the oredigger issue 25 - april 29, 2013

7/30/2019 The Oredigger Issue 25 - April 29, 2013

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T H E O R E D I G G E RVolume 93, Issue 25 April 29, 2013

The student voice of the Colorado School of Mines

Winning week

for the

Orediggers

Sports 7

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

Opinion 11

Features 5

News 2

Satire 12

Groundwater

sustainability

for produce

Donkey Kong 64

an underrated

retro treat

Minds at Mines:

Advice for

younger self

Light rail goes

cross-country!

Ramiro Rodriguez

Chase Tyree

Staff Writers

The Reg ion al Transpor tat ion

District (RTD) bus and light rail

transit system is the main public

transportation system of the Den-ver, Colorado metropolitan area

and last weekend, the long-await-

ed W line of the light-rail opened.

Its route goes from Golden to

Union Station in downtown Denver.

Looking back at the history of

Denvers public transportation sys-

tem, bus services in Denver started

as far back as 1924 with the Den-

ver tramway that had a route from

Englewood to Fort Logan. As the

city grew, the buses took over the

streetcar system but because of

a decline in ridership, in 1971, the

Denver Tramway Company trans-

ferred all its assets to the Denver

Metro Transit.

Three years later in 1974, the

Denver Metro Transit becamepart of RTD, which was created to

provide public transportation to the

surrounding counties of Denver,

and sparked ridership with the new

banner of transportation.

The light rai l sys tem of Denver

started with the D Line in October

of 1994. Since then, several other

lines opened spanning miles of

Denver and allowing citizens of

Denver, Lakewood, and now

Golden to ride trains and buses all

over the city.

On Friday, April 26, the W Line

began operations, connecting

Golden to Denver through the

RTD light rail system. The light railexpansions includes 12.1 miles of

light rail, 11 new stations, 6 Park-

n-Rides, and 3 new Call-n-Rides,

one of which is located in Golden.

To cel ebrate the openin g of

the W Line, riders get two days

of free rides, entertainment, and

food. The jefferson County gov-

ernment center, also the location

of the new Golden station, held

the grand opening ceremony and

celebration.

Th e op en in g ce remo ny in -

cluded a speech by Senator Mi-

chael Bennet and Governor John

Hickenlooper, who said, This is an

example of how fast-moving Colo-

rado is. We will see little villages all

along the FasTracks corridor wherepeople will live and shop and all

that time we will be eliminating

congestion and using less carbon

and less energy.

The ceremony concluded with

playing by the Colorado School of

Mines Band as the rst train was

boarded by VIPs attending the

speech.

W-line bringslight rail to JeffCo

The grand opening of the RTD W-line was attended by much pomp and circumstance, including speeches by SenatorMichael Bennet and Governor John Hickenlooper. Golden residents eagerly anticipated the new transportation option.

Students gathered on Tuesday,

to listen and debate moral relativism,

a philosophy that denies the exis-

tence of absolute truth. The lecture

invited students to redene toler-

ance, to seek absolute truth with

compassion, and to nd purpose

outside of them-

selves and theirdesires. The ques-

tion and answer

session afterwards

briey touched on

a diverse range of

subjects including

homosexual mar-

r iage, abort ion,

and religious ac-

ceptance.

Chris Stefanick,

a popular catholic

blogger and author

from the Denver-based Augustine

Institute, came to mines on Tues-

day, April 23 to enlighten students

and help them nd purpose. The

Fellowship of Catholic University

Students (FOCUS) invited Stefanick.Craig Soto, the president of FOCUS

at Colorado School of Mines, said,

it was a great talk, and we were

excited to see such an incredible

turnout.

Stefanick argued that people

cannot create their own objective

truths. He said, the argument goes,

only scientically veriable facts can

be proven. Now think about that

again. That statement itself can not

be scientically proven. Relativism

is self-contradicting.

Stefanick also discussed the

impacts of relativism. For example,

he argued that relativism takes away

the meaning in life. He said, When

you dont have anything else to

believe in, you end up with bumper

stickers that say, volley-

ball is life. No, it is not.F inal ly, Stefanick

challenged students to

rethink what it meant

to be tolerant. He said,

relativists cant tolerate,

because to tolerate you

rst have to disagree. I

dont tolerate a sunny,

beautiful day, I tolerate

snow in April. He stated

that acceptance does

not mean agreeing that

everyone is entitled to

their own belief, and disagreeing

with them, but instead it is about

tolerating and loving them anyway.

He argued that believing in truth

does not make a person a bigot

or a hater. He also encouragedstudents when he said, dont

judge people, but we must judge

peoples actions so that we know

how to act.

Students reacted in a variety of

ways to Stefanicks message, and

many remained in Metals Hall after-

wards to debate issues amongst

eachother.

Sean Lopp

Staff Writer

Morality FOCUS

RAMIRO RODRIGUEZ AND CHASE TYREE / OREDIGGER

When you don thave anything else

to believe in, you

end up with bum-

per stickers that

say, volleyball is

life.


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n e w s april 29, 2013page 2


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

Fort Collins police used tear

gas to disperse a party nearColorado State University lastSaturday. The police reportedthat ofcers were called to theneighborhood after complaintsabout the 300 revelers. The po-lice also reported that ofcersasked the attendees to leave,but the crowd became belliger-ent and began throwing bottles.Ultimately, the police used teargas and pepper spray to breakup the party. Three attendeeswere treated for minor injuries.

Joanne Albertson, a 61 yearwoman from Loma, Colorado,was planting potatoes when shediscovered a cooler containing

two rusted handguns and 2.5pounds of cocaine, worth about$50,000. The Mesa Countysheriffs department says theydo not believe the weaponsbelong to Albertson, and thespokeswoman recalled a SWATraid at the property prior to Alb-ertsons occupancy.

Two were arrested in connec-tion with a shooting outside aDenver Dennys Saturday. Policereport that a ght began insidethe restaurant early Saturdaymorning, ending when a malevictim was shot outside the res-taurant. He ultimately died at thehospital.

Late Saturday night, a CUBoulder student escaped a scis-sors-wielding attacker. She wasreturning from a party when anunknown man, believed to beabout 50 with a scruffy beardand crooked teeth, held herdown, put the scissors at herthroat and started to remove herclothes.

Jared Riemer, Content Manager

Arnaud Filliat, Copy Editor

Orlando, Florida - Researchers from the University of Central Florida demon-strated that species can evolve over generations regardless of whether they have tocompete for food, habitat, or other factors. They used a computer model to mimichow organisms evolve and their results indicated that competition is not necessaryfor evolution to take place. According to Kenneth Stanley, a professor with theresearch team, evolvable organisms separate themselves from other less evolv-able organisms over time simply by becoming more diverse. Their results do notcorrespond with commonly held beliefs and indicate that the traditional selectiveand adaptive explanations for increasing the ability to evolve deserve more scrutiny.

Boulder, Colorado - A new studyfrom researchers at the University ofColorado Boulder indicate that forcedexercise can reduce anxiety and de-pression just like voluntary exercise.Past studies demonstrated that peoplewho exercise generally have less stressrelated disorders and the perceptionof control over ones body when theyexercise can benet that persons men-tal health. But according to this newstudy even a person who is forced toexercise, thus eliminating the percep-tion of control, still reaps the benets ofreduced anxiety and depression.

Lleida, Spain - According to a variety of case studies, scientists determinedthat the European Union (EU) is undermining its competitiveness in agriculturedue to its agricultural policy of not not using genetically engineered crops (GMOs).

According to the researchers from the University of Lleida-Agrotecnico Centerin Spain, the EU agricultural policy is inconsistent and obstructs what it sets toachieve.

Lund, Sweden - According to a study at Lund University in Sweden,drinking coffee could decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence in patientstaking the drug Tamoxifen. The team followed over 600 breast cancer pa -tients from Sweden for an average of ve years with about 300 of them taking

Tamoxifen. Tamoxifen, a common hormone therapy applied after breast can-cer surgery, reduces the risk of new tumours by blocking oestrogen recep-tors. According to the study, patients who took the pill along with two or morecups of coffee per day, reported less that half the rate of cancer recurrencewhen compared to patients who took Tamoxifen without drinking coffee.

On Sunday April 21, the Lon-don Marathon went off withouta hitch. The story of the mara-thon was the touching tribute paidto those who were killed by twobombs at the Boston Marathon.

A moment of silence preceded therace and the organizers of the racedonated two British pounds to theOne Boston fund for each runnerwho crossed the nish line. This ef-fort raisd around $100,000.

An eight story garment factorylocated just outside Dhaka, Ban-gladesh, collapsed on Wednesday

and the death toll reached 359people as of Saturday night. Res-cuers are working around the clocktrying to free those trapped in therubble. Over 2400 survivors areaccounted for and 29 more peoplewere pulled from the wreckage Sat-urday. Police arrested four people,two factory owners and two engi-neers, associated with the collapseon Saturday. A day before the col-lapse, cracks were found inside thebuilding and police had asked thebuildings owners to close down.

They refused to close leading tothe collapse on Wednesday.

The New York Jets tradedtheir star all-pro cornerback,Darrelle Revis, to the Tampa Bay

Buccaneers for a conditonal pickin next years draft and the thir-teenth overall pick in this yearsdraft, which they used to select de-fensive tackle Sheldon Richardsonfrom Missouri.

The NFL draft took place atthe famous Radio City Music Halland attracted all eyes of the foot-ball world from Thursday night untilearly Saturday evening. The rstoverall pick was bestowed upon

the Kansas City Chiefs who choseoffensive tackle Eric Fisher ofCentral Michigan. The Broncoschose defensive tackle SylvesterWilliams of North Carolina withtheir rst round pick and acquiredWisconsin running back MonteeBall in the second.

The NBA playoffs started theirrst round and an injury to theOklahoma City Thunders RussellWestbrook may derail their chanc-es of winning the title this year.

George Jones, aka the Pos-sum, a country music legend and

one of the greatest country musicartists of all time, passed away Fri-day morning at the age of 81. Bornin 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, Joneslived a tumultuous life. In becom-ing one of the most respected andrevered stars in country music, heovercame poverty and an alcoholicfather, four failed mariages, alcoholand drug abuse, and served in theUnited States Marine Corps. Someof his best known hits include, He

Stopped Loving Her Today, SheThinks I Still Care, White Light-ning, Golden Ring (A Duet with

Tammy Wynette), and If DrinkingDont Kill Me. Jones was a livinglegend and will live on through hissongs and his inuence on count-less artists still alive today.

A fre at a psychiatric Hospi-

tal in Russia killed 38 people onFriday, and police launched a crim-inal investigation into the cause atthe request of president VladimirPutin Three people escaped there that, according to authorities,

may have been started by an elec-tric shock.Israel and Gaza fred rockets

back and forth over the weekend.The Israeli military claims to havestruck a Hamas target after a Gazarocket was reportedly red at Israelthe night before. In Pakistan, fourpeople died and dozens were in-

jured when two separate bombsexploded including three childrenand three women


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Arnaud Filliat

Copy Editor

Lleida, Spain

Studies show that the due to

the effective ban in Europe on the

cultivations of genetically modied

crops such as cotton, maize, and

soybeans, there are insufcient re-

sources and capacity to producethe crops by conventional means

in Europe and the same products

are imported from other nations.

Furthermore, the EU banned

farmers from using certain pesti-

cides and restricted some other

nonchemical methods of pest

control while still allowing the im-

portation of products produced

using those techniques. In their

paper published in Trends in Plant

Science, the scientists said, EU

farmers are denied freedom of

choice -- in essence, they are pre-

vented from competing because

EU policies actively discriminate

against those wishing to cultivate

genetically engineered crops, yet

exactly the same crops are ap-proved for import.

Lund, Sweden

The researchers do not know

how exactly coffee interacts with

the drug but one theory is that

coffee activates Tamoxifen and

makes it more efcient. In the past,

the researchers linked coffee con-

sumption to a decreased risk of

developing certain types of breast

cancer and demonstrated that caf-

feine hampers the growth of can-

cer cells.

Boulder, Colorado

The study involved a lab experi-

ment using rats. During a six week

period, some rats remained sed-

entary while others exercised by

running on a wheel. The rats that

exercised were divided into two

groups that ran a equal amount of

time but one group ran whenever it

chose to, while the other group ranon mechanized wheels that rotat-

ed according to a predetermined

schedule.

After the six weeks the rats were

exposed to a laboratory stressor

and their anxiety levels were tested

the next day. The anxiety or stress

was quantied by measuring how

long the rats froze, when they were

put in an environment they had

been conditioned to fear.

The longer they froze the great-

er the residual anxiety from being

stressed the previous day.

Another group of rats was also

tested as a control group without

being stressed the day before.

The study demonstrated that

no matter whether the rats wereforced to run or chose to run they

were protected against stress and

anxiety. The sedentary rats on the

other hand froze for much longer

periods of time than any of the ac-

tive rats.

The implications for humans

dictate that those that perceive

exercise as being forced such as

some athletes or patients following

a doctors exercise prescription still

garner benets in terms of reduc-

ing their anxiety and depression.

Dr. Graham E. Fogg of UC Da-

vis, visited the Colorado School

of Mines campus and presented

about groundwater sustainability.

Fogg started by talking about

the importance of California farm-

land. He said, California produces

50% of the nations fruits and veg-

etables with irrigation. Regarding

water, its sustainability, and the

reason for his research into the

subject, he added, Its going to

take centuries for this to play out

and for me, the call to arms was:Well, we better gure this out. Is

an entire resource going to be

lost? Shouldnt we know about it

and warn somebody and rethink

our regulations and whether they

are effective and working?

According to Fogg the ground-

water in most systems is hun-

dreds to thousands of years old

yet the pollutants that humans are

adding to the water are only f ty to

sixty years old. Fogg says, Highly

mix and molecular ages typically

range greatly within a single sam-

ple. As a result, in many systems

the quality of the groundwater is

likely to decline in the near future.

Fogg went on to ask what is

the evidence that the water qual-ity is getting worse? Historically,

data from city wells is often lim-

ited because after the detection

of high levels of contaminates, the

city will shut down that well and

discontinue testing the well for

contaminates. Recently though,

cities are gathering data from

these shut down wells and from

rural and suburban areas where

most non-point sources exist.

Eric Hake

Staff WriterFogg also said, The question

is, How long is it going to take

the contaminated water to move

down and to gradually contami-

nate more and more ground wa-

ter?

Fogg believes the answer to

this question depends on the

contamination sources. The main

sources that Fogg outlined were

farmland runoff and cattle manure

runoff. The fertilizer used on crops

contains many contaminants that

adversely affect the groundwater.

Fogg believes that if farmers drill

shallow wells they could reuse the

contaminated groundwater to wa-ter the crops. The nutrients in the

contaminated groundwater would

supplement the fertilizer and allow

farmers to use fertilizer in more

sustainable amounts without de-

creasing their crop yield.

Fogg ended his lecture by in-

forming the audience what needed

to be done to sway public opinion.

He said, We need to be able to

answer the question, If we reduce

nitrogen loading by fty percent is

that going to amount to a prot or

not? If you cant tell people when

positive effects will occur then

youre not going to get anybody

to change their practices.

Unfortunately, Fogg also said

that models that can accuratelypredict how groundwater inter-

acts and moves in order to de-

termine requirements for keeping

contaminants at a steady state,

have not even come close to be-

ing produced.

Solving this problem, like many

modern public health issues is

going to be no easy task and re-

quires lengthy research before

public interest is swayed.

Growing problemGroundwater Sustainability

Mines owes much of its excel-

lent reputation to its faculty and

their research. One faculty mem-

ber with the most prestigious of

backgrounds is Professor Christo-

pher Higgins, whose wall displays

degrees from both Harvard and

Stanford.

Higgins started his under-

graduate degree in chemistry and

chemical Biology at Harvard origi-

nally thinking he would continue

with biochemistry and maybe

pursue an MD. But Higgins said,

After my sophomore year I had

this kind of, what am I doing mo-

ment. I didnt do so well in some of

my classes my second semester

sophomore year and I did a lot oftraveling that summer and I asked

myself. What do I really want to

do? Later Higgins elaborated and

said that he spent eleven weeks of

his summer touring Europe in an

acapella group. They sang at sev-

eral embassies as well as some

large concert venues. At the end

of the trip they had covered the

trip expenses with gigs along the

way.

During that same summer, Hig-

gins recalls that he read an Old

book about public health called

The Coming Plague. He recalled

thinking, Oh this sounds re-

ally interesting and realized that

A lot of the people doing public

health were chemists and microbi-ologists. He also recognized that

there were a lot of opportunities to

delve into the eld of public health

while at Harvard due to the pleth-

ora of people doing that type of

work in the area. Higgins decided

then that when he went back to

school he would go see what this

public health thing was about.Higgins said, Environmen-

tal health is a big component of

public health and in fact the early

public health work was situated

around environmental engineer-

ing. He elaborated saying, So i

got really interested in this environ-

mental, public health linkage even

though I was a chemistry student

and I took a lot of electives related

to public health and the environ-

ment and when I graduated I went

to go work for a public consulting

rm. So I was basically a consul-

tant to the US EPA (Environmental

Protection Agency) doing regula-

tion development work.

Higgins became further mo-

tivated to pursue environmentalstudies after a friend suggested

a class at MIT. He said, Some-

one I ran into said, You know

what, youre a chemistry student

and you like this environmental

chemistry stuff, you should really

take this class if you can, called

environmental organic chemistry.

It was offered at MIT and I was

working in the Boston area and my

company said, Yeah we will pay

for you to go take that class be-

cause it was somewhat related to

what I was doing. So I took it and

within two or three lectures I was

like, This is what I want to do.

Higgins said that he loved the

environmental aspects of chem-

istry as well as teaching. So hewent on to obtain both a Masters

degree and a Ph.D. at Stanford in

civil and environmental engineer-

ing. From there he went to do a

postdoc at Johns Hopkins where

he worked in the school of public

Inside EnvironmentalEngineerings depthsEric Hake

Staff Writerhealth.

Finally Dr. Higgin decided to

come to Mines. When asked whyhe decided to teach here he said,

Of all the places I interviewed,

Mines was one of the places I

clicked. I saw what people were

doing, and I felt that the research

I did and the teaching I did would

be valued, and in terms of repu-

tation Mines has really a fantastic

reputation, I mean its known for

engineering, but in the environ-

mental chemistry arena its actu-

ally really well known. He went

on to praise the students for their

intelligence and work ethic

At Mines, Higgins teaches two

graduate classes Principles of

Environmental Chemistry, an in-

troductory graduate level chem-

istry course that covers inorganicchemistry and a little organic

chemistry, and Environmental

Organic Chemistry, which Hig-

gins described as modeled after

the class I took at MIT and as the

class I always wanted to teach.

Additionally, Higgins just started

teaching the environmental engi-

neering lab class, which is a team

taught class (lead by Higgins). This

lab class is aimed at Taking the

book of knowledge that students

develop and translating that into

hands on, practical knowledge.

Higgins also does research on

campus. Some of his current re-

search involves examining bioac-

cumulation of organic contami-

nants such as pharmaceuticals.He also looks at personal care

products in food crops and re-

claimed water, peruorochemicals

in groundwater systems, and or-

ganic contaminants in wastewater

treatment plants.

CSM Slacklining Club pre-

sented their annual Spring Thaw

event last weekend. The event

took place on Kafadar Commons

and featured music, free food, andfree drinks. Additionally, there were

two slacklining competitions held

on Kafadar.

Slackline members arrived at

seven Saturday morning to start

setting up the equipment that

would be used all day. In total,

eighteen slacklines were set up.

These lines varied in difculty from

beginner lines under fteen feet in

length and under two feet above

the ground, to lines as long as

180 feet in length, to a variety of

one, one and a quarter, and two

inch tricklines. Less conventional

lines were available as well. These

included rodeo lines and a space

anchor. Rodeo lines are classied

as non-tensioned lines. At thisyears Spring Thaw, the rodeo lines

had about ten feet of sag in them.

The space anchor refers to a sys-

tem where three or more lines are

anchored in space to an O-ring.

This system allows multiple slack-

liners to walk separate lines and

feel actions of the other slackliners

through the line, but without being

too difcult to walk because the

motions of the slackline (especially

side to side motions) are greatly

dampened by the other slacklines

attached to the space anchor.

At noon burgers and hotdogs

were grilled and served for free

to anybody attending or passing

through the event. Throughout the

day two contests took place.Therst was the long line speed chal-

lenge. In this competition com-

petitors had to walk the distance

of the 180 foot long line as fast as

they could. If the competitor fell

off, their time did not count and

they had to start over. Competi-

tors could attempt this contest all

day and the only proof they need-

ed was a witness and a timer. The

winner was Seth Brown a slacklin-

er from CU Boulder. He won 150

feet of owline webbing.

The other contest was the

yoga slackline contest. This event

took place on any line that was

tensioned using a primitive set

up, excluding one beginner line

that was deemed too short. Inthis event slackliners had all day

to perform yoga tricks listed on a

trick sheet. Tricks on the sheet

included tricks involving exibil-

ity, strength, and balance in order

to hold difcult positions on the

slackline. The winner of this com-

petition was Spencer Roberts,

also from Boulder.

The climax of the event occurred

during the trickline competition.

This event brought nationally and

internationally ranked slackliners

to compete at CSM even though

the competition would score them

no points in the national circuit.

Prominent names included Mickey

Wilson, CSM physics alumnus and

second place USA national cham-pion as well as the UK national

Slackline Champion Jake White.

As is common in the Spring Thaw,

many inverted aerials and some of

the newest and most innovative

tricks were being put down by the

competitors. The judging panel

consisted of two CSM juniors,

Marcus Nelson, who being an avid

trickliner himself would likely have

competed if not for a recently dis-

located elbow, and Vinny Delaney,

a long time veteran in the slackline

club, as well as Michael Bross, an

avid slackliner from UC Boulder,

and Teresa Rohde, the former fac-

ulty adviser for the slackline club at

Mines. Unsurprisingly, Wilson won

the contest with Travis Brown, an-other student from CU Boulder,

taking second and Zack Duck-

worth taking third place.

After the nal competition peo-

ple slowly started to disperse. The

slackline club frantically tried to n-

ish up and give away the bbq sup-

plies they had left. Around 6:30

they started taking down their lines

and Kafadar was empty again just

as the sun began to set.

Eric Hake

Staff Writer

Slacklining Club hosts contest

Christopher Higgins


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f e a t u r e s april 29, 2013page 4


Jordan Francis

Staff Writer

Some students rush to get outof Mines as fast as possible, whileother students choose to meanderand take in everything they canpossibly get from their educationat Mines. Ben Johnson, a chemis-try major, tends to fall into the lattercategory. When not hard at workwith his endeavors to graduate,Johnson is gaming, discussing thevarious aspects of elements in cul-ture, and occasionally, interviewingwith the Oredigger newspaper.

[Oredigger]: Why Chemis-

try?

[Johnson]: Id like to take thetitle of Master of Molecular Ma-nipulation at some point. Its justso cool to manipulate the very

foundation of the universe.Whats been your favoriteclass?

Qualitative Organic Analysisbecause its that class that yougo into the lab, they give you arandom chemical sample and saywhat is that? and you go out andnd out using the lab materials and

methods they taught you. Its likebeing Sherlock Holmes for chemi-cals.

Are you a geek and why?

Yesbecause I over-analyzeevery aspect of our culture andscience where a normal personwould be like yeah, we just ac-cept that. [For example,] in Bio-

shock, when you kill Andrew Ryan,why doesnt he regenerate in a

Vita-Chamber? I know theres onein the next room and whos to saywhat the range is on those things?

How do you spend your

spare moments?

Video games, Netix, cooking.What are your greatest ac-

complishments?

Almost getting out of thisschool. Also, becoming a shaman.

Who would win in a fght be-

tween Yoda and Darth Vader?

Well, as Red Letter Mediapointed out, Yodas greatly dimin-ished stature is offset by his useof the Force. Also, Darth Vader isthe Chosen One, so I think hedbe about equal in Force powersto Yoda. However, because of hisstature, I think he could beat the

crap outta Yoda.If you could be droppedinto any fctional setting, what

would it be and why?

Batman. Denitely Batman. As

long as you live in the right place,you get to see a lot of action andyou know that Batmans got yourback, unless he shows up too late.Plus, you might end up with superpowers by the end of it.

Whats your favorite thing

about Mines?

Probably the community. Itsnice to have good friends aroundwhen your course load is encum-bering.

Whats your best nerd story?

Geek Week...Ben Johnson: Chemistry

ofthe

A couple summers ago I ac-tually made some thermite withsome friends. It took awhile toget the right mixture of aluminumpowder and iron oxide, but whenwe did, man it lit up well. Also, wefound that cinder blocks are reallygood to stop thermite.

Which would you rather

have: a functional sonic screw-

driver, or a working teleporter?

That depends. I dont like travelthat much, so I think Id go withthe teleporter, assuming I wontend up like Jeff Goldblum [in TheFly] or some other teleporter ac-cident.

Do you have any plans for

the future?

Get a job. Get a Nobel Prize. InChemistry, preferably.

If you could get a team of

scientists and engineers to

pour all of their effort into re-

search and/or development of

one thing or area, what would

it be and why?

Fusion power and space ight

because we need unlimited ener-gy and we need to get outta here.

Do you have a favorite

quote?

You cant ght fate and you

cant survive aloneI cant helpbut notice that almost seems likea denition of who I ama person

whos trying to do both. - BatmanDo you have any advice for

fellow geeks and Mines stu-

dents?

I would like to quote [The] RedGreen Show: The handymans se-cret weapon: duct tape, were

all in this together, and If womendont nd you handsome, they

should at least nd you handy.JORDAN FRANCIS / OREDIGGER

Ben Johnson embraces being a geek and aspires to some-

day take the title of Master of Molecular Manipulation.

Video game fashback - Donkey Kong 64Ian Mertz

Staff Writer

When it comes to gaming, fewdeveloper-publisher partnershipsproduced more great games thanRareware (now just Rare) and Nin-tendo. The duo was prolic through

the 1990s, releasing highly ac-claimed titles like Donkey KongCountry for Super Nintendo andGolden Eye 007, Banjo-Kazooie,and Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64.Many of their games are still reveredtoday over a decade after their re-

lease.One title that does not get men-

tioned that frequently among Nin-tendo and Rares games is DonkeyKong 64, (DK 64) an expansion onthe previous Donkey Kong Countryseries and Donkey Kongs rst and

only 3D platformer.The game opens in the beautiful

DK Isles, a sunny and peaceful para-dise, until the games reptilian villainKing K. Rool rolls in on his massiveoating fortress. His goal is to de-stroy the DK Isles with a powerful,albeit generically named weaponthe Blast-O-Matic. Fortunately forDonkey Kong, K. Rool hits a largerock and both his ship and the Blast-O-Matic break down. To buy himself

time to x the weapon, K. Rool stealsall 200 of DKs golden bananas andkidnaps four of his relatives, theKongs. To beat the game, the playermust progress through eight levels,rescue the four trapped Kongs, andcollect the stolen golden bananasbefore facing K. Rool in a climacticboss ght. This is no small feat.

Perhaps the greatest asset of DK64 is that it is a long and challenginggame. Within each level, each Kong

has ve golden bananas to collect,

alongside the additional task ofnding 100 color coded regular ba-nanas and a blueprint which will buythe player time in the nal level, Hide-out Helm. The levels are expansive,with many Kong-specic areas and

varied methods for collecting thegolden bananas. Often these takethe form of mini game barrels placedin areas that must be reached us-ing a specic skill, but other times

involve mine cart races, puzzles, ortimed doors. The variety in the tasksneeded to nd the golden bananas

keeps the game fresh throughout itslength.

The levels also keepthe game fresh, aseach level has a spe-cic theme and is vastly

different from the next.From the lush JungleJapes to the mechani-cal Frantic Factory,every level presents itsown challenges.

As one might ex-pect, the difculty of

the levels increasesthrough the game, butnot in a linear fashion.

The general progres-sion from least to most challenging

is interrupted by the third level, Fran-tic Factory, whose mess of oors

and dark corridors puts it only a stepbehind the penultimate level, CreepyCastle, in terms of difculty. In gener-al, the level design of DK 64 is one ofthe games best aspects, as there isgreat satisfaction in exploring everylast corner for every collectible item.

As far as the platforming aspectgoes, there are plenty of gaps andtimed jumps to test the players skill.

The massive kinetic sculpture thatis the Production Room of FranticFactory is most denitely the hard-est, while the inside of the lighthousefrom the Gloomy Galleon level bearsand almost uncanny resemblance tothe top of Whomps Fortress fromSuper Mario 64. Each Kong hasgreat jumping ability and even thelarge Kongs are very oaty to aid

with precision in areas where jumpsare key.

A nal area in which the game

excels is music. Most of the tracksfrom DK 64 run about two minutes

in length and are lled with inter-

ludes and turnarounds that create a

seamless transition when the musicloops. Caves and indoor areas usevariations on the main level themes.Even though all of the music in thegame is produced via synthesizer,the music design is done in such away as to provide very realistic trom-bone, saxophone, and pizzicato vio-lin sounds for example. The tracksare catchy and it is not uncommonto hum or sing a song from a levelafter having spent several hours

playing it.Despite all of the positive aspects

of DK 64, there are a few issues withthe game. While they are not gamebreaking, they do detract from theoverall experience.

The rst of these issues is the

camera. Often times the camera willget confused and bump, slide, orpass through walls. It also has thehabit of turning at the most inoppor-tune times such as when the playermust cross narrow walkways, caus-ing Kongs to fall off and get injured orplunge into bottomless holes. Odd

camera behavior is not unexpectedwith games from theNintendo 64 era, as es-sentially every 3D gamefor the console has thesame problem. Withcareful planning, theplayer can easily avoidfalling from ledges.

Another issue withthe game are the minigame barrels discussedearlier. Most provide anadequate level of chal-lenge appropriate forthe golden banana re-ward for beating them.Others, especially to-

wards the late stages of the game,

are insane. There is no reason itshould take 20 tries to complete asimple task like collecting 10 coins ina barrel full of water or stopping fourslot reels on the same shape. Thesetasks, however, pale in comparisonto something called Beaver Bother,but there is neither time nor space toexplain why that mini game shouldnever have been created. Sufce it

to say, the title of the mini game isaccurate.

A nal, minor complaint is that at

times the game slows down. Withsuch massive levels and a remark-ably high draw distance, the Nin-tendo 64 cannot always handle thenumber of objects it must render ina given scene.

The game is actually only oneof three Nintendo 64 games to re-quire the Memory Expansion Pak(the other two being The Legend ofZelda: Majoras Mask and PerfectDark) which doubles the consolesmemory and allows for the scaleof the game. This requirement may

be a concern for gamers looking toplay the original cartridge version, asOEM Memory Expansion Paks sellfor $20 on eBay. To check, openthe door labelled memory expan-sion on the top of the Nintendo 64.If the module inside has a red top, itis good.

Overall, Donkey Kong 64 givesa great impression. The game islong, varied, and challenging, whichadds to its replay value. Every level isunique and the levels have many ar-eas to explore. The collection aspectmeans there is always something tond, whether it be golden banan-as, regular bananas, or blueprints.Well-produced music enhances thegames levels and its impressive-for-

the-time graphics.Despite a few minor camera

problems, a nearly impossible minigame, and some framerate issues,this is a solid game. Anyone whoenjoyed Banjo-Kazooie or SuperMario 64 will also enjoy DonkeyKong 64. Play the console or anemulated version and discover whyone of Nintendo and Rares lesstalked-about titles deserves just asmuch acclaim as Banjo-Kazooie.

COURTESY NINTENDO

Original Nintendo 64 Donkey Kong 64 game cartridge.


5/8

f e a t u r e sapril 29, 2013 page 5


Hannah Rossi

Ross Peters

Guest Writers

Greeks scramble to prepare for nal exams

As nals week steam rolls to-

wards Mines students, even the

most diligent are frantic to prepare

for exams. The houses on greek

row are no different in feeling this

pressure. While most houses have

academic/scholarship chairs,

members are charged with the dif-

cult duty of keeping other mem-

bers on track in their classes,

greek members of every kind are

scrambling to prepare for upcom-

ing tests. A few of those greek

members shared their habits and

advice to get through nals.

Mines junior and Alpha Phi

scholarship chair, Katie Poffen-

barger, said, I color a lot when Im

starting to feel stressed out, Ka-

tie also refuses to study at all the

day of the test. According to her, it

makes me feel like I have a better

grip on things. When asked about

the Alpha Phi GPA she said, I re-

did our study this year and added

white boards with new study re-

sources. Its my job to check up on

girls to make sure they are doing

everything they can to do to get

good grades. I have to help them

pull it together when their test

scores suffer. The greek GPAs,

which are posted online annually,

is a constant source of competition

between houses.

Sigma Kappa Sophomore,Leah Marshall, offered advice to

students with upcoming tests,

Staying focused for ve straight

days is the worst, try to take little

breaks throughout the day so you

dont go crazy. The Pi Phi house is

also hard at work in their endeav-

ors to succeed during nals. Kaylin

Berry, a Pi Phi Sophomore, said,

Its a network of people that have

already taken the classes and are

willing to help you, so that has re-

ally beneted me, of the help she

received from her sisters. Berry

also has an interesting ritual for the

day of her tests, The morning of

the test, I get up early and study

my butt off then watch an episode

of TV before I go to my test. As for

her advice to new nals takers, she

says simply, dont underestimate

them.

Students in fraternities are also

buckling down for the nal stretch.

Kyle Heser is one of those stu-

dents. He balances impressive

academic performance with lead-

ership roles in organizations all

around campus. Kyle, a junior in

Metallurgical Engineering, is cur-

rently a lead peer mentor, the vice

president of Blue Key, and is the

president elect for Sigma Alpha

Epsilon in the fall. Sitting down with

him for a few minutes, he looksstress-free for the amount of in-

volvement he takes on within the

community.

Kyles hardest nal of the se-

mester, according to him, will be

modern physics, and his study-

ing style is bunkin down with a

couple of classmates, a couple of

textbooks, a large cup of coffee,

and studying long into the night.

When asked about his nals week

stress relievers, one of his tips is

to [read] a good book before go-

ing to sleep, instead of studying

up until bedtime. He also enjoys

playing roofball with friends dur-

ing study breaks, a wall-ball type

game played inside the courtyard

at Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Roofball is not the only benet

of being greek during nals week.

Everybody is studying for the

same nals, so you always have

study partners in your house, Kyle

says. The advice and help that

upperclassmen can give is also

helpful. Overall, Kyle is a perfect

example of a greek student who

knows how to nish strong and

stay relaxed in the process.

COURTESY ORLANDO MARTINEZ

CSM Greeks are quite frantic to prepare for upcoming exams.

A few months ago, Sega re-

leased Aliens: Colonial Marines for

the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation

3. Everyone expected great things

from this game, and the previews

were promising as well as the dem-

os. The hype shaped this game upto be the denitive Alien game.

Unfortunately, those hopes proved

false. The game has received nega-

tive reviews by critics and players

alike. A Wii U port was canceled as

a result of the backlash. Now that

the price has gone down, is it worth

a purchase?

The campaign is where most of

the problems lie. For starters, the

game must be played on full bright-

ness or else it is too dark to play.

The campaign is a standard rst-

person shooter where the player

just goes straight (with occasional

turns) from point A to B while shoot-

ing bad guys. This linear style of

gameplay is similar to Halo or

Call of Duty, and the great height

the player character can jump is

similar to how high Master Chief of

Halo can jump. This is odd since

Master Chief is a superhuman while

the player in this game is just a hu-

man. There are hidden objects in

the game for anyone who looks

hard enough. The objects include

dog tags from fallen marines, audio

logs, and legendary weapons used

by the heroes of the movie Aliens.

Finding these objects nets the play-

er experience points.

Like Call of Duty, collecting

experience points and leveling up

gives the player upgrades for the

weapons to make them more pow-

erful. Completing challenges also

nets the player experience points

and completing them can unlock

skins and decals for the weapons

and the marines armor for multi-

player matches. These upgrades

are useful, but the weapon can only

have a few, so the player is encour-

aged to mix and match weapon

conguration to t his or her style.

Not all of these upgrades are

useful for the campaign, however.

There is little strategy to be had in

the campaign. The xenomorphs,

the titular aliens, just run towards

the player and attack. There are no

tactics involved in their attack. They

do not try to ank, divide and con-

quer, or even ambush. The entire

campaign could be played by run-

ning and shooting at whatever alienshows up in front of you. They never

attack from behind.

The player also ghts humans

from the Weyland-Yutani Corpora-

tion, the antagonists of Aliens.

This may come to some disap-

pointment to those who just wanted

to ght the xenomorphs, especially

since half of the levels in Aliens:

Colonial Marines are dedicated

to ghting Weyland-Yutani. Unfor-

tunately, the humans are not that

smart, either. They just hide and

shoot, and sometimes run at the

player only to be gunned down with

ease. Basically, the best strategy is

to take cover and re when there

is an opening. Again, there is little

strategy involved.The best level of the game is

by far level ve where the player is

stripped of his or her weapons and

forced to be stealthy. This is a tense,

fear-inducing part of the game and it

feels just like what the game should

have been. Unfortunately, it is

dulled by the xenomorphs waddling

around like penguins. It is ridiculous

to behold, but that is offset by the

fear of being detected. When the

xenomorphs approach, they detect

the player through sound instead of

sight so staying perfectly still is how

to make them go away, though it

seems odd that they cannot see or

even smell. Sadly, this stealth part

is short and then it is back to the

mindless shooting.

The xenomorphs themselves

have little variety. There are the xen-

omorphs who run and then attack,

those who spit acid from a distance,

and those who run faster and then

attack. Monotony can set in quickly

especially with the repetitive stages

on the ships. The scenery improves

once the game switches settings to

the planet and

there is more

variety in the

stages, so

the game

improves a

little after

the ship

levels.

S p eak -

ing of the

sett ings,

the graph-

ics feel out-

dated. The

colors bet

the setting and

the lighting is con- ducive

to the atmosphere, but the

graphics do not t a k e

advantage of the X b o x

360s power. The humans

seem like CGI puppets and

move awkwardly. The running

motions are okay, but the char-

acters feet do not always hit the

ground. Even when characters die,

and that includes the xenomorphs,

they can be hovering a couple offeet off of the ground. Other glitches

pop up throughout the game and

are a much too common. Most of

the glitches are graphical and the

environments take a long time to

render and look cheap. Additionally,

the environments are not impressive

when fully rendered and in one part

of the game, a ship is only half put-

together with a lot of empty space.

The sound is passable. It is

nothing special but it is not annoy-

ing. The music is bombastic but for-

gettable for the more exciting parts.

What is truly annoying is when the

game is paused the music keeps

going as loud as before. Even when

in the Xbox home menu, the mu-

sic is still playing as loud as in the

game. This is extremely irritating as

pausing the game should imply that

everything is paused, including the

music.

The player character is Corporal

Christopher T. Winter attached to

the USS Sephora to investigate the

disappearance of the USS Sulaco

and its crew. The crew nds the xen-

omorphs

infesting the

ship and fall

under at-

tack. In the

m e a n t i m e ,

m e r cen a r i e s

from Weyland-

Yutani attack the

Sephora and her

crew to cover up their

misdeeds. Now, Winter

needs to ght for his life

against xenomorphs and

Weyland-Yutani and save his

fellow marines.

This story is sub-par. The char-

acters are completely one-dimen-

sional. There is nothing to them ex-cept their basic personalities. As a

result, it is hard to connect to them.

When one dies, it is hard to feel sad

or vengeful because all of the char-

acters are so at.

In addition, the story explains

plot points too poorly for proper

emotional investment so it feels like

random events happen in the game

with little explanation. The over

arching theme is that no marine is

left behind. This is a great theme,

but is hammered in so much that

it becomes annoying. Happily for

Aliens fans, this game contains

a lot of callbacks to earlier movies

which fall at to people unfamiliar

with the movies. There is a lot offanservice for the fans but non-

fans are confused and lost. After a

while, the player forgets about the

story and just focuses on getting

through the game.

The nal aspect of Aliens: Colo-

nial Marines is the multiplayer. There

is little to say except that it is fun. It

pits xenomorphs against marines in

deathmatch and survival modes. For

those

who enjoy on-

line multiplayer, it is

great and challenging.

Players can upgrade the

xenomorphs in multiplayer

and have more variety. The

campaign is multiplayer as

well, but it is poorly done. The

split-screen is surprisingly awk-

ward with neither player having a

great view of the area and in mul-

tiplayer the game runs slower. The

drop-in drop-out co-op is tough for

the game to handle. Still, the multi-

player is well done and provides a

lot of enjoyment.

Fortunately, the PC scene is

working on modications to im-

prove the game. The purpose of

these mods is to improve gameplay

and add to the game in terms of

game modes, gameplay, stability,

and more. This is great for PC gam-

ers, but not console gamers. The

mods cannot improve the story, but

can improve the gameplay.

Overall, Aliens: Colonial Ma-

rines is a mixed bag. The cam-

paign is awful gameplay and story-

wise with dumb AI, at characters,

and little narrative ow. The mul-

tiplayer truly feels like an Alien

game and brings great challenges.

Unfortunately, there is little to attract

those who are not already fans of

Alien and hook them to the other

media. The sad thing about this

game is that it had so much poten-

tial. It could have been better, but

that did not happen. Fortunately for

the true Alien fans, the mods that

are coming for PC will provide a rich

game experience to reward fans of

the movies.

Aliens: Colonial Marines doesnt live up to hypeKyle Santi

Staff Writer

COURTESYSEGA


6/8

f e a t u r e s april 29, 2013page 6


Deborah Good

Editor-in-Chief

Golden lost a war hero this

week in 1921, as Harry Brown

died of complications from severe

poison gas exposure received in

France during World War I. Brown

was 31 years and 10 months old.

He had attempted

to enlist when the

United States en-

tered World War I,

but was rejected.

Undeterred, he

made three more

attempts and was

rejected each time. He ultimately

was drafted and trained at Fort

Deming before heading to France

with the Old Hickory division.

He was a member of the 114th

machine gun battalion, and it was

during this battalions drive on the

Sambre Canal he was gassed.

Brown fought admirably in six

major movements and at home

was a member of the postal ser-

vice and a forest ranger.

This week in 1921, a re be-

gan in H.M. Perrys meat market.

The cause was unknown, though

a cigarette was suspected. Perry

had some insurance, but not

enough to cover his loss, he said.

The meat market

was housed in

the Avenue Hotel

Building, and thus

some of the hotel

rooms were lled

with smoke. The

residents of these

rooms were forced to ee in their

night clothing.

Two boys were nearly suf-

focated by the smoke, and one

Herbert Petrie had a close shave

after entering the burning build-

ing, believing someone trapped

inside. The Colorado Transcript

reported, Unseen by anyone,

This week in CO history

Summer is just around the cor-

ner and it brings with it many out-

door activities that everyone enjoys.For those considering getting into

slacklining the type of line a person

buys can have a large inuence on

the type of slacklining they will be

able to do. As with many sports,

slacklining has several genres such

as, long lines, high lines, trick lines,

and primitive set ups.

For those just learning to slack-

line, becoming familiar with all the

genres is impor-

tant, even if they

will not be partak-

ing in them any-

time soon. Long

lines are classied

as any line over

80 feet in length.

These lines needa pulley system

in order to tighten

them. The cost of

pulleys, a brake, a

multiplayer, rope

and webbing, can cost upwards of

six hundred dollars depending on

the quality of the equipment. High

lines (often also long lines) are de-

ned as any line sixty feet or higher

above the ground. These lines re-

quire all the same equipment but

also require line lockers, a harness

for the slackliner, back up webbing,

and other back up equipment.

These systems can cost upwards of

fteen hundred dollars. Besides the

initial cost, the equipment knowl-

edge required to set up these linesand advanced skill level required to

walk these lines makes these lines

impossible for beginners.

The other types of slacklining are

more cost efcient and easier for the

beginner to learn on and to set up

in a safe manner. A variety of begin-

ner slacklines can be bought from

companies like Gibbon, Slackstar,

Singing Rock, and others. Normally

these lines are 2 inches in width,

use a ratchet system to tension the

slack line and can range in length

from 10 to 30 meters, though Gib-

bon sells some one inch lines, and

other line varieties. Because of their

easy setup and relative cheapness,

ranging from about 50 to 140 dol-

lars, these lines are the most con-ventional lines. Unfortunately, most

of these lines, excluding some of

Gibbons lines, cater too much to

the beginner, and prevent progres-

sion once the slackliner is ready to

move onto more advance slacklin-

ing.

The concerns slackliners have

with these conventional entry level

slacklines are threefold. First off,

these lines are static and non-

elastic, making the line difcult to

perform tricks on, excluding some

yoga maneuvers. Additionally, the

classic line does not behave like the

webbing used in other advanced

systems like highlines and long-

lines, making the transition to more

advanced slacking difcult. Fur-

thermore, the heavy ratchet used

to tighten the line dampens the line

and gives the lines an awkward de-

layed wobble. This ratchet problem

can be reduced in two ways. One

way is by further tensioning the

line, but high tension in a static line

makes the line almost immobile and

frankly kind of boring. The other is

by nding a tree wide enough that

the ratchet is close to the tree or

other anchor point, reducing the

amount it can wobble.

The exception to static lines in

two inch ratchet tension systems

are the Gibbon jib and surf lines.

These are made from an elasticmaterial specically for the user to

perform tricks on. In fact recent

developments in slackline elasticity

created tricklining. Tricklining is a

competitive sport where competi-

tors are judged on amplitude, cre-

ativity, trick difculty, and style.

The only difference between

the jib line and the surf line are the

length of the line and ratchet arm.

The surf line is the

longer of the two and

has the longer ratchet

arm. The length al-

lows one to achieve

larger bounce am-

plitude and the long

arm allows one to

tension the line tohigh levels, further

adding to the bounce

height the user may

obtain. While these

are not beginner

lines, athletic and ambitious begin-

ners should not rule out these lines.

It is easy for a beginner to set them

up between short distances and

learn the basics before attempting

their rst tricks on these lines. The

surf line, more expensive than the

jib lines, is long enough, about 100

feet, to provide a beginner with a

good introduction to long lining.

Other ratchet systems that

should be considered by a begin-

ner are the Gibbon owline and

tubeline. They behave like their 1in long and high line counterparts,

but are easy and cheap to set up.

Sometime these lines, as well as

primitive setups, are criticized by

beginners as hard to walk due to

their thin width. This is kind of a

misnomer. The difculty in walking a

slackline comes from an inability to

keep ones legs and body steady on

the line and rarely from an inability

to place ones foot on the slackline

itself.

The last slackline setup is called

a primitive setup. Appropriately

named, climbers created this set-

up in the early 1980s. This setup,

sometimes viewed as the purest

form of slacklining, uses one inch

(though sometimes 11/16 and 1/2

inch) webbing. The tensioning sys-

tem is created with carabiners using

a pulley with the line wrapped back

through the pulley system such that

the friction of one tensioned line on

the other keeps the system from

un-tensioning. This setup is still the

cheapest one can buy. The only

downfall with this system is that a

friend is required to help tighten the

system to an appropriate amount.

When a beginner is buying their

rst slackline it is often recom-

mended that they rst buy a primi-

tive setup. This system allows them

to familiarize themselves with some

of the equipment and setup tech-

niques that are used later on in long

line and high line systems. Addition-

ally, these lines have the same elas-

tic qualities as long and highlines.

The beginner slackliner should

avoid static, two inch wide, ratchet

tensioned systems, such as the

Gibbon classic line. These lines,

while they work well for a while,

will be quickly outgrown by an

avid slackliner. Instead the Gibbon

surine, or a primitive set-up is rec-

ommended.

Eric Hake

Staff Writer

Beginnersslacklining guide Notable demises Petrie crawled into the room and

got as far as the partition door

when a stream of water was

turned in [sic]. He was knocked

against a corner and painfully

hurt. Luckily, he was able to call

for help before passing out.

Colorado pioneer Anthony

Tripp died at St. Lukes hospi-

tal from pneumonia this week in

1921. He had lived in Jefferson

County for 50 years. Tripp was

born in Cornwall, England in

1853, and came to Baltimore as

a boy.

Later, he moved to Central

City and engaged in mining in

Gilpin County until 1879, when

he moved to Jefferson County,

taking up a ranch near Guy Hill.

He retired in 1919 and moved

to Golden, where he was active

in the Golden Masonic lodge

and afliated with the Methodist

Church. He was survived by his

wife and ve sons.

He had attempted to

enlist when the United

States entered World

War I, but was rejected.

For [beginners], be-

coming familiar with

all the genres is im-

portant, even if they

will not be partak-

ing in them anytime

soon.


7/8

s p o r t sapril 29, 2013 page 7


Katerina Gonzales

Content Managercame up and singled Schirmach-

er to home, bringing the score to

3-2 for CCU. Olingers y to deep

left brought Egeberg home and

sent the game to the tenth inning.

In the end, it was another wild

pitch that sent redshirt junior Kyle

Wallace to the plate and the Dig-

gers walked off with the 4-3 win.

Wallace had walked and ad-vanced on a Schirmacher single

and another CCU error.

Nate Olinger took the mound

again Saturday, and started off

the game by working through a

jam and leaving the bases loaded

in the rst. The Cougars and Ore-

diggers were scoreless heading

into the bottom of the third, but

back-to-back singles by fresh-

man shortstop Travis Ramos and

Schirmacher gave Mines a 4-0

lead. Olinger dominated the rest

of the game, picking up the com-

plete game and scattering eight

hits over eight innings.

Mines never gave up the lead

in their second game of the dou-

bleheader Saturday. Freshman

lefty Christian Rooney picked up

his fourth win of the season as he

went the full seven innings, giv-

ing up three runs on eleven hits.

Bothwell, Olinger, Ramos, and

Schirmacher continued to lead

Baseball secures three straight wins over CCUThe CSM Orediggers started

the weekend off great with three

straight wins against the Colo-

rado Christian University Cougars

at home in Golden at Darden

Field.

Friday nights game was anail-biter, and the game lasted

10 innings, spanning three hours

and nineteen minutes. Red-shirt

sophomore Ben Gilman took the

ball for the rst eight innings, al -

lowing two runs on eight hits and

three walks while striking out ve.

Junior Eric Shannon came on in

relief in the ninth, but two singles,

an error, and an intentional walk

brought freshman Nate Olinger in

to nish.

Mines scored one run in the

third inning from sophomore third

baseman Zach Bothwells double,

but found themselves down 2-1

after the fth. After CCU tacked

on another run in the top of the

ninth, Mines needed to score two

runs to keep the game going, and

they did. Senior inelder Garrett

Schirmacher and senior outelder

Bobby Egeberg got it going with

consecutive walks and both ad-

vanced on a wild pitch. Bothwell

the offense as the Orediggers

won 5-3.

Mines will play a doubleheader

Tuesday evening against CCU

to make up for the snowed-out

games earlier in the year before

traveling to Grand Junction to

face Colorado Mesa in their last

regular-season series of the year.

With the wins Saturday, Mines

record is 18-21 overall and 15-16

in the RMAC, at No. 5.

The Orediggers solid pitching deserves credit for an important series win over CCU.

MICHAEL RODGERS / OREDIGGER

The No. 12 Colorado School

of Mines softball team squared off

against the CSU-Pueblo Thunder

Wolves in game one of their double-

header. The lady Orediggers took a

1-0 lead in the bottom of the third

inning when Elise

Dugwyler scored

on a wild pitch, but

CSUP answered

in the top of the

fourth with a two

run home run and

tacked on four more

unanswered runs in the fth to take

a 6-1 lead. Molly Thiebaut drove in a

run in the sixth after Sami Springer

and Cassie Ford had back-to-back

singles.Ford, Springer, and Gianna Dun-

can were two for three in the game

from the plate, and Thiebaut was

one for three with an RBI. For the

rst time in eight starts, pitcher Ash-

ley Goletz (13-4) took the loss, giving

up six earned on 10 hits with four

strikeouts and four walks.

In the second game of the day,

donning pink jerseys, the CSM soft-

ball team overcame just their fth

loss of the year to drub the home

team UC-Colorado Springs Moun-

tain Lions 9-1 in ve innings. The win

brings Mines to 35-5-1, and 25-3 in

the RMAC. Having already clinched

Over the weekend the track

team competed in the 47th annual

Hillsdale College Gina Relays in Hill-

sdale, Michigan.

In the rst event Senior Tyler

Curtis broke the school record

and placed second overall out of

35 competitors in the

3000 meter steeple-

chase nishing with a

time of 9:50.00. The

mens 1500 meter was

a close race with ve

racers nishing within

the same second inter-

val.Senior Russell

Drummond placed 3rd out of 26

in the 1500 with a time of 3:50.78.

He was closely followed by Junior

Frank Socha who placed 6th with

a time of 3:52.39 who was also

followed closely by red-shirt fresh-

man Drew Kerschieter who took 9th

place with a time of 3:52.90.

Senior Hannah Schuster ran the

womens 1500 meter and broke

The No. 22 Colorado School of

Mines golf team, led by junior Mi-

chael Lee, nished second at the

RMAC championship last Monday

and Tuesday in Goodyear, Arizona.

After day one, Mines sat in sec-

ond place out of nine teams with

a total of 590, 12 strokes back of

leader UC Colorado Springs. Lee

sat in second after posting rounds of

Lady Orediggerscontinue to winJared Riemer

Content Managerthe RMAC for the third consecutive

year, the lady Orediggers will look to

nish the year strong with their nal

games of the year on Sunday.

The Lady Orediggers hit four

home runs to tie a season high in the

win, and Courtney Derus had two

of those herself and has eight this

year, going two for three from the

plate with two RBIs.

Macy Jones hit her

fourth home run

of the year to start

the game for the

Orediggers and af-

ter Duncan walked,

Springer hit her rst

home run of the year to give Mines

a 3-0 lead after just one half inning.

Those three runs would prove to

be more than enough of a cushion

as Kelly Unkrich pitched, giving uponly one run on six hits. It was Un-

krichs thirty second consecutive

complete game and she recorded

six strikeouts while walking none,

improving to 21-1 on the year. While

three runs were enough to get the

win, the Lady Orediggers scored six

more on the day including four runs

in the fourth inning.

Duncan was one for one on the

day with three walks and Jones also

had three walks to go along with

her second inning homer. Kamee

Vessey and Dugwyler were both one

for three from the plates each scor-

ing a run.

Golf achieves 2nd atRMAC championshipsJared Riemer

Content Manager72 and 68, three shots back of the

overall lead.

Day two was much the same,

with Mines nishing second place

out of the nine teams.The defending

champions of the event simply could

not overcome their day one decit

of -12. Mines nished 17 strokes

back (886) of champion UCCS who

nished with a team total of 869.

Lee shot a 76 on day two to come

in third and earn all-tournament

honors. Sophomores Jordan Arndt

(73-79-69-221) and John Ahern

(71-77-74-222), Junior Kyle Gras-

sel (78-74-77-229) and senior Chad

Herges (76-79-77-232) rounded out

the scorecards for the second place

Orediggers. Respectively, Arndt and

Ahem nished seventh and ninth

and Grassel and Herges nished

twenty second and thirtieth.

The next stop for the Orediggers

will be the NCAA West/South Cen-

tral Super Regional May 6-9 in Du-

pont, Washington.

Track and Field travels to

Hillsdale Gina RelaysEric Hake

Staff Writera personal record with a time of

4:30.95 giving her 10th place out of

a eld of 28 competitors.

In the 10,000 meter Gina Van

Laar Lanser Senior Hannah Cooling

became the second ever woman

in Mines history to run the 10,000

meter under 40 minutes. Hannah

Cooling beat the 40 minute mark by

a large margin, running the distance

in 36:43.62 granting

her 9th place out of

a eld of 21 runners.

Marty Andrie, a red-

shirt freshman, placed

8th out of 30 with a

time of 14.23.71 in the

5000 meter.

The most eventfulrace of the day was

the mens 10,000 meter. In the

mens 10,000 meter sophomore

Phil Schneider ran an impressive

29:37.99, placing 3rd in the eld of

24 runners and breaking a personal

record for himself and making his

way into third place in the school

record books. Junior Andrew Ep-

person was close beh`ind Schnei-

der and placed 9th with a time of

29:52.15. He also broke his per-

sonal record and placed 5th in the

school records. Hardly a second

behind, sophomore Derek Alcorn

placed 10th with a time of 29:53.16

breaking yet another personal re-

cord and making 6th in the school

history books.

The history books had to be

rewritten once again the following

day when Hannah Schuster broke

the Mines school record in the 800

meter race. This is the second time

she has broken the 800 meter re-

cord this year.

Senior Tyler Curtis followed up

his record breaking run the day be-

fore with a 13th place out of 50 run-

ners in the 1500 meter with a timeof 4:00.78. His team mates Marty

Andrie and Rick Davey took 22nd

and 25th respectively.

In the 800 meter senior Russell

Drummond and junior Frank Socha

took 11th with a time of 1:53.17

and 18th with a time of 1:55.00;

these were their best times of the

season.

The next event for Mines track

and eld is in Golden on May 5th.

Tyler Curtis

broke the school

record...in the

3000 meter

steeplechase

Colorado School of

Mines softball team

squared of against the

CSU-Pueblo.


8/8

o p i n i o n april 29, 2013page 8


Katerina Gonzales

Content Manager

For years, computers have

advanced and thrived all over the

globe, but starting Fall 2015 at

Colorado School of Mines, com-

puters will now be required to

speak English.

There are thousands of pro-

gramming languages and dialects,

such as C++, Java, and Fortran

which are all offered as courses at

CSM. Many students must learn

either C++ or Java, but with the

development of English-speaking

computers and the new bulletin

change, only Computer Sciencestudents will be required to take

programming concepts.

Computers have developed

enough that it is time to take the

next step, said a CSM ofcial.

We are recruiting some of our top

graduates from the CS depart-

ment to program this new lan-

guage and begin implementing it

into the major computing we do

here at Mines.

Instead of the structure that

most languages have, program-

ming in English will be structured

much in paragraph form. The

language will not be much differ-

ent to simple commands. For ex-

ample, Take the average of this

list of numbers will replace hav-

ing to loop through each element

of an array and return the sum

divided by the length of the array.

The Engl ish language will also behelpful in the realm of graphics as

the programmer will only need to

explicitly describe what he or she

is trying to display. There will be no

need to set colors and styles, but

Computers forced to speak English

Minds at MinesAdvice to younger selfKaterina GonzalesContent Manager

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 acase-by-case basis. Submissions less than 300

words will receive preference.

The end of the year is a time for many things, including frantically get-

ting projects done, studying for nals, and cleaning out the room for the

summer to move back home for a little while. The end of the year also

provides a time to look back and learn. This week, Minds at Mines asked,

What would you say to the incoming freshman version of yourself?

Dont trust anyone, and if youre sick for

more than a month, go to the health center!

Antonia McMullan

Get as much sleep as you can. If you can

take a nap, DO IT!

Andrea Christians

Study hard, trust yourself, dont give up,

and ask for help.

Mengyuan Yu

Never take 19 credit hours!

Corbett Crook

College can be stressful but not everything

has to be about homework, you can do

other stuff too.

Nohemi Almaraz

rather a simple Make a tic-tac-

toe game with a pink background

will sufce.

Others are skeptical on how

well both the computers and the

students will be able to communi-

cate with each other. It is a known

fact that Mines students and any

student majoring in a technical

eld across the country are unable

to communicate effectively, both

orally and written, said one critic.

I fear for our future.

The LAIS department is ex-

cited, and the Writing Center will

begin to extend hours in anticipa-

tion of students needing help on

the programming homework.Overall, CSM ofcials are ex-

cited about what the new change

could bring in the coming decades

as the language spreads to other

technology.

l i

www.sudoku-puzzles.net

l

Study Break

the oredigger issue 25 - april 29, 2013

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