8/7/2019 The Oredigger Issue 14 - January 31, 2011
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Volume 91, Issue 14 January 31 , 2011
News 2 Features 5 sports 4 opiNioN - 9
~world headlines
~scientific discoveries
~tech break
~staff spotlight
~mens Wrestling
~athlete of the week
~morals to your story
~tims two cents
satire 12~summertime is here
~let it snow
Graduate students gatheredTuesday evening in the Engineer-ing Hall to hear an presentation byMines very own Professor Daniel
T. Kafne. An Assistant Profes-sor of Economics and Business,Professor Kafne reported to hisaudience on the emission savingsfrom wind power generation in theUnited States through a revolution-ary new method.
Wind power is the most rapidly
growing renewable energy sourcein the United States. It currentlyprovides the US with 2% of itspower, while saving the environ-ment from the harmful effectsof other sources. According toKaffine, and research gatheredfrom three of the largest operationfacilities in America, 2009 emis-sions savings in the United Statestotaled 15.9 million pounds ofSO2, 77 million pounds of NOX,[and] 43 million tons of CO2.Research from CAISO, MISO, andERCOT, three major US powerproducers, revealed the areas withthe most potential for wind power
Very few events in the history ofthe world mirror the shear destruc-tion brought by a meteor impact.While there have likely been count-less collisions in the history of theplanet, it was the proposed Alamoevent that was discussed this pastweek at the Geology and GeologicalEngineerings Van Tuyl lecture. Dr.John Warme, an Emeritus Professor
from Colorado School of Mines anda team of other geoscientists, includ-ing the late Dr. Jared R. Morrow, towhom the lecture was dedicated,have spent many years interpretingthe observed structures of the AlamoBreccia in Nevada. They have cometo the conclusion that there was likelya very large impact in the area in theDevonian Period of Earths history.
At the time of the Devonian, thearea of the impact was not the moun-tainous terrain of Southern Nevada asit is today, but was instead a shallowcarbonate platform much like whatexists off the coast of Florida today.Theres a lot of rock in Nevada [cur-rently], said Warme, its a great placeto do geology. It is this large amount
of history preserved in the rock thathas allowed Warme and others toinvestigate this event as much asthey have.
To imagine the Alamo impact,one must rst understand the natureof meteor collisions. Impacts have amuch broader effects than just theasteroid hitting the ground. No mat-ter where the asteroid strikes, there
success. Unsurprisingly, Kansas,Nebraska, and Wyoming top thelist of states. Then, using cost-benet analysis, Kafne attemptsto answer the question of whetherthe environmental benets coverthe Federal Production Tax Creditof $22/MWh.
Power generated from thewind increases as wind speedincreases. For example, if thewind speed doubled, the powerproduced would increase by apower of eight. However, as morewind power is put onto the power
grid, some power must be takenoff at another location. Measur-ing this displaced generation isdetermined by two variables. Theunit of accommodation addresseswhat comes off the grid when windpower is put on; the emissionsrate tackles how much the costis being reduced by this process.
Kaff ine and his coauthors,Brannin McBee and Jozef Lies-kovsky, analyzed three differentmethods for measuring the emis-sion savings from wind power use.
The first two methods includeusing either the average unit ofaccommodation or the average
emissions rate. Kaffine statesthat neither of these methods isvery realistic because both canoverstate the savings. Naturalgas can often bias results, as it isthe most expensive and thus themost commonly reduced. Ourapproach, Kafne explains, ismore exible and lessprone to bias. Thismethod incorporatesthe marginal unit ofaccommodation andthe marginal emis-sions rate, rather than
the averages of each,to give precise results.
T h r o u g h o v e r50,000 observations,Kafne exposed thatonly his analysis ofMISOs results for en-vironmental benefits
justifies governmentsubsidies at about$20/MWh. The re-sults for CAISO topthe chart at more than$70/MWh. ERCOTsemissions rates comein at about $45/MWh,more than twice what
Re-evaluating emissions savings from windthe government has allotted towind power generation. In otherareas, we are paying $1.5 millionand only getting $1 million in returnthrough emissions avoided.
Kafne notes that his researchis only based on two-thirds of windpower generation in the United
States, and does not imply anappreciation for or against windpower. We are attempting toestimate the other one-third, headds, through this new method.Kafne, McBee, and Lieskovskylook forward to publishing theirresearch in the near future.
are sure to be breccias, a geologicalterm for broken-up rocks, in additionto the seismic and other major envi-ronmental effects; when an event likethis happens over a body of water itbecomes necessary to count in theeffects of tsunamis and structuralcollapse on the seaoor. When a bigevent like this happens, there are a lotof adjustments that happen over along period more than the immediatecatastrophes, stated Warme. In thecase of the Alamo event, Warme and
his team have determined six differentregions that have been affected differ-ently by the impact, where the effectscan range from basic tsunamis toterric rains of molten high-velocitylimestone lapilli.
Though it is difcult to sum upthe exact order of events in all theirintricate relationships, a brief timelineis as follows. As the bolide hits theground it burrows in forming a tran-sient crater and abnormally intenseseismic waves and material is ejectedat speeds above the speed of sound.
This cloud of material plummets tothe ground forming a concentricring structure. All this time the heatof the impact vaporizes some of thewater in the crater, pushes the rest
away as a tsunami, then the crateris filled by water back-flow. Thissurge of water will form a centralspout that then collapses to forma second tsunami and the processrepeats several times while dampingdown. These processes cause hugevolumes of material to be disruptedand displaced including boulders thatare larger than some houses. The
stresses exerted by the impact canwarp some of the preexisting sedi-mentary and limestone beds causingsome of them to fold over each other.
All this time more tsunamis occur asthe sea level uctuates and more ofthe airborne material crashes backto the ground. On the longer rangetimescale of a few days debris owsbegin to pour down the side of thecontinental margin that deposit shal-low water features such as spongesin deep water settings.
When asked why it was thatWarme originally believed there tobe an impact at the location he re-sponded, Well the rst time I sawit, I knew it had to be an impact,the main thing was that there wasa great big breccia sitting on top ofa long at platform. In geology, forthe most part, bedding is depositedhorizontally and logically. If there is alarge oceanic platform full of carbon-ates, the moment something like abreccia is found, with no local brec-cia source, it is a clear indication thatsome sort of event happened thatwas not normal. After Warme andhis team began looking closer at thedetails, more features like large foldedbeds and tsunamiites, a form of rock
deposited by tsunamis, were found.To add to the reality of the nd, itbecame clear through an analysis ofthe surrounding geology that therewere signs of multiple catastrophicprocesses happening at once. Forthe most part, the observed featuresmatched the models that had beenproposed for a large impact. Ofcourse there are still hidden features
that may further bolster the claimthat the Alamo Breccia is, in fact,an asteroid impact. While a cratercenter has not been found yet,Warme expressed no concern aboutits lack of presence. [The impact]happened along the margin of thepaleo-Pacic Ocean, the crater couldhave self-destructed. To back up histhoughts on the idea of sel f-destruc-tion, Warme displayed an exampleof the rim of a smaller crater on aplanetary body which had slid down
the rim of a much larger preexistingcrater, suggesting that the Alamoimpact occurredon the edge ofthe DevonianNorth Americancontinent, thenthe crater slid offinto deep water.
If a meteorreally did hit offthe coast ofthe DevonianNorth America,it could havesome interest-ing ramicationsfor the currentunderstanding
of the relation-ships betweenimpacts andextinctions. It isknown that notall large impactsresult in mas-sive extinctionslike that presentat the bound-
ary between the Cretaceous andTertiary periods and given the timingof the Alamo event it is not likely thatit resulted in an extinction, still moreknowledge can help understandthese catastrophes. In a follow up tothe lecture, the idea that the Alamoevent may have brought about oremineralization was entertained. Whilemost of the features have been wornaway or have yet to be found, atother impact sites such as Sudburyin Canada, there is associated min-
eralization via the cracks that wouldoccur from the stress of the impact.
A massive blast rocks Earths Devonian past
Carly Paige
Staff Writer
John Bristow
Staff Writer
Professor Kafne shows graphs of wind power generation potential.
Artists rendition of a massive meteorite impact.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Cooking Corner:
Homemade Pizza
Page 6
CARLY PAIGE / OREDIGGER
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Oredigger Staff
Ryan Browne
Editor-in-Chief
Katie HuckfeldtManaging Editor
Robert GillBusiness Manager
Steven WooldridgeWebmaster
Barbara AndersonDesign Editor
Zach BoernerCopy Editor
Neelha MudigondaAsst. Design Editor
Abdullah AhmedAsst. Business Manager,
Sales and Marketing
Ian LittmanAsst. Business Manager,
Web Content
Trevor CraneContent Manager
Deborah GoodContent Manager
Stephen HejducekContent Manager
Shira RichmanFaculty Advisor
Headlines from around the worldLocal News
D. Vaughan Grifths, a pro-fessor of civil engineering at
Colorado School of Mines wasrecently elected a director of the
American Society of Civil Engi-neers (ASCE). Grifths will bedirector of Region 7 of the so-ciety, representing membershipin Colorado, Missouri, Kansas,Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakotaand Wyoming.
Colorado School of Minesdefeated the University of Ne-braska - Kearney, 72-67 onSaturday night, January 29th, inRMAC mens basketball actionat the Health & Sports Center.
The womens basketball teamshot just 29.4 percent in thesecond half and was unable to
overcome a halftime decit fall-ing on the road to Chadron State60-47.
Colorado School of Minesreceived a $100,000 contribu-tion from Mintec, Inc., a globalsoftware and service providerfor the mining industry. With thisgift from Mintec, the Departmentof Mining Engineering will seeupgrades to its computers andsoftware and improvements toother lab equipment includingpodiums, projectors and projec-tion screens.
In mens wrestling, CSMsBrandon Sheldon earned the
174-lb. title while Jesse Sniderand Steven Kelly both placedfourth. Ryan Swanson nishedfth and Brennen Knerr placedsixth. The Orediggers will alsohost #19 Fort Hays State Uni-versity in an RMAC dual on Sat-urday afternoon, February 5th,at 3:00 p.m. at Volk Gymnasiumin Golden.
Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer
Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer
The Egyptian government or-dered that all international In-ternet connections be shut
down. It is unclear why the Egyp-tian government has chosen toexclude 80,000,000 people fromthe world wide web. So far itappears that ber connectionsthrough the country have beenunaffected.
Amazon Inc. continues to
expand its retail inuence,showing massive increases insales over previous years. TheNovember-December sales pe-
riod showed a massive $32.6 Bil-lion in revenue, with a growth of12% over last year. This increasein revenue was reected in thesales increase of 36%; far out-classing other online retailers.
Protests have spread
through Northern Africa and
the Arabian Peninsula thisweek, as thousands from Tuni-sia, Egypt, and Yemen gather inthe streets to demonstrate theirdissatisfaction with the local gov-ernments. In Yemen, protestersgather to induce the removal ofPresident Ali Abdullah Saleh,who has been accused of cor-ruption.
The international stan-dard of mass, a metal slugof platinum known as LaGrand K has been los-
ing weight over the last
122 years. The standardof measure for the kilo-gram is kept locked in avault in Paris, but its timein the limelight may belimited. Scientists are cur-rently working on nding aconstant denition for the unit
of mass in nature that would bemore precise than a chunk ofmetal.
Investments appear to still
bring in prots for the rich, ashedge-fund manger John Paul-son brought in a record $5 Billionin investment prots for 2010.
This record beats out the previ-ous one-year record also held byPaulson, which was $4 Billion in2007.
Miami residents were treat-ed to a strange art exhibit lastweek, as Nicholas Harrington,
16, placed a burned-out babygrand piano on a sandbar in
Miamis Biscayne Bay. Thestunt was not a prank, Harringtonsays, but rather an attempt at artthat may help his chances of be-ing accepted at a prestigious art
school.New Yorkers arent getting any
respite from the snow, as a stormdropped nearly a foot-and-a-
half of new snow on Central
Park by Thursday. This seasonis on track to become the snowi-est winter on record, since 1869.New York hasnt seen this kind ofsnow since the Civil War, accord-ing to Central Park records.
Jobless claims in the U.S.
are falling slowly, showing thatthe economy is slowly improv-ing. The recovery, which has now
been in motion for 18 months ac-cording to the U.S. Departmentof Labor, continues to strengthenwith dropping unemployment.
The department cautions that itwill take a long time to recoverfrom the crash of 2007-09.
Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates - In a controver-sial new discovery, German archaeologists have found acollection of tools and artifacts that they think indicate hu-man presence in northern Africa as much as 125,000 yearsago. This claim goes against the commonly held belief thathumans left the continent roughly 74,000 years ago, beforea massive volcanic eruption. The tools were found protect-ed under a rock overhang in the desert, perhaps becausethat was a safe place for the early humans to live. Oppo-nents to the claim argue that the tools werent necessarilymade by modern humans or that they came from Africa.
London, Canada - State-of-the-art wind tunnelshave found new uses as a testing platform for migra-
tory birds. Researchers at University of Western Ontarioin Ontario, Canada, have begun using a high-tech windtunnel to monitor birds in ight for long periods of time.
The researchers hope to learn more about the physiol-ogy involved in a birds yearly migration; seeking a betterunderstanding of how body fat, muscle mass and vari-ous ight mechanisms affect long-term ight. The mostsignicant challenge facing the researchers now is howto get birds to y in a wind tunnel for long periods of time.
New York City, New York - Lab ratscontinue to provide valuable information inunderstanding the science behind remember-ing. Researchers at the Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in New York City have discoveredthat the growth hormone IGF-II has some ef-fect on a rats memory. In a test that involvedthe rats receiving a mild shock with certain ac-tions, the researchers found that if they admin-istered IGF-II within 24 hours after the shock,the rats would have a much greater memoryof the specic action that caused the shock.
Trelew, Argentina - Argentin-ean archaeologists discovered themissing link in the chain of evo-lution of the worlds largest landanimals in the southern plains of
Argentina. The 8-foot-long dinosaurappears to be the long-lost ancestorof the sauropods, the family knownfor their immense, house-dwarng
size. Dubbed Leonerasaurus, thedinosaur showed many of the char-acteristics of the much larger sau-ropods such as Brontosaurus, withone very notable exception: Size.
The smaller dinosaur ts nicely in thegap between the earliest sauropods,which were very small, and the large,younger sauropods.
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In todays working world, anyopportunity to get a head start
on nding a job is worth taking.
Thursday, four Colorado School
of Mines graduates returned to
Mines to give a talk, explaining
what its like to work for the En-
vironmental Protection Agency
and how best to get there. Be-
tween the four presenters, there
was a wide variety of different
job duties, ranging from desk
work and writing proposals to
eld work, testing and regulation
enforcement. But one thing they
all had in common was their ed-
ucation at Mines.
Sarah Roberts, who works in
Underground Injection Control
Enforcement, commented thatone of the biggest challenges
for the underground injection
contamination is that it occurs
underground; its really hard to
prove. She emphasized that
her job with the E.P.A. involved
fact-nding and digging for the
truth, which was not always
easy to nd. Roberts continued
The goal overall is to protect
drinking water for the inhabit-
ants of the region. Her job in
regulation enforcement encom-
passed both travel for eld work
and desk work.
The other side of the Under-
ground Injection Control coin is
Permitting, which is where Ja-
son Deardorff works. Deardorffs job doesnt include as much
time in the eld, and is more fo-
cused on writing proposals.
On the other hand, If youre
more interested in eld work and
Do you want to
work for the EPA?Joshua Kleitsch
Staff Writer
travel, Gary Wang, whose spe-
cialty is underground storage
tanks, estimated that he spends
close to 40% of his time in theeld, going to various places in
the mountain west region pri-
marily testing gas stations.
The fourth presenter, Jennifer
Berig, was involved in a unique
program that allowed for a wid-
er variety of job duties. Berig
works in Quality Control, where
she gets to see a larger picture
of the process of protecting the
environment.
All four agreed that work-
ing for the E.P.A. was a good
choice, and that it gave them a
lot of stability as well as oppor-
tunities to advance and broaden
the scope of their training. Wang
said that his route to working for
the E.P.A. involved a two-yearprobationary period where the
agency evaluated his perfor-
mance and likelihood to suc-
ceed before offering him a per-
manent full-time job at the end
of two years. Berig commented
that if youre willing to do an
unpaid internship, go for it. She
said that any way you can get
your foot in the door is worth it.
The panel ended with a few
minutes of questions and an-
swers time, and among the
popular questions was How
does a Masters or Ph.D. help
you[in the E.P.A.]? Roberts re-
sponded that having a Ph.D.
will help you get noticed, espe-
cially in your thesis area. Berigfurther added, In the current
job market, if you dont have a
masters, then you wont com-
pete. You really need a masters
to get in the door.
Thursdays Associated Stu-dents of the Colorado School
of Mines (ASCSM) meeting be-
gan with an recap of the Joint
Operating Agreement proposal
between ASCSM and the Gradu-
ate Student Association. ASCSM
President Alec Westerman noted
that GSAs contribution of funds
to some clubs and campus pro-
grams would be modied once
the agreement goes into effect,
due to graduate students signi-
cantly lower use rate of campus
facilities compared with under-
graduates.
ASCSM Advisor Travis Smith
then asked whether ASCSM
would allow Student Activities to
dispose of old nancial recordcopies held in the Student Activi-
ties ofce to reclaim space there.
ASCSM members decided that
paper duplicate records older
than three years could be dis-
posed. Records older than three
years will still be available at Gug-
genheim Hall, and electronic re-
cords, starting two years ago, are
stored on ASCSM ofce comput-
ASCSM discussestransportation surveyIan Littman
Asst. Business Manager, Web
Content
ers.
The Parking Committee chair
proxy then noted that Director of
Facilities Management Gary Bow-
ersock had sent out a survey re-garding transportation services in
the Golden area, as part of an ef-
fort by NREL and RTD to improve
the current situation. Some audi-
ence members commented that
the survey was poorly formulated
due to vaguely worded questions
with answers that should have al-
lowed multiple answers but did
not do so.
The Public Safety Committee
chair announced that the com-
mittee had consulted with act-
ing Chief of Mines Police George
Hughes about concealed carry, a
situation discussed at length dur-
ing the previous ASCSM meeting.
Hughes said that Public Safety is
watching the current case be-tween the University of Colora-
do and Students for Concealed
Carry, and will amend policies to
align with the cases judgment
when it arrives. The Mines Shoot-
ing Sports Club will be discuss-
ing concealed carry at the end of
their next meeting, scheduled for
Wednesday, February 2 at 5:30
PM in Meyer Hall 220.
Wednesday, Tatiana Reyes
spoke for a materials science semi-
nar in Hill Hall. Entitled, Corrosionof Supermartenstic Stainless Steel
Under Alternating Current her dis-
cussion attracted both MME and
EE students.
Supermartenistic stainless steel
works well for offshore pipelines,
except for one problem. Corro-
sion builds up at the site where the
pipes are welded together. Reyes,
who received her bachelors degree
in Venezula, and is now working on
her doctorate, is studying this very
problem. The welding process cre-
ates impurities and weaknesses in
the stainless steel. Her team aims
to pinpoint what exactly is causing
the corrosion at these points, and
how to reduce it.
Reyes began her discussionby explaining the purpose of her
experiments. The goal of this
research is rst to achieve an ac-
curate understanding of the mech-
anisms and severity of applied al-
ternating currents on corrosion of
Magnetic elds and currentdensities affect steel corrosionKaty Beseda
Staff Writer
13 Chrome stainless steel in arti-
cial sea water. We want to address
also the change in exibility to lo-
calize corrosion with and without
alternating currents.
Reyes and her colleagues de-signed and performed various
experiments to gather data about
how different variables will af-
fect the rate of corrosion. The oil
company funding her research is
looking for a better way to protect
their pipes. What they wanted
to prevent is the formation of the
obstruction of the pipeline, Reyes
explained. These are problems
they know how to live with, but it is
not quite solved.
One of the variables examined
was the effect of the changing
magnetic eld with the current. So
Reyes tested the corrosion levels
at various strengths of electromag-
nets. First try, we got fake currents
from the electromagnet. Secondtry, there was electric noise from
the [electromagnet]. So thats be-
ing adjusted, weve been working
on that. As with many tests, she
had to make various adjustments
along the way to ensure she was
measuring the data with as much
accuracy as possible. Reyes ex-
plained her adjustments, I coated
the electromagnet in epoxy and
silicon to prevent stray currents. I
also used thicker magnetic wire toprevent excessive heat generation,
that would be another variable Im
not interested in. Despite some
remaining corruption in the ex-
periment, the data is still useful for
drawing conclusions.
Reyes described the results
of the experiment, saying, The
samples [that] pitted under higher
magnetic eld were more densely
pitted than those corresponding to
a lower magnetic eld. The pres-
ence of pitting, depressions, and
cracks on the surface of the metal
indicates corrosion. Reyes team
then determined that overall the
magnetic eld increases the corro-
sion rate.
Reyes also added that alter-nating current densities of 40 amps
per square meter would produce
pitting. Her team plans to con-
tinue their research to answer what
is really happening to these pipes
in sea water.
On Wednesday, January 26, Pro-
fessor Jianxian Qui gave a lecturetitled Hybrid Weighted Essentially
Non-Oscillatory Schemes with Differ-
ent Indicators. It is a test of different
methods that can detect a discon-
tinuity in a function. The main idea
is that lower order uxes could be
combined to nd a higher order ap-
proximation of a disturbance.
Qui is from the Nanjing University
Math Department. His research fo-
cus is on high order hyperbolic func-
tions. A joint effort with Gang Li, Qui
was able to test several methods of
nding a troubled-cell, a set contain-
ing discontinuity. These include the
approximation of hybrid Weighted
Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO)
Schemes, Average Test Variation
(ATV), Monotonicity-Preserving Limit-er (MP), and a shock-detection tech-
nology by Krivodonova (KXRCF).
One major question is why
should people care about this. Qui
explained, WENO approxima-
tion is crucial when the strong dis-
continuity, such as shock wave, is
present. Heat transfer and energy
ux is a large part of engineering.
Whether it is the shock wave that
Hybrid WENO scheme: the trade-offs between accuracy and costLucas Quintero
Staff Writer
travels through a wall or just the heat
transfer from friction of a coarse wall,
approximations to determine how
much of the energy was disturbed or
lost are important. As Qui repeatedmultiple times, the WENO is used in
a large range of elds. The WENO
scheme was mentioned to be used
in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Semi-
conductors Devices, and Computa-
tional Biology.
The problem with a large amount
of the methods is that they have
problem-dependent variables. Qui
continued to explain that if one was
to be too far off what would be con-
sidered correct, then there would be
a chance that certain discontinuities
would not be counted or there would
be oscillations that are not from the
experiment, but added from the
computations.
According to Qui, the hybrid
WENO scheme has the advantageover the other methods as it can
calculate with high order accuracy in
smooth regions and small extremes.
The high accuracy with nonlinear
weight comes at a large price as
the cost of nonlinear weight is very
high.
Despite the current cost difcul-
ties of the hybrid WENO scheme
approximation, Qui informed the
audience that there have been ad-
vancements to minimize the cost
through different combinations of in-
dicators to recognize discontinuities
and through determining non-linearweight through entropy and pres-
sure, rather characteristic values.
The remainder of the lecture was
about the tests performed on the
indicators and schemes and com-
paring the processing time. At rst
Qui showed results that would indi-
cate the hybrid WENO scheme was
worthless, as it would take over ten
times as long to compute the ap-
proximation. But as the presenta-
tion seemed to close, Qui showed
why he still prefers the hybrid WENO
scheme. The others may have lower
times throughout all orders, but with
the quality, there is no comparison.
The hybrid WENO scheme had plot-
ted 100% of the reconstruction of
the uxes while the other schemeshad a maximum plot of 21.1%.
The hybrid WENO may require a
longer time and have a higher cost,
but affords a greater accuracy. Fur-
ther studies aided by the research
presented may allow the accuracy
to increase as CPU time required
decreases. Advancement in this eld
will help advance the almost all engi-
neering elds.
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
It is not uncommon for an older
brother to wrestle his younger broth-
er as they are growing up. What is
uncommon is for that wrestling ri-
valry to linger between the siblings
throughout their college years.
That is what
faced Mines Wres-
tler Jesse Snider
Friday night when
he faced his young-
er brother Jacob,
who now wrestles
for CSU-Pueblo,
in the 149lb bout.
Jesse took on the
challenge and re-
minded his younger
counterpart whowas the elder, earning a 12-5 major
decision, helping to lead the Oredig-
gers to a much-needed 20-13 team
victory over the Thunderwolves.
The victory concludes two
weeks of tumultuous duals for the
Orediggers, who rst upset #17
Adams State, then crushed New
Mexico Highlands 40-3, but seemed
to suffer a letdown as they were
handled easily by Mesa State, Jan
23. This was denitely a rebound
for us, head coach Josh Hutchens
said, but its what weve been work-
ing on: mental toughness and stay-
ing mentally focused. We still have a
long way to go, but everyone came
out strong today; everyone wrestled
tough.After Mines fell behind early
3-0, junior Chad Lousberg put the
Orediggers on the board, and in
the lead, with a dominant 9-0 major
decision. CSU-Pueblo regained the
lead with a major decision of their
own in the 141lb, taking a 7-4 ad-
vantage into the 149lb match.
In the 149lb, Jesse Snider took
control of his brother early, and
jumped out to an early 7-2 lead. The
younger Snider pulled to within 7-4,
making the match interesting, but
the Orediggers Snider erased anydoubt, closing the bout on a 5-1
run, earning a decision and pulling
the score even at 7-7. There was a
lot of pressure on Jesse, Hutchens
said, There is a lot of pressure on
him, being the older brother, to beat
his younger broth-
er. But he came
out and wrestled
strong. Theres not
many people who
can beat Jake by as
much as he did.
At 157, junior
Jamie Sheets put
the Orediggers on
top for good with
a 7-4 decision. Ju-
nior Jordan Larsencontinued the success, grinding out
a hard-earned 4-2 decision at 165lb
in extra time. Brandon Sheldon
added to the lead in 174, relentlessly
pounding the Thunderwolves Trevor
Grant 12-2, giving Mines a 17-7 lead
with only three weights remaining.
Sophomore Brandon Knerr also re-
corded a 3-1 decision in the 197lb
match.
The match was a simultaneous
dual meet at Lockridge Arena, as
Golden High School edged Wheat
Ridge High School 40-39 in what is
becoming an annual tradition. Its
a good thing for everyone, Coach
Hutchens said,Its a great experi-
ence on campus, and a great expe-
rience for the high-schoolers. A lotof them have never seen a college
match before, and its great for them
to be here.
The win for the Orediggers, who
received votes in the latest NCAA
division II rankings, moves them to
3-1-0 overall and in the RMAC in
dual competition. The Orediggers
next travel to Western State Univer-
sity Feb. 2, and return to host #18
Fort Hays State Feb. 5.
Trevor Crane
Content Manager
Mines Wrestlingrebounds withstrong 20-13 win
After watching the Mines Foot-
ball team win the RMAC cham-
pionship, the Mens Soccer team
become the rst #1 ranked team
in the nation, the Mens CrossCountry team nish fourth in the
nation, and seeing the rest of the
athletic teams witness unprec-
edented success, it seems that
the Mines Swimming and Diving
teams did not want to be left out.
The mens and womens teams
are each coming off of rst place
nishes at the Colorado College
Invitational and now look to ex-
tend the success as they contend
for the RMAC championship Feb-
ruary 9-10. Leading the aquatic
Orediggers is senior swimmer
Aaron Miller. Miller, a Materials and
Metallurgy major, wasted no time
in earning success, becoming a
co-recipient of the Rookie of the
Year award as a freshman in 2008.The past three years, his work in
the classroom has earned him re-
spect, as he has been named to
the honor roll each year, named to
the Deans List in 2010, named an
RMAC All-American, and named
a CSCAA Honorable Mention
Scholar All-American. At Colo-
rado College, Miller dominated
the 1650m freestyle in 17:15.23,won by nearly two full seconds in
the 500m freestyle (4:51.57), and
placed fourth in the 200m freestyle
(1:48.55). Miller is on the cusp of
qualifying for the National Cham-
pionships in San Antonio for the
rst time in his career. For his ef-
forts over the last four years, Miller
is this weeks Athlete of the Week.
How did you begin swim-
ming?
I think I was about 9 years
old, and I would always go swim-
ming because my friends would
go swimming in the summer.
We were all in a swim club back
home. I would swim in the morn-
ing and then go play baseball and
soccer in the afternoon.Why Mines?
I knew I wanted to go into en-
Trevor Crane
Content Manager
... Aaron Miller, Senior: Materials/Metallurgy, Mens SwimmingAthlete Week
of
the
gineering, and I knew I wanted to
keep swimming. It came down
to Mines and the Air Force. But I
knew I was not up for Air Force; it
was too regimented for me. I re-
member they said I would have to
get a haircut if I went there, and
that was the laststraw.
What is
some of the
training that
you go through
to prepare for
swimming?
Some of us do
triathlon training
in the off-season.
Its nice not to be
in the water for a
change. In sea-
son, we have two
hours of swim-
ming in the morning on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Friday, and
two hours in the afternoon. We
have two hours on Tuesdays andThursdays too.
How do you stay relaxed?
Swimming is my break from
school. The 20-plus hours a week
of swimming is 20-plus hours
a week that I dont have to do
homework.
What is your favorite race?
Im best at the mile, but that
gets old realfast. I like the
200. Its just long
enough for dis-
tance swimmers,
and long for the
sprinters.What is your
least favorite?
Backstroke,
probably be-
cause Im so ter-
rible in it.What is your
favorite swim-
ming memory?
I couldnt pick out just one. I
liked the large taper meets, where
everyone goes and the whole
team gets to watch everyone dosomething.
What are your thoughts on
the RMAC championship?
Incarnate Word is going to be
tough. They have people in every
event. But it wont be impossible
to beat them. Everyone just has to
have a great race.
What do you do in your free
time (if it exists)?All my free time goes to home-
work and trying to get 8 hours
of sleep. But Im going to try to
snowboard some more. I have to
pay off my pass.
Favorite aspect of being a
student athlete?
The sense of accomplishment
that you get from competing. Ev-
eryone at Mines works hard, its
fun to be able to play hard as well
and represent the school doing it.
What is your favorite part
about being on the team?
Just to see how the team at-
mosphere has changed over the
years. We are like a huge fam-
ily. My best friends are the swim
team. Its not a coincidence thatas weve gotten closer as a team,
weve become faster and better.
COURTESY CSM ATHLETICS
There is a lot of pres-
sure on him, being the
older brother, to beat
his younger brother.
But he came out and
wrestled strong.
STEVEN WOOLDRIDGE / OREDIGGER
Oredigger Jamie Sheets
wrestles Matt Adding-
ton in the 157-lb weight
class Friday night. Jamie
defeated Matt with a score
of 10-7.
Elias Arias narrowly falls
to CSU-Pueblo Wrestler
Lyle Evans in the 125-lb
weight class.
Chad Lousberg easilydefeated Stephen Gengo
in the 133-lb weight class
Friday night in Lockridge
Arena
STEVEN WOOLDRIDGE / OREDIGGER
STEVEN WOOLDRIDGE / OREDIGGER
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
The McBride Honors Program in Public Affairs
Division of Liberal Arts & International Studies
The deadline to apply to
the McBride Honors Program is 2/10/11.
Apply online at http://mcbride.mines.edu/
For more information contact:
Dr. Arthur Sacks, [email protected], 303-273-3752
Ms. Peggy Cook, Program [email protected], 303-273-3990
An Outstanding Opportunity
for Extraordinary Students to
do Extraordinary Things
The focus of the Program, the only honors programat Mines, is on public affairs with a unifying theme that will
stress global responsibility and sustainability. McBride seminars
replace Humanities and Social Science requirementsafter LAIS 100 and EBGN201.
Summer takes on a whole
new meaning when you meet the
young woman working behind the
scenes in Meyer Hall. A member
of the Physics Department staff,
this woman really knows what it
takes to make things run smoothly
for faculty and students alike at
Mines. When she is not working
on campus, she expresses herself
through fashion. Colorado School
of Mines, meet Summer Jackson.[Oredigger] First off, where
are you from/where did you
grow up?
[Jackson] I grew up in Bailey,
Colorado.What is it that you do for us
at Mines?
I work part-time as a perma-
nent classied employee for the
Department of Physics. One of my
main duties is to assist faculty and
students with their travel and reim-
bursement needs. I also support
the Physics Colloquium Coordi-
nator by updating the colloquium
website, sending conrmation let-
ters to speakers, and setting up
the colloquium refreshments in a
visually pleasing and appetizing
way.What is the best part about
your job?
My favorite part about my role
is interacting with CSMs diverse
range of students and
faculty from all over the
world. I am now inspired
to learn more about oth-
er languages, cultures,
and geography.
If you could travel
anywhere to learn
about their culture,
where would you go
and why?
I think I would pick
Ireland. I just love the
setting. You know, all the
history. And the castles!
Or Germany, so I could
return to my heritage. Are there any in-
uential students or
faculty that stand out
from your experienc-
es at Mines?
All the Chinese stu-
dents. I absolutely love
Physics by day, fashion by nightCarly Paige
Staff Writer
them! Theyre totally open; they
seem to really appreciate when
you take the time to get to know
their culture. Ive actually learned
a little bit of Mandarin Chinese and
speak to them sometimes.
What do you do when you
are not at work?
Work from home (laughs). When
I am not at working, I am working.
When not actively working at CSM,
I am involved in a start-up apparel
company. Each year I also self-
promote, design, and model in my
annual Zombie-themed fashion
show called March of the Zom-
bies. This years zombie fashion
show will take place March 12th
at Benders Tavern and will feature
CSM Physics students, whom I
have recruited to rock the runway
in local zombie designer garb.With all the photography
and fashion designing in mind,
do you consider yourself an
artist?
Yes! My creative edge comes
from my background in fashion
design. I graduated in 2005 with a
Bachelors degree in Apparel De-
sign and Production from CSU. I
enjoy infusing creativity in all that
I do and I am pleased to have
opportunities to do so within the
Physics Department.Why physics instead of
something more traditionally
creative such as LAIS?
Well I got this job on a transfer
since I was already working for the
State, and I knew I wanted to work
in an academic setting. Physics is
so big, its something you have
a hard time understanding. But
working here, you absorb things
you didnt think you would know.
I have gained so much about cre-
ativity through immersing myself
in the Physics environment. I am
grateful to work in such an enrich-
ing environment.How well does your job at
Mines coincide with your fash-
ion career?
It works amazing for me! I am
very self-sufcient here. I have my
list of priorities, get them done,
and then receive the instant grati-
cation. But thats only three days
of the week. Then I can go home
and sort of switch roles, to keep
it fresh.
So you denitely enjoy your
job here?
Denitely! If I didnt have the
support of my boss, Barbara
Pratt-Johnson, and the depart-
ment head, Tom Furtak, I would
not enjoy it as much. In past jobs,
my creativity was not accepted
or appreciated. [Barbara] encour-
ages me to be creative and con-
tinuously improves upon my work
processes, while [Tom] recognizes
my creative strengths and consid-
ers me for creative projects/as-
signments. I feel very fortunate to
be in the position I am here.
Summer Jackson poses as a model in March of the Zombies
COURTESY SUMMER JACKSON
Colorado School of Mines stu-
dents tend to be a left-brained
bunch. They pore over chemistry,
physics, mathematics, and engi-
neering late into the night, in an
unending search for the correct
answer. However, many students
recognize, or at least suspect, the
existence of a world outside of the
left-brained connes of their class-
es. For these students, there is a
haven just a few blocks away at
the Golden branch of the Jefferson
County Public Library (JCPL).
CSM has a library on campus,
and it might therefore seem that a
public library is redundant for a stu-
dent. True, the CSM library is the
destination for research, but what
about re-reading Harry Potter?For that sort of thing, the Golden
library is a must. As a member of
JCPL, the Golden library has ac-
cess to 1.2 million items including
books, movies, and CDs, including
addition to its own collection of ap-
proximately 88,000 items.
The Golden library has a rich
history, as it is the oldest library in
Jefferson County. On the ofcial
website, Ada Jo Barber reported,
The Golden Library was incor-
porated on February 7, 1914, af-
ter a year of planning by four lo-
cal womens organizations: Bay
View, Fortnightly, Progressive, and
Thursday Musicales. The orga-
nization was originally christened
the Golden Library and Improve-ment Association. It remained as
such until the Golden Public Li-
brary merged with JCPL in 1961
and moved into the Golden Civic
Golden Libraryoffers diversionsDeborah Good
Content Manager
Center at 911 10th street, which
is now the home of the Golden
Police Department. In 1970, the
library moved to another location
on 10th street, marking its rst ex-
clusive building. However, In the
mid 1990s it became apparent
that the library was outgrowing its
quarters and the current 13,500
square foot Golden library facility
opened May 4, 1996.
The library is located at 1019
10th Street, near the Clear Creek
footbridge at Illinois Street. It is
an easy walk down from campus,
though a bit more strenuous on
the uphill route back. The library
is open Tuesday through Thurs-
day 10 AM to 9 PM, Friday and
Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM, Sunday
12 PM to 5 PM, and is closed on
Mondays.
Anyone who resides in Jeffer-
son County is eligible for a library
card, enabling them to check out
books. Requirements for proving
residency and a registration form
for the card are available at the
JCPL website at http://jeffcolibrary.
org/about/card.html. If the half-
mile walk to the libary building is
impossible, the hours are inconve-
nient, or one does not reside in Jef-
ferson County, JCPL is a member
of the Prospector library system.
This means any JCPL book can
be requested and sent to Miness
own Arthur Lakes Library. Thus,
everyone can have access to these
nearby, non-technical materials.
No matter who they are, every-
one needs an occasional breakfrom studying. At break time, the
Golden branch of JCPL is a good
choice for a complete change of
pace.
Golden Library contains a variety of resources.
DEBORAH GOOD / OREDIGGER
The Golden branch of JCPL is located close to Mines cam-
pus, at Clear Creek.
DEBORAH GOOD / OREDIGGER
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This week I was going to talkabout anti-competitive shenani-gans on the part of Apple andComcast, but this news is morecurrent, more important, and more
just-plain-awesome. The reasonis that there now exists an excel-lent smart phone that does notrequire a contract and allows un-limited data and messaging, plus
some voice minutes for less thanthe price of the average cell carri-ers unlimited data plan alone. Thisphones name is Optimus V, and itis available on Virgin Mobile.
First off, let us get the caveatsout of the way. This phone does notdo 4G. The 3.2-megapixel cameradoes not have a ash. Its screen isnot covered with glass and it doesnot have a gigahertz processor orseveral hundred megabytes of in-ternal memory. It does not have akeyboard or an OLED display and itis not an iPhone. Heck, it does noteven have a brightness sensor toautomatically dim its 3.2-inch dis-play to save juice.
Other than that, it is perfect.
The rst thing you notice whenyou hold the Optimus V is that it isbuilt like a brick. The materials usedare not particularly high-end, butthey do not feel cheap either. LGopted to use physical buttons in-stead of capacitive controls on thisphone as well as others like it. Oth-erwise, the handset has no movingparts, lowering costs without sac-ricing build quality. The choice touse tactile rather than haptic feed-
Ian Littman, Tech Break Columnist
LG Optimus V
back was actually a great moveon LGs part in my opinion, havingused multiple phones where thealternate method was executed.
That said, this phone is fast enoughthat my chief complaint with non-tactile systems, did-I-press-it-rightsyndrome, would be a non-issueanyway.
Another physical point about
this phone. It is on the small size.Sure, the iPhone 4 is thinner, butthe Optimus V denitely ts theaverage criteria for pocketabilityand its weight strikes a balancebetween quality and well be-ing an absolute brick. The phone islarge enough to allow for easy tex-ting with its touch screen keyboardin landscape mode, yet the call-making process will not remind youof bringing a dinner plate to yourear. One item of note is that, un-like the Optimus Vs cross-carriercousins, this phone sticks to stan-dard black plastic for its back rath-er than soft-touch material, prob-ably in an effort to lower costs. Thishas minimal impact on build quality
or the perception thereof. The Optimus Vs specica-tion sheet pales in comparison tohigher-end smart phones uponrst glance. Its 600 MHz single-core processor is no match forgigahertz-or-better Snapdragon,Hummingbird, and TI OMAP chipspowering Droids and Galaxies theworld over. However, the Vs secretweapon is a separate, 400 MHzmodem processor and a 300 MHz
graphics chip, the Adreno 200, tobe exact. To reiterate, this phonehas a dedicated GPU, along witha chip whose sole purpose is tomake data transfers go along ata steady clip. Combine this with arelatively vanilla build of Googlesalmost-latest build of Android (2.2)and you get a device whose per-formance can only be described as
uid.Another way to describe the Op-timus Vs display is sharp, thanksto the relatively high pixel densityof its 3.2-inch, 320x480 screen. Itis no retina-enabled iPhone 4, butit packs more pixels per inch thanolder iPhones and outdoes theother two prepaid Androids, VirginMobiles Samsung Intercept and T-Mobiles Huawei Comet. Notably,both of these phones cost morethan the Optimus V. On the audiofront, the phones loudspeaker isa little on the tinny side but oth-erwise, perfectly ne. Phone callsare clear, and quality through thephones full-sized headphone jackis excellent.
Going back to the phones op-erating system for a minute, the An-droid avor found on the Optimus
V is almost as plain-vanilla as youcan get. Virgin Mobile has added afew backgrounds and preinstalleda smattering of applications, in-cluding front-ends to their activa-tion and account managementsystems, but that is it. This is actu-ally a good thing; stock Androidis synonymous with lean, mean
phones, while overlays by the likesof Motorola, Samsung, and HTC
just slow things down.If you want to customize your
experience on your own, theresnothing stopping you, but this isnot an iPhone. Virgin Mobile haslocked down a feature or two,most notably wireless tethering, yetyou can easily circumvent this re-
striction by downloading the QuickSettings app from the Androidmarket, going to its customizescreen, moving the Wi-Fi Hotspotcontrol into view and then hittingthe On button.
At this point, you are probablywondering how much Virgin Mo-biles second smartphone will setyou back, up front and per month.
Thats actually the kicker in this in-stance. You can walk into Target,RadioShack, or BestBuy in a fewdays and walk out with the Opti-mus V for $150 plus tax withoutsigning a contract provided thephone is still in stock when you getthere.
How can LG and Virgin Mobile
price the phone so cheaply? Econ-omies of scale. LG has, or will soonhave, a variant of the Optimus Onefor every major and regional UnitedStates carrier except AT&T, whichis seven in all with very few designdifferences between them. Sam-sung has followed a similar trendwith its Galaxy S series; however,LGs lower-end focus means thatthe Optimus V made it into VirginMobiles lineup while a Galaxy S
variant did not.The other half of the phone-plan
equation is even better. For $25per month, you get 300 minutes,unlimited messaging, and unlim-ited data. Data access for a smartphone is by itself $25-$30 practi-cally everywhere else, and youhave to sign a contract to get thatprice! If more minutes are needed,
$40 per month gives you 1200,and $60 does away with the min-ute cap altogether. A few carriers,most notably CricKet, can matchthe high-end price point of VirginMobiles Sprint-based Beyond Talkplans. However, the $25 optionsimply has no peer at this time.Put another way, the bang-for-the-buck meter just had to rescale it-self.
In summary, the Optimus Vwill not make you switch from aniPhone on specs alone, nor will itshatter any speed records or winany photography contests; how-ever, it is a very solid phone withan excellent price both up front andper month, giving me no choice
but to highly recommend it for any-one who does not have the bud-get for a top-of-the-line iPhone or
Android, or the expensive rate planthat accompanies such a phone.
Have questions or commentsabout the Optimus V or some otherpiece of technology? Go to http://oredigger.net and post a commentto this article! Also, come backnext week for a story of conspiracyand intrigue seriously.
I have observed an interesting
phenomenon. It seems that peopleoccasionally dene their musicaltastes in terms of what genres theyavoid. On more than one occasionIve heard the words anything exceptrap, pop, country etc. spoken asthough the speaker were proselytiz-ing.
In the modern age, we can thankMichael Jackson for the idea that thegreatest records transcend simplisticgenre-tags. When he released Thrillerin 1982, it paved the way for innova-tive pop music that could draw froma wide swath of the musical world.Fast-forward nearly 30 years: KanyeWest nds himself standing on theshoulders (and in the shadow) of thelate Jackson.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasytopped many 2010 end-of-the-yearlists from music critics at all levels.Ego, Twitter, and PR stunts aside,West managed to put together a re-cord that has more thematic intriguethan anything else on the Top 40 sta-tions.
This is not your run-of-the-mill hip-hop record; it has orchestral, rock,indie, spoken word, and electronic el-ements with a slew of guest appear-
The Beautiful Dark TwistedFantasy of Kanye WestTim Weilert
Something Like Sound Blogger
ances to match. While several songsare poised to be radio singles (POW-ER, All of the Lights, and Monsterto name a few), it is the overarchingdrama of Fantasy that makes it a full-album experience. Prior it its release,Fantasy made the jump to a visualmedium; the nearly 10-minute Run-away served as the apex for Wests40-minute art-lm of the same name.
Lyrics about fame, loss, regret,pride, and uncertainty thread theirway throughthe recordas styles shiftfrom track-to-track. Thealbum closeson what Iwould per-sonally con-sider to bethe best songof 2010:Lost in theWorld. Be-ginning fromBon Ivers W o o d s , West buildstribal beatsinto a four-on-the-floordance. Wind-ing in lyrics
from Michael Jacksons Wanna BeStartin Somethin, the circle comesback in on itself as West orchestratesa denouement that pays homage tohis predecessor while maintaining astriking air of modernity.
Overall, its the kind of record thatshould seriously make genre-limitedlisteners reconsider their stufness.Even if hip-hop isnt your style, MyBeautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy maychange your mind.
Album cover - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
COURTESY KANYE WEST
Instead of ordering or buying a
frozen one this weekend, try cook-ing up your own pizza from scratch. The great thing about making thepizza yourself is that it is completelycustomizable with options for crustthickness, toppings and cheeses.Maybe you want to stick with originalpepperoni. Or try mushrooms andpeppers. Whatever you think of canprobably be put on a pizza. And donot forget the rest of the ingredients.
1.5 cups warm water1 package yeast3.5 cups of our1 teaspoon of sugar or honey1 teaspoon of salt1 table spoon olive or vegetable
oilJar of pizza (or pasta)
sauceCheeseToppings This recipe will give two
medium size pizzas. Beginby preparing the dough torise: dissolve the yeast inwarm water in a large mix-ing bowl. Add our, sugaror honey, salt and oil to thewater and mix until it formsa dough. Spend about 10minutes kneading the dough
Its not delivery, andits not DigiornoKaty Beseda
Staff Writer
until it is smooth. If its a little too wetto handle well, add a li ttle more our.Form the dough into a ball and let itsit covered for at least an hour.
Once the dough has risen, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees Far-enheit. Divide your dough in halfif you are using the full recipe andwork with one half at a time on aoured surface. Roll out the doughto about half an inch thick. If you donot have a pizza pan available, getcreative and stretch out the dough ina brownie pan or cookie sheet.
Whatever your intended shapeand container, nish up by spread-ing on the tomato sauce, cheeseand desired toppings. It should takeabout 10 minutes to bake. You mayneed to add a little more time to en-sure the cheese is melted and deli-cious.
Delicious Hawaiian pizza is ready
to eat
KATY BESEDA / OREDIGGER
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There is a reason I dont watch
political pundits on television: most
simply act as reactionaries for their
declared side. There is a reason
they call paramedics rst respond-
ers (I can only imagine how terrible
life would be if we had to be res-
cued by rst reactors). My point is
this: at every level of social, political
and professional interaction there is
a tension between the urge to react
and the intellectual wherewithal to
form a response.
Reaction is easy and thereinlays the problem. It is an animal-
istic mechanism designed to help
with survival and oftentimes it can
function free of logic. When upset-
ting circumstances arise, the rst
response may be to do some-
thing brash, offensive or generally
disagreeable. As a community of
academics, my hope is that our
campus would not be a place of in-
cendiary reaction.
It is logic that sets us apart from
the animals, and it is logic that de-
mands that we not take the easy
way offered by reaction. Reaction
manifests itself in several ways.
Most commonly I have seen com-
plaining as a responsive mecha-
nism that is pervasive on campus.
Rather than formulating a way to
tackle assignments, it is far easier to
just complain about the workload.
Mastering the art of response is
a lifelong endeavor. However, if the
concept of formulating a response
before acting was universal, then
the evening news would only belled with stories about the weather.
The truth is that reaction is here to
stay, despite the overtly negative
consequences that come from liv-
ing in a state of instinctive reciprocal
action. This may not be bad when
faced with a bear in the woods, but
in the context of a modern society
the need for well-thought response
is paramount.
two ents
Tims
ReactionTim Weilert
Staff Writer
Dilemma
When I got accepted to Mines my grandfather offered to pay for my college tuition. He said an engineering degreeis a worthwhile investment. He doesnt think a marine biology degree is a worthwhile investment, though, so hes
not paying for my brothers college tuition. The bad news is that Ive decided I want to change my major. To physics.
Is it unethical not to tell him? Is there anything wrong with letting him see for himself on graduation day? Maybe
he wont come to graduation and hell never have to know. Or maybe Im obligated to keep studying what he of-
fered to pay for because life isnt supposed to fun anyway or something like that.
Physics Rebellion
Responses
Id say go ahead and study physics if thats what you want. Here at Mines, we dont actually have a B.S. in
physics. Its a B.S. in engineering physics, and its accredited by ABET, the board that is responsible for accrediting
engineering programs in the US. Its meaningfully different from a traditional physics degree (while having all the fun
stuff from a traditional physics degree), and I think if your grandfather called you on it youd be able to make a good
case. Alternately, you could consider one of the combined programs that give you a B.S. in engineering physics
and an M.S. in a specic type of engineering in ve years.
Dr. Patrick Kohl, CSM Department of Physics
In life, I believe you should strive for whatever makes you happiest. If getting a physics degree and exploring that
line of work will make you happier than getting an engineering degree, you should go for the physics. Life wontalways be fun, but you should at least enjoy your time as much as you can while alive. So, dont do engineering
because that is what your grandfather wants, but I think you should let him know where his money is going. Maybe
he will think physics is another worthwhile investment and still pay for it, or maybe he will stop paying and you will
have a difcult next few years paying for school. In my opinion though, a couple of tough years doing what you love
is better than a couple of easy years followed by a job that makes you miserable.
Ryan
First of all, if you want to major in physics, I say you should go for it. It is important to major in something that
you enjoy because you will be spending the rest of your l ife working in that eld of study. Majoring in engineering
when you would rather major in physics may cause you a lifetime of unhappiness, at least professionally. Also,
if you decide to just stick it out with engineering, in a few years you may end up hating it so much that you will
want to change your major. This would be worse than changing your major right now because you will have
wasted a lot of time, energy and money on something you are not even benetting from.
Second of all, the ethical thing to do would be to tell your grandfather about changing your major. College is a
huge investment, and if he is putting out that much money, he has the right to know what it is going towards. If you
choose not to say anything, it is likely that he will nd out on his own, and he will probably be more upset with you
than if you told it to him straight. Plus, if you can come up with a convincing argument as to why majoring in physics
is a worthwhile investment, he might still pay for your schooling.
Jessica Ho
It is completely unethical to switch majors without telling your grandfather because that would be taking ad-
vantage of him when hes doing you a huge favor. Before you talk to him though, you should make sure you are
certain that you prefer physics to engineering. If you switch majors right now, and decide later that physics is not
for you, then it would probably be difcult to convince your grandpa to continue funding your education. If you are
absolutely set on physics, then your only option is to nd another way to pay for it, such as getting a job.
Honesty, Though It May Cost You
For most scholars, choosing a major is the most difcult decision they will have to make. Fortunately, there
are people in our lives who are wiser than we are. If we are lucky they will guide us in the right direction. My rst
Bachelors degree was paid for by my grandparents who were just happy to send me to school. It didnt really mat-
ter what I studied, as long as I was happy. I learned a lot and had a great time. However, I have a double major in
what most people consider a worthless degree. Today I am at Mines doing it all over again, out of my own pocket.
Tell your grandfather what you are doing and let him guide you. There is l ittle difference between lying and not tel ling
the truth. If he does pull your funding, keep with the physics and see where it takes you. Some lessons are harder
to learn than others, and life is really the best teacher.
Starting Over With No Regrets.
I think that your grandfather deserves to know. If he is investing his money into your schooling, and thus futurecareer, he should know that he is getting his moneys worth out of it. By not telling your grandfather, you are not be-
ing honest with him and respecting his decision to invest his money in you. And if he nds out through your gradu-
ation, then you will break his trust in you and the relationship that you have with your grandfather will be gone. He
might be upset that you have decided to change your major but he would be more upset if you lied to him and used
him and his money. Trust is a hard thing to earn but, an easy thing to lose. While he might not like your decision to
switch majors, he will respect you for being honest with him. College is expensive and it is nice to not have to worry
about paying for it but, a good relationship with your grandfather, and his trust, is more important.
Trust Matters
Next Weeks Dilemma
I had just received an email stating that tuition would be due in just a few short days and that I needed to check
my account on Trailhead. I proceeded to see what my balance was, and to my astonishment, I had a negative bal-
ance. At rst, I had thought that my parents had already paid it, so I called my dad to conrm the payment. He told
me that nothing was paid for yet and that he still needed to write a check. I went back to Trailhead to see the details
of how my schooling was being paid, for and I realized that I had a full tuition four year scholarship. I did not apply for
the scholarship and I am not sure where the money is coming from. Am I taking a scholarship from someone who
deserves it? Or is it fate for me to have this scholarship to help pay for school and lighten the load for my family?
Concerned, but Happy
We would love to know what you think Concerned, but Happy should do and the reasons that make you think
so.
Do you have an ethical dilemma in your personal, academic, or profes-
sional life? You dont have to gure it out on your own. Send your ethical
dilemmas and responses to Concerned, but Happy to: srichman@mines.
edu by midnight on Friday, February 4 th.
Be sure to let me know if you want your name printed or not and if you
have a preferred nickname what it is. We look forward to hearing from you.
Morals to your storyShira Richman
Ethics Columnist
Sudoku
Solution
Editorials Policy
The Oredigger is a designated public forum. Edi-
tors have the authority to make all content deci-
sions without censorship or advance approvaland may edit submitted pieces for length so long
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Opinions contained within the Opinion Section donot necessarily reect those of Colorado School of
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8/7/2019 The Oredigger Issue 14 - January 31, 2011
8/8
s a t i r e January 31, 2011page 8
w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
Janeen Neri
NRA President
Given Mines ongoing delib-
erations about whether to allow
concealed carry guns, last weeks
news of a school shooting pre-
vented by gun-
toting good
guys has the
campus abuzz.
We nally have
proof, said pro-
gun sophomoreRyan Schmeits,
that allowing
responsible stu-
dents to carry
guns on campus
may provide more than just an illu-
sion of safety.
Though there have been a few
incidents of shootings that were
shortened by the presence of oth-
er students or teachers who car-
ried guns, this is the rst reported
case where they prevented a trag-
edy from occurring at all.
When interviewed, the mentally
unstable Sriracha University stu-
dent laid out the facts. I was bul-
School shooting prevented by concealed-carry weaponslied, he said, to the point where
there were no options left for me.
Ever since high school people
have treated me like Im beneath
them, unworthy. They told me I
was nothing. Id show them what
nothing was. What oblivion really
meant, those
h y p o c r i t e s !
Didnt matter if
I had to go out
with them, Id be
doing the world
a service by wip-ing their worth-
less faces off the
planet.
Once he had
decided what
he was going to do, he began the
steps for acquiring a handgun and
training himself in its use. He im-
mersed himself in violent literature,
psyching himself up for what he
felt was a heroic role.
On that fateful morning, he
checked his schools rearm
policy once more before heading
out. I didnt want to get caught
before I even got started, he ex-
plained. But something changed
that day. Dont get me wrong,
he said, I was ready to die, tak-
ing as many of those scumbags
down with me. But when I looked
at the rearm policy again, it said
that concealed-carry guns were
allowed on campus. That meant
that I could get gunned down be-
fore taking out the maximum num-
ber of people I could -- instead of
killing 30 people, I might get only
15 or 16.
So I decided Id let them all
live, and get myself checked intotherapy. I cant stand being less
than perfect.
This lack of tragedy was a
welcome piece of good news for
Sriracha students, who were still
reeling from the recent loss of two
of their students to a drunken re-
arm accident. Indeed, it is a happy
piece of news for the United States
at large, which is the top country
in civilian gun ownership by a wide
margin, almost double the rate of
the next highest country.
Coincidentally, it is also among
the top ten in gun-related deaths
per capita, higher than countries
like Zimbabwe and the Philip-
pines. It ranks even higher if only
accidental deaths are measured.
As we can clearly see from
this incident, Schmeits pointed
out, putting guns into the hands
of responsible, law-abiding citi-
zens is not
only a funda-
mental right;
its a neces-
sity.
Think how
many lives
could havebeen lost if
that shooter
hadnt been
scared away
by the con-
cealed-carry
laws on his
campus! In-
deed, school
s h o o t i n g s
have a history of tragically high
mortality rates; in the U.S., up
to 38 people have been killed by
school shootings in a single year.
To put this in perspective, this
was almost 1/16 of the number of
people that were killed in the 613
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But [closing the income
inequality gaps] would unfor-
tunately make [our country]
socialist Nazi freedom-killing
communist liberals, so the
best way we can protect our
law-abiding citizens is by
allowing them to carry guns
everywhere they go.
gun-related accidents in the Unit-
ed States in the same year.
Being able to have guns for
self-defense is a necessity in this
country, Schmeits said, I mean,
we could close the income in-
equality gaps
in our country,
since income
inequality has
a high positive
c o r r e l a t i o n
to homicide
rates. But thatwould unfor-
tunately make
us socialist
Nazi freedom-
killing com-
munist liber-
als, so the
best way we
can protect
our law-abid-
ing citizens is by allowing them to
carry guns everywhere they go.
Just because this is supposed to
be a rst-world country doesnt
mean that youre paranoid if you
need to carry a gun in your back-
pack to feel safe at school.
We nally have proof
that allowing responsible
students to carry guns
on campus may provide
more than just an illu-
sion of safety.