse universes. No radical survivalist killer goofballs should lionized. The brave Epiphyte2 Corporate officers scoff at “Andy grit” but all knew the danger of being targets to an unnamed cowardly attacker for simply being technologists.