The Oredigger Issue 24 - April 21, 2013
The Oredigger Issue 24 - April 21, 2013
The Oredigger Issue 24 - April 21, 2013
News
Features 4
Beloved Geology Department secretary Marilyn Schwinger retired last week after forty years of service. Colorado School of Mines celebrated her acheivements with a retirement party.
Sports 6
Opinion 8
had been relatively unexplored until this point because of the limited known compositions that form the George Nolas of the Physics clathrate structure. The traditional synthesis route Department at University of South Florida has recently acquired a consisted of thermal decomposinew lab where he will continue to tion from the Na 4Si 4 precursor. synthesize and characterize single Unfortunately this results in a polycrystalline material with defects crystal clathrates. As a physicist, his work focus- that impair electronic properties important to energy es on the structural property relation- The new synthesis applications. The new synthesis technique ship of materials with the clathrate technique is based is based on current flow, which aids in the structure. Nolas describes the clath- on current flow, transport of sodium atoms outside the cage. rate structure as a cage of atoms that which aids in the After three hours of exposing Na 4Si 4 to a can be put together like building blocks transport of sodium probe signal, a layer of desired clathrate along shared faces, atoms outside the the in single crystal form called the framewill have formed in the work, with an atom cage. reaction chamber. or molecule in the Further investigamiddle called the tion into reaction parameters such guest. Nolass work investigates clath- as temperature and pressure give rates where silicon composes the control over the types of structure framework and sodium atoms are the framework forms. A lower the guest atoms. The clathrate temperature produces the Type 1 structure forms as the silicon at- structure while a higher temperaoms form the framework around ture produces the Type 2 structure. Additional property measurethe sodium atom. However, the intended energy applications in ments on these single crystals has Nolass work require the removal led to a better understanding of of the guest atom from the estab- the rattling phenomena where the bonds connecting the guest lished framework. Nolas presented on a new syn- atom to the framework expand and thesis technique to make single contract to produce a rattling of the crystal silicon clathrates, which atom within the framework.
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Arnaud Filliat, Copy Editor University of Guelph, Canada - Researchers showed for the first time how female squirrels use social cues to prepare their offspring for life outside the nest. The results confirm that red squirrel mothers boost stress hormone production during pregnancy which increases the size and chance of survival of their offspring. According to the study, natural selection favors faster-growing offspring and squirrels can produce these faster growing offspring even though they dont have access to additional food resources. The team based its study on the Kluane Red Squirrel Project, a 22-year-long study on North American red squirrels living in the Yukon led by researchers from the University of Alberta, Guelph, and McGill University.
San Francisco, California - Smoking tobacco through a hookah is often misconstrued as being less harmful than smoking cigarettes. In a new study from UC San Francisco researchers measured chemical in blood and urine and concluded that hookah smoke contains a different but still harmful mix of toxins. According to the study, Hookah use exposes smokers to higher levels of carbon monoxide, and to higher levels of benzene. Furthermore, daily hookah smokers are at an increased risk of cancer compared to non-smokers. A 2009 study found that hookah use was disproportionately popular among white college students and especially fraternity and sorority members. The reasons for the difference in the toxins that ended up in the bodies of volunteers were due to the fact that smokers were smoking two different materials. Hookah users are smoking more than just tobacco as they burn a charcoal briquette on top of the tobacco. Additionally, hookah smokers are smoking a moist fruit preparation which is mixed in with the tobacco which smells and tastes good.
Barcelona, Spain - A study published by scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) attempted to shed light on the side effects produced by drugs. The objective of the study was to determine the molecular bases of side effects and provide medical chemists with the tools to design safer drugs and to predict their effects. The study collected and proposed molecular hypotheses for 1,162 side effects. The researchers studied the proteins and chemical structure of drugs that cause each known side effect.
Oredigger Staff
Deborah Good Editor-in-Chief Emily McNair Managing Editor Taylor Polodna Design Editor Connor McDonald Webmaster Lucy Orsi Business Manager Arnaud Filliat Copy Editor Katerina Gonzales Content Manager Jared Riemer Content Manager Karen Gilbert Faculty Advisor
Local News
B A M P B
E D C U E
M B Z Q Y A M P
E D C U N
M Z Q Y O
Five snowboarders were killed in a backcountry avalanche on Loveland Pass last Saturday. Authorities believe that they (and a sixth companion, who survived without injury) went from the top of Loveland Pass, came to the area above Loveland Valley, and triggered a slide. The avalanche was measured at 650 feet wide, 1150 feet long, and eight feet deep, and authorities say they would not have found out until much later if the sixth member of the group had not survived. This is the deadliest avalanche in the past fifty years. The Denver City Council is expected to announce Monday a land use plan to drastically improve the Sun Valley neighborhood of Denvers west side. The Sun Valley neighborhood is one of the citys most impoverished; the median household income among the 1500 residents is a scant $8000 per year. The plan will develop housing, parks, and connections to the rest of Denver. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said, I am just as excited about the potential of this area as I am for the area around the (National Western) Stock Show. University of Colorado, Boulder officials succeeded in efforts to quash the 4-20 festivities on Norlin Quad. Past years had drawn as many as 10,000 people for the smoke-out, but efforts by campus police and extra security prevented any marijuana smoking on the quad this year.
Correction
The article Campus Rumors: Does Chuck Stone wear pants? was printed in the Fools Gold section due to its humorous content, but was a factual article. The Oredigger apologizes for any confusion.
M T
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with. She claims this is probably the most difficult part of the projects, recalling times where she had to be creative and persistent when writing grants and fund-raising for these projects. Lima gave one example where she wrote a grant that was supposed to be used for buying teaching equipment, so she claimed that the playground she wanted to build would be used to teach children how to calculate areas, perimeters, and volumes. Lima also recalled a time when she was rejected nine time before getting a grant that would pay for the playground. Other funding she does comes from the community through penny wars, bake sales, and similar tactics. Limas entire story can be found in her new book entitled Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities. Lima described goal for the book as a reflective inspiring story that encourages people to get involved in their communities. In this spirit, Lima finished the lecture with a quote by Rachel Naomi Remen: When people help, they see life as weak. When they fix, they see life as broken, When they serve, they see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), created by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers and adopted by 45 of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories, outline minimum standards for K-12 student progress in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Given their prevalence in all states except Alaska, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia, and Nebraska, most educators regard them as the future of education in grades K-12. Dr. Todd Abel, a Mathematics Education expert from Appalachian State University, spoke to the Colorado School of Mines Applied Math and Statistics Department on one challenge of the CCSS, integrating mathematical modeling. He explained that one of his greatest
for teachers, such as the Discrete and Continuous Math Modeling and Statistics for Teachers courses offered for education students at Appalachian State University and summer institutes and conference workshops for current teachers. If students have some hook for understanding [mathematics], theyre much more likely to be able to answer the problem, said Abel. He outlined a three act formula for teachers to integrate into their lessons. In Act 1, the hero is faced with a problem. In Act 2, he or she must overcome adversity, and in Act 3, the hero reaches a resolution. By integrating a classic narrative structure into mathematics, students are able to understand the problem more clearly. Abel concluded by soliciting discussion from the audience and saying optimistically of the mathematics education situation, Were having a moment here.
day morning. The other suspect in the case Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also injured and hid in a boat until the next day when he was caught after thermal imaging displayed his location The brothers were born in North Caucasus and are ethnics Chechens. The Chechens constitute a native ethnic group in the Nakh peoples family originating in Caucasus region of eastern Europe. The entire Tsarnaev family, both brothers and their sisters, immigrated in 2002 to the United States. They settled in Massachusetts, and Tamerlan lived in Cambridge for ten years. He attended the Cambridge Rindge Latin School for high school and was a wrestler. According to the latest reports, a federal team may question Tsarnaev without reading him his Miranda Rights due to a legal exception designed to protect public safety, he will not be offered a lawyer for up to 48 hours.
individuals vary in how their bodies metabolize and excrete toxic substances, the researchers had volunteers smoke cigarettes and a water pipe on different days for better results. University of Guelph, Canada In the field, the team used rattles and recordings of territorial vocalizations, to create the illusion of a big population of squirrels. The females reacted to the rattles by producing more stress hormones while pregnant and their pups grew faster. In a follow-up study researchers manipulated stress hormone levels in mothers to conclusively show that stress hormones caused the pups to grow faster. It seems that despite the perception that stress is bad, the study shows that when it comes to survival of the fittest, stress can be a good thing. In squirrel populations when population density is high only the fastest-growing offspring survive.
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Several members of the travel team in Nicaragua install the crossmembers leading to the installation of the decking.
COURTESY ERIC ROSING
apparatus, and inspection is made of the hose and things are looked after generally. This combination of fun and function was to have a big dance at the opera house with an orchestra in addition to the parade. The Colorado Transcript crowed: One of the best assets to a town is a good fire department, Golden possesses that asset and it is to be hoped that...the firemen will continue to retain that incentive to make the Golden department one of the best in the state. The young men of the U.S. and Colorado especially were enlisting in the army in case of war with Mexico this week in 1914. Already, Adjutant General John Chase of the Colorado National Guard declared he could muster 1,800 troops within 18 hours and could fulfill the rest of Colorados 2,648 man recruiting quota within three days.
After some apprehension, the community of Los Gomez tested out their new pedestrian footbridge.
COURTESY ERIC ROSING
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you have to reach. We certainly dont expect you to be the next van Gogh... ninety-nine percent of the time, your work turns out far better than you think. She also reassures nervous newcomers by explaining the process is step by step and the instructor is there to help in any way he or she can. Everyone else is likely in the same mindset but by the end of the night, everyone is laughing and enjoying themselves. And whenever in doubt, participants can take another drink of wine. Student Activities is still selling student vouchers for Art on the Brix that run $15 (classes typically start at $35-$40). Alyssa is extremely pleased with the amount of student response that she has seen. CSM students are reportedly particularly common on Friday nights.
NICOLE JOHNSON / OREDIGGER
business or Cocktail attire requested. this event is free for graduating students to attend and $45 for each guest.
all and will stay with Johnny for movie, since it depends on how it Please RSVP online by April 12, 2013 money while cheating on him with is viewed. As a serious work, The visit minesalumni.com/celebrate_graduates Mark. She also begins falsely ac- Room is a terrible movie that cusing him of domestic assault should not be seen. As a piece of after getting him (a non-drinker) unintentional comedy, it is on par drunk using a cocktail made from with Manos: The Hands of Fate vodka mixed with scotch (known and Mega Shark Versus Giant 43568 MAG-1321_RWDin_Stud.indd 1 2/28/13 affectionately by the fans of The Octopus. The Room cannot be Room as Scotchka). recommended enough for any fan While the affair is happening, of terrible movies. The DVD is esthere are numerous subplots oc- pecially recommended as it concurring. A neighboring college tains as an extra an interview with student named Denny has an un- Tommy Wiseau where he is asked explained run-in with a drug deal- about several of the plot holes and er named Chris-R that is stopped then proceeds to answer in a seby Mark and Johnny bring Chris-R ries of rambling speeches. to the police station. This is never COURTESY WISEAU FILMS brought up again. Lisas mother also then reveals she has breast cancer to Lisa, and this is also never brought up again. Several games of touch football later, including one game in tuxedos, Johnny has a surprise birthday party. During this Lisa begins publicly cheating on Johnny with Mark resulting in Johnny committing suicide using the gun he took it upon himself to confiscate from Chris-R instead of turning it in as evidence. It is hard to say whether or not The Room is a bad The Room is an unintentional comedy.
11:46 AM
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Chase Tyree Staff Writer
Every engineer has at some point thought of a neat device, like a temperature gauge or an alarm clock that uses lights to go off. A small company in Ivrea, Italy wanted to let students build designs like this with an easy to use device. Enter the Arduino. An Arduino is a single-board microcontroller designed to make the process of using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible. The Arduino is programmed using an open source hardware to design projects that students can create. The hardware uses a simple C programming language that is transferred to the Arduino which is stored until another code replaces the existing code. Arduinos can be purchased
pre-assembled or in a do-it-yourself kit. Since 2005, the Arduino has been widely bought, with over 300,000 official Arduinos sold by mid 2011. In this weeks gear review, The Oredigger will specifically be looking at the Arduino Uno, one of the newer versions of the Arduino product line. The Uno was bought in a Inventors Kit, which includes the board and basic circuit supplies. It comes with jumper wires and a breadboard to hook up devices. Some of the sensors include, a flex sensor to measure flex, a photocell to detect ambient light,and a thermistor for detecting temperatures. Other parts include buzzers, buttons, and resistors. These components are everything one needs to build some fun stuff. The Uno is simple to use. The ports on the board are all marked
with the number of that pin plus LEDs to test to see if the board is working. When first setting up the board, the Arduino is plugged into the computer using a USB cable that produces a nice 500mA power supply which is enough for most projects. From there, Arduino provides example codes to test out the board. The first is a blinking LED. When compiled and ran, a small LED on the board blinks, then board is working and it is ready to go. The Arduino boards are perfect for Computer Science and Engineers alike. Sparkfun electronics located in Boulder CO is a good supplier of Arduinos for beginners place to get started. The Starter Kit is only $59.95 and includes all the above plus an online guide with project ideas and troubleshooting.
CHASE TYREE / OREDIGGER
video, which is essentially Psy being mean to his girlfriend, kids, and to other people. But then the girlfriend starts to be evil back A song came out last sumwhich turns Psy on but also his mer and a lot of people heard it girlfriend, which makes no sense. playing on youtube. It was called Thats strange but lets not quesGangam Style. Psy swept the tion their relationship. From there, world by storm with his song the group shot of the dance is Gangam Style and went viral. played and the music video ends Well, hes back and this time he COURTESY SCHOOLBOY RECORDS with Psy and his has brought a girlfriend pole dancwhole new song ing on street lights. to the table On youtube, called GentleGentleman has alman. The song ready gained 164 is pretty good. million views as of It has a techno April 19th, just afkind of beat to ter coming out on it along with lyric April 13th. But its styles similar to not popular everyGangam style. where. In South KoGangam Style rea, the music video had the iconic is banned from teledance that evvision. One scene in eryone knew. the beginning that OPPA GANis not gentlemanly GAM STYLE! behavior to pubFollowed by lic property. KBS tapping your said that the mufeet side to side sic video doesnt and putting meet its standards your hands out as a public broadfront. Well, with caster. In the ofGentleman, Psy fending scene, Psy has created a is shown kicking a new dance to go along with the Album artwork for Psys new single release Gentleman traffic cone in the chorus. Not as dance happy as out the music video, it will make a first five seconds while he then looks at the camera and laughs. Gangam style, but still as weird. little more sense. Speaking of the music video, Really, it has nothing to do with When it starts, dancers put their left arm across their bodies and Gentleman is strange. It starts anything else Psy does in the put their right arm as if they are out with Psy in a department video. All in all, the song and vidthinking, with their hand resting store with 3 older men carrying all on their chin. While doing this, his purchases in hand. It switches eo are pretty cool and worth a they move their hips side to side, to what is the main theme of the check-out.
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www.sudoku-puzzles.net
www.sudoku-puzzles.net
www.sudoku-puzzles.net
More Puzzles:
The Mines outdoor track team competed at the Western State Open this past weekend.
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brought the second baseman off the bag. Freshman Nate Olinger reached on an error following the base stealing attempt, and Williams singled to right center, but a fly out ended the inning. Mines went down in order in the ninth, losing the game 9-0. For the offense in the seventh inning afternoon game, it was more of the same for the Orediggers, this time with seven hits, two of which Bothwell hit. Sophomore Ben Gilman started game two, and put forth an overall solid outing, going the full 6 innings and striking out 7 batters. Gilman allowed 3 runs in the first, although the triple down the left field line that scored two was ruled fair when it appeared foul by a foot. Gilman only allowed one more run in the fourth inning, keeping Mines in the game. Gilman took the loss, but still leads the starters with an ERA of 2.98 and shares the lead for pitcher wins with Dunham, at 5. Mines played Regis Sunday in another double header. The team will make up a game against CSUPueblo that was earlier postponed due to snow and face Colorado Christian University over the weekend in their final series of the season at Darden Field.
Study Break
Sudoku Puzzle - Medium
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A philosophical review
Brian Zaharatos Guest Writer
Milk. No, cookies and cream because Hersheys Cookies and Cream bar...[drifts off]. Chris Pacher
nection is much like the purported connection between astrological events and social interactions: dubious at best. Recently, the Muslim Students One might object here that Association hosted a talk by Im being too demanding. PerMines Physics PhD student Abhaps what is important about dulaziz Alaswad entitled, From the Quran-and what is important the Atom to the Galaxy; Quran about many religious texts-is that and Science. During the talk, it displays the mysterious nature Alaswad interpreted a number of of God. Rather than speaking dipassages in the Quran as clear rectly, and with precision, God is evidence that the author of the mysterious and unknowable. Im Quran had knowledge of contemsympathetic to this view. porary (i.e., twentieth and twenty-first century) sci- The Quran may be the word of God But, if we accept that Gods writings are mysterious, ence. This fact, he claims, is proof that God authored the but we, as finite beings, are left then it doesnt seem reasonable to expect that the Quran. There is no doubt that Alaswad is a well-spo- with the monumental task of inter- word of God be understood scientifically. Science is ken scientist with a special talent for explaining compli- preting His (unfortunately ambigu- meant to be clear, unambiguous, and devoid of mystery cated subjects (e.g., cosous) word. [2]. It values not believing mology, atomic physics) in a over believing falsely. Thus, way that the non-specialist can understand. There is also no tions (and in reality, many more I think that the best we can hope doubt that Alaswad has a sincere but well consider two), neither of for is that the Quran is consistent belief in a higher power. Here, I which seem better than any oth- with contemporary science. But do not wish to take issue either er. For example, it is not clear at that is a very different claim than with his scientific knowledge or all what is meant by the claim that the one made by Alaswad. The Quran may be the word his faith; I have a sincere respect the heavens and the earth were for both. Rather, I would like to joined together. Does the word of God but we, as finite beings, analyze the arguments that he heaven refer to the several levels are left with the monumental task presented for the claim that the of the afterlife that most Muslims of interpreting His (unfortunately author of the Quran had knowl- believe exist? If so, then it should ambiguous) word. In many cases, edge of contemporary science be apparent that this passage there arent any good reasons to has nothing to do with modern believe that one interpretation is (call this claim C). All of Alaswads evidence for science since the Big Bang Theo- better than the other. But, withclaim C was presented in the ry does not posit the existence of out a relatively unambiguous infollowing way: first, Alaswad ex- this kind of heaven. But, perhaps terpretation of a religious text, plained a bit of a contemporary heaven refers what we call the it is extremely difficult-if not imscientific theory; then, he present- heavenly bodies-the moon, the possible-to make a link between ed a passage from the Quran that planets, the stars, etc. This inter- that text and a scientific theory. he believed to be overwhelming pretation might lend some sup- As someone not at all opposed evidence that the author of the port for claim C, but with a bit of to religious thinking, it is hard for Quran knew the claims of the sci- inspection, we see that it doesnt me to understand the appeal of entific theory just presented. So, lend much. Being joined togeth- making such connections (which, for example, Alaswad presented er is certainly not equivalent to to be fair, are made by apoloa brief summary of the Big Bang being infinitely dense; it is hard gists of many religions, including Theory - the theory that, at some to see how we can interpret this Christianity). There are consistent time in the past, the universe oc- passage as at all matching the positions that allow science and cupied an infinitesimally small, level of precision of the Big Bang religion to coexist without sacriinfinitely dense point. Then he Theory. The Big Bang Theory ficing intellectual rigor. presented the following passage makes claims about temperature, from the Quran: The heavens the nature of space, time, and [1] I am granting this claim-that the and the earth were joined togeth- matter; none of these things are Quran is the perfect word of God-for the er, and we clove them asunder addressed in the Quran passage sake of argument. Full disclosure: the de(21:30). He holds that this pas- (or anywhere else in the Quran, to gree to which I believe that this claim is true is very low. sage is strong evidence for claim the best of my knowledge) with [2] To be clear, I am not judging which C. I believe that this example is any precision. Such precision is representative of the argument necessary in order to make the kind of discourse is superior; rather, I am merely arguing that, on an important level, connection between science and the goals of each type of discourse are very structure of the entire talk. On my view, this connection the Quran. Otherwise, the con- different.
Colorado. Slacklining in the neighborhood and then falling asleep to south park. A classic 4-20 story. But what could they have done differently? Might they have not instead tried to do some homework or gone skiing. Or maybe at least not smoke the ganja. Our society has ingrained this idea of April 20th as being associated with the consumption of marijuana as well as the time 4:20. Being only one day a year April 20th isnt too rough, but hey, lets make sure to try to keep it at that level. A few times at best, right my friends?
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