the oredigger issue 12 - december 6, 2010

8/8/2019 The Oredigger Issue 12 - December 6, 2010

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Volume 91, Issue 12 December 6, 2010

News 2 Features 46 sports 79 opiNioN - 10-11

~world headlines

~scientific discoveries

~Homemade Beer

~Geek of the Week

~Athlete of the Week

~Cross Country Team

~POed Mines Student

~Morals to your Story

satire 12~King Kong Coming to

a town near you

Indonesia, the worlds fourth

most populous nation, is not

one that Americans are particu-

larly knowledgeable about, but

the Colorado School of Mines

offers students many chances to

educate themselves, such as the

teatime hosted by the Indonesian

Student Association November 30

in Stratton Hall.

The event served as an effec-

tive introduction to Indonesian

culture, especially in its provision

of food. As promised by the name,

guests were several varieties of

tea along with coffee. More inter-

estingly, the event also provided

samples of traditional Indonesian

dishes. It was like a miniature Indo-

nesian meal, with a main course,

side dish, and dessert. My favor-

ite would have to have been the

dessert of sticky rice with sweet

sauce, though all the dishes were

delicious. In fact, more than one

professor arrived at the tea after

having been roused out of their

ofce by the aroma.

The food was denitely a focal

point, but the tea hour allowed

for non-edible pathways to learn-

ing about Indonesian culture as

well. The students representing

Indonesia were eager to share

their culture, and were overall very

friendly. To educate and generate

questions from guests, the club

also provided traditional objects

from their home country, includ-

ing some very elaborate puppets

and a book full of pictures of their

homeland.

Overall, the Indonesian Tea

was an excellent way to learn

more about the often overlooked,

but very intriguing, country of

Indonesia. Learning about other

cultures is essential to becoming

a well-rounded individual, and if

becoming a more well-rounded

individual includes tea and food,

all the better. The Indonesian

students at the Colorado School

of Mines worked hard to prepare

the event, and those who had the

privilege of attending were richly

rewarded.

Indonesian tea provides education, foodDeborah GoodContent Manager

Ian Littman

Asst. Business Manager,

Web Content

Rio Tinto focuses on the need to feed

Mines Concert Band

Christmas concert

page 5

Global yields are the lowest

theyve been in over a century. Arable

land, water, everything is shrinking.

Everything is in demand. Everything

is expensive, Bob Katsiouleris of

Rio Tinto Minerals stated as an in-

troduction to Tuesdays Economics

& Business graduate student lecture.Rice yields in India today are the

lowest theyve been since 1950,

he continued. Well talk about why,

whats happening and how both

from a socioeconomic, economic

and marketing standpoint its critical

to understand whats happening and

how we can step in and get the situ-

ation back under control.

Rio Tinto Minerals, a borax-and-

talc-focused subsidiary of the Rio

Tinto mining company, has seen ag-

ricultural customers change from its

smallest major market to its fastest-

growing in seven years; the segment

is now responsible for one-third of

Rio Tinto Minerals business. The

companys other two major markets,

Katsiouleris explained, were energyand urbanization, citing the use of

borates as stiffening agents for wind

turbine blades, additives in berglass

used for insulation and key compo-

nents in glazes on ceramic products

such as oor tiles. After this introduc-

tion, Katsiouleris turned to one of the

main questions that the presentation

addressed: Why is agriculture such

an important component, and so

critical to industrials companies,

specically borate and talc?

The answer, he explained, lies

in micronutrients, minerals that, in

quantities as low as a few parts per

million, can mean the difference be-

tween high, healthy crop yields and

poor crops with low yields and un-

savory avors. In the early 50s and

60s we had a lot of companies come

to some of these countries and say,

Look, all you have to do is spreadurea and nitrogen everywhere. You

just have to make everything green,

and everythings going to be okay,

Katsiouleris explained, describing

the role of fertilizers in agricultural

development of such countries as

India, Indonesia and Malaysia. [F]

ast-forward twenty years later [and]

you have parts of the world that are

completely decient in minerals and

metals. The zinc, copper, iron, bo-

ron and [molybdenum] deciencies

in soil affecting most of the worlds

crops. Results of these deciencies

include a 20 percent drop in rice

yields in India, leading to dramatic

food price increases and the social

unrest. You are not going to buy a

house if youre hungry, Katsioulerisnoted, summing up the implications

of a food shortage for the rest of a

nations economy.

Katsiouleris explained that more

sensitive crops could see 30 to 40

percent swings in yield over a period

of a year and a half depending on

the amount of micronutrients sup-

plied, however educating farmers

about the value of micronutrients

has proven to be an issue. What

we call the value and use for micro-

nutrients is a very, very difcult sub-

ject, Katsiouleris stated. The most

sensitive crop in the world for boron

deciency is oil palm, he continued,

noting that the two largest markets

in the world for crude palm oil are

China and India, and the amount of

crude palm oil that those countries

consume because theres such a

need for oil and food, year on yearis about fteen to twenty percent.

The oil palm industry is also where

education efforts by Rio Tinto have

succeeded: We actually had an

enormous amount of success in

the Indonesian palm oil market by

just convincing farmers [by saying],

Hey, look, take a sardine can, take

one scoop of sodium borate, sprinkle

it around your palm tree and thats

all you need. The farmer looks at

me and says, Hey, I can do this,

Katsiouleris explained. Resulting

yields in the last ve years: thi rty per-

cent increase. The size of the borates

market for borates in oil palmwent

from ve thousand tonsIm talking

just Indondesiato one hundred

thousand tons of borate equivalentin oil palma simple technique can

make all the difference. In India, Rio

Tinto Minerals has shown the power

of micronutrients to the nations gov-

ernment, which recently instituted

a 50 percent subsidy on micronu-

trients in an effort to increase crop

yields and thereby decrease hunger.

Katsiouleris also noted that TATA, a

large Indian industrial conglomerate,

is a large player in the micronutrient

scene as well. [T]heyre smart, he

said. No ones going to buy a car

if theyre hungry. No ones going to

buy a house, no ones going to buy

steel if we dont solve this problem.

The Chinese market, whose con-

stituents have rapidly converted from

a traditional rice, vegetable and sh

diet to a Westernized, cereal-centric

one, has proven much more difcult

for Rio Tinto to enter. The reasonsfor the difculty are twofold accord-

ing to Katsiouleris: small farms (less

than one acre versus the average

Midwestern ten-thousand-acre farm)

and price controls. Why would a

Chinese farmer use more of anything

if at the end of the day he can only

sell his crop for a certain price? Price

controls in China and India and free

market fundamentals areprobably

one of the biggest issues we have,

he explained. You have this issue in

Russia, you have it in the Balkans,

you have it in Ukraine, you have it in

China and in parts of India. So theres

no way to change the demand in

that supply-demand picture unless

that changes, and a lot of that has to

come through via governments anda lot of thathas to come through

via subsidies. Addressing the size is-

sue, The small amount of incremen-

tal revenue that a farmer makesis

not worth his while, unless its a big

farm, Katsiouleris continued. That

said, the presenter was hopeful that

increasing demand for food would

cause the Chinese government to

relax crop price controls and imple-

ment subsidies, leading to increased

micronutrient use and increased

yields. Social unrest and socioeco-

nomic factors in China today are

drivingmost of the governments

decisions, he explained.

Rio Tinto may work directly with

farmers from an education stand-

point, however eighty percent of its

agriculture-based revenue is derived

from fertilizer companies, who mix

micronutrients into fertilizers thatfarmers then use. You mix [micro-

nutrients] right in with the fertilizer

the way you steam-granulate fertil-

izers, Katsiouleris said. Its been

done in Indonesia, its been done in

southeast Asia. One of the worst,

from a technology standpoint on

micronutrient technology, he con-

tinued, is the United States. Were a

year behind in taking the technology

that existsand being able to bring

the micronutrients to the fertilizers.

Katsiouleris ended the presenta-

tion with a question-and-answer

session where he reiterated the

critical nature of micronutrients in

the global economy. Youre look-

ing at crop prices that are almost at

historic highs with a weak US dollarin an economy that is relatively soft

in the United States, he explained.

Its almosta perfect storm for food

prices, and the problem iswhat

are governments going to do if food

prices really take off, becausethat

means ination, and thats the num-

ber one issue on everybodys minds

right now.

Indonesian students served a variety of entrees and desserts at Tuesdays tea hour, held in the LAIS departments Stratton Hall.

DEBORAH GOOD / OREDIGGERDEBORAH GOOD / OREDIGGER


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n e w s december 6, 2010page 2

w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t

Oredigger Staff

Ryan Browne

Editor-in-Chief

Katie HuckfeldtManaging Editor

Robert GillInterim Business 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

Mines recently helped hostthe 2nd Colorado Celebration

of Women in Computing (CC-WIC), a regional meeting aimedat encouraging the research andcareer interests of women incomputing. CCWIC offered stu-dents the opportunity to presenttheir research and to networkwith leaders from academia,government, and industry. Stu-dents attended from Colorado,Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and

Arizona.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritterhas appointed Mines graduateFrances M. Vallejo to the Colo-rado School of Mines Board of

Trustees. The governor also re-

appointed Admiral Richard H.Truly to a term expiring Dec. 31,2014.

Mines has received a grantvalued at more than $150,000to participate in HPs CatalystInitiative, a global social innova-tion program designed to devel-op more effective approaches toscience, technology, engineer-ing and math (STEM) educationworldwide. The project will ex-plore how the use of Tablet PCscan be used to enhance learningand nurture creativity at Mines.

Colorado School of Mineswomens soccer player Anna Ev-ans has been named DaktronicsHonorable Mention All-Amer-ican. Evans becomes just thesecond womens soccer playerat Mines to earn All-Americanhonors.

Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer

Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer

The economy seems to havea case of ADD, as the fewer jobsthen expected were added for No-vember. Economists forecastedan increase of 144,000 jobs overthrough November, with the anactual increase of 50,000. The un-employment rate climbed back to9.8%, an increase from 9.6% inOctober.

Negotiators for the U.S. andSouth Korea have reached a dealthat will allow for a gradual lessen-ing of tariffs on Korean automo-

biles. The free trade pact lowersmany barriers between the worldsNo. 1 and No. 15 economies, whichshould help boost the U.S. econo-my in the face of poor performancein job creation.

Email users may experi-ence a decline in the amount

of spam they receive each day.Oleg Nikoleanko is being chargedby a Milwaukee, WI, court for op-erating a vast spamming network.Nikoleanko may also be connectedto the worlds largest and mostsophisticated spamming network,known as Mega D. This networkis thought to be responsible forroughly 32% of spam world-wide.

South Korea has an-

nounced that it would retali-ate if North Korea continues

to attack. Defence Chief nomi-nee Kim Kwan-Jin stated thatthey would respond by sendingmilitary jets to bomb the Northif aggression continues. TheSouth is toughening its mili-tary policies in response to lastweeks attacks.

Europe is experiencing theworst winter in decades,

arctic cold continues to lock up

roads, airlines, and life in generalFriday. With the current death tollat 40, the cold has caused chaoson many of Europes major roads.Southeastern Europe has had todeal with intense ooding, as op-posed to arctic cold.

High-speed trains have reachednew milestones in China. The Chi-nese government has releasedtesting data that shows a bullettrain setting a new world speed

record of 302 miles per hour.This new record beats the previous

record set two months ago by anidentical train in China.President BarackObama vis-

ited the troops stationed in Af-

ghanistan Friday. The visit wasannounced and came as a resultof bad weather. President Obamaencouraged the troops that theywould succeed in the ongo-ing war effort.

New leg-i s l a t i o nw i l l

require all new cars to beequipped with rear-view back-

up cameras by 2012.The new lawis a prevention measure that seeksto lower the number of fatalities dueto drivers backing their cars out ofdriveways and parking spaces andkilling or injuring children that areplaying behind the car. The Obamaadministration hopes that this newmeasure will decrease the numberof fatalities and injuries by 50%.

Local law enforcement in manycities across the nation are having to

deal with a new type ofadvertisingthat involves putting companylogos and ad slogans in uncon-

ventional places. Microsoft Corp.has been known to have employ-ees write messages in chalk on citysidewalks, prompting lawmakers topass a ban on such advertising.

Rome, Italy- New York, New York- Brain tumors appear to have the abil-ity to develop their own blood vessels,which could be part of the reason theyare so hard to kill. Researchers at Me-morial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centerin New York City and Ruggero De Ma-ria at the Instituto Superiore di Sanita inRome found that brain tumors have the

ability to morph and change their shapeto essentially grow their own blood ves-sels. Certain cancer drugs that are in-tended to block blood ow to the tumorhave been shown to be effective for nomore than 6 months, at which point thetumor creates its own blood supply.

Vienna, Austria - Killer whales may mimic each other when theyresocializing. Brigitte Weiss of the University of Vienna in Vienna, Aus-tria, has been studying the behavior of Orca Whales near VancouverIsland in British Columbia, Canada. Weiss has noticed that the whalesseem to imitate calls that are similar to the calls of whales from anotherpod. Vocal mimicry among mammals is very uncommon, which is why

Weiss took notice when she was analyzing the sonograms of Orca callsand noticed that about one in every 500 calls was a clear imitation. It isas yet unclear why killer whales imitate each other.

Tempe, Arizona - Aliens may be able tolive on this planet, right under our very nose.Researchers at Arizona State University in

Tempe, Arizona, have found that bacteriacan be weaned off of phosphorous and in-stead live off of arsenic. Phosphorous is oneof the fundamental elements in all of life on

Earth and arsenic is poisonous in even verysmall quantities. This new discovery that lifecan exist with a signicant amount of ar-senic would seem to allow for life to existin a fundamentally different manner to thatwhich we normally expect here on Earth.

Hamburg, Germany- New climate models and studies suggest thatthe massive eruption of the volcano Toba 74,000 years ago may not haveactually decimated life to the extent that was originally believed. Research-ers at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany,

have created an updated climate model that indicates global cooling tobe no more than 5 degrees Celsius for a few years after the eruption. An-thropologists have pointed to the Toba eruption as causing a evolutionarybottleneck due to the volcanic winter. This new climate model suggeststhat humans may have weathered the ash storm fairly well.


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f e a t u r e sdecember 6, 2010 page 3


Benjamin Franklin famously

said that beer is living proof thatGod loves us and wants us to behappy. Not only did he enjoy abeverage or two, but the found-ing father also wrote a recipefor beer avored with sprucetree needles, which is still beingmade in several breweries today.

The Alaskan Brewing Co. offersan original and tasty take onspruce beer with their Winter Ale,using Sitka spruce tips to avorthis special seasonal brew.

Eschewing Franklins use ofmolasses, Alaskan instead emu-lates the English Olde Ale style(not to be confused with the sim-ilarly-named malt liquor). Winter

Ale appears unremarkable but

hides its rich and unique avorbehind its ordinary amber redcolor, light foam, and very faintearthy smell. One might expecta avor like a car air fresheneror Pine-Sol, but the rst tasteis pleasantly surprising, with noobvious pine taste. It starts with

Beer review:Alaskan Winter

Bryant Pocock

Staff Writer

a full, malty sweetness, tastingdarker than it looks. The moder-ate 27 IBUs provide a balancedmiddle, while the mellow citrus

avor from the noble hops anda slightly oral, spicy, and resin-ous avor from the spruce tipsround out the nish. The 6.4%alcohol content is noticeable, butnot overpowering, adding a nicewarming sensation that comesin handy during the cold wintermonths.

Winter Ale would pair well withcold-weather food like a heartystew, maybe with some grizzlybear meat and potatoes. Not tomention that the spruce adds ahealthy dose of Vitamin C for ahealthy meal. And although richand avorful, Winter Ale is lightand balanced enough to be aneasily drinkable session beer.

For this reason, and because itis possibly the only spruce aleavailable in North America, Alas-kan Winter ale earns a B+ gradeand deserves a place on yourtable this holiday season.

Beer statistics courtesy ofwww.alaskanbeer.com

Every year, an epidemic of

the cold and u viruses hits theColorado School of Mines Cam-pus. When devastated by such ill-nesses, the best idea is to feel asgood as possible so as to avoidmissing any class because of theillness. Simply put, this school ishard enough without being sick.

The rst step to being healthyand not being sick is prevention.

Taking vitamin supplements andusing hand sanitizer help preventthe spread of the cold and u andthey can help prevent the userfrom getting sick. The secondstep to preventing illness is tokeep hands away from mouth andeyes. Biting ngernails and overlyrubbing eyes can cause the virus

to get inside your body. Bathingevery day and washing handsafter using the restroom are alsogreat ways to prevent becoming

A healthy recovery requiresa healthy preparationStephen Hejducek

Staff Writer

ill. For those who are sick already,these prevention steps may bevirtually useless, but they shouldperform these steps to preventanyone else from getting sick withthe illness that they have.

Depending upon the serious-ness of the symptoms, manymethods to help the sufferer feelbetter exist. Sore throats canmake breathing feel like a terribletask. A good remedy for this is togargle with salt water. If conges-tion is an issue, the best optionsare to either have some chickennoodle soup or warm lemon wa-ter with honey. Studies on chick-en noodle soup have suggestedthat it helps to relieve conges-tion and it also acts as an anti-inammatory that suppressesthe bodys inammatory process,which can make the sufferer feeleven worse.

Unfortunately, some medi-cines actually do more damagethan they do good. Taking things

like Zinc and antibiotics have hadmixed results in labs. Zinc wasonce taken to shorten the lengthof a cold, but after much testing,it has been proven that Zinc actu-ally causes temporary and some-times permanent nose death(anosmia). This means that thenose becomes unable to smell.

Antibiotics, on the other hand, donothing to kill viruses. Taking anti-biotics in an attempt to combat avirus can wipe out any bacteria inthe body attacking the offendingvirus. This actually increases theeffects of the virus.

While taking Vitamin C hasbeen proven to reduce the timethat symptoms are present insomeone who has a cold, it ap-pears to have no effect on some-one who is trying to preventcolds. In short, the best pos-sible choices for those who are illare to get rest, wash or sanitizehands, drink plenty of uids, andkeep the air moist and warm.

A word of warning. If you areinto heavy racing simulations, thearcade-style mechanics and heavytrafc of Need for Speed: Hot Pur-suit may not be for you. Otherwise,another warning is in order: donot buy this game until after yourlast nal; it is enough of a blastthat unless you have a resolve ofsteel, you will spend an excessiveamount of time playing this game.It is just that good.

The rst thing a player will no-tice about the game is that therace farming style of yore is no-where to be found; dollar valuesare shown on car info sheets, butbounty, the games point-basedcurrency, racked up by races andpursuits, is what unlocks cars andweapons. At one million bounty,you can race any car in the gamewith any paint job that the carsmanufacturer deems appropriate.In other words, you cannot get ared Lamborghini. Specication up-grades are nonexistent as the pointof the game is to let you spend asmuch of your time on the road aspossible, a goal that makes thegame that much more engaging.

Another facet that CriterionGames and EA eschew with HotPursuit is a linear gameplay model.Races and pursuits do need tobe unlocked, although there is noclear correlation as to what un-locks what. Players are encour-aged to play whatever race suitsthem at the time out of the dozensavailable. Many races limit playeroptions to a single car or groupof cars, encouraging the player toexplore everything from Americanmuscle to Italian, German, French,and British exotics, plus some Jap-anese models for good measure.

As a player progresses, races shiftfrom lower-tier to higher-tier cars(there are ve tiers in all), thoughpreview events early in the gameallow new players to drift aroundcorners at 150 mph in, for exam-ple, a Koenigsegg CCX.

Another point of variety in the

Hot Pursuit is on freIan Littman


Web Content

game is in the types of events thatare offered. Players can play bothsides of the law, with each careeroffering a different set of eventtypes, strengths and weaknessesto the player, though both careermodes offer similarly broad rangesof automobiles to play with. Copshave helicopters, roadblocks, andfaster cars in addition to the stan-dard electromagnetic pulse (EMP)and spike strip weapons that bothcampaigns share. Racers get anelectromagnetic jammer to keeplaw enforcement communicationsand weapons at bay plus moregenerous nitrous allotments anda multi-second burst of speed-infused adrenaline called turbo.Weapons are available in racetypes that involve both racers andcops, though the number of eachweapon available varies from eventto event. Pure races and time tri-als, which are available on bothcampaigns, focus solely on driving,at least partially allaying concernsfor the straight racing aspect of thegame.

One more thing that setsSeacrest County, the world inwhich Hot Pursuit resides, apartfrom games of yore is its sizeand its downright beauty. Short-cuts abound, as does variety inboth terrain and weather; racesand pursuits might be on a high-way during a clear night or in themountains during a daytime thun-derstorm. The map is signicantlymore rural than those of recentNeed for Speed iterations. But thatis okay as the quality of graphicson Hot Pursuit is such that play-

ers will want to spend a lot of timeroaming the map. This last point isaccentuated on higher-poweredsystems like the PlayStation 3 (andgaming PCs), though less powerfulPCs, Xbox 360s, and Wiis all pro-vide an enjoyable experience withthis game. The only downside toNeed For Speeds platform diver-sity is the fact that you cannot playcross-platform multiplayer races,though EAs Autolog and Speed-wall features do allow players tocompare scores cross-system.Speaking of multiplayer action, HotPursuits multiplayer modes pro-vide even more fun once the maincampaigns are beaten.

EA and Criterion Games, mak-ers of the Burnout franchise, havea winner on their hands with HotPursuit, assuming you are lookingfor a worthy successor to the NFSfranchises Most Wanted, Carbon,and Undercover titles. For thosecraving a more realistic racing ex-perience, Gran Tourismo 5, or pos-sibly EAs upcoming Shift 2, mightt the bill, but for the rest of us, HotPursuit is just that good.

One quick note for PC users:Amazon sells a downloadable ver-sion of the game, weighing in at awhopping 7.8 GB, for just shy of$50. The writer of this article actu-ally nabbed it for $35 on Black Fri-day, and his only regret is that thegame has been too addictive for hisown good. Thus, Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit gets a solid eight outof ten and a hearty buy this froma reviewer who stays away fromMadden and Call of Duty, but has aweak spot for racing titles.

PHOTO COURTESY ELECTRONIC ARTS

It is pure providence that herein the solar system that the Earth isnot the only planet. While some ofthe larger planets play the benetof clearing out major debris, fromthe perspective of our home, thesecelestial bodies form an amazingvariation to the eternal night sky.Before humanity had the knowl-edge of what the true nature ofthese bodies were, it was believedthat the planets were wanderers ofthe sky since over the course of afew months, they move and overlonger periods of time the planetscan even appear to speed up andslow down.

Of course, common knowledge

claims that this cosmic dancingis a consequence of a heliocen-tric system and instead of mysti-cal wanderers (the Greek word forwanderer is planet), these heaven-ly bodies are in fact gigantic worldsof their own. Regardless of whatthey are, their movement throughtime has captivated and inspiredgenerations of myth-makers andscientists.

As it stands, depending uponowned viewing devices, a majorityof the solar system is available forviewing pleasure. As this columnfocuses on easily accessible fea-tures, the three main planets thatwill be covered are Jupiter, Venus,and Saturn.

Jupiter can easily be seenthroughout most of the night,though differentiating it from Siriuscan be difcult without prior knowl-edge of the sky. Both Jupiter andSirius can be seen as bright out-liers in a eld of dimmer sources,with Jupiter to the west and Siriusto the east. Jupiter is the largestplanet in the known solar sys-tem and is particularly famousfor its banded cloud formations

The stars shinebrightly above MinesJohn Bristow

Staff Writer

that can be seen through even amodest telescope. Surrounding

the planet are the four moons Io,Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.Each moon holds mysteries andwonders that may help our under-standing of the solar system.

Venus on the other hand ismuch more Earth-like, though itwould not be apparent by justlooking at it. Instead of lush forestsand beautiful oceans, Venus hashot magmatic plains interruptedby towering volcanoes. The sky islled with greenhouse gases andbecause of some ancient impact, aday takes longer than a year on theplanet. Due to the marvels of en-gineering and materials, we haveactually landed several probes onthis planet, though sadly, every

picture reveals empty lifeless vol-canic elds.

Venus can be found rising a fewhours before the Sun and throughspecialized methods it is possibleto see it during the daytime sky.

Finally if you nd yourself driv-ing to school before the sun rises,high to the east there is what ap-pears to be a medium magnitudestar that is brighter than all of itsneighbors. This point of light istruly the gem of the solar systemas it is the ringed planet Saturn.Saturn is a gas giant much like Ju-piter, but instead of having bandsof clouds to set it apart, it has atruly breathtaking set of rings thatcan be seen through a normal tele-

scope. It is an unbelievable sight tobehold. Nestled near the planet isthe hydrocarbon rich moon Titanthat may also play an importantrole in the future of our species.

While there are many more ob-jects in the sky, these will be cov-ered next semester as the skiescontinue to progress towards theluscious spring constellations.Peace and may the stars shinebrightly in your skies.


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f e a t u r e s december 6, 2010page 4


Ahh, just think of that won-derful *pop* and hiss as youcrack open the rst bottle ofyour very own delicious maltbeverage. What could be moresatisfying then brewing yourown beer, from basic ingredientsand a healthy dose of good oletime? Home brewing is com-pletely legal in the state of Colo-rado, and is a fun and interestingcooking activity. Plus, with a littlepatience, the results can be en-

joyed for months.All beer recipes start with the

same set of basic ingredients.Before getting into the actualrecipe, there are a few pieces ofequipment that are required tomake the beer. While most of theequipment can be purchased asindividual items,many com-panies havespecialized inproducing fullequipment kitsthat will get anynovice startedfor only about$85. These kitsgenerally include two 6.5 gal-lon white fermentation buckets,hoses for siphoning the beerfrom one bucket to the other, ahygrometer to measure the ex-pected alcohol content, a cap-ping tool, and a few other itemsnecessary for the brewing pro-

cess. You will also need to pur-chase caps and get your handson about 50 12-ounce bottles,and make sure that you get thebottles with pop-tops, not thescrew-cap type. It would alsobe wise in invest in a large stockpot.

The next step is to go to a lo-cal home brewing supply storeand purchase a beer ingredi-ent kit that strikes your fancy.First-timers should start withsomething basic, such as abrown ale or IPA. If youre feel-ing adventurous, you could gofor a porter or stout, but thoseare more involved and are moreeasily screwed up. You can also

buy kits online, but a local shopis a better option for your rst goaround because the proprietorswill be able to assist you with theprocess.

All beer recipes start withthese ingredients:

1. Hops - this is what makesbeer taste like beer

2. Malt extract - malt is thebase for the alcohol and much ofthe avor

3. Grains - grains provide thecolor and some avor, as wellas introducing more sugars foralcohol

4. Yeast - the yeast con-

Homemade beer?

You betcha!Joshua Kleitsch

Staff Writer

sumes the sugars from the maltand the grains and producesalcohol and CO2, which makesbeer bubbly

The basic process of brew-ing is fairly straight forward. Youstart with about 5 gallons of wa-ter, and heat it to 160 degreesFahrenheit. This is the same forall home brewing kits. Next, de-pending on the type of kit youbought, you steep the providedgrains in a giant tea bag in thehot water for about an hour. Itsimportant to keep the water verynear 160 degrees. Next, heatthe tea to boiling and slowlyadd the malt extract to the wa-ter. After you have added all ofthe malt, then slowly bring themixture, which at this stage isknown as wort (pronouncedvert), back to boiling. Nowyou will add the rst part of the

hops. Generally,hops are addedtwice duringthe brewingprocess. Onceat the begin-ning of the boiland once to-wards the end.

This can vary,though. You will now boil thewort for an hour, and possiblyadd more hops for the last 15minutes or so.

Once the boiling process isdone, the next step is to coolthe wort down to about 65 de-grees. This can be done by plac-

ing the stock pot in an ice bathand monitoring the temperature.This is a very critical part of thebrewing process, because onceyou take the wort off of the heatand it stops boiling, everythingthat touches the wort must besanitized! If you are not careful,you can ruin your beer. Sanitizeeverything that will touch the un-fermented beer. Your equipmentkit should have included a no-rinse sanitizer for this.

After cooling the wort, younow can add the yeast. Transferthe cooled wort from the stockpot into the sanitized 6.5 gallonfermentation bucket, and thenslowly add the yeast just on

top of the wort. Do not stir theyeast into the wort, its ne righton top. Now, attach the airlockto the top of the fermentationbucket and wait. The fermenta-tion process can take 5-7 days,after which you transfer thefermented beer to the bottlingbucket, where you will add bot-tling sugar to the beer and thensiphon it into sanitized bottles.Wait two weeks, and enjoy thefermented fruits of your labors!

For more information andmore detailed instructions, visithttp://www.homebrewersasso-ciation.org/

Were you expecting to have allthat money you spent on textbooksgo to waste? The Mines Barnes &Noble bookstore is trying to help stu-dents by buying back some of theirtextbooks at 50% of original retailprice. Books such as Physics, Dif-ferential Equations, Fluids, and someothers are guaranteed buyback, butthere are also many books that thebookstore cannot buy back. If youwere unfortunate enough to have tobuy a custom for-Mines-only book,then you are most likely stuck withthat book.

The bookstore manager, EdShowers, commented, You get a lotof these custom titles [from publish-ers] and we cant buy those back.Publishers like to make custom booktitles for schools because they havemuch higher long-term prots if stu-dents cant resell the book. Showerssaid, Id like to have a traditionaltextbook that I can cycle through,we make a little more money off thebook and we help out students too.Unfortunately, the trend at Mines re-

Christmas is supposed to bea time of great cheer a time forpeople to kick back, relax, and enjoytheir family and the lack of home-work. Of course, Christmas actu-ally entails crazy shoppers, difcultnals, and everything but relaxingand caring about others. In fact,

it is enough to make everyone feela little bit grumpy. It is these timesthat require a movie to afrm andthen melt the acquired cynicism. It isthese times that require the original1966 cartoon How the Grinch StoleChristmas.

For anyone who is unfamiliar withthe plot, the story chronicles thegreat transformation of the Grinch, agrumpy green creature who lives ona high mountain above the ever-fes-tive town of Whoville. Unfortunately,

How the Grinch Stole ChristmasDeborah Good

Content Manager

Bookstore helps reduce costsJoshua Kleitsch

Staff Writer

cently has been more in the way ofrequiring custom books, not gettingmore that can be resold. Anotherdifculty is if your textbook camewith an online access code and youbroke the seal on that code andregistered it online, the book is nowvery nearly worthless to the book-store. With more professors mov-ing toward online homework, moreand more students nd themselvespaying hundreds of dollars for bookswith access codes and not beingable to sell them back for more thenmaybe 15-20% of the purchaseprice.

There are some exciting devel-opments in the world of textbooks,however. Showers said, E-booksare coming down the pipelines,and I expect them to be in use by2014. This would solve much of thetextbook buyback problem that isstarting to plague so many schools.Showers said that eventually hewould be able to offer the physicaltextbook alongside an online ac-cess code for the E-book version ofthe textbook. The E-book versionswould cost signicantly less. Barnes& Noble has a great new E-book

solution called NOOKstudy, whichis a free program you can downloadto any Internet device. NOOKstudywould allow students to access allof their E-books through one con-venient portal, which also combinescoursework into one convenientpackage.

In an effort to make access toinformation about the bookstore,Showers has created a Facebookpage to announce sales events andchanges in product offerings. On thepage, you can nd information onspecial discounts and new productsthat may not otherwise get adver-tised.

For their semester-end sale, thebookstore is offering all of their hood-ies at 25% off regular price. This in-cludes the new Alta-Gracia hoodies,which have been noted for being ofvery high quality. Showers pointedout that they have been stocking inall of the common sizes, and haverestocked ladies sizes and will bebringing in childrens wear in thenear future. The sales run throughDecember 19, but the good stuff willnot last so be sure to stop on overearly!

as much as the Whos love Christ-mas, the Grinch hates Christmas.Eventually, he becomes so upsetby it that he decides to steal Christ-mas. The Grinch concludes thatby taking all of the Whos presents,feasts, and decorations, he will killtheir Christmas spirit. He then pro-ceeds to dress up as Santa Clausand executes his evil plan. It goes offalmost without a hitch, as he leaves

the Whos with nothing to celebratetheir festivities. However, the Whosstill gather around their now baretown square and celebrate the holi-day anyway. This melts the Grinchshard heart and he comes to love thewhole Christmas season.

Throughout the half-hour classic,there are plenty of pleasures for eventhe most Grinch-ily cynical viewer.Obviously, the colorful animation isamusing. Amusing in an I am re-ally dazed out from studying sort of

way. More amusing is actually listen-ing to the lyrics of the various songs.

Try to determine what Da Who Do-rey means. Or, listen for all the fancyadjectives in the Grinchs themesong; just consider the descriptionof him as a banana with a greasyblack peel.

For those who are feeling thattheir professors heart[s] are full ofunwashed socks; soul[s] are full of

gunk, it may be worth nding theoriginal How the Grinch Stole Christ-mas either on television, DVD, or theInternet and watching the classicstory of where the value of Christmaslies. Consider the Grinchs conclu-sion, He puzzled and puzzled till hispuzzler was sore. Then the Grinchthought of something he hadnt be-fore! Maybe Christmas, he thought,doesnt come from a store. MaybeChristmas... perhaps... means a littlebit more!

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Home brewing is com-

pletely legal in the state

of Colorado, and is a fun

and interesting cooking

activity.


5/12

f e a t u r e sdecember 6, 2010 page 5


The Mines Music program

started the Holiday season off right

this year, with a rousing concert

featuring many of the most be-

loved Christmas songs. Featuring

performances by the orchestra,choir, the Madrigal Singers, the

Sweet Adelines, mens barber-

shop, and the concert band, the

annual Christmas concert is the

culmination of months of practice

and hard work coming to fruition

for one amazing occasion.

The strings opened the show

with four movements of a tradition-

al piece by Gustav Holst, called St.

Peters Suite. The Madrigal Sing-

ers led the Concert Choir with

an excellent performance of two

lesser-known Christmas choral ar-

rangements. With the concert well

under way, the CSM Concert Choir

came on to tickle the senses with

a magnicent performance with a

collection of old-English Christmashymns. The Hallelujah chorus from

Handels Messiah served as the

grand nale to the choirs perfor-

mance, with a soulful interpretation

by Michael Jackson. With the choir

clapping and dancing the whole

time, its difcult to prevent a smile

from creeping across your face.

The Mines Concert Band

brought down the house with a

thundering performance of Carol

of the Bells, and then proceeded to

lighten the mood with a head-bob-

bing rendition of A Charlie Brown

Mines music brings in the Christmas cheerJoshua Kleitsch

Staff Writer

Christmas. If this did not get you

in the Christmas spirit, then you

may be visited by three Christmas

spirits tonight. All of those in the

audience more advanced in years

were encouraged to sing along

as the band performed Christmas

Music of the 50s with vocal perfor-

mances by two star choir soloists.Music director Bob Klimek had

something up his sleeve for the

rest of the night, as he proceed-

ed over to the newly reinstalled

Green Center organ named Black

Beauty. As Klimek began to tickle

the ivories with various traditional

and not-so-traditional Christmas

tunes, various members of the

mens barbershop group began

to lead the audience in a Christ-

mas sing-a-long, complete with

All I Want for Christmas is My

Two Front Teeth, Rudolph the

Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the

Snowman, and Let It Snow. The

barbershop group then performed

an oddly satisfying, politically cor-

rect version of We Wish You aMerry Christmas.

To end the night with one nal

hurrah, the band and choir joined

together to lead the audience in a

medley of every ones favorite old

Christmas tunes: Jingle Bells,

Deck the Halls, Silent Night,

and to nish it all off, We Wish you

a Merry Christmas, traditional po-

litically-incorrect style. This years

Seasonal Sing was a wonderful

success, and a great way to nish

the semester and start the holiday

season!

JOSHUA KLEITSCH / OREDIGGER

This weeks music review goes

across the pond to Sigh No More

by the British group Mumford &

Sons. A well-delivered collection

of original songs that has steadily

gained international popularity,

Sigh No More has established

itself as one of the top albums

available within the United States.It presents a folksy, upbeat style

of music, utilizing purely acoustic

instruments, yet avoids the typi-

cal feel good folk band.

The combination of many of

the songs subtle minor chord

progressions and the deep,

thought-provoking lyrics gener-

ate a much more complex and

enticing sound; undoubtedly one

of the prominent reasons for the

albums success.

The audience is left with the

impression that the members of

Mumford & Sons are not merely

trying to entertain the world, but

to deal with heavy, real life prob-

lems, which in turn catapults the

substance ofSigh No More to a

higher level within the listeners

mind. It also helps that this album

has a well-balanced presentation

of its material.

Each song contains a smooth

crescendo, with two main cho-

ruses. This causes one song to

feel like a combination of two

songs, with one underlying theme

that connects them.

The album has a satisfying

proportion of up-lifting melodies,

such as Sigh No More, The

Cave, and Awake My Soul, to

melancholic ones in After the

Storm and I Gave You All, with

a few strongly emotional songs

thrown in as well, with White

Blank Page and Dust Bowl

Dance.

There are several consistent

elements within Mumford & Sons

music that set it apart from themajority of other popular bands.

Sign No More strongly relies on

the banjo for many songs drives,

and uses simplied percussion,

which in many songs is only a

bass drum and tambourine.

The acoustic guitar is well

picked, and uses many of

the same strumming patterns

throughout the album. However,

after being immersed in the al-

bum, these characteristics be-

come pleasant familiarities and

act as the bands signature on

each song.

Sign No More comes highly

recommended not only becauseof its musical quality but because

the intelligence and emotional

bluntness encompassed within

the lyrics found in every song.

Conner Secora

Staff Writer

Sigh no more, Mumfordand Sons is here

COURTESY MUMFORD AND SONS

The Mines Concert Band performs in Bunker Auditorium.

Check out the new campus

calendar on oredigger.net/

calendar

JOSHUA KLEITSCH / OREDIGGER


6/12

f e a t u r e s december 6, 2010page 6


Geek Week...Chris Navrides, Senior: Computer Science

Ian Littman


Web content

ofthe

Put into Computer Science

terms, each week the Oredigger

selects from Mines a pseudo-

random geek and nds out more

about them. So, without further

ado, this weeks iteration of that

foreach loop is, to our knowledge,

the rst person on-campus with a

Windows Phone 7...erm...phone.

Oredigger: Would you con-

sider yourself to be a geek?

Chris: No, I thought I was one of

the cool kids until now...

Star Trek or Star Wars?

Oh, Star Wars all the way! Its

not even a competition, though the

new Star Trek movie was wicked

good.Whats your favorite movie?

Boondock Saints.Whats your favorite geeky

pickup line?

Me: Do you like water? Her:

Yes! Me: Then you already like 73%

of me.Windows, Mac, or Linux?

Windows all the way!What is the geekiest thing

that you own?

I have a robotic Nerf gun that

has a webcam for targeting. Its SO

COOL!

What is the geekiest thing

that youve seen happen at

Mines?

Two guys were having a light

saber ght with their iPhones,sound effects and everything, be-

fore class. I totally won.Why did you pick your ma-

jor?

Chicks dig [Computer Science]

majors.

What is your favorite class at

Mines?

Tough one. [Intro to] Modern

Cryptography and Algorithms were

both extremely interesting and fun.

Oh, and Operating Systems.

How about your least favor-

ite class?

Chemistry, hands down.

If you could add another

class to those available at

Mines, what would it be?Mobile phone programming or

Game Design & Creation/Anima-

tion.If you could have one super-

power, what would it be?

Flight... no, super strength... no,

ight. Denitely ight.What are your plans after

graduating?

Go work somewhere outside

of Colorado, no clue where yet

though.

Any words of wisdom for

your fellow students?

May the force be with you.IAN LITTMAN / OREDIGGER

Geek of the week, Chris Navrides holds his Windows-pow-

ered phone aloft while he poses for the camera.

Colorado School of Mines foot-

ball fans can be delighted by theperformance of their team in 1912.

This week, ninety-eight years ago,

the Orediggers, then known as

the Miners, defeated Pomona Col-

lege in Claremont, California. The

Orediggers 13-0 underdog victory

came only mo-

ments after they

arrived in Cali-

fornia!

The team ex-

perienced a six-

teen hour delay

due to the wreck

of a freight train,

preventing their

train from pass-

ing through. Ul-

timately, in spiteof not being

able to practice

in California, the

Orediggers triumphed in the fourth

quarter to the delight of a small fan

base of transplanted Coloradoans.

Perhaps in honor of their victory

in California, the Colorado Tran-

script ran an article the same week,

advocating a new football eld for

the Orediggers. The paper sug-

gested, [T]hat the city turn over for

the use of the [Mines athletic] asso-

ciation a section of the city park big

enough to lay out a gridiron and a

Deborah Good

Content Manager

This week inColorado history

diamond, with space on each side

for grand stands.

Though surely some motivation

for this came from a desire to im-

prove athletic performance, muchof this desire actually arose from a

desire to protect human life. It had

been argued since the 1890s that

the soil in the football eld con-

tained some sort of chemical, likely

arsenic, which caused illnesses to

those students

unlucky enough

to have suffered

simple abrasions

of the skin. This

discussion was

brought to the

forefront by the

death of a player

(and profes-

sors son) Leo

Schneider. Of

course, in addi-tion to protect-

ing human life,

the eld would also have allowed

the Mines-CU game to be held in

Golden instead of Boulder.

On a more seasonal note, ap-

parently the Colorado Transcript

had caught a bit of the Scrooge

spirit in 1912, as they sarcastically

commented, If you have any idea

that Santa Claus has passed away,

get the Christmas number of LIFE.

If there is any conceivable form in

which he still remains to be depict-

ed, we do not know what it is.

Ultimately, in spite of

not being able to prac-

tice in California, the

Orediggers triumphed

in the fourth quarter to

the delight of a small

fan base of transplantedColoradoans.


7/12

s p o r t sdecember 6, 2010 page 7


Yard House supports designated driver programs. We card anyone who looks under 35.

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HAPPY HOUR featuring MARTINIS & BEER

& SELECT HALF-PRICED APPETIZERS

Daily 3PM 6PMDaily 10PM Close

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6.00 House Martinis

Mens Basketball crushes CCU 78-65, remains undefeated

Dale Minschwaner (#23) easily gets a layup. Dale re-

ceived his fourth consecutive double-double Saturday

night.

Sean armstrong (#5) tied Dale Minschwaner (#23) with 21

points for the night.

Gordon Galloway (#52) shoots a three in the rst half.

Gordon posted 13 points.

Gordon Galloway (#52) blocks a shot. Mines record for the season is 5-0 (1-0 in RMAC).

The Orediggers will be on the road next week at UCCS and CSU-Pueblo.

ALL PHOTOS STEVEN WOOLDRIDGE / OREDIGGER


8/12

s p o r t s december 6, 2010page 8


Womens Basketball fghts until the end

against CCU, narrowly loses 67-70

Stephanie Fogle (#10) shoots a three pointer late in the

second half to help Mines rally back.

Stephanie Fogle (#10) drives through defenders for a

layup. Stephanie had a career-high 20 points.

Katie Clements (#5) moves up the court despite heavy

pressure.

Brecca Gaffney (#42) gets a layup . Brecca scored 13 points for the night.

Kait Soehner (#24) passes the ball to Brecca Gaffney (#42).

ALL PHOTOS STEVEN WOOLDRIDGE / OREDIGGER


9/12

s p o r t sdecember 6, 2010 page 9


Trevor Crane

Content Manager

... Ben Zywicki, Senior: Mechanical Engineering, Cross Country

Athlete Weekof

the

At 6:30 in the morning, mostpeople are still sleeping. At 6:30 inthe morning at this time of the sea-

son, even the sun is still sleeping.But, at 6:30 in the morning, Se-nior Ben Zywickis isnt observingthe inside of his eyelids. His alarmclock wakes him up and encour-agingly nudges him out the doorfor his daily jog. This jog consistsof over six miles and has greetedthe cross country runner everymorning for ve years. And as his

career winds to a close, his hardwork has begun to pay off.

A fth-year senior at CSM, Zy-wicki helped lead the Orediggersto third place nishes at the RMAC

and Regional Championships and

a fourth place nish at the NCAA

Division II Championships Sat-urday in Louisville, Kentucky. At

the regional championships lastmonth, Zywicki inched past West-ern States Sean Brown by 0.01seconds to become the rst mens

runner in team history to placerst in any of the three champion-ship races. For his efforts, he wasrecently named the U.S. Track &Field and Cross Country Coaches

Association (USTFCCCA) Central

Region runner of the year, the rst

CSM runner to earn the award.

In addition to being named run-ner of the year and winning theindividual regional championship,Zywicki currently holds the recordfor the fastest 8K time in CSM his-tory at 23:49 and the second fast-est at 24:03. In the ve years he

has been apart of the team, theOrediggers have reached the Na-tional Championships each time,

placing as high as third place.When he graduates in May, the

Mechanical Engineer looks to con-tinue his running career by trainingfor upcoming marathons. For hissuccess on and off the course,

Ben Zywicki is this weeks Athleteof the Week.

[Oredigger] What was goingthrough your head during the

nal stretch when you won the

Regional Championship?

[Zywicki] My main focus was

trying to get my legs to the ground.[Sean Brown] was a guy I knewwell. I knew I could out kick him,and I was just trying to get my legsto the ground and beat him out.Hes a really strong runner, but I feltthat I could out kick him at the end.

How long was it before youknew you won?

I thought I won right away, actu-ally. But it was a good two hoursafter the race when I found out.

Coach and the team didnt tellme, but when a couple of peoplecame up to interview me, I kindof guessed that it was ofcial. If it

ended up that I didnt win, I wouldtry and just make the best of it anduse it to fuel me for the next race.

How did you prepare for theNational Championships, your

nal cross country race?

I just go out to have fun. Thatsreally it. I had a race strategy andeverything, but I want to focus onhaving the most fun that I can aspossible.

How do you stay focused asa team, as for the past six years

you have nished behind rivals

Adams and Western?

Well, were getting closer. Andall the teams have been differentfor them. We always know we

have a chance and all it takes isonce. They have the attitude thatthey cant lose now, so they dont.But it only takes once.

You still have one more sea-son of track, but what is it like

to be completely nished withyour cross country career?

Im going to miss cross coun-try. Track is great and all, but Imreally going to miss cross country.Its not as structured as track andnot all the races are the same, itsall about competing. And it wasntuntil about a month ago when Irealized how much I love runningwith the team. Im not going to beable to be on team again.

What are your plans aftercollege?

I dont have a job lined up yet,but Im moving to the Woodlandsin Texas with my ancee. And Ill

keep continuing the dream. Most

runners dont peak until theyre 28or 29 and race-wise, Im planningon moving up to running mara-thons. Ill try to get a few sponsor-ships to help, but there really is not

much money in running.What is your typical practice

schedule?

On a typical week, I go on 13runs a week. Every morning at 6:30

I go on a run for ve to six miles or

so. For four days a week, in theafternoon, we go on a recovery runof about ten to thirteen miles. Andthe other two to three days, we goon interval runs, doing sets of 8x1Ks or 5x Miles with 90 seconds

of rest. I end up running about 20miles a day and about 130 milesa week.

What has been the toughestpart about being a cross coun-

try runner?

Its denitely a huge time com-mitment. You have to work hardday in and day out. Ive taken off 8days total in the past year. Its kindof ingrained in my life, and I really

enjoy it.How is the team aspect of

cross country different than

other sports?

I feel like the team aspect is justas important, if not even more so.In cross country, the team is de-pendent upon your fth runner to

get a good score; if he has an offday, you cant win. I dont know ifany other sport is that dependenton their fth player as much as

cross country is.What is one major takeaway

that you will have from Mines

as you end your career?

If you work hard, it will pay off.COURTESY CSM ATHLETICS

Ben runs at a regional meet.

On a cold and snowy day theColorado School of Mines mens

cross country team earned afourth-place finish at the 2010NCAA Division II Cross Country

National Championship held atE.P. Tom Sawyer State Park on

Saturday morning.The CSM squad sat in eighth-

place through the first 3 K. TheOrediggers climbed their way upthe standings into fourth-placeat the halfway point and finishedthe race out in that position.

Mines had four All-Americans

the most the squad has ever had

at the National Championships

and was one of just four teamsthat had four or more runnersearn All-American honors.

The senior Ben Zywicki ledthe way for Mines as he finished

22nd overall matching his fin-ish at the 2008 Championships.

Zywickis time of 31:19 washis fastest time at the NationalChampionships earning him All-

American honors for the fourthtime during his cross countrycareer. Zywicki becomes the firstathlete in the history of Mines to

claim All-American honors fourtimes in a sport or single-individ-ual event.

Just behind Zywicki in 30th-place was sophomore Sean

Gildea. Gildea narrowly missed All-American honors as a truefreshman at the 2009 Champi-onships with a 36th-place finish.Gildea earns All-American hon-ors for the first time running apersonal best of 31:32 improving

his time from last year by over aminute.Junior Mack McLain, a six-

time track & field All-American,claimed his first All-Americanhonors in cross country. In histwo previous appearances at theChampionships, McLain placed

64th and 71st. This time aroundwith a time of 31:6 McLain fin-ished 34th overall.

Rounding out the group of

All-Americans was senior AaronSwift. Swift claimed All-Americanhonors for the second time inhis career and for the secondstraight year. Swift placed 37thwith a time of 31:37 in the 10 Krace.

Russell Drummond placed47th (31:51), Tyler Curtis placed

57th (31:58) while Frank Socha

finished 98th (32:45).

It was the sixth consecutiveappearance for the Orediggermen at the National Champion-ships and the sixth time in asmany trips in which the squad

has placed in the top ten. Inboth 2009 and 2010 the squad

placed in the top four.

Mens Cross Country

place 4th at Nationals

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Courtesy CSM Athletics


10/12

o p i n i o n december 6, 2010page 10


Dilemma

Recently, I was taking a test, during which we were not allowed to use calculators. This is an upperclass-

man-level test, so the professors are fairly trusting. I noticed that a friend was using a calculator, which, as I

have said, was not allowed on the test. Based on my discussions with him/her prior to the test, I am certain

that this was totally an honest mistake on his/her part.

What should I do in this particular situation, and what is ethical in the general case?

--Witness of Unintentional Cheating

Responses

You should tell your professor what you saw. For starters, it is unfair to all the other students in the class

if one student gets away with using a calculator on a test. Second, if you were not allowed to use calcula-

tors on the test, I imagine this point was stressed. The happiness of the entire class needs to be taken into

consideration in this case. By telling your professor what happened, you are potentially making the situation

more fair for the rest of the class and only diminishing the happiness of one person, your friend who used

a calculator when he or she shouldnt have.

--Elisa Mullikin

The correct choice depends entirely on how condent you are that the person was unaware that calcula-

tors were not allowed. Not to be rude, but most students know whether or not calculators are allowed. But

still, if you believe him/her, then I do too.

If it was an honest mistake, you should tell this person that you saw him/her using a calculator. The

person will nd out that he/she did something wrong and decide whether or not to tell the professor. You

should not tell the professor because it is not your grade, but you should encourage him or her to tell the

professor. Your professor will likely appreciate your friends honesty and may lighten any punishment as a

result.

--Akash Jha

Was it really unintentional cheating? I think that it is hard to forget that a calculator cannot be used on a

test. Im questioning how well you really know this person. You need to talk to him or her and try to gure

out what the true intention was. I may be mistaken, but I think you will nd this was case of intentional

cheating and that your friend should be reported.

--Batman

I dont think you should turn your friend in. While using a calculator when one isnt supposed to is a se-

vere mistake, it is the job of the proctors to catch it. The test proctors should be alerted that an anonymous

person broke a rule so that they can crack down on the next test and prevent another mishap.--Scoop

I can see how this would be a hard decision for you to make, but I think you should tell your friend what

you witnessed. Then you and your friend, you should go and talk with your professor together. This way you

cant be accused of cheating, too, and your friend will have support for his or her case.

According to Kant, this would be the most ethical solution because you are not deceiving your friend or

your professor. Additionally, you are respecting each of them, holding them accountable for their ability to

think rationally and deal fairly with complex situations. This solution also appeals to utilitarian reasoning in

that it makes the test most fair for the population affectedyou and the other students in the class.

--Hallie Byth

Although you believe your friend made an honest mistake, I think you should ask him or her about it to

see what his or her reaction is. If your friend feels that he or she had an unfair advantage with the calculator

on the test, he or she will probably feel guilty enough to be sure not to do it again.

Chances are that the calculator really did not help your friend that much anyway if the test could be done

without it, and if it was an honest mistake I see no reason to tell your professor what happened. It is your

friend who missed out on the learning opportunity by using the calculator, not everyone else.

--Cayla Wood

To my surprise, I have been in a similar situation before. One of my friends used a calculator on a test on

which calculator use was not authorized. But my situation was much different because the teacher caught

my friend.

I believe you should confront your friend and ask why he or she used the calculator on the test and, de-

pending on what he or she says, you should judge what to do from there. It seems important for your own

peace of mind, though, to understand what the ethical reasoning of your friend is or was in the situation.

--Sarah Leatherbery

Next Issues Dilemma

Dont worry; I dont live in the dorms or in Mines Park.

Recently a friend was studying at my apartment. He noticed some bugs on my reclining chair and said

they were bedbugs. As soon as I was convinced that he was right, which took about two minutes of a

Google search, my friend helped me carry the chair to the alley. We could not lift it into the Dumpster, so

we left it beside said Dumpster. My friend didnt stay much longer, and he texted me on the way to his car

to tell me that the chair was gone.

What should I do? Am I ethically obligated to put up a notice in my building to warn people that the

recliner has bedbugs? Or do I let them alley-shop at their own risk?--Recently Exterminated

We would love to know what you think Recently Exterminated should do and the reasons that make you

think so.

Do you have an ethical dilemma in your personal, academic, or professional life? You dont have to gure

it out on your own. Send your ethical dilemmas and responses to Recently Exterminated to: srichman@

mines.edu.

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 ColumnistMinds at Mines

Thanksgiving break is a great time to relax and hang out with family

and friends. Of course, it is also the season to gorge on delicious food. Af-

ter falling into a food coma, many people are ready to wake up bright and

early the next day for Black Friday. Every year, on the day after Thanks-

giving, stores bring out some of the best deals of the season on almost

everything. Doors open as early as 3 AM to a crowd of eager shoppers.

Interesting things are known to have happened on Black Friday, so Minds

at Mines wanted to know what Mines students did on the busiest morning

of the Christmas shopping season.

While scouting out the shortest line, my sister

scraped her knuckles and started bleeding.

It was kind of funny.

Chelsea Newgord

I go into the store at two in the morning,

and theres this little grandma with curly

white hair. Shes sitting in one of those mo-

tor carts speeding down the aisle it was

really intense. I was intimidated. Andall she wanted was denture cleaner.

She was erce.

Jeryl Sandoval

Black Fridays not what it used to be. I

went at six and [Game Stop] opened at ve,

and there was no one there I got a really,

really old video game I got it almost for free.

Kevin Gill

We went to Best Buy, and I havent played

Guitar Hero for the whole semester, so we wait-

ed in line for 15 minutes to play it. And we saved

a friend from working by pretending to buy

a phone from her.

Caty McNeil

A bunch of people were shopping in cos-

tumes so they could nd each other in thestore. It was hilarious... funny hats, funny

shoes, boas, wings. It was pretty entertain-

ing.

Carol Skelton

Jessica Ho

Staff Writer

Black Friday

ALL PHOTOS JESSICA HO / OREDIGGER


11/12

o p i n i o ndecember 6, 200 page 11


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

as the original meaning of the piece is unchanged.

Opinions contained within the Opinion Section donot necessarily reect those of Colorado School

of Mines or The Oredigger. The Oredigger does

not accept submissions without identication andwill consider all requests for anonymity in publica-

tion on a case-by-case basis. Submissions lessthan 300 words will receive preference.

Theres this little article in in

the Constitution of the United

States of America called the 4th

Amendment. This little article

goes something like this, The

right of the people to be secure

in their persons, houses, papers,

and effects, against unreasonable

searches and seizures, shall not

be violated, and no Warrants shall

issue, but upon probable cause,

supported by Oath or afrma-

tion, and particularly describing

the place to be searched, and the

persons or things to be seized.

Maybe the denition of unrea-

sonable searches has changed

in the past 200 years, but it seems

that the Transportation Security

Administration (TSA) violates the

4th amendment every time a law-

abiding citizen walks through a

security checkpoint at any major

airport in the United States.

I ew home to Wisconsin for

Thanksgiving break last week,

and I was a little apprehensive

about what I would be required to

do to get through security. I was

initially pleased when, departing

DIA, I didnt have to go through

the full-body scanner or have a

full pat-down. However, when I

went through security at the Mil-

waukee, WI airport, I was simply

directed to the scanner and there

was no question, no debate. I had

thought that you were only re-

quired to have the full body scan

if you set off the metal detector,

but I now know that is not thecase. It seems that, as airports

are receiving and installing the

new scanners, they are simply

requiring everyone to go through.

You have no choice; either have

someone walk their eyes over

every inch of your body, or have

someone walk their ngers over

every inch of your body. Mildly

irritating, no? I must confess, I

felt violated as I stepped into the

On the Wednesday before

Thanksgiving, I had the fun and ex-

citing experience of going through

the TSAs enhanced security check-

point. Overall, it was an uneventful

experience, but, I still have some

problems with it.Point One Constitutional

Rights

The text of the fourth amend-

ment to the US Constitution reads,

The right of the people to be secure

in their persons, houses, papers,

and effects, against unreasonable

searches and seizures, shall not be

violated, and no Warrants shall is-

sue, but upon probable cause, sup-

ported by Oath or afrmation, and

particularly describing the place to

be searched, and the persons or

things to be seized.

Essentially, protection against

unreasonable search and seizure.

Im all for probable cause searches.

If you are acting shady or for some

reason one of your possessionshappens to trip a few alarms, by

all means, go through a full-body

scanner or have an enhanced

pat-down, but these should not be

rst-line measures.

Point Two Privacy

This is my major complaint with

what the TSA is doing. Before the

Zachary Boerner

Copy Editorarguments of Its for your own

safety get brought out, lets ex-

amine whats happened. First, the

claim that the machines used in full-

body scans cannot store or save

images is blatantly false. In their

own privacy report, the TSA wrote,

While the equipment has the ca-

pability of collecting and storing an

image, the image storage functions

will be disabled by the manufacturer

before the devices are placed in

an airport. If a machine can save

at one point, there is no reason to

assume it cant at another. After all,

Gizmodo, armed with only a Free-

dom of Information Act Request

form (commonly referred to as just

a FOIA) obtained a little over 100

images of Orlando, Florida, citizens

after it was revealed that US Mar-

shals were saving images.

Note that they were being saved

by people. The image cannot

be stored, transmitted or printed,

and is deleted immediately once

viewed, is what the FAQ portion

of the TSAs website on Advanced

Imaging Technology (AIT) reads.

This goes beyond incompetency.

Either someone is lying or the TSA

is really that oblivious to the possi-

bilities. Neither one are comforting

thoughts.Point Three Where are

these attacks originating from?

December 22, 2001 - Shoe

bomber Paris to Miami

December 25, 2009 - Under-

wear Bomber Amsterdam to Ro-

mulus, Michigan

Those are the only two that I

have found (relating to ight). Note

that these originated outside of the

country, where security is more

lax than it is here in the US. These

plots were foiled before they did any

damage and both were caught us-

ing more conventional techniques.

And nally, these are not originating

in the US.Conclusion

I do not agree with these new

practices. There are horror stories

that keep appear each day on the

news about people or things that

the TSA is agging and overall,

none of it is making us any safer.

So, nally, I will leave you with a

quote by Benjamin Franklin, They

who can give up essential liberty to

obtain a little temporary safety, de-

serve neither liberty nor safety.

Quit groping myperson, TSAPO-ed Mines Student scanner, knowing that some per-

vert could be looking at things I

would rather keep covered.

This wouldnt be as bad as all

that, except that there are per-

verts in the TSA. Surely by now

everyone has heard the horror

stories of people getting groped

and mistreated by unscrupulous

agents, and some sicko being

red because of certain things he

was doing while a football team

was going through the scanner.

This is nothing short of outra-

geous. Under the pretext of pro-

tecting the American people, the

TSA has stripped away every

shred of privacy that the common

American once had. Apparently,

the constitution doesnt matter

anymore...

What is the everyday Ameri-

can traveler to do? For now, if you

want to y anywhere in the coun-try, you will be subjected to a full-

body scan or a full pat-down, no

holds (or gropes, as the case may

be) barred. For the future, we can

ght these new procedures, and

hopefully work towards a system

that ensures our security but also

protects our privacy. Who knows

what goes on that we dont even

hear about.

You know, there must be a

better way to screen out poten-

tial threats before they board a

plane. One friend of mine sug-

gested proling based on cer-

tain actions that are indicative

of someone planning some das-

tardly act. I wonder if the facial

expressions of a person planningto murder innocent people would

be the same as those of an ordi-

nary person who just wants to go

home. While not an exact science

by any stretch, it would be bet-

ter than violating personal privacy

and breaking the law.

Turns out ying this Christmas

season may no longer be a fami-

ly-friendly activity. TSA, lets keep

it PG.

Recently, a friend showed me

a website, birthornot.com, cre-

ated by a Minnesota couple, Pete

and Alisha. Pete and Alisha have

been married for about 8 years,

and are expecting a child. On

their site, they post news about

their pregnancy, including up-

dates on doctor visits and cur-

rent ultrasound photos. This site

is also a poll in which web-users

can vote on whether Pete and

Alisha should keep or abort their

unborn child.

With recent moral dilemma

column, Morals to Your Story, in

mind, I found I had a lot to say

about birthornot.com. I know

there are two sides to every ar-

gument, but I am trying hard and

failing to nd any way that this is

not immoral. To Pete and Alisha, I

have a few things to say.

Does it not strike you as odd

that your means for making this

decision are the same that one

would use if they wanted to know

if people like Katy Perry or Lady

Gaga better. In fact, a poll about

favorite movie stars under 25

pops up on your very site! Its just

as easy to vote for Emma Watson

as it is to vote on the life or death

of your baby. It should be obvious

that the gravity of these two de-cisions is in no way comparable.

I dont think I need to bring up

that your baby is already alive,

and therefore, you are leaving

perfect strangers to sentence

him or her to death. Such anti-

abortion arguments are signi-

cant, but not what is truly im-

moral about this whole situation.

Whether or not to abort your baby

is your decision; it is a huge deci-

sion, but it is yours to make. Let-

ting the general public make this

decision for you just shows that

you really dont care whether or

not your baby is born. You dont

have to be pro-life to see what is

wrong here.

One of the most unsettlingparts of this is that, should you

decide to keep your baby, you

will undoubtedly make terrible

parents. I dont see how you

could go from being indifferent

towards the existence of your

baby, to loving, caring parents.

Would you tell your child about

this poll? That you didnt want

or care enough about he or she

that you left the decision up tothe opinions of strangers? If the

thought of telling your child that

fact seems inconceivable, then

clearly, so is everything youre

doing here.

What I cant fathom is that

in your bio, you write about an

unsuccessful, unplanned preg-

nancy about 10 years ago, and

two unsuccessful, planned preg-

nancies earlier this year. This tells

me that you not only did at one

point want children, but only a

few months ago! Im not sure

what changed, but after three

failed pregnancies, I cant believe

you could consider terminating a

fourth, potentially healthy baby.

Having a baby is one of the big-gest blessings one can receive,

and you do not deserve it.

When the deadline for voting

(the last day that Pete and Alisha

can legally abort their baby) ap-

proached, the poll read a major-

ity of 73.79% of voters favored

giving birth with over 275,000

total votes. Among these voters,

many have left comments, sev-

eral hateful, condemning this siteand the decision at stake, and for

good reason. Pete even posted

a reply saying that approximately

6% of the messages they receive

are people offering to person-

ally adopt their unwanted baby.

Again, I dont understand how,

among all this criticism, they can

still go through with this poll,

leaving such an important deci-

sion up to anyone with internet

access.

My last issue with this site

pertains the quote at the top of

the homepage. It reads, you

can vote and choose whether we

abort or keep our unborn child.

For the rst time, your vote on the

topic of abortion can make a dif-ference. The controversy on the

topic of abortion has two sides,

pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life

supporters believe that abortion

is murder and should be entirely

illegal. Pro-choice supporters be-

lieve it is up to the mother to de-

cide what to do with her baby, be

it abortion or not. A common and

important misconception is that

pro-choice is synonymous withpro-abortion.

When Pete, a self-proclaimed

pro-life supporter, and Alisha say

your vote on the topic of abor-

tion can make a difference they

dont realize they are not leaving

the voting up to the pro-life/pro-

choice debate; it is simply a life/

death debate. Furthermore, pro-

choice implies that the decision is

up to the parents of the unborn

baby, whereas this site is built

around the indecision of these

parents. Therefore, Im not sure

who is in support of their abor-

tion, because as far as I can see,

it is not consistent with pro-life

or pro-choice standards. So, by

letting others make a differencewith their vote, youre just letting

uneducated people choose to

end your babys life.

Barbara Anderson

Design Editor

Have an opinion?Write an editorial! We are always looking to hear from our read-

ers and would be happy to publish your thoughts on pressing mat-ters around campus.

You can also write a letter to the editor to voice your opinionabout The Oredigger. Were open to suggestions and want to knowyour thoughts.

Send your opinions to [email protected]!

TSA violates legal rights

Website has arguable morals, big decision


12/12

s a t i r e december 6, 2010page 12

w w w O R E D I G G E R n e t

proudlyservingallegrocoffee&tea

organicespressodrinks

hormone - freemilk

Do you work on Campus onSaturdays?

You can now get your AFPP(Afternoon Face PlantPrevention) at the Book & Brew

In an unprecedented move, the

student body government is pass-

ing a petition around campus ask-

ing for the cancellation of all nals

this semester. To fritter away so

much time on standardized test-

ing, the petition reads, is to de-grade and demean the immense

creativity and passion that learning

should entail.

Those backing the petition ad-

mit that even if the entire student

body were to sign it, the request will

probably be no more than a pub-

licity stunt. In fact, a large number

of graduating seniors have offered

violent opposition to the measure,

pointing out that it will cheapen their

degree if Mines is made any easier

than it already is. Another segment

of the student body opposes the

measure because they fear it will

make classes harder rather than

easier, since rote memorization will

Student body pushes tocancel fnalsJaneen Neri

Free-Time Activist

no longer count for a fth or more

of the class grade.

Faculty members are almost

universally opposed. The systems

not perfect, said thermo teacher

Tara Perry, Ill admit that. But you

have to balance benchmarking

ability with instructor availability.

Are there more accurate, nuanced,

lower-stress ways of checkingstudent performance? Now, how

time-consuming are they to imple-

ment? I mean, I would personally

be delighted if each of my students

could spend fty or so years learn-

ing wisdom from an old guy who

lives in a cave in the mountains, but

these kids have to get on with their

lives.

Oddly enough, there are rumors

that it is exactly such advice-givers

who initially pushed the measure.

Do you think these students could

come up with such a brilliant plan

themselves? said a man who

asked to be identied only as Old

Man, No, because they are too

weak and they smell like owers

and rainbows. Added another

mountain dweller, Urthemiel, So

what if they spend fty years learn-

ing wisdom with me, eh? Actually,

they probably wouldnt because,

uh, my minions all want to kill them

and have poisonous blood that

causes people to either die scream-

ing in agony or else start having viv-id nightmares about me until they

die in agony a few decades later.

But thirty years. Yeah. Whats thirty

years, give or take? Besides, I have

some really good opportunities for

women, way more secure than

those engineering jobs.

Students signing the petition do

not seem to be bothered that their

signature could be prompted by

sinister magical forces. Not having

nals would be cool, said fresh-

man Cory Cailan, and I mean, its a

long shot, but think how awesome

it would be if this petition worked!

People would talk about us for

years to come!

Sudoku

See solution at oredigger.net/satire

the oredigger issue 12 - december 6, 2010

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