the oredigger, issue 15 - february 2nd, 2014

8/13/2019 The Oredigger, Issue 15 - February 2nd, 2014

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T H E O R E D I G G E RVolume 94, Issue 15 February 3, 2014

The student voice of the Colorado School of Mines

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

Sports 7

Opinion 8

Features 4

News 2

Examining the

denition of

shale.

Keep warm by

making bananabars.

What would you

do with a snow

day?

Olympics to

begin Friday in

Sochi.

Hope Sisley

Staff Writer

Dr. Bob Rundberg presented to

the Mines chemistry department

on radiochemistry. He works at the

Los Alamos National Laboratory,

where he has been involved with

a number of important projects,

including the Yucca Mountain

nuclear storage facility. Yucca

Mountain is a site in Nevada which

was under consideration for a

permanent repository for the most

radioactive types of nuclear waste.

Before it was ultimately rejected,

many studies were done to assess

the viability of the site. As a part

of this investigation, Rundberg

and his colleagues tested several

natural metallic minerals, includ-

ing goethite, hematite, and rutile,

to see if and how efciently they

would complex with various ra-

dionuclides. If the waste in Yucca

Mountain were to leak out into the

surrounding rock, it would encoun-

ter minerals such as these; the af-

nity these minerals have for such

radioactive compounds would in

turn affect the compounds behav-

ior, possibly retarding the transport

of the radionuclides or changing

their composition.

When a metal oxides surface

complexes with another substance,

the charge of the oxide changes.

The charge of the oxide controls

whether it attracts or repulses

Los Alamos researchesradiochemistry and chemisorption

Construction continues on Elm Hall, despite wintry weather on campus. Elm Hall is due to open in Fall 2014.

JESSICA DETERS / OREDIGGER

ions, or charged particles. The

radionuclides dissociate into ions

when dissolved in water, so if the

oxides they pass by attract them,

their transport will be slowed down,

and vice versa. Through proton-

ationthe addition of a proton to

a molecule or the subtraction of an

electron from ita basic solution

will give a metal oxide a positive

surface charge. Through deproton-

ation an acid will do the opposite,

giving a negative surface charge.

For an example of how this will af-

fect the transport of a radionuclide,

take uranyl, one of several uranium

ions. Uranyl has a positive charge,

so a metal with a negative surface

charge will attract it and, hopeful ly,

keep it from percolating into the

groundwater.

Rundberg and his colleagues

devised a special method of titra-

tion to test just how the processes

described above might proceed.

This method al lowed accurate pH

measurements and excellent pH

control, which were necessary

when working with low concentra-

tions of radionuclides. Previous

methods were not as accurate as

the equipment would clog. Fur-

thermore, the precise calculation of

surface charge required a precise

calculation of molecular surface

area. In earlier experiments, mol-

ecules were treated as at planes,

giving erroneous results. Because

the molecules in these tests tend

to clump into colloids, Rundberg

treated them as spherical instead.

Though he acknowledged that this

is still only an approximation, or a

spherical chicken, as he joked,

referring to scientists propensity

to oversimplify things for the sake

of calculation ease, it is a better

approximation of a colloidal mol-

ecule than a plane, and likewise

gave better, much more reason-

able results. Finally, two types of

scintillators were used to measure

the sorption of the radionuclides

onto the metals. A scintillator is a

device which emits photons in re-

sponse to radiation, which can then

be detected and used to quantify

the amount of radiation, and from

there, the amount of radioactive

material. Each type of scintillator

measures a different type of radia-

tion, which allows a multitude of ra-

dionuclides to be tested. Even with

this much control on the precision

of the experiments, the accuracy of

Rundbergs measurements broke

down at very high sorption rates

and very low concentration levels.

Rundberg went into great detail

about the behavior he observed in

his experiments and the mecha-

nisms behind the results. All the

radionuclides tested showed a

steady increase in adsorption up to

a high pH of about nine in the case

of neptunyl, but other compounds

had different results, after which

the adsorption rate fell off. This

curve, Rundberg found, closely

approximated the hydrolysis curve

for the metal involved. The relation-

ship held true for all of the elements

examined.

Rundberg observed another

interesting result. Essentially, when

a radionuclide adsorbed to the

surface of the metal, it kicked out

part of the resident material, there-

by changing the metals surface

charge. In the case of neptunyl,

an ion of the man-made element

neptunium, this process made

senseeach neptunyl molecule

adsorbed onto the metal displaced

a single proton, equivalent to the

neptunyls single positive charge.

Not all of the radionuclides be-

haved as intuitively as neptunium,

however. Uranyl, for instance, has

a double positive charge, but when

it adsorbed, it kicked off one and

a half protons. Thorium, stable in

a quadruple positive ion, displaces

only three protons. For this reason,

while neptunium does not alter the

surface charge, the other radionu-

clides do, as the total charge they

displace does not match their own

charge. Some researchers have

proposed multidentate charge

geometries to explain this phenom-

enon, but Rundberg concluded

that the strange results he obtained

concerning charge instead indicate

a problem in the way charge is

modeled, something which future

observers may be able to correct.


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n e w s february , page


Oredigger Staff

Deborah Good

Editor-in-Chief

Emily McNairManaging Editor

Taylor PolodnaDesign Editor

Connor McDonaldWebmaster

Lucy OrsiBusiness Manager

Arnaud FilliatCopy Editor

Katerina GonzalesContent Manager

Jared RiemerContent Manager

Karen GilbertFaculty Advisor

Headlines from around the worldLocal News

Colorado State Patrol is

warning drivers to pay strict at-

tention to troopers on the sideof the road. Over the week-

end, a Colorado State Trooper

was injured and two patrol cars

were damaged in crashes in El

Paso and Mesa counties. These

crashes are the latest in a num-

ber of similar incidents. In all of

these cases, the emergency

lights on the patrol vehicles were

activated. Troopers are remind-

ing motorists to slow down and

move over for emergency ve-

hicles.

Colorado Governor John

Hickenlooper temporarily re-

named all of the mountains in

Colorado after Denver Broncos

players. These names were onlyin effect for Super Bowl Sunday.

Notably, Mt. Elbert, the tallest

mountain in Colorado, became

Peyton Manning; Grays Peak,

Eric Decker; and Pikes Peak,

Joel Dressen.

Two Falcon High School

students were taken to the

hospital when they had allergic

reactions to a chemistry ex-

periment. HAZMAT checked the

chemicals involved and noted

that there was nothing unusual

about them.

A student brought an un-

loaded gun to Lewis-Palmer

High School last week. Theschool went into lockdown for

two hours as a precaution. The

student faces charges of un-

lawfully carrying a weapon on

school grounds, a felony, and

possession of a handgun by a

juvenile, a misdemeanor.

James Davis, Staff Writer

Jessica Deters, Staff WriterReturn of the Plague? McMaster University, Canada- In the 14thcentury, the Black Death wiped out between 30 and 60 percent of the

European population, and earlier in 541 A.D., the Plague of Justinian had

nearly the same impact on the Byzantine Empire. A team of researchers

from multiple universities recently discovered that both plagues are dis-

tinct strains of the same pathogen. One strain of the pathogen died out

on its own, and the other made a comeback in the late 1800s, suggesting

that a new strain could appear again in the future.

The U.S. government is seek-

ing death penalty against theBoston Marathon bombing

suspect. In a statement by US

Attorney General Eric Holder,

plans of pushing capital punish-

ment are in order. Holder shared

that the government believes the

nature and harm done by this is-

sue are forcing this action. During

the Boston Marathon bombing,

three victims were killed and over

260 injured.

Last week, Panama released

the 32 crew members of a

North Korean trade vessel.Six months ago, on suspicions

of smuggling drugs, Panama-

nian customs ofcers seized and

searched the Chong Chon Gong.

Upon inspection of the vessel,

customs ofcers discovered 25

cases of Soviet weaponry in-

cluding missile defense systems

and two MIG-21 ghter aircraft.

Panamanian ofcials stated that

this is a direct violation of North

Koreas weapons embargo, and

that smuggling these weapons

through their canal is a danger to

their country.

The abnormally high death

rate in Russia is blamed on

vodka. Studies show that ap-

proximately 25% of Russianmales die before the age of

55, the primary cause of

death being gratuitous al-

cohol consumption. The

Russian Cancer Treatment

Center stated that in 2011,

the Russian adults drank an

average 13 liters of pure alco-

hol. Russian authorities have

attempted to reduce this num-

ber by increasing alcohol sales

tax, but to no success.

The U.S. shows concern at

Syrias unfullled disarming.

Syria agreed to destroy all chemi-

cal weaponry by June 30th. As of

now, only about four percent of

this material has been removed.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

asked the Russian defense min-

ister to make an attempt at inu-

encing the Syrian government.

Discussion of the matter contin-

ues during Geneva peace talks.Austral ia plans to dump

sediment near the Great Bar-

rier Reefin order to expand coalmining operations. The govern-

ment wants to use the coastal

town of Abbot Point to export

the coal, but the port needs to

be expanded to make way for the

cargo ships. Silt and clay will be

cleared out and dumped approxi-

mately 16 miles south of the Great

Barrier Reef. Australian ofcials

publicly stated that they will stick

to a strict environmental code.

A malicious computer pro-

gram, dubbed Chewbacca,

has been used to steal over

24 million credit card transac-

tions. The program was named

Chewbacca because the login

page of the malware featured

this Star Wars character. The le

was found on point-of-sale equip-

ment and was disguised as a le

that processed printing prompts.This particular program has been

found in over 11 countries, includ-

ing the US. Cyber security com-

panies suggest that shop retailers

be more vigilant with regards to

their point-of-sale-equipment.

ADHD Impacts Communication, Universi-

ty of Waterloo, Canada- Researchers from the

University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Canada found

that children and young adults with attention de-

cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can have dif-culty taking on the perspective of another person.

This can in turn lead to difculties in communica-

tion. In conversation, individuals need to pay at-

tention to the knowledge and perspective of one

another, Professor Elizabeth Nilsen of the Univer-

sity of Waterloo and co-author of the study, said.

Our ndings are important because they allow us

to think about possible remediation strategies.

Massive Chinese Dinosaur Discovered, University of Pennsyl-

vania- Dinosaurs not only fascinate the general population, but they also

offer a glimpse into the Earths history. Paleontologists from the Univer-

sity of Pennsylvania classied a new species of dinosaur based on fos-

sils discovered in Chinas northwestern Gansu Province, now known as

Yongjinglong datangi. The herbivorous species, estimated to be between

50 and 60 feet long, lived during the Cretaceous period, about 100 mil-lion years ago. This massive creature belonged to the Titanosauria group,

which contained some of the largest beings to ever roam the earth. This

discovery proves signicant as it helps to solidify Chinas lead over the

U.S. in new dinosaur discoveries. In 2007 China overtook the U.S. as the

new dinosaur diversity epicenter, and the region in which this dinosaur

was found, Gansu, now leads China in new dinosaur ndings.

React or Die, University College, London- A recent study by research-

ers from the University College London and the University of Edinburgh found

that people in their midlife, age 20 to 59, with poor reaction times were 25

percent more likely to die within 15 years than their counterparts with average

reaction times. The researchers examined data for over 5,000 subjects whohad their reaction times quantied in the 1990s. Reaction time is thought to

reect a basic aspect of the central nervous system and speed of information

processing is considered a basic cognitive ability (mental skill).


3/8

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In the eld of acoustics and wave

functions, problems can often get

very complex and nearly unsolvable

using methods already known and

in use. Because of this, the need

to develop accurate numerical ap-

proximation models in this eld is

constantly growing. Professor Victor

Dominguez of the Universidad Pu-

blica de Navarra

in Spain shared

some of his most

recent work in

this area at Fri-

days installment

of the AMS de-

partments weekly

colloquium series

in his presenta-

tion, Regularized

Integral Equations

for Acoustic Trans-

mission Problems

In Smooth Do-

mains.In particular, Dominguez chose

to focus on problems dealing with

the Helmholtz equation, a time in-

dependent partial differential equa-

tion common in the acoustics eld.

His goal was to develop a simpler

integration equation alternative to

transmission problems involving this

equation. He attempted to do this

by incorporating the use of admit-

tance operators, which essentially

provide a mapping of the transmis-

sion problems boundary conditions

to the surfaces and interfaces of the

media through and around which

waves are traveling. Finding a so-

lution in this manner, according to

Dominguez, is very straight forward

and not too complex to develop, but

at the cost of being very difcult to

compute.

To deal with this computational

issue, Dominguez set

about attempting to

construct an adequate

model that could be

used to approximate

these solutions within

certain domain and pre-

cision levels that would

be simpler to formulate.

He was able to accom-

plish this based upon

estimates of linear com-

binations of Dirichlet-

to-Neumann mappings

(assuming they exist in

this situation, accordingto Dominguez). Once completed,

the set of newly formulated integral

equations could be used to show

that the acoustic elds in question

can be solved in terms of layer po-

tentials as well as showing that the

densities of these eld layers are in

fact the solutions of the system of

integral equations. The model and

its incorporated admittance opera-

tors also compact the system into

a perturbation of in Sobolev spaces,

a vector space of functions that is

often the only place to nd natural

solutions to partial differential equa-

tions, as well as make the system

uniquely solvable.

When rst beginning his research

on this specic subject, Prof. Domin-

guez had set clear objectives of

deriving new integral equations for

Helmholtz acoustic problems that

could be done relatively simply and

were uniquely solvable. In addition,

he also hoped to frame this model

as a compact perturbation of the

identity matrices in Sobolev spaces,

which he claims are great for doing

numerical and computational work

with the models. Dominguez was

able to conclude that he had accom-

plished all of these points before-

hand, calling this system a new way

to regularize boundary integral equa-

tions. This model works beyond the

theoretical as well, as it works well

in practical problems and is com-

petitive with other methodologiesout there on this same subject. It is

also great for the numerics of these

acoustic situations as estimates can

be done with this system of equa-

tions at lower computational times

and costs. As part of his future work,

Dominguez would like to extend the

scope of these ideas and apply them

to new problems outside of merely

Helmholtz acoustics applications.

Chris Fobbins

Staff Writer

A Helmholtz alternative

Every student in SYGN 101learns that shale refers to a clay-

rich, ne-grained, laminated (thinly-

bedded) sedimentary rock that

breaks apart in sheets. Any geolo-

gist could quote this denition. But,

as with most words, shale has

come to mean many things over the

years which have little to do with the

original denition.

Dr. Bruce Hart, a researcher from

Statoil Houston and a former AAPG

(American Association of Petroleum

Geologists) Distinguished Lecturer,

began his talk with a multiple choice

question: is a shale a rock type, a

stratigraphic designation, or a play

(ie. oil/gas reservoir) type? The an-

swer, he revealed, depends on who

is being asked to dene it. The in-

dustry, he observed, uses the term

pretty much indiscriminately, lead-

ing to confusion as to its precise

meaning.

First, he took a lithological ap-

proach. Even in academic literature,

the exact meaning of a shale is

unclear. In some places, the clay

in clay-rich means clay minerals,

such as illite and kaolinite. In other

places, clay means clay-size par-

ticles, without any consideration for

the composition of those particles.

Furthermore, while laminations are

easy to dene, ssility, or the ten-

dency of a rock to break into thin

plates, is difcult to see in a drill

core, for instance, because ssility

is often the product of weathering

processes and a rock that has nev-

er been exposed to the surface will

be unweathered. In other words,

a ssile rock at the surface might,

at depth, be solid and apparently

unlaminated. Because oil and gas

researchers, in the few instances

when they see a rock and not a

wire-line log, deal mainly with cores

rather than outcrops, this presents

a problem.

The disjoint between academia

and the industry only becomes

wider when the clay component

of the denition is considered. Grainsize is not used in the oil industry;

rather, rock samples are ground up

and put through x-ray mass spec-

trometry (XRD) analysis, which gives

the bulk elemental composition of

the rock, and, from there, the miner-

alogy. This gives a highly simplied

picture of what may in fact be a very

complex rock. For this reason, the

industry lexicon tends to assume

that any formation is homogeneous,

when in truth there is heterogeneity

at every scale.

To illustrate this, Hart gave an

example of a rock with XRD results

indicating a mixed carbonate/clay

mineralogy. Citing different well-

known shale plays, such as the

Marcellus in Pennsylvania, the Bar-

nett in Texas, and the Haynesville in

Louisiana, Hart listed various forms

the carbonate minerals might take

in hand specimen. In the Marcellus,

much of the carbonates are pres-

ent as fossils, including shells and

corals, some quite large. The Bar-

netts carbonates include turbidites,

or high-speed underwater landslide

deposits, and replacement tex-

tures, where the carbonates have

taken the place of a different min-

eral. The Haynesville has carbonate

concretions and fracture lls, where

a calcite-rich uid came in after the

formation had lithied and lled in

the cracks. Other formations have

alternating layers of clay-rich and

carbonate-rich rocks, chalks, or

even attened, fossilized fecal pel-

lets. XRD might give good chemical

analysis, but it captures none of this

detail.

The problems with heteroge-

neity in the rock being ignored or

smoothed over in the oil industry do

not end with rock textures. On the

outcrop scale - usually below the

resolution of seismic data - a bed

is rarely without variation. Sedimen-

tary rocks often go through cycles,

seen by repeated stratigraphic units.

There might be layers of alternating

mineralogy: clay-rich (or muddy) tosand-rich (or clean), for instance.

There might be alternating modes

of deposition: turbidites overlain

by background sedimentation. The

alternating units might be organic-

rich and organic-poor (of prime im-

portance to the oil industry), or they

might differ in competence, blocky

rocks overlain by ssile ones. These

small cycles then stack into larger-

scale cycles,

called bedsets,

which might

represent a fall

and rise in sea

level. The lay-

ered variations

may also be

found at verysmall scales in

the form of mi-

croscopic lami-

nations. When

the wealth of

detail available

in the rocks is

discounted by a single blanket term

- like shale - the industry loses po-

tentially valuable information. Thus,

Hart recommends a new classica-

tion scheme for rocks, which could

accommodate both mineralogy

(from XRD) and texture (from obser-

vation).

The confusion does not end here,

however. Once again, the question

of grain size vs. mineralogy arises.

When a driller uses the term shale

or clay, it indicates a ne-grained

rock, disregarding lithology entirely.

The epithet then gets grandfathered

in, so that a unit like the Eagle Ford

formation of Texas is called a shale

when it is, in truth, a carbonate. In-

deed, using a mineralogical cut-off

of fty percent clay to be a shale

and any less to be some other type

of rock, none of the famous shale

plays in the United States would

be called a shale at all. Because a

gas shale is generally only produc-

tive when hydro-fractured, clay-rich

rocks tend to scare operators away,as too much clay means the rock

will not fracture well.

This led Hart to his nal discus-

sion: what constitutes a shale play?

The rst productive shale, ironically,

was a true textbook-denition shale

which had natural gas seeps ow-

ing from it; after some village chil-

dren accidentally set a nearby creek

on re, the townsfolk dug a twenty-

ve-foot-deep

well and be-

gan tapping

the gas seep

to light their

lamps. In

modern times,

however, the

wells can beseveral miles

long and must

be hydro-frac-

tured in order

to draw gas;

this involves

breaking open

the rock at depth to create a space

where the gas can ow. A shale play

is a tight, brittle rock which is both

the source and the reservoir for the

oil and gas that is being produced.

It must be drilled into horizontally in

order to be productive, as the units

involved cannot be too thick or they

will not fracture well.

Since the media discovered hy-

drofracturing (or fracking), how-

ever, any oil/gas play that needs

to be fracked to be economical is

being called a shale, even by the

AAPG. This is both erroneous and

misleading. Hart cited multiple ex-

amples of play types that have been

lumped under the umbrella of shale

gas play. The Bakken formation of

Montana is neither a shale nor does

it produce from its source rock. In-

stead, it is a sandwich play, where

the reservoir units - where the gas

is stored - are bracketed by source

units - where the gas is produced

- and the wells are drilled into the

reservoirs. Other mislabelled eldsinclude halo plays, conventional

reservoirs surrounded by tight rock;

and stacked or hybrid plays,

where thin alternating conventional

and unconventional reservoirs are

produced from a vertical well.

To better illustrate his point, Hart

drew a Venn diagram. On the out-

side was a circle containing all mud-

stones (that is, all clay-rich, ne-

grained sedimentary rocks). Within

this were three overlapping circles

representing thermally mature mud-

stones (meaning they have the right

burial history to produce oil/gas),

organic-rich mudstones (meaning

the material from which oil and gas

is derived is present in abundance),

and brittle mudstones (meaningones which can be effectively frac-

tured). Where the three elds over-

lap lies the true shale play, as it can

be both a good source rock and a

frack-able reservoir. Anything else

should be called something differ-

ent.

Hart concluded that better com-

munication between the disciplines

and better, more precise vocabulary

will allow better prediction of sub

seismic heterogeneity in the rock,

and thus more efcient oil and gas

production. He ended with a quote

from the book Alice in Wonder-

land: paraphrased, a word means

what the person using it wants it to

mean, nothing more and nothing

less.

Ironically, one of the attendees

at the talk pointed out that in many

other languages, including French

and Spanish, there is no word for

shale at all. The word for schist, a

metamorphic rock completely dis-

tinct from shale, is used instead.

Clearly, when it comes to clarifying

the muddy waters of shale terminol-

ogy, Dr. Hart has his work cut out

for him.

Hope Sisley

Staff Writer

Clarifying denitions: Shales split identity

Dominguez chose to

focus on problems

dealing with the

Helmholtz equation,

a time independent

partial dierential

equation common in

the acoustics feld.

Hart concluded that better

communication between the

disciplines and better, more

precise vocabulary will al-

low better prediction of sub

seismic heterogeneity in the

rock, and thus more ecient

oil and gas production.


4/8

a d v e r t i s e m e n t february , page


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Ramiro Rodriguez

Staff Writer

Tallahassee was released in

2002 by the indie lo- folk rock

band The Mountain Goats and

is the rst album released by the

group to be done as a more or less

full band. The entirety of Tallahas-

see is the continuation of the story

of two characters which frequently

recur in The Mountain

Goats song known as

the Alpha Couple, as

many of the songs that

are about them feature

the word Alpha in the

title. The Alpha Couple

by this point in their lives

have moved together to

Tallahassee in an effort

to prevent the complete

failure of their marriage

which slowly falls to-

gether as they begin

to drink themselves to

death instead of leaving

each other while their

few remaining friends

abandon the hopeless

alcoholics to their lives

of mutual destruction

A good start to the album is to

listen to it in its entirety for the pur-

pose of story. The album follows

the progression of dissatisfaction

leading to the cracks in the Alpha

Couples marriage increasing all

while ghting to stay together in-

spite of the acknowledgement of

just how dysfunctional they are

leading to the marriage imploding

at the end with Alpha Rats Nest.

Anyone with less time to devote to

Tallahassee or just wants to buy

singles should start with the epon-

Tallahassee: Immersiveymous Tallahassee, a slow and

hauntingly beautiful description of

regret and the realization that a ter-

rible mistake has been made that

cannot be averted. No Children

is a faster paced and melodic an-

guished scream of a couple that

would rather walk hand in unlov-

able hand into the abyss then nd

the strength and nerve to leave

each other. Old College Try, while

a few songs down the listing in the

album, can be seen as the second

part of No Children, taking essen-

tially the same tone and words but

with the passing of Tallahassee

creating a rather haunting portrait

of despair all the while not losing

any of angst momentum of the rest

of the album. Alpha Rats Nest

sounds initially like a subversion

of the rest of Tallahassee with

an upbeat tune that sounds more

appropriate afxed to the cheesy

love songs the album seems to

be the complete opposite of. This

sound quickly becomes dissonant

as the lyrics quickly reveal them-

selves to be an acknowledgement

of just what the Alpha Couple has

become to each other and how

little they can stand the others ex-

istence. The dissonance receives

an additional layer considering the

writer of the song and frontman for

the band, John Darnielle, has said

in concert that Alpha

Rats Nest is about the

Alpha Couple lighting

their home on re with

themselves in it to end

their lives.

Tallahassee is a

depressingly beautiful

painting of a marriage

in shambles and cap-

tures emotions like de-

spair, angst, and release

through acceptance in

a way that is very rarely

able in music. Unfor-

tunately some of the

songs on the album

such as Idylls of the

King and Peacocks

fall short of other songs

on Tallahassee, which

can break the immersion the al-

bum otherwise creates through a

combination of strong lyrics and

spot on tone. Even the occasional

dissonances between lyrics and

musical accompaniment serve to

strengthen that immersion by in-

voking the feeling of false hope for

the Alpha Couple. Anyone wanting

to listen to a good if depressing

story should pick up Tallahassee

and strongly consider nding the

other Alpha Couple songs as this

is the end of their story together.

Nanolithography, a type of

nanotechnology, is constantly im-

proving. Dr. Greg Liu researched

nanolithography and gave a sem-inar on the recent developments.

According to Dr. Greg Liu, block

copolymers can be used to assist

in making extremely small struc-

tures.

Much of the technology used

today is dependent upon mini-

mizing the size of its components.

Reducing the bulk of machines

effectively increases production

and convenience. The eld of

nanolithography aligns closely to

this ideal. It focuses on the devel-

opment and application of very

small structures.

Over the past several decades,

nanolithography has greatly im-

proved microchip technology.

Getting lanes on the microchip tocarry more information over less

space is undeniably ideal. Unfor-

tunately, due to current practices,

accuracy and precision exponen-

tially decay with decrease in size.

Liu stated that in order to cre-

ate one of these microchips, the

user must be able to identify the

microscopic arrays, plant single

dots of metal material in each

grid, and manipulate the size and

James Davis

Staff Writer

The role of blockcopolymers innanolithology

shape of each spot.

A popular method of devel-

opment is with Dip-Pen Nano-

lithography (DPN). In DPN, a mo-

lecular ink is deposited onto a

base via diffusion through a water

meniscus. This was a revolution-ary application method in the

late 90s. One of the major ob-

stacles, however, is the fact that

the placement of the molecular

ink is randomized. At single-digit

nanoscale, many metals are inac-

curate in where they attach. That

is where the block copolymers

come into play. By adding block

copolymers, the molecular ink

can be much more manageable.

A unique copolymer is designed

depending on the ink and the

desired shape. The copolymer

and ink mixture are heated to a

temperature that activates the

copolymer. The copolymer then

arranges itself depending on its

nature. The ink is concentratedinside the copolymer, achieving

a particular size and shape. The

heat is then increased, separating

the copolymer and depositing the

molecular ink.

The research continues, but

there is now strong evidence

suggesting that this is a plausible

method to be used in nanolithog-

raphy, which will be a huge ben -

et to the microchip industry.

COURTESY THEMOUNTAINGOATS.NET

Tallahassee is a depressing, beautiful album.

Career Day for a graduate stu-

dent is often frustrating, as it is cen-

tered around internships and fulltime hiring of undergraduates. The

Career Center advises that gradu-

ate students looking for intern-

ships and full time

positions make an

effort of research-

ing companies with

potential openings

and networking with

them. These two

things can reduce

the frustration that

can be introduced

in the job search as

a graduate student.

One initial step in

the job search is the

use of DiggerNet.

Jobs and intern-ships can be found by searching by

major and degree type. DiggerNet

allows for the uploading of docu-

ments to employers and is used to

schedule interviews. It can also be

used to nd information sessions

on companies and workshops. It is

strongly recommended when apply

for a job or interview through Dig-

gerNet that an application is also

led on the companys corporate

website if possible before meeting

with a recruiter at Career Day.

To prepare for Career Day, in

addition to applying for jobs and in-

ternships, one should make a listing

of all the employers to talk to with

Ramiro Rodriguez

Staff Writer

Job hunting different forCSM graduate students

additional notes on each company

and desired position. At Career Day

after introductions with company

recruiters, it is important to gather

contact information so the recruiter

can be followed up with an emailwith both a resume and the reasons

why one is deserving of a position

with the company. Follow-up emails

are important be-

cause they both re-

mind the recruiter of

the previous days

meeting as well as

establish a contact

at a company.

At Career Day,

because of the lim-

ited amount of time

with recruiters, it be-

comes necessary to

prepare in advance

a 30 second intro-

duction. This intro-

duction starts witheye contact and a rm handshake

and is followed up with the students

degree and type of research, goals

and interests specic to the com-

pany and position sought, achieve-

ments, any relevant research, and

should be ended with a request to

be interviewed.

The job search does not end at

Career Day, however; it is continued

through the process of networking.

Expanding ones personal network

can lead to knowing someone in a

prospective company, and even-

tually an interview and hiring. Net-

working can be done at virtually

any time, including at Career Day. A

personal network is often expand-

ed at professional association con-

ferences, hobby and sports events,

information sessions, and even by

cold calling companies looking for

someone to talk to related to theposition you are looking for. The ef-

ciency of networking is increased

by using networking tools such as

LinkedIn and ResearchGate which

are used to connect directly to col-

leagues, new connections, profes-

sional associations, as well as com-

panies.

A strong LinkedIn prole is one

that is arranged in the same way as

a resume, has a strong and concise

headline, and is full of descriptions

of coursework and past projects.

In addition to having a prole that

has good descriptions, LinkedIn

has to be active to be effective. This

means starting conversations with

alumni working in industry, recruit-

ers, and industry leaders. It can alsobe used to have discussions with

groups with similar career interests

which is something companies

watch for.

In short, the lower amount of

companies actively looking for

graduate students for internships

and jobs, while frustrating, can be

overcome through effort. This effort

comes in the form of researching

companies to know what skills and

research can add value to a com-

pany as well as networking to know

what opportunities can be found

outside of companies actively look-

ing to ll specic positions from

Mines.

In short, the lower

amount of companies

actively looking for

graduate students for

internships and jobs,

while frustrating, can

be overcome through

efort.


6/8

f e a t u r e s february , page


James Davis

Staff Writer

Lighten up any dessert tray

with some fresh out of the oven

banana bars. A blend of banana

mash and smooth chocolate cre-

ates a confectionery delight. Their

pillowy texture heightens this sen-sation, making it hard to stop after

having just one!Ingredients:

2 Cups our

2 tsp. baking power

Pinch of salt

3/4 Cup butter

2/3 Cup white sugar

2/3 Cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Cup of mashed bananas

(approximately 3 bananas)

1 Egg

2 Cups chocolate chipsInstructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 de-

grees

2. Grease cookie sheet

Banana Bars3. Mash bananas and eggs in

bowl

4. Combine our, baking pow-

der, salt, butter, sugars, and va-

nilla.

5. Slowly mix two bowls to-

gether

6. Add chocolate chips, stir

evenly7. Pour mixture onto cookie

sheet and spread evenly

8. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or

until a wooden toothpick can be

inserted into desert and cleanly

removed.

Tips

* Try replacing (or supple-

menting) chocolate chips with rai-

sins or nuts.

* For a sweeter experience,

lightly dust top of nished desert

with powdered sugar.

* Replace our with gluten-

free substitute for gluten-free al-

ternative! Be sure to add water

according to gluten-free our in-

structions.

Flappy Bird, available for freedownload on smart phones and

other devices, is the most annoy-

ing game to ap into the app store.

A bi rd with appy wings must try

to dodge and y above openings

between green pipes, much like

the pipes one would expect to nd

in the Mario Bros universe. A tap

on the users touch screen device

propels the bird upwards, and

gravity allows the bird to fall down.

The concept is so simple, yet

that makes the game even more

aggravating. The game requires

quick ngers, yet the most dex-

terous person is sure to fail many

times. The game seems to run on

failure, in fact, as a slam into the

pipe kills the bird, but makes theplayer want to try and over and

over again.

Katerina Gonzales

Content Manager

Game Review: Flappy BirdMore annoying than stubbing pinky toes, littlebrothers, and failing homework

The games try, try again strat-

egy to gain players has worked, as

the Hanoi-based game was the

most downloaded game of Janu-ary, although it has been on the

market since May 2013. Critical

reception has been mixed, but the

game has spread through word

of mouth. Professors and teach-

ers everywhere should be wary

as this game spreads like wildre,

because unlike Candy Crush Saga

and other popular game apps, the

game will cause students to slam

their phone in disgust, making a

scene.

The only winning strategy for

Flappy Bird is to quit. A rst time

player of this game will undoubt-

edly make his or her bird crash

into the pipes or ground before

getting a point, which is gained by

passing a pipe. There are photosonline of insane amounts of points

in the twenties and unconrmed

reports of players breaking 100,

but a streak of ve is sure to gar-

ner excitement. After playing for

hours, the player is able to gainsome rhythm and perhaps go on

a medal-winning streak, but even

the best of players fail many times.

The graphics are simple, stimu-

lating a bit of sentimentality from

days playing Super Mario Bros.

There are a few variations on

background graphics to change

time of the day, and the pipes ob-

stacle course has variations, but

for the most part, this game is all

about the bird and the pipes.

Flappy Bird is worth checking

out, but downloader beware of its

addictive annoyingness. The app

succeeds because of simplicity of

concept and graphics, and traps

players with its addictive failure.

Although extremely frustrating, thegame is able to be playedand

lostby anyone.

The 56th annual Grammy

Awards had more than just high

fashion and music, though those

were probably the main draws for

millions of viewers. This year, 33

couples tied the knot after Mackl-

emore and Ryan Lewiss perfor-

mance of Same Love. Queen

Latifah acted as a temporary com-

missioner for the State of California

and presided over the weddings.

Several same-sex couples were in-cluded in the proceedings, and the

event was kept secret for nearly

two weeks. Even Madonna joined

the fun and sang Open Your

Heart as part of the performance.

While the mass wedding was

certainly the most eye-catching as-

pect of the Grammys, it only lasted

for a fraction of the entire event.

The majority of the event focused

on performances from many no-

table celebrities from Lorde to Paul

McCartney and Ringo Starr. Tay-

lor Swifts performance of All Too

Well garnered her considerable

attention, as head banging while

playing piano is certainly not com-

mon. Many parents were shocked

to see Beyonces risque outt dur-ing her performance of Drunk in

Love with her husband Jay-Z,

and that was not[a] the end of the

outrage. The closing performance

featuring Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey

Buckingham, and Queens of the

Stone Age was cut off so that com-

mercials and credits could air. CBS

Emily McNair

Managing Editor

Grammys 2014didnt even continue the broadcast

online, which left many fans angry.

The awards themselves were

somewhat surprising to viewers.

Although Taylor Swift was nominat-

ed for four awards, she didnt win

a single one. Skyfall, the theme

to the latest James Bond movie,

garnered Adele the award for Best

Song in Visual Media. The popular

Imagine Dragons song Radioac-

tive was the Best Rock Perfor-

mance, and Lorde won the award

for Best Pop Solo Performance for

her song Royals. However, thewinners list was dominated by

two artists: Macklemore and Ryan

Lewis and Daft Punk.

Macklemore and Ryan Lew-

is ended the evening with four

awards to their names. They won

the award for Best New Artist, and

the celebrations didnt end there.

The duos well-known song Thrift

Shop garnered them the awards

for both Best Rap Performance

and Best Rap Song, and their al-

bum The Heist won the award for

Best Rap Album.

The French electronic music

duo Daft Punk walked away from

the Grammys with the most cov-

eted award, Album of the Year,

for Random Access Memories.The album also received two other

awards, Best Dance/Electronica

Album and Best Engineered Al-

bum, Non-Classical. The famous

song Get Lucky, which features

Pharrell Williams, won Record of

the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group

Performance.

Hamlet, perhaps William

Shakespeares most renowned

play, comes to life at the Denver

Center this month. The show, di-

rected by Kent Thompson, will

run from Jan. 24 to Feb. 23 in the

Stage Theater.

Hamlet tells the tale of young

scholar Hamlet who nds himselftrapped in an impossible dilemma

after his father, the king of Den-

mark, dies. Naturally, the ghost

of his father returns, claiming that

his death was no mere accident.

The ghost tells Hamlet that the

Claudius, the new king who also

happens to be Hamlets uncle and

the ghosts brother, murdered him

and tasks Hamlet with avenging

his untimely death. Hamlet then

must rationalize the ghosts tale

with reality to discern if the new

king, who is also his new stepfa-

ther, did in fact steal the throne.

Jessica Deters

Staff Writer

To go or not to go, no questionChaos ensues as Hamlet delays

his revenge, even going so far as

to feign madness in an attempt to

uncover the truth.

While the themes of the major-

ity of Shakespeares other works

can be dened by a single word,

no single theme denes Ham-

let. Does it explore madness, the

dangers of indecisiveness, the

perils of being a philosopher king

in a soldier kings world? Perhapsit explores all three. What makes

Hamlet transcendent and widely

known is its ability to fully develop

multiple themes and still read as a

cohesive piece of literature.

In and of itself, Hamlet com-

mands respect and attention, but

Thompsons distinct twist on the

classic makes this specic pro-

duction a must-see. The austere

stage, painted in red and black and

lled with three levels of balconies

reinforced with metal rods, evokes

the unsettling feeling that Thomp-

son aims for. At its core, Hamlet is

a tragedyno good comes from

Hamlets indecisiveness or feigned

madnessso the addition of an

austerely haunting set adds to the

misfortune that unfolds on stage.

For those who studied Hamlet

or one of Shakespeares countless

other plays during high school,

viewing the classic onstage as it

was meant to be experienced pro-

vides a unique insight into the play.

When reading a work meant tobe viewed, the essence of certain

lines can be lost. It can be hard to

discern what is happening when

reading scenes meant to be acted.

However, when viewed onstage,

each line takes on new life. Body

language and inection provide a

deeper meaning and understand-

ing of the text and the themes that

develop throughout the play.

Hamlet s intricate plot of re-

venge, murder and madness cou-

pled with this productions unique

spin on the haunting aspect of the

classic play makes it a must see.

Ramiro Rodriguez

Staff WriterWolves of Wall StreetWolves of Wall Street is the

2002 lm by director David DeCo-

teau starring Jeff Branson, Louise

Lasser, and William Gregory Lee.

This is the story o f Jeff Allen (Lee)

who becomes a part of one of the

most cutthroat brokerage rms in

Manhattan and slowly learns the

dark secret behind their immense

success. This lm should not

be confused with the 2013 lm,

The Wolf of Wall Street, as one

of these lms is about a series

of nancial predators who ani-

malistically devour the weak andless ferocious individuals of Wall

Street, while the lm in this review

is about werewolves.

Jeff Allen is a young man look-

ing for a job as a stockbroker in

New York but is unable to nd a

job due to his lack of relevant work

experience. As he recants his lack

of luck at the job search in a bar

to bartender Annabelle Morris, he

receives the phone number of a

senior partner of the Wolfe Broth-

ers brokerage rm and receives

an interview and shortly after, an

offer for a training position where

he will be pitted against four other

new brokers in hopes of a posi-

tion with Wolfe Brothers. After an

intense two weeks of work at the

rm Jeff receives the broker po-

sition and begins a relationship

with Annabelle, who is reluctant

as she has seen how brokers can

be changed by their job. After a

celebratory night of drinking with

the other brokers and the senior

partner he interviewed with, the

night takes a sudden and dark

turn as he is bitten in the nextby one his coworkers in sight of

the full moon. Jeff begins black-

ing out around the time of the full

moon, his relationship suffers as

he learns his boss once had a

relationship with Annabelle, and

he becomes more and more ani-

malistic as Wolfe Brothers intro-

duces him to levels of hedonism

he had never known of before.

Eventually, he wants to leave the

rm, but as far as Wolfe Brothers

is concerned, his job is a lifetime

appointment, however short that

may turn out to be.

Wolves of Wall Street is an

incredibly dull movie devoid of

suspense, excitement, or even

the unintentional humor typically

found in equally terrible B-mov-

ies. There are simply no positive

things to say about this lm. The

plot is uncompelling, the char-

acters are unlikeable, and there

is no action at all. Anyone want-

ing to see werewolf stockbrokers

ght in the middle of Wall Street,

a scene which would have re-

deemed this movie, will be disap-pointed as there are exactly as

many scenes with werewolves

in this lm as there are in Titan-

ic. The only possible reason for

watching this lm in its entirety is

to not lose face after mistakenly

buying the dvd for it while think-

ing this was Wolf of Wall Street,

and even then the dvd will prob-

ably see more use as a drink

coaster.

Sci discoveriesContinued from page 2.

McMaster University, Canada

Lead researchers on the project

speculate that either human popula-

tion has evolved to become less sus-

ceptible over the years or that gradualclimate changes have made it more

difcult for the plague bacterium to

survive.University of Waterloo, Cana-

da

Social skills training programs for

children with ADHD often dont show

substantial benets when children re-

turn to their social environments, and

if we have a better sense of what is

causing the difculties in communi-

cation and then target remediation

at these particular skills, intervention

programs may be able to achieve

more benecial outcomes.University College, London

Our research shows that a simple

test of reaction time in adulthood canpredict survival, independently of age,

sex, ethnic group and socio-eco-

nomic background, Dr. Gareth Hag-

ger-Johnson, lead researcher from

the University College London, said.

Reaction time may indicate how well

our central nervous and other sys-

tems in the body are working. People

who are consistently slow to respond

to new information may go on to ex-

perience problems that increase their

risk of early death.


7/8

s p o r t sfebruary , page 7


Chris Robbins

Staff Writer

Short ly af ter the Lady

Orediggers emerged v ic-

tor ious over Western State

in Gunnison on Saturday

night , the 13th

ranked CSM mensbasketbal l team

took down their

WSU counterparts

as wel l by a score

of 79-45.

Th e Or ed igg er s

were tested ear ly

by the Mountain-

eers, even fa l l ing

behind at one point

8-10 short ly into

the contest . But

successive layups

from both Gokul

Natesan and Trev-

or R itch ie gave

Mines the nec-

essary boost to

carry them to a29-19 hal f t ime

edge.

Th at mo me n-

tum stayed with

the Oredig-

gers wel l into

the second hal f as

CSM exploded for 50

points in the per iod.

WSU was only able

to c lose the gap to

nine points before

the Mines of fense

found their rhythm

and cru ised to the

34 point v ictory.

Four of CSMs

f ive star ters h i t

double-d ig i t scor-ing in the game in-

cluding Trevor Wages

Men victorious too15 to lead a l l scor-

ers. Wages posted

a double-double

on the n ight , add-

ing 13 rebounds

to h is point to-

ta l , whi le Luke

Meisch fe l l two

rebounds shortof accompl ish-

ing the same

feat (13 points,

8 rebounds).

Gokul Natesan add-

ed 10 of f a Mines bench

that had f ive d i f ferent

p layers f ind the basket

and put up points.

CSM, now 17-2

and 13-2 in RMAC

play, benef i t ted f rom

a great n ight shoot ing

(49.2% from the f ie ld,

37.5% from three point

range) and complete

dominat ion of rebound-

ing, edging WSU 46-

24. The Orediggers a lsogot points of f severa l

chances f rom the f ree

throw l ine, as the Moun-

ta ineers commit ted 20

fouls on the n ight .

Mines next game

wi l l be a huge show-

down in Golden agai nst

RMAC- leading #3 Metro

State where the Oredig-

gers wi l l look to avenge

their c lose loss ear l ier

th is season in Denver.

Th at ga me ti ps of f in Lo ck -

r idge Arena at 8pm on Fr i-

day, February 7th.

Fans are encouraged to

wear white for a White-

out on Fr iday aga inst MetroState for both the womens

and mens matchups.

Chris Robbins

Staff Writer

Coming off of an 54-85 loss at

Colorado Mesa on Friday night,

the CSM womens basketball

team rebounded in strong fashion

on Saturday night to take down

Western State in Gunnison 75-47.The early stages of the rst half

were kept close, for every time

Mines would jump to a sizeable

lead, WSU would nd a way to

ght back. However, up only 21-

17 late in the half, CSM red off

a series of quick scoring drives to

take a 29-20 lead into the locker

room at halftime.

Ladies trump WSU on roadThe Lady Orediggers carried

their momentum into the start of

the second half as well, open-

ing the period with a 10-2 scor-

ing drive to take a 39-22 lead.

Throughout the rest of the con-

test, WSU could never mount a

substantial comeback, only climb-

ing back to within 15 points ofthe Orediggers at any given time,

eventually falling to CSM by the -

nal score of 75-47.

Taylor Helbig led all scorers

with 22 points (18 from three point

range) to go along with two each

of rebounds, assists, and steals.

Sam Rusk shot 3-for-3 from the

three point line as part of her 12

points on the night, and Courtney

Gallo contributed 15 points off of

the Mines bench.

CSM easily outshot Western

State from the eld (48.2% vs.

30.4%), including hitting over half

of their shots from beyond the

three point arc (53.8%). Mines

also outrebounded WSU 42-34,as well as notching more assists,

more steals, and fewer turnovers

than the Mountaineers.

Mines womens basketball will

be back in action next Friday night

here in Golden as they take on

Metro State on Play 4 Kay Pink

Day. That game tips off at 6pm at

Lockridge Arena here at CSM.

Jacquie Feuerborn

Staff Writer

As the 2014 Winter Olym-

pics in Sochi, Russia, come

running around the corner, with

them come new competitions

and promises of gold, silver and

bronze medals. This year there

are over 98 events

or what some peo-

ple like to call 98

forms of sliding.

There is everything

from the luge, where

competitors slide on

a sled while on their

backs; to skeleton,

sliding on a sled while on their

fronts. There will also be some

impressive skiing performances.

Ice skating cannot be forgot-ten, one of the most anticipated

sections of the Winter Olympics.

The 2104 Sochi W inter Olympics

promise various forms of sliding

that are sure to be breathtaking

but they also promise heart break

and successes.

This years Winter Olympics

brings competitors from ninety

different countries, the most rep-

2014 Olympics begin Feb. 7resented nations in the history of

the Winter Olympics. There are

competitors from Herzegovina,a place many have never even

heard of. There is even a group

of athletes competing on behalf

of San Marino, a tiny country in-

side of Italy that is only twenty-

four square miles. As all of these

countries gather to-

gether to participate

in what will hope-

fully be a collection

of truly impressive

feats.

As the athletes

compete for the

prized gold, silver

and bronze, they seek to stun

the viewers. All over the world,

people will be watching eagerly

to see the most impressive featsof athletic skill. Some people will

avidly watch every single event,

but others will only watch a few

events. The one thing known

for sure is that everyone will see

at least a little bit of the Winter

Olympics this year. There is no

way to avoid them entirely. Peo-

ple can look forward to seeing

them streaming on every news

broadcaster, seeing them in every

restaurant with a television and

hearing all about them from familyand friends. Everyone gets some-

thing different from the Olympics.

Some people just watch it for the

competitiveness and some watch

it to see the beauty in the gure

skaters gliding across the ice but

all enjoy some aspect of them.

The Winter Olympics are more

than many could ever actually

imagine and there are all sorts of

gems hidden inside of them that

people never even knew existed.

This year, instead of just watch-

ing the snowboarding competi-

tions, branch out. Viewers might

discover something new that they

love. Perhaps Curling will be in-

teresting; there is only one way to

nd out.So as the 2014 Sochi Winter

Olympics slide into focus, get

ready for some exciting perfor-

mances. Team USA might even

win lots of metals. So plan an

Olympics party or go and tune

the television to the Olympics

because things are going to get

exciting.

COURTESY SPORTSFAN1234

Countries participating in the 2014 Winter Olympics are colored black, illustrating that the

Games continue to bring the world together.

COURTESY CSM ATHLETICS

Taylor Helbig put up 22 points Saturday night against WSU, including nine 3-pointers.

MICHAELRODGERS

/O

REDIG

GER

This years Olym-

pics bring competi-

tors from from 90

diferent countries.


8/8

o p i n i o n february , page


Katerina Gonzales

Content Manager

Spring Career Fair is coming up,

which means one important thing:

free stuff. There are other valuable

things that happen around Career

Day time, such as actually getting

to see what people look like when

they dress classy or are actually

trying to nd a job/ internship with-

out sounding incredibly awkward.

But why should the weeks leading

up to and the month after Career

Day be awkward and lled with

nerves? Why not make it one of

the favorite times of the semester?

First, one must become the

master of swag. No, not the ridicu-

lous juvenile sort of swag, but the

Stuff We All Get type of swag.

Becoming the master of swagtakes multiple semesters of prac-

tice, but revolves around three

key elements. Sneakiness is one

element. Taking nifty ashlights

while a classmate is distracting a

recruiter with their elevator speech

is the perfect example of sneaki-

ness. Often tables will have no

one manning the booth at lunch

or break time, so the swag is free

game. Another strategy is actually

How to go up to 5 weekswithout buying groceries

talking to recruiters. Often compa-

nies save their best paraphernalia

for the students who have turnedin their resume or had a conversa-

tion about the company with the

recruiter. Sometimes, a master of

swag will not even have to ask

to take free stuff, but a recruiter

will put a bag of goodies in their

hands. Although sneakiness and

talking will get a swag-seeker

far, timing helps out. Flash drives

and other extremely desirable free

gadgets are usually the rst to go

at Career Fair, so it is important to

get their early. On the other side

of the spectrum, hitting the booths

up again right before closing will

gain many freebies as well, since

the companies are eager to get rid

of stuff and might be done taking

resumes for the day.The free goodness does not

end with Career Day, however. Be-

sides being easy and helpful in ap-

plying to positions, Digger Net also

functions as a directory of com-

pany info sessions, also known

as tonights dinner. In the weeks

leading up to Career Day, the Ca-

reer Center is hosting a plethora of

helpful info sessions ranging from

resumes to interviews, and also

have the added benet of lunch.

Both before and after the big day,

companies will host informationsessions at either lunch or dinner

time. Big name companies usu-

ally have the best food, but make

sure to be courteous and RSVP

through Digger Net.

It is also rumored that students

that have successfully landed a

position or even an interview will

be treated by the company to din-

ner with other students, so maybe

updating ones resume is a good

idea after all.

The fun does not have to sub-

side after recruiting season has

come and gone. Joining one or

multiple of the societies and clubs

on campus is a great way to avoid

making or buying a meal. Also,

keeping an eye out on emails sentout on campus is actually a good

idea to look out for events with free

food.

Well-weathered college stu-

dents have gured out a way to

synthesize all techniques for get-

ting free food and go weeks with-

out buying groceries. If all else

fails, mooching off friends and

family usually works; and if that

fails, there is always ramen.

Brian Zaharatos

Guest Writer

Although some choice is un-

doubtedly better than none, more

is not always better than less.

--Barry Schwartz

God is deadhow shall we

comfort ourselves, the murderers

of all murderers?

--Friedrich Nietzsche

My least favorite aisle in the

grocery store is the cereal aisle.

Its not because I dont love ce-

real (I do); its because there are

too many choices. I know that I

probably ought to eat one of the

hundreds of low sugar, high ber

cereals--perhaps one of the many

kinds of oatmeal. But the hun-

dreds of different chocolate ce-

reals are so damn good. At least

for a time. Then I get tired of the

sweet stuff and wish that I bought

something else. The problem is

that I take too much time decid-

ing, and, in the end, I am usually

disappointed with my choice.

Psychologist Barry Schwartz

describes some research that

suggests that having too many

choices--like I have in the cereal

aisle--is actually bad for ones

well-being. His claim is that we

feel less satised with the choices

that we make because we are

haunted by the idea that one of

the many other options that we did

not choose may have been better.

Although we tend to think that the

more choice we have the better,

Schwartz is convincing in argu-

ing that the abundance of choice,

even in trivial domains like the

grocery store, can make us less

happy (he calls this the paradox of

choice).

The problem seems to be

much more pronounced when wethink about the choices related

to important existential questions

in our lives. Choices about what

school we ought to go to, what ca-

reer path we ought to take, where

we ought to live, whom we ought

to date or marry, whether and

when we ought to have children,

etc., can be extremely difcult. To

spend a lot of time thinking about

these questions is to acknowledge

that a lot is at stake; the idea that

the chosen career path or mate

was the wrong choice is enough

to cause us serious psychological

harm.

But were these existential choic-

es ever easy? It seems as though

people have long been faced withimportant choices about where to

work or whom to marry. There are

good reasons, however, to think

that the nature of the choices that

we face today is different because

there really are so many more op-

tions available to us. This is not just

an empirical claim about the num-

ber of potential careers or mates in

the world (although it is probably

true that there are more possible

careers and mates); rather, its a

claim about a worldview that has

slowly pervaded our culture. This

new worldview, the philosophi-

cal foundation of which arguably

began with Nietzsches claim that

God is dead, seems to be one

in which old models for living are

being erased or left behind. For

example, getting married used to

be a thing that you did as soon

as you could; the same with hav-

ing children. It didnt even seem

like a choice. Everyone just did it.

Schwartz writes:

A range of life choices has

been available to Americans forquite some time. But in the past,

the default options were so pow-

erful and dominant that few per-

ceived themselves to be making

choices. Whom we married was

a matter of choice, but we knew

that we would do it as soon as we

could and have children, because

that was something all people did.

The anomalous few who departed

from this pattern were seen as so-

cial renegades, subjects of gossip

and speculation.

Today it is hardly the case that

those who dont have children are

renegades. Many people make a

deliberate choice to not have chil-

dren. But the problem that comes

along with shaking the old existen-tial models--e.g., grow up, get a

job, get married, have a child (or

several)--is that there arent cor-

responding replacement models

for existential decisions; instead,

we are faced with a myriad of

ways to live our lives, and, prima

facie, many of these ways seem

equally good (notice that is not to

say that some arent bad). If this

analysis is accurate, then it seems

as though we are faced with the

same dilemma that I faced in the

cereal aisle: knowing that there

were other options available to us

makes the option we chose less

satisfying. Perhaps it would have

been better to have children, or to

be a teacher rather than research-

er, one might reason. If we have

destroyed the old existential mod-

els (perhaps for good reason), then

how are we supposed to live? Or,

equivalently, if God really is dead,

then how shall we murderers of all

murderers, comfort ourselves?

Ethics Across CampusThe paradox of choice and the death of God

Katerina Gonzales

Content Manager

Super Bowl or Olympics?Minds at Mines

A pile of homework due the next day and snow falling on the ground

gives Mines students a desire to have a snow day, but nearly always the

snow is not enough to cancel classes. Spring semester is the most likely

time for extreme amounts of snow to fall though, as Colorado weather

seems to spew more snow as time the months go on, until April anyway.

This week, Minds at Mines asked students to use their imaginations and

asked, What would you do with a snow day?

Probably grab a bunch of my friends

and just dive into the snow. I literally justwant to ip into the snow. Then we can

go sledding.

Eric Sears

Make snow day pancakes because

its the only time my housemates are all

together.

Krista Pekarek

[Laughs.] Thank whatever deity

that caused whatever it is to cancel

school. ...Im convinced Mines has

a snow machine. Its in the tower

of Guggenheim.

Colton Kohnke

Go skiing or build a snow fort.

Steven Rennolet

Editorials Policy

The Oredigger is a designated public forum.Editors have the authority to make all con-

tent decisions without censorship or advanceapproval and may edit submitted pieces for

length so long as the original meaning of the

piece is unchanged. Opinions contained withinthe Opinion Section do not necessarily reect

those of Colorado School of Mines or The Ore-

digger. The Oredigger does not accept submis-sions without identifcation and will consider

all requests for anonymity in publication on a

case-by-case basis. Submissions less than 300words will receive preference.

the oredigger, issue 15 - february 2nd, 2014

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