the oredigger issue 24 - april 25, 2011

8/7/2019 The Oredigger Issue 24 - April 25, 2011

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T H E O R E D I G G E RVolume 91, Issue 24 April 25, 2011

The student voice of the Colorado School of Mines

Hancock named

as MIPERs new

director

Features 7

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

Opinion 11

Lifestyle 5

News 3

Satire 12

Reviewing the

incident at

Fukushia

Tips for

eggcellent

Easter eggs

Morals to your

story: Facebook,

friends & sexting

Flood the world

with peanut

butter.

Dr. Dan Miracle described a

glass as a material with no sym-

metry, A material that not only has

no microstructure, it doesnt even

have an atomic structure. These

amorphous materials are actually

made out of metals and are known

as bulk metallic glasses (BMGs)because they can be produced in

large quantities. BMGs are incred-

ibly versatile and uses for them in-

clude anti-theft devices, cell phone

c a s e s a n d

even p rod-

ucts allowing

the process-

ing of metals

as if they were

plastics.

B M G s

hardness is

t w i ce t h e i r

metallic alloy

counterparts.

For example,

with a BMG of

Cu-Zr and ametallic alloy

of Cu-Zr, the

BMG would

be twice as

h a r d a n d

more resis-

tant to corro-

sion. Miracle

e x p l a i n e d ,

Microstructure denesBMGs uses, efcienciesStephen Hejducek

Content Managerproperties come from structure.

This means that even though two

substances can have the same

material compositions, they can

have drastically different proper-

ties because their atoms are ar-

ranged differently. If the BMG has

an iron base constituent, it will be

magnetic. These materials have

such amazing magnetic abilities

that when used in transformers,they have a 99.3% efciency as

compared to the 97% efciency of

their metallic counterparts.

Continued on BMGson page 3

Amorphous solids lack any crystal structure.

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

NREL shows off fuel cells and solar cells at the Earth Day celebration. More on page 8.

Few events have resonated within

the core of society recently like

the earthquake and tsunami that

hit the nation of Japan on March

11, 2011. While

the destruction

wrought by the

earthquake itself

and the tsunamihas been more

than substan-

tial, the nuclear

emergency at Fu-

kushima Daiichi

has been a ma-

jor event that will

likely remain in the

consciousness of

the world for quite

some time.

T h i s p a s t

week, the Mines

campus hosted

one of its own, Dr.

Jeffrey King of the

Nuclear Science

and Engineering

Program, to speakabout the history

and effects of this

cataclysm.

King empha-

sized the continu-

ing nature of the

event, It is going to be years before

we know many of these things for

certain.

The Fukushima site was the old-

est reactor in Japan, older than those

at Three Mile Island. The reactors

themselves are diverse in design

but are all boiling water reactors,

or as King said, Just a fancy way

to heat water. They all consist of a

central reactor

filled with wa-

ter. Submerged

in the water, are

bundles of rodslled with fuel pel-

lets. The reactions

within the fuel pel-

lets heat the water,

which boils, and

the steam is used

to turn turbines to

actually generate

the electricity.

At the time of

the earthquake,

only three of the

six reactors at the

Fukushima Dai-

ichi site were on-

line. Although the

earthquake was

around ten times

stronger than whatthe reactors were

designed to han-

dle, most of the

reactors immedi-

ately shut down,

as they were pro-

grammed to do in such an event.

Continued on Fukushima on

page 4

Fukushima incidentdetails discussedJohn Bristow

Staff Writer

A typical design for a Boil-

ing Water Reactor shows

some of the design and

safety features.

COURTESY KATANA0182 AT EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

$


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n e w s april 25, 2011page 2


Oredigger Staff

Ryan Browne

Editor-in-Chief

Katie HuckfeldtManaging Editor

Robert GillBusiness Manager

Steven WooldridgeWebmaster

Barbara AndersonDesign Editor

Zach BoernerCopy Editor

Neelha MudigondaAsst. Design Editor

Ian LittmanAsst. Business Manager,

Web Content

Trevor CraneContent Manager

Deborah GoodContent Manager

Stephen HejducekContent Manager

Shira RichmanFaculty Advisor

Headlines from around the worldLocal News

Golden City Ofcials re-

ported a pipe bomb found in

a residential area last Sundaymorning. There were no injuries

or property damage and the

bomb was successfully deto-

nated by authorities.

The Mines Baseball team

defeated the CSU-Pueblo

ThunderWolves 5-4, last Satur-

day, in 10 innings.

Last Tuesday, a deal was

announced to purchase more

than 600 acres just west of the

Rocky Flats National Wildlife

Refuge and preserve it as open

space in exchange for Boulder

and Boulder County droppingtheir opposition to the Jeffer-

son Parkway toll highway. The

deal still must be approved by

elected ofcials.

Pitchers Balogh and Unkrich

brought the Mines Softball

team to two shutouts against

Chadron State last Saturday

afternoon.

Beginning May 1, AC Gold-

en Brewing Companys Colo-

rado Native Lager will be sold

in cans for the summer.

Just two weeks out from

the RMAC Championships in

Golden, the Mines track & eld

team competed at the Jack

Christiansen Invite. On May

8-10, Mines will host the 2011

RMAC Outdoor Track & Field

Championships.

Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer

Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer

Scotland, United Kingdom - Plutos atmosphereseems to be rapidly changing, which has puzzled as-

tronomers who have been studying it for some time.

Astronomers at the University St. Andrews in Scot-

land have been watching Pluto in its orbit for yearsand new telescope readings seem to indicate that

the atmosphere has expanded to roughly 20 times

its previous height. The astronomers have been un-

able to understand what caused this expansion. The

atmosphere should have shrunk instead, because the

dwarf planet is currently moving away from the Sun.

Daohugou, China -What is most likely the an-

cestor of modern spiders

has been discovered in

northeastern China. The an-

cient arachnid, a member

of the Nephila group of spi-

ders, is related to modernorb-weavers and was much

larger than modern spiders,

with a leg span of roughly

15 centimeters. Known as

Jurrasica Nephila, the spider

likely spun large permanent

webs that enabled it to catch

large insects and small birds.

Fribourg, Switzerland - Self-healingplastics may become more widely used,

and for a wider variety of purposes. A team

of scientists at the University of Fribourg in

Fribourg, Switzerland, have developed a

polymer that can heal itself when exposed

to ultraviolet light. Self-healing polymers

have been around for years, but have al-

ways been limited to a single healing pro-

cess because of their design. Now, this newtype of self-healing polymers can have vir-

tually unlimited healing cycles, because of a

new technology that involves metals within

the polymer chains. The polymer chains are

bound to metal plates in micro layers. When

the plastic is scratched and exposed to UV

light, the metal layers get hot and melt the

polymers in that location.

London, United Kingdom - Mosquitoesthat are unable to transmit the deadly malaria

virus have been successfully developed by re-

searchers, but difculties in making the new spe-

cies catch on has driven a group of scientists at

the Imperial College of London to work on devel-

oping genes that will allow them to spread in thewild. The new mosquitoes have been around for

many years, but until recently they were unable

to survive in the larger world population. And with

hundreds of billions of wild mosquitoes in the

world, even a million of these so-called disease-

proof mosquitoes would have no effect. With

these new genes, the mosquitoes will reproduce

more rapidly, hopefully causing the new species

to out-compete the wild species.

Unrest still persists in the

Middle East, as Syrian protest-ers continued to chant anti-regime slogans. Syrian securityforces red upon the crowds of

people, killing dozens and injur-

ing hundreds more. The protests,

which began over a month ago

and have killed 113, are rapidly

spreading across Syria.

Toyota Motor Corp. has an-nounced that it will not returnto full capacity until Novemberof this year, following the massive

destruction caused by the March

11 earthquake and resulting tsu-nami. Currently, Toyota manufac-

turing plants are at roughly 50%

capacity, and will remain there un-

til November 2011. Thousands of

small automotive parts manufac-

turers have been crippled since

the tsunami, and are not likely to

recover soon.

Gold continues to climb, as

nancial reports for the US

and other world econo-

mies push investors to

more stable assets.

Now at over $1500an ounce, goldhas been the safety

net of many inves-

tors for years, and

more so now thanever before. For

the past seven

days, the precious

metal has risen to

a new record lev-

els.Rebel forces

in Libya havetaken a building

in the center of the

key city of Misrata.

A government sniper team in the

building has been terrorizing resi-

dents and causing problems for

rebels for months now.

The US military has startedsending armed drones overLibya, in an attempt to prevent

further humanitarian catastro-

phes from occurring. The Preda-

tor drones are being deployed

because of their features allow-

ing operators to distinguish pro-

Gadha military vehicles from the

vehicles of civilians.Economists are struggling

to nd solid data to analyze thestrength of the current economy,

as jobless claims fell again for

this month. While current data

seem to point to a strengthening

economy, the data used are either

too uid or volatile to give hard

answers.

The Alliance of Automobile

Manufacturers is claiming that

lower gas prices mean that peo-

ple will not buy as many hybridcars. Automakers are petitioningthe US government to review the

mileage requirements periodically,

to link it to gas prices. The current

average mileage for the US eet is

22.5 miles per gallon, while many

are pushing for the average to beraised to 62 miles per gallon by

2025.


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n e w sapril 25, 2011 page 3


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BMGs are vastly different from

any other metal because of their

micro-structure. A micro-structure

is what an objects surface looks

like at a distance of only a few

microns away from that surface.

When Miracle began working on

BMGs, he was surprised by thenumber of differences he found. I

learned that about 80% of what I

learned in graduate school was no

longer relevant, claimed Miracle.

The micro-structure of BMGs has

no structure that any crystallized

solid can relate too. Crystallized

solids include materials like metals

and have a uniform arrangement

of atoms.

BMGs do have some major

drawbacks. The ductility of BMGs

is a lot like silicate glasses, mean-

ing it can fracture. It is also very

difcult to actually make a BMG

because once the metals are melt-

ed down into a liquid state, they

must also be cooled fast enough

that no crystals are able to form.If crystals did begin to form, then

these BMGs would be nothing

more than metallic alloys.

Much of the molecular arrange-

ment of BMGs comes from the

atomic packing and arrangement

of atoms. The easiest way to vi-

sualize this scenario is to imagine

a cube with a lot of different-sized

marbles in it. If the BMG was made

of two metals, this cube would

have two different marble sizes

inside it. Because not all of the

marbles are the same size, there

would be differently sized gaps as

some marbles of the same size

would group together and other

groups of marbles would intermix

with those of the other size. The method by which the at-

oms are packed into the cube is

a subject of much debate in the

scientic community. This debate

arises from the question, What

is the most efcient way to pack

spheres into an area? Miracle has

developed a simple, static, and

understandable model to describe

the atomic packing capabilities

of BMGs. The greatest strength

of atomic simulations is that you

get the x, y, and z coordinates of

every atom in the structure... the

biggest deciency is that you get

the coordinates of every atom in

the structure, laughed Miracle.

Knowing the complete structure

of BMGs is far too much informa-tion to retrieve any amount of rela-

tive data. That is where Miracles

computational work is useful be-

cause he is able to simplify this

data.

Overall, BMGs have many

practical modern day uses, a

unique molecular structure and

offer a chance to explore in great

depth the mysteries of metals

without a atomic arrangement.

If you really want to revive the

world economy, youre going to

have to deal with high oil prices;

theres no way around that, said

Lutz Killian of the University of

Michigan in his April 22 lecture The

role of inventories and speculative

trading in the global market for

crude oil.

Killian began by offering a brief

background, explaining that dif-

ferent models for the global crude

market already exist, and that they

rest on two common perspectives.

The rst is that the price of oil is de-

termined by shocks to ow supply

of oil and ow demand and the sec-

ond is that oil is an asset, and price

shifts are based on speculations.

Killian and his

research chose

instead to bridge

the gap and to

take a healthy

mixture of these

two as they cre-

ated their own

model.

In order to

balance these

perspectives, Killians team de-

signed a model that provides a

structural model of the global mar-

ket that uses a forward-looking

speculation. It then allows the ad-

ditional study of storage markets,

in turn making it easier to solve the

problem of unquantiable expecta-

tions. Killian explains, In principle,

if you set up a structural model that

jointly determines the real price of

oil and the change in above ground

inventories, you should be able to

Structural modeling enlightens for crude oil

Deborah Good

Content Manager

identify the effects of expectation

shocks without ever having to pa-

rametrize what those expectations

are. That is, you can write a model

and tackle this problem without

the expectations, which we donthave.

Killian the analyzed the quanti-

ties of oil production, real activ-

ity, real oil prices, and inventories

based on different shock scenarios.

So now the question is, how do

you gure out which shock is which

and how do you gure out what

these shocks are doing to the real

price of oil, Kilian continued. To

identify shocks, he established sign

conventions for each scenario. In

a ow supply shock, change in oil

production and real activity should

be negative, while change in real

oil prices should be positive and in-

ventory change should be unclear.

In a ow demand

shock, change

in oil produc-

tion, real activity,

and real oil price

should all be

positive and in-

ventories should

be again unclear.

In speculative

demand shock, change in oil pro-

duction, real oil price, and inven-

tories should be positive, whereas

change in real activity should be

negative.

Though effective, these sign re-

strictions were not enough to cre-

ate a complete model and Killian

chose not to remain agnostic on

which model variations were most

accurate. He selected the fourteen

most admissible models and used

them to ultimately create a median

to nalize his model.

With his model constructed,

Killian could analyze data and offer

new hypotheses for both contro-

versial his-

torical eventsand contro-

versial recent

events. He

sug g es t ed

that the eco-

nomic events

of 1990 fol-

lowing Sad-

dam Husse-

ins invasion

of Kuwait

were caused by a combination of

factors made more confusing by

the fact that many were cancelling

each other out. Similarly, the price

increase after supply shock during

Micro-structure denes

BMGs uses, efciencies

the 1978-1979 Iranian revolution

could then be traced to the increase

in speculative demand shocks. He

also suggested that the collapse

of OPEC in

1986 wasc a u s e d

in part by

overlapping

shocks as

well.

After illus-

trating that

the model

adequate ly

aligned with

established

economic facts and even helped

explain economic mysteries, he ap-

plied it to more recent events, such

as the oil price increase between

2003 and 2008. He found no evi-

dence that the increase was caused

by oil trader speculation, OPEC, or

any variation of peak oil, leaving

only one option according to Killian.

Whats left is quite simply that we

were surprised by how much theworld economy was booming dur-

ing this period. This is possible

because Between 03 and 08,

[experts] systematically underesti-

mated economic growth month

after month they got it wrong.

Based on the ndings from his

research, Killian concluded his talk

by offering three key policy implica-

tions. First, the increase in action

of traders is irrelevant to oil prices.

Second, increased domestic oil

production is essentially irrelevant

to the global pricepoint. And third,

economic recovery will require

raised oil prices.

The world oil output is shown from 1960.

He found no evidencethat the price increase

was caused by oil trader

speculation, OPEC, or any

variation of peak oil,

Lutz Killian discusses trading oil and the world market

With his model constructed,

Killian could analyze data

and oer new hypotheses for

both controversial histori-

cal events and controversial

recent events.

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS


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n e w s april 25, 2011page 4


The idea that the reduction of

iron in the environment is a micro-

bial process involving a very special

set of bacteria is a relatively new

revelation.

To help us under-

stand a little more of

this highly complicat-

ed and convoluted

process, Dr. Patricia

J. S. Colberg of the

University of Wyo-

ming visited Mines

last week to discuss

the bacterial reduc-

tion process. My talk

may be like a Gord-

ian knot because some think these

problems are intractable problems.I dont think this is intractable.

Colberg went on to explain that

the process of bacterial reduction

of iron can be understood by ex-

amining the surface of the bacteria,

where the electron transfer actually

takes place.

The process involves only a few

proteins, known as cytochromes,

that exchange the electrons within

iron. Because bacteria are such

How do bacteria

breathe iron?complicated organisms, Colberg

used many different methods to

study the reactions. With tech-niques such as cyclic voltammetry,

her assistants were able to uncover

the underlying process at work, ar-

riving at the understanding of what

these cytochromes were actually

doing.

With this new and

deeper understand-

ing of the iron reduc-

tion process, Colberg

believes that advanc-

es can be made in

many elds of study,

such as microbial fuel

cells. Because of the

electron transfer on

the surface of metals

by cytochromes, electricity can be

generated and fuel cells can nowbe made more viable. Other real-

world applications of this under-

standing include biogeochemical

cycling and remediation of organic

contaminants in soils and water.

Whats happening under the

surface, so to speak, is what

makes it all possible. Tiny organ-

isms moving electrons from one

place to another cause an electri-

cal potential.

Joshua Kleitsch

Staff Writer

When a reactor shuts down, it

does not entirely stop the reactions

within the fuel pellets. The pellets are

made up of radioactive materials,

which continue to decay as they nor-

mally would. Therefore, heat is still

being produced in the reactor. There

are emergency diesel generators to

help keep the reactor cool, which allproperly started.

When the tsunami hit the plant, it

caused the most damage. The elec-

tric disconnects, circuit breakers and

fuses were ooded, breaking the

connection between the plant and

the electrical grid; the spent fuel was

either contaminated or taken out to

sea; and the diesel generators were

damaged or swept away. Losing the

generators and connection to the

grid was important because, as King

noted, You need power to keep

things cool.

All three affected reactors had

emergency passive cooldown meth-

ods. However, those emergency

methods were not intended to work

without other, electrically-poweredbackup systems. Reactor one had

a simple condenser chamber, while

reactors two and three each had a

toroidal loop, which served the same

purpose. Both systems were de-

signed to achieve the same result,

that is, decrease the pressure in the

reactor chamber by condensing the

steam back into water and putting it

back into the reactor.

If the water is not able to remove

enough of the heat produced in the

reactor, then the heat stays in the

pellets, which can result in the pel-

lets melting, called a core meltdown.

All of the rods are clad in a zirconi-

um-based solid solution, which is

invisible to neutrons and designed

to keep the radioactive pellets frominteracting with the water. We know

that we exposed at least two-thirds

of the core because the cladding

failed, stated King.

At this time, the parties involved

were faced with a tough decision,

with the water boiling and many of

the materials within the reactor boil-

ing as well, the pressure inside was

mounting. Were the reactor to ex-

plode, all of the radioactive particles

would escape quickly and create a

true national emergency. On the oth-

er hand, if they vented the reactor,

some radioactive material would es-cape to the environment. Better to

release some than wait and release

everything, said King.

The process of venting the re-

actors did not go as smoothly as

hoped, due to the high level of ex-

posure of the core. The zirconium-

based cladding reacted with the

steam to produce zirconium diox-

ide and hydrogen. When this was

vented, it created an explosion that

some media sources took to be the

explosion of the reactor itself. The

main effect of this explosion was to

blow off the service roof of the build-

ing - the containment system was

not ruptured.

This process happened for re-

actors one and three. However, atreactor two it is speculated that,

instead of the top blowing off, the

torus may have had a slight break,

allowing steam, carrying radioactive

contaminants, to escape into the en-

vironment.

Due to the aid of many organiza-

tions, the site was able to be treated

after a few days. The rst goal of all

involved was to cool down the reac-

tors. Where media organizations cit-

ed the use of sea water as a rushed

reaction of the cleanup crew, ac-

cording to King, the idea of using sea

water was in the plans if pure water

could not be readily used. Finally, off-

site power was restored and the re-

actors could resume normal cooling.

Unfortunately, revealed King, thisis not where the story ends.

Because of maintenance, the

fuel for reactor four was in a spent

fuel pool. Normally the fuel rods are

stored in neutron-absorbing borated

water and in such an orientation that

they cannot maintain chain reac-

tions. However, the earthquake may

have changed the orientation of the

fuel rods, increasing the rate of reac-

tions. This caused the water in the

pool to boil off, melting the cladding

on the rods. Because the pool did

not have as much of a containment

vessel as the reactor, it caused manyof the same problems as the rst

three facilities.

The fuel rods were damaged at

sites one through four while the main

containment remained intact at all

sites except for two. Some fuel from

reactor two leaked into the ocean,

but the contamination was treated

with colloidal silicon. As for the state

of the other reactors around the

country, most are not affected and

are in the process of going back

online. The plants closest to the epi-

center - Fukushima Daini, Onagawa,

and Takai - are still in cold shutdown

and there will be a delay until they are

producing power again.

At Fukushima Daiichi, it is pos-

sible that reactors ve and six will goback online as they have a different

reactor design and are much newer;

reactors one through four, though,

will be decommissioned.

With the reactors properly cooled

and the immediate danger averted,

ofcials have been able to react to

the environmental effects. The radio-

active material is being extensively

monitored to ensure that it does not

contaminate the food or water sup-

ply. Compared to Chernobyl, sig-

nicantly more precautions are being

taken, We are not going to see [ef-

fects on the scale of Chernobyl] at

Fukushima, asserted King. In the

long run, there are plans to repair

the containment at reactor two and

cover the reactors with ltered fabriccovers, instead of cement. When

you cover everything in cement, it is

hard to clean it up later, said King.

Unlike Chernobyl, Fukushima

has been carefully dealt with. For

instance, where more than half of

a million people were subjected to

dangerous levels of radiation for

Chernobyl, less than 30 workers

have received that amount in Japan.

From Kings perspective, this shows

that the workers were not in panic

mode and that the entire operation

was not rushed. Fukushima has

released only1/10th of the

amount of ra-

dioactive ma-

terial that was

released by the

Chernobyl inci-

dent. A lot of

nearby towns

are back to or

are close to

background

radiation, said

King. In addi-

tion, few effects

have been

seen here in the

United Sates.

Some radioac-

tive iodine hasbeen found

in California

milk. It is worth

emphasiz ing

that someone

would have to

drink several

thousand gal-

lons of milk to

get the same

radiation as a

normal plane

ight.

U n f o r t u -

nately, due to

the event, the

South Texas

Project, an ex-

pansion of anuclear plant

in the US, has

been delayed.

The Tokyo

Electric Pow-

er Company

Fukushima incident details discussed(TEPC), owner of the Fukushima

Daiichi plant, had been looking into

buying a 10% ownership stake in the

project. Since the TEPC has been

dealing with the Fukushima incident,

and the chance of getting federal

loans has decreased, the deal has

been called uncertain by analysts.

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant shows

the six reactors that are part of the complex.

Colberg believes

that advances can

be made in many

elds of study,

such as microbial

fuel cells.

COURTESY NATIONAL LAND IMAGE INFORMATION (COLOR ARIAL PHOTOGRAPHS), MINIS-

TRY OF LAND INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND TOURISM


5/12

l i f e s t y l eapril 2, 2011 page 5


Scotch ale, also known as wee

heavy ale, was rst brewed in Ed-

inburgh during the 18th century. A variation of English-style pale

ale, scotch ale is typically boiled

for longer in order to caramelize

some of the malt sugars in the

wert. Scotch ales are typically

made with less hops than other

pale ales, and often have higher

alcohol content. In a process

similar to scotch whisky, some

breweries add peat-smoked malt

to their beer for a special earthy,

smokey avor.

Oskar Blues Brewery

in Lyons, Colorado, has

a reputation for making

extreme versions of es-

tablished beer styles, and

Old Chub Scotch Ale is

no exception. Caramel-

ization lends Old Chub

a dark brown-red color,

which, along with its layer

of thick, creamy foam,

portend the thick and

rich avor lurking within.

An earthy, cereal smell

makes itself noticed rst,

then a savory scent of

soy sauce in the middle,

nishing with spicy hops

and a tinge of alcohol.

Oskar Blues chose to

smoke some of their malt

with beechwood rather

than add peat-smoked

malt. Instead of lending

a smoky avor as one

might expect, this com-

bines with the sweet

caramel malt sugars to

Beer ReviewOskar Blues Old Scotch AleBryant Pocock

Staff Writer

create a very dominant sweet/sa-

vory avor similar to teriyaki sauce

or rye bread. Mouthfeel is thick

and creamy, almost syrupy, like

some imperial stouts. Bitterness

is light but noticeable, with faintspicy hop avors similar to black

pepper. While most scotch ales

weigh in at around 6 or 7% alco-

hol, Old Chub packs a hearty 8%,

although with all the other strong

avors ghting for attention the al-

cohol is relatively subtle.

Old Chub is denitely not an

every day session beer, and it will

not pair well with most foods ex-

cept maybe teriyaki or other dishes

Old Chub Scotch Ale is too extreme for many beer drinkers.

BRYANT POCOCK / OREDIGGER

with lots of savory umami avor

like miso soup or pad thai. Nev-

ertheless, Old Chub is worth a try,

even for those with an aversion to

dark beer or aluminum cans. The

judges of the World Beer Cham-pionship agree, having awarded

Old Chub a gold medal twice. In

the eyes of this slightly less-qual-

ied beer judge, Old Chub earns

a B- grade, mostly because it is

too extreme for many beer drink-

ers and most drinking occasions.

Fans of scotch ale might also be

interested in Orkneys Skullsplitter,

which is lighter in avor than Old

Chub, but no lighter in alcohol.

Fingers of the Sun

self-titled: If the 1960s

had never ended, there

might be more bands

that sound like Fingers

of the Sun. Expanding

from their debut EP, the

self-titled Fingers of the

Sun LP features sunny

instruments and lyrics

that would t well in the

Haight-Ashbury neigh-

borhood of years gone

by. Top track: Cup of

Tea

Music Review: Localrecord round-upTim Weilert

Something Like Sound Blogger

I usually get about 1 or 2 music submissions every week. Given my

lack of free time I havent had a chance to do detailed reviews on everyrecord that passes my ears. In an attempt to catch up on reviews, heres

another multi-album music feature.

Woodsman Rare

Forms:A layered, ex-

pansive, experimental

record with enough

structure to avoid self-

aggrandizing guitar

noodling. As the 5th re-

lease from Woodsman

in 2 years, it reects the

groups progress thus

far and builds anticipa-

tion for the next record.

Top track: Serfer

A. Tom Collins OHNO!: Dirty jazz meets

piano meets a whiskey-

soaked delivery from a

former member of the

now-defunct band Ma-

chine Gun Blues. The

record swings from track

to track, slowing down on

the intro to Be My Baby,

picking up again on the

laughter-driven Ants.

Top track: Oh No!

COURTESY WOODSMAN

COURTESY A. TOM COLLINS

COURTESY FINGERS OF THE SUN

Sometimes even the most

avid movie-goer can become

frustrated with the latest releases

and turn to older lms for enter-

tainment. And although there are

many worthy classics, a lesser

known, yet equally admirable op-

tion is The Ox-Bow Incident.This 1943 lm follows the tragic

actions of a lynch mob in 1885

Nevada to expose the irrationality

of the mob mentality.

As the movie opens, cowboys

Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art

Croft (Henry Morgan) ride into a

small western town agitated by

recent cattle rustling in the area.

Shortly after their arrival, news

comes that beloved cattle rancher

Larry Kincaid has been murdered

and some of his cattle have been

stolen. The citizens of the town

immediately begin forming a lynch

mob, although they refer to it as a

posse, to nd the murderers and

inict justice.

Local business owner Ar-thur Davies (Harry Davenport) is

bothered by their response and

attempts to delay the mob orga-

nizers by looking for the sheriff

and insisting some manner of due

process be followed. Davies has

trouble garnering support as the

sheriff is still at Kincaids house,

Judge Daniel Tyler (Matt Briggs)

wants to remain uninvolved, and

Movie Review: The Ox-Bow IncidentDeborah Good

Content Managerboth mayor Gerald Tetley (William

Eythe) and Deputy Butch Mapes

(Dick Rich) are just as bloodthirsty

as the mob.

Carter, Croft, Davies, and

an African-American known as

Sparks (Leigh Whipper) are all

dubious about the situation, but

understand that if they show op-

position to the posse, they may

become suspects themselves. Sorather than relinquish what little

ability they have to prevent a trag-

edy from occurring, they reluc-

tantly join the restless group.

The posse then sets off to

nd the cattle-rustling murder-

ers. After a long, cold ride, they

nd newly arrived rancher Donald

Martin (Dana Andrews) and his

employees, a suspicious Mexican

named Juan Martinez (Anthony

Quinn) and a senile old man (Fran-

cis Ford), who is barely lucid. The

posse is unfamiliar with the three

men and circumstantial evidence

begins to mount against them.

Martin argues eloquently that

he is innocent and that the mob

should check the facts before tak-ing any action, but his words fall

on deaf ears. The mob decides

there is no choice but to kill the

newcomers. Martin attempts to

negotiate with the mob, but only

manages to convince the leaders

to wait until dawn so that he can

write one nal letter to his wife.

Dana Andrews performance as

Martin in this portion of the movie

contributes greatly to the lms

continued praise. He exemplies

Martins exasperation, horror, and

fear in the face of death.

Meanwhile, Davies continues

his attempt to dissuade the par-

ticipants from taking Martins life

and proposes taking the men

back to town for a real trial. But

the anger of the mob drowns out

Davies and Martin, Martinez, andtheir old companion are hanged.

On the way home, the posse

meets the sheriff, who reveals

there was a misunderstanding.

Kincaid is not dead, merely in-

jured, and the men he identied

as his attackers have already

been arrested. The mob just mur-

dered three innocent men.

The guilt ridden mob rides into

town and the contents of Mar-

tins letter to his wife are nally

revealed. In concordance with

the theme of the movie, the letter

reads, A man just naturally cant

take the law into his own hands

and hang people without hurtin

everybody in the world, cause

then hes just not breakin onelaw, but all laws. [Law is] every-

thing people ever have found out

about justice and whats right and

wrong. Its the very conscience of

humanity. The Ox-Bow Incident

presents a powerful condemna-

tion of the mob mentality and its

message still resonates clearly

nearly seventy years after its re-

lease.

FLASHLIGHTS Hidden Behind Trees EP: A reverb-drenched

electro-pop record that blurs the lines between pop and electronic music,

Trees marks FLASHLIGHTS rst release on LA-based Binary Records.

The 6 tracks mastered by Tjutjunas Brian Marcus, mix Sam Martins retro

synth sounds with Ethan Converses aural vocals. Top track: Holidays

Thrifty Astronaut Caffeine Heartache: If Bob Dylan and Neutral

Milk Hotel had a baby it would be Thrifty Astronaut. Distorted acoustic

guitar, bright toy-keyboard tones, and lyrics about girls (who have lip rings

and like boys who huff glue), and middleclass suburban drudgery mix

into a sometimes delightful, sometimes heart wrenching experience. Top

track: Middleclass Suburban Teenager Blues


6/12

l i f e s t y l e april 25, 2011page 6


Whether you are trying to re-

kindle fond childhood memories

or lending a helping hand to a

young family member, dying eggs

is always a fun Easter tradition.

Egg decorating has truly become

an art of its own, and there are

seemingly endless ways to create

your very own masterpiece. De-

scribed below are two methods

- one traditional and one more

abstract. Depending on the time

and amount of effort you are will-

ing to contribute, try one out and

create some egg-cellent art!

This rst egg-dying method is

not for the faint of heart. Be fore-

warned that it will take quite a bit

of time, but the results are well

worth the effort. You will need

eggs (not boiled), 100% silk ties,

and string. The rst step is to cut

the silk ties into squares large

enough to wrap around each

egg. Since these

ties are obviously

being destroyed,

buy some cheap

ones from stores

like Goodwill

(ones with pat-

terns tend to work

best). With the

ties cut-out, wrap

the fabric around

the egg with the

satin side of the

fabric touching

the egg. The next

step is to use the

string to wrap

around the fabric-

covered egg. This

is the most time-

consuming part of

the process and

you must make

Tips for egg-cellent eggsKatie Huckfeldt

Managing Editor

sure that no part of the fabric is

showing (make sure you have a

lot of string!). Once the egg is

covered, cut the string, leaving

a trailing piece. Now it is time to

boil the eggs. Put as many of the

wrapped eggs as you want in a

boiling pot of water and cook for

20 minutes. Drain the water, let

the eggs cool for a few minutes,

and then unwrap the eggs. If

done correctly, the pattern of your

tie will be beautifully displayed on

your egg!

The second method is a more

traditional one, suitable for those

with time-constraints. Simply pick

up eggs and a dying-kit from your

local supermarket. The standard

dying kits have color tablets, usu-

ally some decorations, and are

very inexpensive. The rst step

is to boil your eggs - in case of

an accident this makes clean-

up a lot easier. Next, lay down

newspaper or paper towels on

your work area. If the dye gets on

anything, it will stain! With the dye

tablets, the instructions state you

can use water or vinegar. Use vin-

egar for more vibrant colors and

water for diluted pastel colors.

Use a different container for each

colored dye and start dipping

your eggs. To get an even and

uniform color on your egg, use a

utensil (plastic spoons work well)

to continuously turn the egg in

the colored dye. Once your egg is

colored, transfer it to an egg car-

ton or provided stand to dry. The

dye takes awhile to dry, so wait a

good half hour before continuing

decorating. At this point, let your

creativity take over! You can use

glue to make patterns with glit-

ter or sequences, or just grab a

sharpie and draw your own pic-

ture. The possibilities are endless.

So if your feeling the holi-

day spirit, try one of these dying

methods and make your own egg

art! And the best part is - it is art

you can eat!

When decorating eggs, the creative possibilities are endless.

KATHERINE HUCKFELDT / OREDIGGER

The Democratic party was

alive and well 100 years ago as

members were reminded that

the Democratic State Conven-

tion was rapidly approaching.

In the April 26, 1876, issue

of The Colorado Transcript,

George W. Miller and James T.

Smith, chairman and secretary

of the Colorado Democratic

Party, respectively, made sure

that all fellow Democrats were

aware of the upcoming state

meeting to select six delegates

to send to the Democratic Na-

tional Convention in St. Louis

on June 27, 1876.In Colorado, the weather is

always of interest, even if the

year is 1876. The Colorado

Transcript reported that the

weather just now is all that the

fancy of the most enthusiastic

Coloradan would care to paint

it. The bluffs and foot-hills in

sight of town are putting on

This week in

Colorado HistoryPolitics and papersDeborah GoodContent Manager

their spring coat of green, andthe average town cow that is

not happy does not deserve to

live through another of these

haleyon days.

The Golden Paper Mills

was rebounding after what

the Transcript termed a

long term of idleness caused

by litigation. The Transcript

did not elaborate on what this

litigation concerned, but did

seem quite excited to welcome

the paper back. The mill was

expected to produce its rst

new batch of paper after two

weeks of dormancy. It was ex-

pected to begin with wrapping

paper, with newsprint to follow.

In a rather unwelcome andanti-climactic statement, the

Transcript announced the

delinquent tax list would be re-

leased the next week in The

Golden Globe, the other local

paper of the time. Transcript

readers surely hoped they

would not need a copy of the

Globe the next week.

Lar ow he ne n as mad a diffrc for you at givig.mis.du/studtscomplts your ducatio

Without it,ultimatly your discswould b groudd.

fact:Mo

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fact:T

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inesFu

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Do YOU have what it takes

to become a Zoner?

THE CARNIVORE CHALLENGE

6lb Calzone Chow Down

We DARE you.

Its the big one! Now at Mannie & Bos.See our website for contest details:

www.mannieandbospizza.com

16399 S. Golden Rd 303.277.1793


7/12

f e a t u r e sapril 25, 2011 page 7


proudlyservingallegrocoffee&tea

organicespressodrinks

hormone - freemilk

Do you work on Campus onSaturdays?

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

Mines most unique Masters

program is getting a new direc-tor. Kathleen Hancock, recently

promoted Associate Professor

in LAIS, will begin to direct this

exceptional cadre of students

beginning next academic year.

Dr. Hancock is excited to be-

come even more involved in this

growing program in International

Political Economy of Resources

(MIPER) because she gets to

work with students from diverse

backgrounds and age ranges

who come to the program with

national and international expe-

rience in engineering, business,

economics, and other elds.

This variety of student interests

and experiences combines with

the diverse faculty backgroundsto make the courses lively and

bring an unparalleled depth to the

classroom.

Dr. Hancock comes to this

position with expertise in interna-

tional and comparative economic

integration and this is precisely

what MIPER seeks to do: intro-

duce students to the complexi-

ties of resource, economic, and

political issues between and

across countries. She is pas-

sionate about her own eld of

political science and international

relations; she nds it fascinating

to discover similarities between

very different cultures and time

Expertise in economic integration makesKathleen Hancock MIPERs new directorCourtney Hollis

Guest Columnist

periods. For example, she has

compared economic policies

among countries that once be-

longed to the former Soviet Union

with those in southern Africa.These connections can help im-

prove standards for government,

health, and education.

Dr. Hancock got her start in

political science working on politi-

cal campaigns and then as a lob-

byist for the Federation of Ameri-

can Scientists. After earning her

Masters, she worked for 5 years

for the Government Account-

ability Ofce in

W a s h i n g t o n ,

D.C., as a Senior

Analyst on inter-

national security

issues. This po-

sition gave her

insight into the

struggles of newstates. After the

Soviet Union fell

in 1991, a num-

ber of states be-

came indepen-

dent countries

for the rst time,

incurring major

international ob-

ligations, such

as reporting mili-

tary maneuvers

and other key

information. The

United States

sent computers

to several, to

help them report this information.

After months of what appeared to

be non-compliance, it was dis-

covered that the computers were

still sitting in the boxes, as noone knew how to use them. This

example illustrates that merely

sending technology to an emerg-

ing country without proper edu-

cation will not solve the problems

it is meant to address. Mines

students can learn much about

how their work in a science or en-

gineering eld can be enhanced

with the knowledge of political,

social, and economic implica-

tions before entering the eld.

Currently, Dr. Hancock is

studying economic integration

around the world, in particular theEuropean Union and the South-

ern African Customs Union. In the

past few months alone, she has

traveled to Berlin, Brussels, and

Pretoria (South Africa) to partici-

pate in conferences and conduct

research on this topic. In April,

she earned two grants, one to

enhance her courses on interna-

tional political economy and the

Dr. Hancock visits Edgar Mine with students and faculty.

other to travel to South Africa and

Namibia for research this sum-

mer.

Although at Mines only two

years, she has made signicantcontributions, such as serving on

the committee that interviewed

and selected Mines new director

for the McBride Honors program.

In addition, WISEM sponsored

her as one of the three women

from Mines to attend the AMI

(Academic Management Institute)

and Dr. Hancock spoke at the

recent female faculty luncheon

about a new NSF grant op-

portunity for Mines female

faculty.

Dr. Hancock strongly

believes Mines students

can gain personally and

professionally by complet-

ing the International Po-

litical Economy (IPE) Minorand the MIPER program.

As countries around the

world develop, they are in-

tegrating knowledge from

other societies. Armed

with knowledge of other

cultures and political and

economic systems, Mines

students can play a major

role in our globalized econ-

omy. For those interested

in learning more about the

MIPER program and fac-

ulty, see miper.mines.edu/;

for more about the IPE and

other minors in LAIS, see

lais.mines.edu/.

COURTESY KATHLEEN HANCOCK


8/12

f e a t u r e s april 25, 2011page 8


Earth Day was rst organized

on April 22, 1970 by Wisconsin

Senator Gaylord Nelson in re-

sponse to an oil spill in Califor-

nia. Today, many universities and

communities around the world

celebrate the holiday with edu-

cational exhibits on ecology, con-

servation, and alternative energy.

Mines students celebrated

Earth Day on Friday at Stratton

Commons with music, pizza,

beer, and of course demonstra-

tions of ecologically-friendly tech-

nology and products.

Rocky Mountain Hydroponics

& Organics discussed organic

gardening and low-impact fertiliz-

ers, Small Planet E-Vehicles gave

test rides on electric bicycles,

and NREL demonstrated solar

and fuel cell technology.

There were also exhibits on

composting and a wood-chip

gassier furnace.

Perhaps the real reason most

students attended, pizza from

Lil Riccis and beer from Golden

City Brewery were provided for

free. Musical entertainment was

provided by local bands Save the

Grease String Band, Hedje, and

Whiskey King Co.

Earth Day celebrationeducates, entertainsBryant Pocock

Staff Writer

Whiskey King Company, Hedje and Save the Grease String

Band performed live at this years Earth Day celebration.

There were many demonstrations at the event, including

an exhibit on a wood-chip gassier furnace.

Organic gardening and low-impact fertilizers were discussed .

After what has been a fun time

covering rockets, space history,

and planets, it is time to return to

what we can see for ourselves.

The spring sky is one of the more

beautiful congurations of the

heavens above. The large power-

ful constel-

lations such

as Orion and

Cassiopeia

still shine in

west, and

new con-

ste l la t ions

such as

Botes can

be found

after sun-set in the

fresh new

eastern sky.

This particu-

lar spring is made all the better

by the presence of Saturn to the

southeast along with the upcom-

ing new moon next Monday.

As it is fairly easy to spot given

its location over Denver, Botes

will serve as a point

of interest over the

next few months.

Depending upon

your source of my-

thology, Botes

has a variety of

forms, from that

of the rst plough-man who uses his

team of oxen to

keep the heavens

in constant mo-

tion to that of a

winemaker who

upon learning the

secret of making

wine from Bacchus

made a wine so powerful that all

that drank his mixture believed

they were poisoned due to the

strength of their hangovers. No

matter the myth, Botes is always

memorialized in the sky for doing

something great or doing some-

thing a bit too great.

Botes is most easily recog-

nized by its alpha star, Arcturus,the brightest star in the northern

hemisphere and one of the few

that has a noticeable orange hue

to the naked eye. The star itself

is a giant star signicantly larger

than our own sun, though it is

likely that later in the future, our

own sun will

be much

similar in

size and out-

put. There

are also a

few claims

that the star

may have a

companion,

whether it be

a large plan-et or small

binary star,

though these

are hardly

conrmed.

Botes should be directly over

the Eastern sky between around

60 to 70 degrees up and should

rise to be nearly overhead by

around 1:00 AM and is surround-

ed to the east by

Hercules, south

by Spica, and

north by the long

draping Draco.

The spring sky

is a great opportu-

nity to learn some

new constellationssince positions

can be deter-

mined off of the

familiars ones that

are still around un-

til early summer.

Also, as the night

moves on and

you nd yourself

still up studying for upcoming -

nals, grand constellations such as

Cygnus will be rising, giving a brief

taste of the magnicent summer

skies.

May the stars shine brightly in

your skies!

The starsabove MinesWelcome to the Spring SkyJohn Bristow

Staff Writer

The spring sky is a

great opportunity

to learn some new

constellations since

positions can be de-

termined o of the

familiars ones that

are still around until

early summer.

Students enjoy the festivities late Friday afternoon.





JOHN BRISTOW / OREDIGGER


9/12

f e a t u r e sapril 25, 2011 page 9


For most of us at Mines, school-

work dominates our time and an

hour or two of free time is a luxury.But CSM golfer Jim Knous priori-

ties are a little bit skewed. In ad-

dition to attending 8 AM classes

every day of the week, Knous will

head out to Bear Creek golf course

to spend not one, but ve hours

each day working on his game. In

three seasons as an Oredigger, the

junior civil engineer has recorded

15 top ve nishes, four rst place

nishes, has earned All-RMAC

accolades all three years, been

named the RMAC freshman golfer

of the year, and led Mines in scor-

ing average all three years as well.

With the conclusion of the regu-

lar season last week, Knous hopes

to lead the Orediggers deep into

postseason play. For the secondconsecutive season, Mines has

qualied as a team to compete at

the Regional Tournament in Albu-

querque, NM, taking place during

dead week. The top ve nishing

teams and the top two individual

scoring golfers will then advance

to the national championships in

Alabama. In 2008, Mines failed to

qualify for the Regional Tourna-

ment as a team and Knous, the

Orediggers sole representative,

... Jim Knous, Junior: Civil Engineering, Golf

Athlete WeekoftheTrevor Crane

Content Managernished a single stroke away from

advancing. During last seasons

run, the team nished in 13th place

and Knous fell short of the National

Tournament once again, this time

by a mere two strokes.So as the rest of the Mines

community will be channeling all

of their energy into preparations

for nal exams, Knous will look to

nally break the trend of the past

few years to become the rst golfer

in recent Mines history to reach

nationals. For his performance

and representation of Mines on the

course, Jim Knous is this weeks

Athlete of the Week.What does your practice

schedule look like?

We have mandatory practices

three days a week, but we like to

get out to the course every day.

Some days we just get out to the

driving range, other days we play

a full 18 holes. Sometimes beforetournaments we have qualifying

rounds, to get some competition

and see who gets to travel.How did you start golng?

I grew up in Basalt, CO, and

Ive pretty much been playing my

whole life since I was like three

or four. When I was at the State

Tournament in high school, the

Mines coach was there watching

my teammate, and we just started

talking, and I ended up coming

here to play.How do you prepare for each

tournament?

We get there on Sunday and

play a practice round and hit a

bunch of shots from the range.I like to get in some shots in the

short game because thats what

usually separates the golfers.

What has it been like to

watch the golf team develop

over the past few years?

Its been pretty cool. When I

started my freshman year, coach

brought in seven of us and we were

okay, but not great. Ever since,

coach has really recruited well and

the competition throughout makes

everyone better, and forces every-

one to improve. Its been a great

college experience so far.What is your favorite golf

memory?

Probably my rst tournament

freshman year. I ended up winningthe rst tournament I played in and

shot a 67 in the nal round to beat

out my teammate, who was my

roommate. It was a great experi-

ence.

How do you stay focused on

both nals and golf while the

regional tournament is going

on?

Its tough. I kinda put school

in the back of my mind. I know it

sounds bad, and my grades kind

of suffer, but I try to focus on golf.

I take it shot by shot, and try to do

the best I can even if I have a bad

hole. I try to have a good attitude,

too. Golf is a mental game.

Who is your favorite pro golf-er to watch?

Ernie Els. Hes got such a uid,

effortless-looking swing. I try to

make my swing look like his every

time I go out.What is your fa-

vorite hole at Au-

gusta?

Denitely number

12, the par three.

Its just an awesome

looking hole. They

make it look so easy

on TV.Favorite part

about being a stu-

dent athlete?

Probably all the

free golf I get to play.If I wasnt on playing

for a college team,

I would have to pay

every time I wanted

to play.If you could

change one thing

at Mines, what

would it be?

Less homework.

That makes it tough

for sure.

What has been your favorite

class?

Probably Mechanics of Materi-

als or Dynamics, one of those.What do you love about golf?

That feeling you get whenyouve hit a great shot. And you

know you can always do better,

no matter how well you do. Its that

drive to be better that I love.

Knous enjoys the beautiful weather

after a round of golf.

COURTESY CSM ATHLETICS

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chemical engineering; geosciences;

geology; physics or mathematics, think

about a field-based engineering/

geosciences role at Baker Hughes.

Its surprisingly easy to apply

Find out more about the opportunities at

Baker Hughes and apply at

jobs.bakerhughes.com/grads.

Rogue AI, space-time holes, and

dark humour abound in Valves Por-

tal 2, released 10 hours ahead of

schedule late Monday night. Valves

latest title, set some 300 or more

years after the events of the rst

Portal, builds on the successes of

the rst game without relying strong-

ly on them.

The game still follows Chell, un-

willing participant in Aperture Sci-

ences testing. Using only her wits

and the Aperture Science Handheld

Portal Device, Chell once again at-

tempts to escape the mad AI GLa-

DOS and all the death traps that lit-

ter the facility.

In terms of writing, the story isexcellent. You begin the game

proper by being woken up in

your relaxation vault where

you are informed you have been

asleep for nine nine nine nine

nine - days before the record-

ing is interrupted by a person-

ality sphere named Wheatley.

He claims of all 10,000 test

subjects, you are the only one

still alive, and, after attempt-

ing a manual override on a

wall, sends you on your way to

get a gun that shoots holes.

Shortly thereafter, you attempt

to go through GLaDOS cham-

ber, whom you killed in the rst

game, and inadvertently wake

her up.Thus begins the game prop-

er, with GLaDOS rebuilding the

facility around you as you des-

perately look for a way to es-

cape.

Gameplay

Most of the basic gameplay is the

same as the last game. You use por-

tals to adjust momentum and get to

places that you would not normally

be able to get to all while trying to

avoid deadly oors, soft-speaking

turrets, and bottomless pits. Thereis not much new here in terms of

the basic gameplay, but that ends

up being ne, since many of the

puzzles are new, unique, and a lot of

new things have been added.

For instance, about halfway

through the game, you are intro-

duced to three different kinds of gel.

One of them bounces you, one of

them speeds you up, and one of

them allows you to place portals

where you normally cannot. The

idea is very simple, and, like the

original concept for Portal, came

from a student project, but the way

it is implemented in game is almost

perfect. It is not overused nor is it

underutilized.

Other new items include light

bridges that propagate through

portals, thermal discouragement

beams that you aim through prisms

and towards collectors, and swirl-

ing vortexes of asbestos that carry

you across an entire chamber. For

more about those items, and forsome good laughs, check out the

Portal 2 pre-release videos describ-

ing each of these.Story

I cannot write much here without

giving major spoilers, but needless

to say those that were worried as to

whether Valve could follow up Portal

with something even better should

not worry. Ellen McLain returns as

GLaDOS, who is still simultaneously

trying to test you and kill you, which

leads to some very dark humor dur-

ing the game.

As such, if you are not fond of

dark humor, this is not the game

for you. Almost all of the story falls

into that vein and many of the best

one-liners in the game can take on adecidedly unpleasant tinge when

thought about too hard. The

best example of this is the rst

time you try escaping. GLaDOS

opens a test chamber in the wall

that has an exit leading to veg-

etation, with claims that I think I

saw a deer. If you try to go back

into the chamber, she lls it with

neurotoxin and kills you.

Also, there are more charac-

ters than just Chell and GLaDOS,

which makes for a refreshing

change, since in Portal, the only

one that talked was GLaDOS.

This time around, you get to

meet the aforementioned Wheat-

ley and the founder of Aperture

Science, Cave Johnson. Thismakes for a much more dynamic

game and allows the writers to

really let loose this time.Length

The game is short. There is no

getting around a game that is a

rst-person puzzle-based game be-

ing short, no matter how much witty

writing you put into it. If you make

the game too hard, then you lose a

good chunk of the player base and

any other method of lengthening it

will feel arbitrary and forced.As such, if you are a fast gamer,

you can make it through in four to

six hours. Personally, I did it in ve

while trying to stay on the lookout

for easter eggs. Note that this does

not include the cooperative mode.

I have not had the chance to play

that, but I hear that it is not particu-

larly long.

The length is not a detriment to

the game. I could denitely see a lot

of people getting tired by the end-

ing of the game, and while it is an

expertly crafted game, there are only

so many different ways that you can

have a puzzle while keeping the il-

Zachary Boerner

Copy Editor

Portal 2 arrives and exceeds high expectationslusion of requiring haste. I suspect

that Valve will do something similaras with the rst Portal and release

map packs at some point in the near

future.

Conclusion

This is the rst game that Ive

played in a long time that gets

10/10. Valve is very good at what

they do, and given that they make

money off of Steam, they do not

have to have a fast release cycle to

make money. The game itself is an

excellent sample of what a game

developer can do when they put

their mind to it, and I sincerely hope

that other developers will take note

of Portal 2 and follow suit.

COURTESY VALVE SOFTWARE


10/12

o p i n i o n april 25, 2011page 10


Morals to your storyShira Richman

Ethics Columnist

Dilemma 1I am currently in the process of applying for a scholarship. However, when looking over the scholarship application, there is a section asking if I have a Facebook page or not. I know there is a

committee that reviews these applications and will most likely browse my Facebook page if I answer yes. My Facebook, while not stooped in feces, is not necessarily clean, nor is it something

I wish to have an outside group look at. I believe I should be allotted privacy, and therefore I want to answer no, informing them I do not use Facebook. Am I morally required to answer yes on

this question, or can I employ a sort of vigilantism, and respond no on the grounds that I believe it wrong for them to ask it of me?

Needs Money for College

Dilemma 1 Responses

Immanuel Kant would tell you that lying is wrong--regardless of the reasons for the lie. This is because a lie always harms another, even if not another individual, nevertheless humanity gen-

erally, inasmuch as it makes the source of right unusable. By lying, you not only attack the institution of truth, but you jeopardize your credibility. You could just tell the scholarship committee

that you have a Facebook, and put them on a limited prole or refuse to add them as a friend if they try to add you. You dont have to lie to get yourself out of this dilemma.

Seeker of Truth, the non-Goodman kind

In the case of the scholarship, I would put yes that I do have a Facebook page. My reasoning behind this is you can control your privacy sett ings so even if the scholarship committee wants

to check it out they wont be able to see photos or wall posts depending on the setting. Secondly, by putting yes you are not lying on the application therefore the moral issue of ly ing is taken

care of. Something to consider would be what a person is putting on Facebook for the public to see. If there is something in question, I believe a person should remove it to portray a self image

through their Facebook page that agrees with their moral standing not only because a scholarship committee may see it but also to portray him or her self accurately in all cases.

Fellow Facebook User

Facebook is used by a substantial number of people so when examining this dilemma you have to take into consideration that even though you may say you do not use Facebook the schol-arship committee could look you up anyway. According to virtue ethics you need to say that you have a Facebook because it is the honest thing to do. Virtue ethics also says that a decision

is moral when your intentions are for the right reasons. In this case the reason for saying you do not use Facebook is only for personal gain. My opinion would be to clean up your Facebook to

insure that the scholarship committee has no reason not to give you the money.

Facebook Inhibits

According to utilitarianism values of achieving happiness, the reviewing committee would be happy to discover that your Facebook is clean and you would also be happy to receive the schol-

arship. Therefore, it is in your best interest to clean up your Facebook. Also, according to virtue ethics, lying is not a very virtuous act. Setting ethical theories aside, I would feel guilty if the only

thing that prevented me from earning a scholarship was a few inappropriate photos on my Facebook page. Another point to consider is just because you say that you dont have a Facebook

doesnt mean that they cant search for you and discover that you lied in the rst place. I think that your best option is to clean up your Facebook and make it viewable to only your friends. Ap-

plying for this scholarship will probably not be the only time that Facebook could come back to bite you. It is likely that future employers will also search your Facebook, and you do not want

Facebook to be the reason why you dont get a job or a scholarship.

Victoria

Dilemma 2

So I live in a two bedroom/two bathroom apartment with two other people and we have a fair amount of space distributed between the three of us. Just a couple months ago, my roommate

told one of her close friends that he could move in with us so he can get back on his feet. Now a month ago, I was okay with idea because I assumed that my roommates friend (well call him

New Guy) would have a job by now and would be able to help pay for rent, electricity, gas, etc. the basic dues of living in an apartment. I also assumed that we would have moved into a larger

apartment by now so that there would be enough rooms for the 4 of us (New Guy currently sleeps on the couch in the living room). But its been a couple of months, we still havent been able

to move into a larger apartment, and New Guy still doesnt have a job.The problem here is that New Guy doesnt really seem like hes making an effort to nd a job to pay for his part of rent. Hes taking up a lot of space (the entire living room, utility closet, linen

closet), and hes eating all the food we buy. Ive talked this over with my two roommates and one wants to kick him out and the other (the one who is good friends with New Guy) wants to let

him stay which means the decision is up to me. Should I kick him out and cause him to live on the streets with no food, water, or place to stay? Or should I continue to allow him to live here for

free and continue to let him take what we pay for?

Looking Out for Whom?

Dilemma 2 Responses

Looking at the situation from a virtue ethics point of view, the best solution would be to nd a median between the two proposed options: kick him out and let him continue to mooch. My

suggestion for this median would be to give him an ultimatum. Confront New Guy, and let him know that its time to really start looking for a job because he needs to start chipping in on ex-

penses. You can be realistic, and give him a couple months to build up the payments to a full of the rent, as long as he is pitching in something. With this process, you can be assured that

he is actually trying to change his circumstances, and is working towards being nancially dependable.

Danielle

In making a decision about what to do about New Guy, I think it is important to consider all those involved and the social contract that has been agreed upon. I am sure this is a very difcult

time for New Guy and it is respectful and generous to allow him to stay with you, but what were the terms agreed upon to allow him to crash at your place? Did you and your roommate discuss

the details of him staying there? Has he been searching for the job? Has he been participating in house chores? These are all considerations that need to be made in deciding on New Guys fate. If

the original agreement included the necessity for him to seriously search for a job and he has in effect stopped doing this, he has broken his social contract with you. It also seems that by stepping

outside of his bounds and using other goods, New Guy again breaks the social contract. Being generous is one thing, but once one breaks the terms of a social contract they are accepting the

social consequences that come with it. You then have the right to kick him out, but a little warning and reasoning would not hurt. This may allow him to prepare himself and seriously nd a job.Social Contract

If I were you I would kick the new guy out. He is living in your house without contributing to it. If he is eating your food and taking up space without paying for his own piece of the house then

he should not be there. According to deontology, an action is not moral unless every other person can do the same action. In this situation it is not possible for every person to mooch off their

friends and live in their house without paying for his share. Therefore it is not moral for him to live in your house for free, and you should kick him out.

Tucker

I think it is time for an ultimatum in this situation. Give New Guy a deadline to nd a job and start chipping in towards living expenses. I understand that it is important to help friends out in

times of need, but you also dont want to be taken advantage of. I think it is in everyones best interest to have a meeting and set a deadline for New Guy. Taking virtue ethics into consideration,

you want to be the best person that you can, and while helping others in need is important, you may not actually be helping New Guy by letting him mooch off of you and your roommates all

the time. He obviously needs someone to enforce a deadline. This is easier said than done, but it will be benecial to New Guy in the long run.

Tory

You are in a very classic situation, one that has plagued countless annoyed parents and at least one episode ofSpongebob Squarepants. I am not entirely sure if you have noticed the

constant nods to Kantianism, virtue ethics, and utilitarianism in past responses in this ethics column, but Im going to give you a different perspective than these. There was once this great man

named Adam Smith, who surmised that people are fed meat not by the butchers grace, but by the butchers want for something the meat purchasers had. If you are not benetting from this

guy staying in your apartment, you are a butcher giving out meat without receiving anything in return. It may be hard to tell him to leave, but it is necessary.

The Voice of Capitalism

Dilemma 3

Loyal readers, my dilemma this week is of the romantic type, and I need your help. About one year ago to the day, I was working as assistant in a pottery studio minding my own business,

just cleaning up the dirt, when I met a gorgeous young lady struggling with her clay on the wheel. Trying to be an honest, good working citizen I gave her a few pointers, and her cup eventually

took shape. I nished moping and didnt see her again until seven months later when I got a new job and went to a coworkers apartment to help him assemble his new TV stand. To my surprise,

there in his apartment was that cute amateur potter taking care of their newborn child. It turns out they had been married for just over a year.

Well, that co-worker and I would hang out during lunch and after work and he would often tell me that he was unhappy with his marriage, and that she had cheating on him, and blah, blah,

blah. I jokingly told him one day that I would like to cheat with his wife. Instead of getting mad like I thought he would, he simply said please do, so I can have a good reason to get a divorce.

Well, he quit his job, and I havent seen either of them for about four months. Last week out of the blue, she hit me up on Facebook, and informed me that they are no longer living together

however they are still married. We talked for a long time and the next day she ooded my new phone with naked photos of herself. She has been sexting all week and I dont know what to do.

Honestly, I would like to be Utilitarian and maximize pleasure by making all three of us happy, but am not convinced it is the ethical thing to do.

Bewildered.


11/12

For the past week and a half, the Colorado School of Mines has been

in a quarantined state. Zombies have overrun the campus and humans,

with their foam, marshmallow, and sock weapons have been forced to

defend themselves from the massive horde of nerd zombies. Minds at

Mines inquired as to peoples opinions on the events of Humans versus

Zombies.

I really enjoy watching humans run-

ning from me, the superior zombie. I have

been a zombie since Monday at 9 AM.

Loving it; brains.

- Purple Smurf

I love running around and hitting

zombies with a foam sword. I have been

human for all the second game, but I be-

came a zombie on the last day of game

one.

- Peep Show

I died in the nal rush for the helicopter

after I valiantly sacriced myself so the re-

maining humans could escape. The look

on the hordes faces when, instead of

running from them, I charged straight into

them [was priceless].

- Mountain Man

o p i n i o napril 25, 20 page 11


Editorials Policy

The Oredigger is a designated public forum. Edi-tors have the authority to make all content deci-

sions without censorship or advance approval

and may edit submitted pieces for length so longas the original meaning of the piece is unchanged.

Opinions contained within the Opinion Section do

not necessarily reect those of Colorado Schoolof Mines or The Oredigger. The Oredigger does

not accept submissions without identication and

will consider all requests for anonymity in publica-tion on a case-by-case basis. Submissions less

than 300 words will receive preference.

Dilemma 3 Responses

When nding someone you like instantaneously it is hard to let them go. In this situation a relationship with

a woman who is still married and has a child is morally wrong. Even though the woman and her husband arenot living together, it does not give you the right to assist in splitting up the family. Your intentions need to be

examined when considering what is morally right according to virtue ethics. If your intentions are purely to bring

happiness to the members of the family then there could be a chance that having a relationship with the women

is right. However if your intentions are purely to satisfy yourself or the two of you then the decision to have a

relationship is morally wrong.

Love at First Sight

The couple is no longer a couple, so if you were to get with the woman, it would not be cheating. As you

mentioned, it would utilize happiness for everyone, but I caution you to look at this carefully. The ratio of women

to men here at Mines is sad, at best, but that is no reason to make rash decisions. How loyal a girl would your

friends wife be if she is so quick to attempt an affair while married? If you are looking for a long-time girl friend,

she is probably not the best option for you. On the other hand, if you arent looking for commitment, maybe

she is the girl for you.

Voice of Reason

You are correct in your utilitarian ideals if this is the approach that you wish to take. It sounds as though their

marriage truly isnt working which is very unfortunate, but in todays society, not uncommon. Going along with

the utilitarian ideals I feel as though you should talk to both parties and see what they think about divorce. If they

could go through therapy and x the relationship, thats awesome. I do not want to encourage divorce, but I feelas though a divorce might work out the best for all parties. Especially since she has been sexting you, it seems

as though she wouldnt be against cheating on her husband which is quite awful. This dilemma really doesnt

come down to you though. Until they decide what they are going to do with their marriage, you cannot make a

well thought out decision. I hope everything works out for you man.

Love Hurts

I am far from a relationship expert, but to be blunt, the way I see it, you have three options: 1.) One Night

Stand, 2.) Attempt to form a long term relationship, 3.) Do nothing/tell her youre not interested. However, it

seems that if you wanted Option 1, you wouldnt have even bothered submitting an ethical dilemma and just

gone ahead with it. Option 2 also seems leery to me; not to be judgmental of this woman, but I would be in-

timidated to try to form a relationship with someone so seemingly promiscuous, especially considering she has

cheated before on someone she vowed under law and God to be faithful to! However attractive she may be,

Option 1 is not necessarily the most utilitarian; if all it does is put you in an ethically uncomfortable and overly

awkward situation, then you are certainly not maximizing happiness, as utilitarianism dictates.

Chris Cowdin

Next Weeks Dilemmas

1) This last summer, I completed an internship for a Petroleum Company. I had two different supervisors,

depending on whether I was working in the ofce or in the oil eld for the week. When I was working in the oileld, I heard rumors from pumpers that my supervisor had been selling old pipe from the eld that belonged to

the company

the oredigger issue 24 - april 25, 2011

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