the oredigger issue 14 - january 31, 2011

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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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 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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s p o r t s January 31, 2011page 4


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




5/8

f e a t u r e sJanuary 31, 2011 page 5


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


6/8

f e a t u r e s January 31, 2011page 6


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


7/8

o p i n i o nJanuary 31, 2011 page 7


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

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 notaccept submissions without identication and will

consider all requests for anonymity in publication

on a case-by-case basis. Submissions less than300 words will receive preference.


8/8

s a t i r e January 31, 2011page 8


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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Do you work on Campus onSaturdays?

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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.

the oredigger issue 14 - january 31, 2011

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