the oredigger issue 13 - january 21, 2013
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7/29/2019 The Oredigger Issue 13 - January 21, 2013
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T H E O R E D I G G E RVolume 93, Issue 13 January 21, 2013
The student voice of the Colorado School of Mines
Club Spotlight
looks at the
Mines Ski Team
Sports 9
w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
Opinion 11
Features 4
News 3
Satire 12
Author Michael
Dowd lectures
on religion
Oredigger
reviews The
Hobbit
How can you
help end world
poverty?
Naked Juice sued
for magic use
Mens Basketball wipes the court with UCCS and CSU Pueblo this previous Friday and Saturday. Read more on page 9.
Since March 2011, Syria has
been the site of a growing conict
between rebel and loyalist factions.
More than 60,000 are believed dead
from this clash, with the status of
many more unknown. Upwards of
500,000 Syrian refugees have ed
to other countries. Despite the scale
of this ght, most Americans remain
largely unaware of events in Syria or
their signicance. National Public
Radios Foreign Correspondent,
Deborah Amos, spent some time
Thursday evening giving a much
closer and more direct perspective
on the ghting and its ramications
for the rest of the world.
Amos began by describing the
border city of Antakya, Turkey,
where over 100,000 Syrian refugees
and most journalists and reporters
position themselves to get the most
information on the goings-on in Syr-
ia. It has become a place where the
rebels can take some time to relax.
It is where they leave their families
and loved ones to keep them safe.
It has also become highly populated
by the Syrian middle class. Since
Syrians do not need a visa to travel
into Turkey, they can drive into
Turkey and wait out the war.
There are now four crossings open
along the border between Turkey
and Syria, with the nearest one so
close to the city that one can actual ly
take a short cab ride to the cross-
ing and quickly step out of Turkey
into a lawless land run mostly by
armed, bearded men. The Syrian
Stories from the Syrian frontlinegovernment no longer has much
control over these crossings. One
has even been taken over by a
former cigarette smuggler who saw
a chance for greater prot in this
gateway between lands. In regards
to the situation on the ground, Amos
summed up the situation by saying
that a lot of it is just plain odd.
Though this conict has been
compared to the recent rebellion in
Egypt, Amos argues that there are
some major distinctions between
the two. The Syrian uprising began
as a response to intelligence ofcialstorturing and refusing to release
a group of teenagers who had
been tagging buildings with anti-
government grafti. Activists who
had helped organize the protests in
Egypt took what they had learned
and applied it to Syria spreading
the word through Facebook, Twitter,
and other social media sites.
Satellite news channels also
helped spread the news, which
helped to counter the news blackout
the government initiated soon after
the combat began. The loyalist
government actually threw all of
the international media out of the
country and began issuing propa-
ganda that the rebellion was a revolt
of foreigners, started and run by
people outside the country and not
by actual Syrians. The rebels coun-
tered with their own propaganda
on Youtube, using whatever means
they could to document what was
actually happening in the country. It
quickly turned into a battle of the
narratives, with both the govern-
ment and rebels working hard to
convince fellow Syrians and the rest
of the world to believe their version
of events. Despite the continued
ghting on the ground, Amos points
out that through the rampant propa-
ganda and cyber warfare used by
both sides, The conict in Syria has
morphed into a media war.
However, one of the main things
that separates this conict from the
one in Egypt is the loyalty of the
various institutions. In Egypt, when
the rebellion began to gain traction,
most members of the Army found
themselves with the same gripesand issues as the rebels. As such,
they joined forces and helped the
Egyptian rebels in many ways. In
Syria, the Assad family has ruled
for so long that there are essentially
no government institutions that are
separate from the family. As such,
rebels can expect no help from any
Syrian armed forces, as they are
largely tied to the ruling family and
other loyalists.
Another factor in this conict is
the youth bulge in Syrias popula-
tion. More than 60 percent of the
population is under 30 years old and
a large majority of the youth is well
educated. They have taken up the
responsibility to free their country
from what they see as an oppres-
sive regime and became a sort of
vanguard of young people leading
the rebellion. Many had to sneak
out to protest and ght against the
wishes of their parents and then later
helped to educate their parents on
how to aid the rebellion.
One of the worst casualties in
this war seems to be the country of
Syria itself. The number of refugees
eeing the country is expected to
continue to grow, despite the fact
that neighboring countries do not
have the space or the financial
means to sustain such a growth in
population. Allegations that the Syr-
ian government is attacking civilians
continue to be made.
The conict shows no obvious
signs of ending soon and the Syrians
who began the rebellion sit back in
forced despair as their war starts
to become inuenced by outside
sources. The rebels are willing totake help from any source that will
supply it and as a result, have found
themselves allying with extremist
groups and foreign governments
alike. There are so many groups in-
volved in the conict now that even if
Assad falls, there will likely be some
sort of power struggle to determine
who gets to be in charge of the war-
torn country. As Amos pointed out,
Syria has the potential to re-shape
the geopolitical landscape, and
there is currently no plan for who
will assume command if the conict
ends with a rebel victory. Syria has
fundamentally changed [and] no
one in the opposition knows how
the country should look afterward.
As Amos impressed upon the
audience the gravity of the situa-
tion and the dire need for solutions
in both areas of humanitarian aid
for the refugees and planning for
the future of the country in general,
she remarked of the United States
policy of trying not to act without
understanding the ramifications,
inaction also has consequences.
Jordan Francis
Staff Writer
ALL PHOTOS MICHAEL RODGERS / OREDIGGER
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
Oredigger Staff
Katie Huckfeldt
Editor-in-Chief
Deborah GoodManaging Editor
Steven WooldridgeWebmaster
Barbara AndersonDesign Editor
Lucy OrsiBusiness Manager
Ian MertzCopy Editor
Arnaud FilliatAsst. Copy Editor
Trevor CraneContent Manager
Stephen HejducekContent Manager
Katerina GonzalesContent Manager
David TauchenFaculty Advisor
Headlines from around the worldLocal News
Arnaud Filliat,Asst. Copy Editor
Arnaud Filliat,Asst. Copy Editor
Pennsylvania, United States - Last year a
team of physicists showed how to undo the cof-
fee-ring effect, which occurs when drops of liquid
with suspended particles dry, leaving a ring-shaped
stain at the drops edges. The team discovered
that different particles make smoother or rougher
deposition proles depending on their shape.
Switzerland - Scientists at Empa,
the Swiss Federal Laboratories for
Materials Science and Technology,
developed thin lm solar cells on ex-
ible polymer foils with a new record
efciency of 20.4% for converting sun-
light into electricity. The cells are based
on copper indium gallium (di)selenide
(CIGS) known for its potential to pro-
vide cost-effective solar electricity.
Vienna, Austria - Each cell has regulatory re-
gions that control which genes are active at any
time. Scientists at the Research Institute of Molec-
ular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna recently developed
a method that reliably detects these regions and
measures their activity. Genes carry the instruction
for proteins but they are a minority of the entire ge-
nome sequence (two percent in humans).
London, England - The quantum law of entanglement may hold the
key to the teleportation of quantum information. Researchers at Cam-
bridge, University College London, and the University of Gdansk, worked
out how entanglement could be recycled to increase the efciency of these
connections. Quantum teleportation involves transmitting particle-sizedbites of information across vast distances.
The United States is about half-
way through the current u season
and although it is hitting the elderly
hardest, 29 children have also
died from inuenza. 48 states re-
ported widespread geographic in-
uenza activity and more than 5,000
people were sick enough to be
hospitalized. The early season has
caused a run on u vaccines, and
now some areas report shortages.
However, according to the Centers
for Disease Control, u vaccine mak-
ers were able to squeeze out 10 mil-
lion more doses than expected for a
total of 145 million.Lance Armstrong admitted
to having used performance en-
hancing drugs in all seven of his
tour de France wins on Oprah Win-
freys Network last week. He admit-
ted to using erythropoietin (EPO),
blood transfusions, human growth
hormone, testosterone, and corti-
sone. Armstrong is expected to re-
ceive legal ramications as a result of
his admitting to using performance
enhancing drugs.
A recently hired security of-
cer left a handgun unattended in a
Michigan charter school bathroom.
No children were exposed to the
handgun. Recent events such as
the Connecticut school shooting
in which 20 children and six schoolemployees were killed has led to the
NRA calling for armed guards
at every school and the president
calling for more gun control in an at-
tempt to curb violence.
Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Mar-
chionne recently announced that
theAlfa Romeo brand will return
to the United States by year-end,
launching with the new 4C sports
car. Alfa Romeo was one of the
most popular Italian brands sold in
the country, but abandoned the US
market two decades ago due to a
variety of problems, including poor
quality. Marchionne said that the
powertrain was of particular concern
and stressed that it had to have the
right feel and even the right sound
associated with Alfas of the past. He
reassured reporters saying, Alfa Ro-
meo is coming. There is not a single
doubt.French troops launched their
frst ground operation against
Islamist rebels in Mali on Wednes-
day in an attempt to get rid of al-Qaida-linked ghters. France called
for international support against the
Islamist insurgents that are a threat
to Africa and the West. French army
chief Edouard Guillaud said that
French military strikes were being
hampered due to militants using civil-
ian populations as shields. He further
said that we categorically refuse to
make the civilian population take a
risk. If in doubt, we will not shoot.
23 hostages and 32 militants
were killed after an attack on a
natural gas plant deep in Alge-
ria. 107 foreign hostages and 685
Algerian hostages have also been
released. The nal raid launched by
Algerias military at the In Amenas
plant led to the death of several al-
Qaida-linked militants and seven
hostages. The militants said Friday
before the raid that they would ex-
change two American citizens for
two people being held in the UnitedStates, the blind sheik Omar Ab-
del Rahman, convicted in the 1993
bombing of the World Trade Center,
and Aae Siddiqque, a 40 year old
Pakistani neuroscientist who was
convicted of attacking U.S. soldiers
in Afghanistan. The United States
did not complete the trade.
Last Saturday night, a spe-
cial dance performance raised
money for a local ballerina anddance teacher. In October, the
22 year old dancer was hit by a
car while walking home from a
performance. She suffered se-
vere injuries and will be moved
to a traumatic brain rehabilitation
center later this month. Dancers
from 15 studios around the met-
ro area put on the performance
to raise money for medical bills.
In Aurora, Colorado, police
responded to shooting last Fri-
day night. A woman was found
with multiple gunshot wounds
inside her home. Police identi-
ed a possible suspect in the
neighborhood and surrounded
his home and took him into cus-tody. The relationship between
the suspect and victim is un-
known and no identities are be-
ing released at this time.
In Westminster, Colorado, a
re destroyed a home late Sat-
urday night. The home was fully
engulfed in ames by the time
reghters arrived. No one was
in the home during the re but
two neighbors were forced to
ee their home with the ames
began to spread. The re took
over an hour to extinguish and
two families are currently dis-
placed.
A young boy from Aurora,Colorado is being released from
the hospital after a 202 day stay.
The child, Gavyn, was paralyzed
from the neck down after a car
accident. Gavyn will never walk
and may never speak again,
but he has been doing remark-
able well. The family is working
hard to remodel their home for
Gavyns return home.
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The Spring 2013 semester is
upon us, and with that comes the
cornerstone event that the CSM
Graduate Student Association
(GSA) has become known for, The
Conference on Earth & Energy Re-
search (CEER) 2013. The event will
take place at the Green Center on
February 21-22,
2013, showcas-
ing the best and
brightest earth-
and energy-
related research
from across the
Mines campus,
as well as other
Colorado graduate institutions.
Through a partnership forged by VP
of Research, Dr. John Poate, NREL
will be participating in CEER 2013
through presenters, judges, as well
as the opening keynote speaker.
CEER 2013 is very proud to an-
nounce that the opening and clos-
ing keynote speakers for CEER
2013 will be Dr. Dana Christensen
and Dr. Chuck Kutscher, respec-
tively.
Dr. Christensen is the Deputy
Lab Director of Science & Technol-
ogy at the U.S. Dept. of Energys
NREL, and is the VP for the Alli-
ance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
Spending more than 10 years in
DoE labs, such as Oak Ridge Natl
Labs, Los Alamos Natl Labs, and
Pacic Northwest Natl Labs, Chris-
tensen is one of the worlds leading
experts on energy technology, en-
ergy materials and chemistry, and
energy systems. As NRELs Deputy
Director for Science and Technol-
ogy he is responsible for the sci-
ence strategy, focused on position-
ing the Laboratory for delivering on
high impact solutions to the na-
tions energy challenges and goals
with particular focus on renewable
energy development and the in-
tegration of energy efciency for
buildings, industrial, and transpor-
tation sectors into the energy grid.
Christensen has a Ph.D. in Chemi-
cal Engineering from New Mexico
State University,
Master of Science
degrees in Chemi-
cal Engineering and
Civil/Environmental
Engineering from
New Mexico State
University, and an
Executive MBA
from the University of New Mexico.
Dr. Kutscher is a Founding Fel-
low for the Renewable and Sus-
tainable Energy Institute, a joint-
venture between CU-Boulder and
NREL, where he leads research on
parabolic trough solar collectors
and low-cost heliostats.
Dr. Kutscher is the past chair
and fellow for the American So-
lar Energy Society, and led the
production of Tackling Climate
Change in the U.S., which details
how energy efciency and six re-
newable technologies can greatlyreduce U.S. carbon emission by
2030. Kutscher also served as the
Chair of the 2012 World Renewable
Energy Forum held in Denver that
attracted over 2,000 participants
from over 60 nations. He has a B.S.
in physics from the State University
of New York at Albany, an M.S. in
nuclear engineering from the Uni-
versity of Illinois, and Ph.D. in me-
chanical engineering from the Uni-
versity of Colorado.
Noteworthy keynotespeakers for 2013
CEER conferenceMark Taylor
Courtesy GSA
Pennsylvania, United States
The two deposition proles of
particular interest are Poisson
and Kardar-Parisi-Zhang pro-
cesses. Poisson processes arise
when growth is random in space
and time; the growth of one re-
gion is independent of neighbor-ing regions. Kardar-Parisi-Zhang
(KPZ) occurs when growth of
an individual region depends on
neighboring regions.
A mathematical simulat ion of
these growth processes might be
a game of Tetris, but with single
square blocks with the blocks fall-
ing at random into a series of ad-
jacent columns, forming stacks.
In a Poisson process a tall stack
is just as likely to be next to a
short stack as another tall stack.
As such , Poisson processes pro-
duce a very rough surface, with
large changes in surface height
from one column to the next.
On the other hand KPZ pro-
cesses lead to blocks stickingto adjacent columns. When they
fall into a column, they do not al-
ways fall all the way to the bottom
but instead can stick to adjacent
columns at their highest point.
Thus short columns will catch up
to their tall neighbors over time,
and the resulting surfaces are
smoother. There will be fewer
abrupt changes in height from
one column to the next.
The teams experiment in-
volved drying drops of water with
differently shaped plastic par-
ticles under a microscope. They
then measured the growth fronts
of particles at the drying edge,
especially their height uctuations(the edges roughness) over time.
When using spherical par-
ticles, they found their deposition
at the edges of the drop exhibited
a classic Poisson growth pro-
cess. By changing the elongation
of the particle they found that the
growth process changed.
Elliptical particles stretched
by 20 percent produced KPZ
growth and stretching the par-
ticles further (250 percent) pro-
duced another growth process
known as Kardar-Parisi-Zhang
with Quenched Disorder.
This led to the surfaces growth
being proportional the local par-
ticle density so that particle-rich
regions get richer and particlepoor regions stay poor. The abil-
ity to control surface roughness is
important for industrial and com-
mercial applications, as rough
lms and coatings can lead to
structural weakness or poor aes-
thetics.
In the experiment surface
roughness is controlled passively
making this process an attrac-
tive alternative for more costly
smoothing processes currently in
use.
Switzerland
The technology is currently
awaiting scale-up for industrial
applications. The team succeed-
ed by modifying the propertiesof the CIGS layer that is grown
at low temperatures and which
absorbs light that contributes to
the photo-current in solar cells.
Thin lm, lightweight and exible
high-performance solar cells are
attractive for numerous applica-
tions and can be produced using
manufacturing processes that of-
fer further cost reductions when
compared to silicon based solar
cells.
Vienna , Austria
The other 98 percent is known
as dark matter and is often
dismissed as its function has
remained mostly unknown. Sci-
entists found that dark matter
or the non-coding part of DNAcontains regulatory regions that
determine when and where each
gene is expressed. This regulation
ensures that each gene is only
active in appropriate cell-types
and tissues, such as hemoglobin
in red blood cells and digestive
enzymes in the stomach. If gene
regulation fails, cells express the
wrong genes and often acquire
inappropriate functions such as
the ability to divide and prolifer-
ate, leading to diseases such as
cancer. Despite the importance of
dark matter, scientists were lim-
ited in their ability to study it due
to identication relying on indirect
means which were error prone.Scientists at the IMP in Vi-
enna developed a new technol-
ogy called STARR-seq (self-tran-
scribing active regulatory region
sequencing). STARR-seq allows
the direct identication of DNA
sequences that function as regu-
latory regions and simultaneously
measures their activity quantita-
tively in entire genomes.
Applying this technology to
Drosophila cells, the scientists
found that the strongest regula-
tors reside in both genes that de-
termine cell-types and in genes
that are required for basic cell
survival. Furthermore, they found
several regulators for each active
gene, which might provide redun-dancy to ensure robustness of
gene regulation.
London, England
It uses the entanglement law
where a pair of quantum par-
ticles (electrons or protons) are
intrinsically bound together re-
taining synchronisation that holds
whether the particles are next to
each other or on opposing sides
of a galaxy. Through this connec-
tion quantum bits of information
(qubits) can be relayed.
Previous teleportation
techniques could only send
scrambled information requir-
ing correction by the receiver or
teleportation that required an im-practical amount of entanglement
(each qubit sent would destroy
the entangled state).
The physicis ts developed a
protocol to provide an optimal
solution in which the entangled
state is recycled, so that the
gateway between particles holds
for the teleportation of multiple
objects or qubits.
They also devised a protocol
in which multiple qubits can be
teleported simultaneously, but
the entangled state degrades
proportionally to the amount of
qubits sent. While the physicists
protocol is solely theoretical, last
year a team of Chinese scientists
reported teleporting photons over143 km, breaking previous re-
cords.
Teleportation of informati on
carried by single atoms is fea-
sible with current technologies,
but teleportation of large objects
such as people or Captain Kirk is
still science ction.
Continued from page 2
GSA has become known
for, The Conference on
Earth & Energy Re-
search (CEER) 2013
There is no question about it
religions are in conict and have
been for millennia. Michael Dowd,
author of the book Thank God for
Evolution, takes on the issue of
what it means to be truly religious in
his lecture. He has a lot to say on
the subject, but his primary theme
for the lecture is that God is Reality
and Reality is God; there is no dif-
ference between the two concepts.
Dowd is a pastor who has
spoken to many people about his
Christian Naturalism, though he
says it is possible to be a Jewish
Naturalist, a Muslim Naturalist,
a Buddhist Naturalist, a HinduNaturalist, an Atheist Naturalist,
etc. We have spoken to over 1700
groups over the past 11 years, he
said. Dowd has even given TED
talks. He is a very religious man,
but believes that religious people
who follow the Bible, Quran, etc. to
the letter are blinding themselves to
reality. That reality is long gone and
has been replaced with another real-
ity many, many times over. He also
believes that reality is just a secular
name for God and uses the two
words interchangeably. The rest of
the lecture follows this theme.
Dowd rst commented on the
audience. We got a really mixed
audience [religious, anti-religious,
non-religious, or in-between], hesaid. He asked the audience to ask
him questions so he could gauge
what beliefs they had and what
concerned them. He then said We
believe that there is nothing more
important to nd the right relation-
ship to reality. To truly be saved
spiritually, this is absolutely essential.
However, Dowd argues that people
cannot rely on a book or a group of
men to accomplish this. Their reality
is no more; it is in the past, it no lon-ger applies. As a result, Dowd says
Most religious people are blind and
deaf to reality because they de-
pend on that reality to guide them.
Dowd says the most important
questions we must ask ourselves
are What is real? and What is im-
portant? This cannot be dened in
a book or by a group of men. (Dowd
constantly reinforces this outlook.)
Dowd notes that religious texts
were oral before they were written
down. These stories were allowed
to evolve un-
til they were
d e c l a r e d
rigid and un-
c h a n g i n g .
Dowd re-gards this as
a mistake as
there could
be no fur-
ther proof of
reality to be
considered. Religious people blind
themselves to new evidencefacts,
discoveries, etc.of reality because
it does not conform to their texts.
They do not establish a good rela-
tionship with reality.
As evidence, Dowd discusses
the unanimously held belief that
there is a Nested Nature of Creativi-
ty. There exists the subatomic, then
the atomic, then the molecular, then
the cells, then the organism, and it
goes on and on seemingly withoutend. Ultimately, we are a part dis-
covering the whole.
Dowd listed three things people
need: the best understanding of our
outer nature (history, etc.), the best
understanding of our inner nature
(thoughts, etc.), and death. Sci-
ence-based understanding helps us
come to terms with this.
Dowd then started accepting
questions from the audience. One
was, How can we be moral with-out religion? Dowd explained that
it is from group nature, empathy,
and compassion that people build
their moral code and he even de-
ned good and evil into simple
terms: good helps the tribe, evil
harms the tribe. Another question
was on beliefs and how people
could live without beliefs. Dowd ar-
gued that is not possible, everyone
believes in something. Still, he said
If you want to live a great life you
dont have to have otherworldly
beliefs. You
just need great
relat ionships
and great ac-
c o m p l i s h -
ment. Anotherquestion was,
Is religion
bad? Dowd
explained that
people are re-
sponsible for
a negative perception of religion
based on hatred of those who
have different beliefs. Another
question was if science should be
followed, and Dowd said that it is
important, while admitting that sci-
ence can be arrogant and full of
itself.
Dowd provided a lecture that
dealt with many deep themes. He
had much to say, but had well-
dened major themes. God is real-
ity and everyone must realize that.Nothing is supernatural. Reality is
constantly changing and people
need to be open to that, and that
is not accomplished relying on old
books and a group of men to de-
termine what this reality is. To live
a good life, one must make peace
with reality. Once that is accom-
plished, one will have a good life
and have a great relationship with
reality.
Dowd explores conceptsof religion and realityKyle Santi
Staff Writer
We believe that there is
nothing more important
to fnd the right relation-ship to reality. To truly be
saved spiritually, this is
absolutely essential.
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From Kathyrn Bigelow, direc-
tor of the critically acclaimed lm
The Hurt Locker, comes Zero
Dark Thirty, a lm that docu-
ments the search and pursuit
of Osama Bin Laden. The mostimportant thing for this movie is
to know what to expect, as the
movie has far less action than
The Hurt Locker. Although the
previews for the movie depict
a high-intensity, action packed
thriller, these sequences are
saved for the end of the lm.
Just because there are less
action sequences in Zero Dark
Thirty does not make it a bad
lm. The build-up and pursuit of
Bin Laden in the rst two hours of
the movie set a highly grave tone,
which in turn amplies the impor-
tance of the infamous manhunt.
This setup also in tensies and en-
hances the nal 30 minutes or so
when the Navy SEALS are briefedand deployed into Bin Ladens
compound.
The high tech gear and weap-
onry of the SEALS is something
to be marveled, yet it also raises
some important questions.
The viewer will likely wonder
how much can actually be re-
vealed surrounding this top-se-
cret mission and what is actually
true. The nature of the situation
is quite enigmatic, and the ev-
eryday citizen cannot distinguish
fact from ction, especially in thedepiction of a Hollywood movie.
Although the movie contains real
life events, like various unforget-
table and heinous bombings in
the Middle East, it is foolish to
fully accept everything that is pre-
sented in the lm. However, the
behind-the-scenes look at the
situation does provide illuminat-
ing insight to the high-stress work
environment of government orga-
nizations such as the CIA.
Common criticism of the lm
pertains to the amount of time it
takes to get to the action-packed
end. Viewed from an analytical
standpoint, the lmmakers used
an extended amount of time to
attempt to mimic the frustrationand prolonged waiting associ-
ated with the hunt for Bin Laden.
Interestingly enough after years
of hunting, searching, and study-
ing, Maya, the protagonist (Jes-
sica Chastain ) is not fully relieved
at the end of the lm. She spent
several years on one thing, and
this goal engulfed every aspect of
her life, even degrading her men-
tal and physical health. However,
the relief she was expecting did
not necessarily come. Revenge is
a prominent theme in the movie,and the ending is a clever com-
mentary regarding the obsession
over vengeance.
Surprisingly enough, the mov-
ie is more of an intellectual ex-
perience than that of pure action
and violence. Some of the torture
scenes are graphic and disturb-
ing, but the goal of these scenes
was to shed light on such atroci-
ties.
The best thing to do before
this movie is to expect about two
hours of setup (with the occa-
sional explosion here and there.)
After this, the viewers are reward-
ed with a stealthy and intense
depiction of precise training and
tactics orchestrated by the NavySEALSsomething everyone
can enjoy. Zero Dark Thirty is
rated R and should not be con-
sidered appropriate for younger
audiences.
Finally, after nine years of wait-
ing, movie audiences are rewarded
with a return to the magical land
of Middle-earth to experience the
unexpected journey of Bilbo Bag-
gins. Director Peter Jacksons rst
installment of J.R.R. Tolkiens The
Hobbit has accomplished not
only what he needed to, but much
more. The story, always a childrens
tale, is jovial compared to the som-
ber-toned Lord of the Rings trilogy
and is lled with bumbling trolls and
singing dwarves, who can crack
quite the bad joke.
Many detractors have com-
plained that the movie does not
follow the original storyline page
for page, and indeed Jacksonhas caught some ack for adding
characters such as Radagast the
Brown, the necromancer, Saru-
man, and Lady Galadriel. These
critics may have lost sight of what
From a literary point of view, ac-
cording to most Tolkien fans, The
Lord of the Rings is not quite as
good as the jovial story of The
Hobbit. The original trilogy was
overlaid with a serious demeanorwhereas its prequel illustrated the
positive and almost humorous life of
Bilbo Baggins, the not-so-adventur-
ous hobbit.
So when it was announced that
the Hobbit would soon appear in
theaters, fans were predictably en-
thusiastic. The plan was that after
delivering the Lord of the Rings tril-
ogy to the silver screen, Peter Jack-
son would leave to recreate King
An unexpected surprise
An unexpected disaster
Tyrel Jacobsen
Staff Writer
Stephen Hejducek
Content Manager
the Hobbit trilogy is actually try-
ing to accomplish. The book itself
is tiny, and represents just a smallportion of the Lord of the Rings
backstory. As a result, Jackson has
placed more history into the story-
line of his lm. Through The Hob-
bit trilogy, he is trying to tell the
rich history of Middle-earth in full
and can be considered a true Tolk-
ien historian. Instead of detracting
from the story, it is an honor to the
author that the full story is being
told.
Jackson also sparked con-
troversy by lming the movie at a
higher than usual frame rate. Typi-
cal movies are shot at 24 frames
per second. In contrast, An Un-
expected Journey was shot at 48
frames per second in 3-D giving
the movie a more lifelike quality.The crispness of the picture and
the clarity is something that many
viewers have likened to watching a
video game or HDTV. However, the
48 frames per second movie was
only available in select cities and
only in 3-D, so it was still easy to
view the traditional 24 frames persecond version in 2-D.
Overall, the acting was superb.
Martin Freeman in his breakout
role as young Bilbo Baggins and
Richard Armitage as King Thorin
Oakenshield complete a ne act-
ing troupe alongside Ian McKel-
len and Andy Serkis both repris-
ing roles of Gandalf and Gollum.
Somewhat intriguing was that this
set of actors resembled the School
of Mines in that there is only one
credited female lead on the cast
list; Cate Blanchett performing her
reprise role of Lady Galadriel.
In the end, this movie has ac-
complished much, and even with
its 58 score on Metacritic, time will
be the ofcial judge. Once the nextinstallments are released, many
critics may look back and decide
that The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey was also an unexpected
surprise.
Kong and then return to work on
The Hobbit. However, because
of earnings disputes with New Line
Cinema, The Hobbit was delayed
multiple times. Then, once it nally
got going, director Guillermo del
Toro suddenly stepped down from
his position within a year of pro-
duction and was soon replacedby Jackson. The announcement of
Jacksons return spurred a urry of
fantastic ideas of a return to Middle-
earth headed by Jacksons amazing
vision.
While the proverbial bar was
set very high for Peter Jackson, he
managed to fall far short. The movie
begins quite well and is almost
seamlessly accurate to the early
chapters of the novel, but soon,
miscellaneous, minor characters
are developed and begin to play a
major role. For example, in the lm
Radagast the Brown played a tre-
mendous role, and his involvement
in the storyline was blown com-
pletely out of proportion. While this
was done to tie the stories of The
Lord of the Rings to this movie, thecompletely unnecessary amounts
of allusion to Saurons rise removed
the happy nature that the novel
founded itself upon. Why Jack-
son took this approach made little
sense.
The story was a bit lackluster and
contained too much juvenile humor.
The scenes with the obese goblin
king only sought to instill anger and
portray an unnecessary amount of
computer-generated imagery (CGI).
Looking back at the original Lord of
the Rings lms made by Jackson,
he relied mostly upon good cinema-
tography and lming know-how to
create stunning scenes with watereffects and realistic ghts. However,
in this lm most of the scenes use
CGI, and they take away from the
beauty that his lms once had. The
best example of this is a falling scaf-
fold scene where the entire party of
dwarves and Bilbo are holding on
for dear life. The scaffolding chang-
es shape, contorts, and expands as
if the wood could elastically stretch
and compress at will. At the bottom
of the drop, after one of the dwarves
says, Well, that could not have got-
ten any worse, the fat goblin man-
ages to fall on top of everyone.
Examples like this deteriorated the
overall quality of the lm.While The Hobbit began as
only one movie, it ballooned to two
lms and now to three. It is likely that
this movie and its sequels are going
to be a cash cow for Jackson and
his posse. Sadly, this movie has only
earned a not-so-thrilling 6.2 out of
10 and is not worth three hours of
sitting to watch. Hopefully, the future
holds a better follow-up to this ter-
rible start.
The Hobbit received mixed reviews from fans of the Lord
of the Rings trilogy.
COURTESY WARNERS BROS. PICTURES
Mixed reviews on The Hobbit
Evan Ford
Staff Writer
Zero Dark Thirty is an intellectual experience for viewers.
COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES
Zero Dark Thirty more than an action flm
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f e a t u r e sjanuary 21, 2013 page 5
w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
Disclaimer: This column is an
opinion formed by an author whodoes not have an omniscient knowl-
edge of comics. It also contains a
fair number of spoilers for the titular
comics.
To provide fair warning, the dis-
claimer at the top is really an under-
statement. There are some major
spoilers ahead for these comics.
That being said, there is not much
point in beating around the bush.
Courtesy of these three issues, Pe-
ter Parker is dead and Doc Ock is
now Spider-Man. Yeah, that actually
happened. Now, lets take a closer
look and see what caused this in-
sanity.
As a matter of full disclosure, I
should mention that Ive kept my eye
on the Spider-Man universe enoughto know generally whats been going
on in it, but I have not actually read
many Spider-Man comics since the
One More Day story arc (a story
wherein Peter made a deal with
Mephisto, Marvels version of the
devil, to save Aunt May and make
the rest of the world forget Parkers
recently-revealed secret identity in
exchange for Peter and Mary Jane
giving up the memory of their mar-
riage). Hence, I did not pick up these
issues when they rst came out and
there were none left when I went to
go buy them later, so my knowledge
here comes largely from scans and
transcripts of these comics.
Marvels Amazing Spider-Man
#699 picks up where the prior is-sue ended. Peter Parker is dealing
with the reality that Doctor Octavius
(also known as Doctor Octopus or
Doc Ock) has managed to swap
their minds so that Doc Ocks mind
now occupies Peter Parkers super-
powered body and Parkers mind is
in Doc Ocks old, decrepit body. Ad-
ditionally, Doc Ocks body has taken
too many beatings from his battles
against Spider-Man and it is now fail-
ing and approaching death, with Pe-
ter trapped inside. As a side effect of
the mind swap, Peter and Doc Ock
have access to each others memo-
ries. Peter uses this ability to gure
out how Ock pulled off the mind
transfer (turns out he got a scan of
Peters brain when Spider-Man hadto access some of Ocks technology
to stop it, then later used that scan
to get an Octobot to swap their mind
patterns). Peter (as Ock) manages
to contact some other super-villains
and gets them to break him out of
prison. Peter then sets out with the
villains to capture Spider-Man (Doc
Ock) and try and reverse the mind
swap. Got all that?
In Amazing Spider-Man #700,
Peter, still in Ocks body, holes up
in one of Doc Ocks hideouts and
starts working on getting all the
pieces together to reverse the mind
swap while Ock (in Peters body),
noticing the news coverage about
Doc Ock breaking out of jail, decides
to leave the country so that Petercant get them together and undo
the damage. However, he later has
a change of heart and comes back
to face Peter and nds himself de-
fending Parkers friends and family
from an attack by another villain. Pe-
ter (as Ock) catches up to Ock (as
Spider-Man) and attempts to use an
Octobot to switch their minds back,
but Ock had planned ahead and
modied the Spider-Man costume
to make it immune to such attacks.
As Ocks body begins to fail and Pe-
ter starts to die, he manages to get
the Octobot to beam his memories
into both of their minds, forcing DocOck to briey live through all of the
Peter Parker memories to which he
now has access. Overcome with
the enormity of all Peter has been
through and all he does in spite of
his circumstances, Ock accepts
Peters dying charge to be a hero
and vows to become an even better
Spider-Man than Parker ever was.
Upon hearing this, Peter dies and
Ock steps into his role as the Supe-
rior Spider-Man. Still keeping up?
The Superior Spider-Man #1
chronicles Ocks rst steps into the
world of heroism. It is not a perfect
transition. He still talks like the ego-
maniacal supervillain he has always
been and he tends to run away
from ghts he thinks he cannot win.Strangely enough though, Ock nds
his self-preservation instincts occa-
sionally overridden by the desire to
protect others, even going so far as
to use his own body to shield a po-
lice ofcer from harm. Ock has also
managed to renew Parkers relation-
ship with Mary Jane and is thor-
oughly enjoying the various perks
that come with dating her. When he
goes to confront the villains who he
ran from earlier, he nally gets to do
the one thing he, as a bad guy, has
never been able to do beforewin.
He refuses to stop at simple vic-
tory and begins beating one villain
to death. However, he nds himself
strangely unable to deliver the kill-
ing blow and, in his confusion, will-ingly hands over the bad guys to the
police. On the nal page, the reader
discovers that somehow, some form
of Peter Parker still exists in his body
and while Doc Ock cannot see or
sense him, Parker has some very
limited control over what his body
does. Knowing that Doc Ock cannot
hear him, Peter declares doesnt
matter. You dont get to kill. I wont
let you. I dont know how, but I am
still in the ght. I AM Peter Parker,
and I swear I will nd a way back!
So, to summarize, Peter Parker and
Doc Ock switched bodies, Peter
died in Doc Ocks body, Ock is now
Spider-Man and living Peter Parkers
life, and Peter still retains enough of
a presence in his own body to makesure Doc Ock acts like a hero.
Obviously, this move is causing
a lot of controversy, but the Marvel
writers are due some credit. They
have done what many thought was
impossible, they made life worse for
Spider-Man. He has had loved ones
die in his arms, been beaten to pulp
a thousand times over, had the entire
world hunting him, had to question
whether or not he was a clone, been
to an alternate dimension where he
had died, and once was forced into
a literal deal with the devil, but now
he gets to almost powerlessly watch
as one of his worst enemies lives his
life. I mean, Peter doesnt even get
to rest in death. He has to expend
his energy trying to stop Ock fromdoing anything too horrible. And lets
not avoid the awkward, Doc Ock is
trying hard to get as far as he can
with Mary Jane. While she thinks
hes Peter. So technically, if he suc-
ceeds, its rape. And now, with Pe-
ter in his head, itll be a rape Peter
has to watch and probably wont be
able to do much about. Also, that
relationship is creepy, not just be-
cause of the age difference between
them or the fact that its not actually
Peter, but also because Doc Ock
once came very close to marrying
Aunt May in Amazing Spider-Man
#131. As if that didnt make thingscreepy enough, Doc Ock and Aunt
May got a little bit of an early start on
their wedding night right before the
(thankfully interrupted) ceremony. An
early start of which, thanks to the
body swap and the memory sharing,
Peter now has intimate knowledge.
Ew. Also, the readers do not have a
particularly compelling reason to be-
lieve that this new Superior Spider-
Man will stay good. Sure, hes got
Peter as a sort of a failsafe hidden
conscience in his head now, but that
could just as easily drive him to rebel
against the desires of his old nem-
esis as it could propel him towards
more acts of good, especially if and
when he gures out the source of
this newfound moral compass. Thisdeal just seems to be getting worse
all the time.
One of the most common de-
fenses of this story involves pointing
out that other heroes, such as Bat-
man (from DC) and Captain America
(Marvel) have been temporarily re-
placed and those comics turned
out ne and even provided some
fairly interesting stories with com-
pelling character development. The
problem with this defense is that the
heroes in those cases had at least
some hand in choosing and training
their replacements. In the cases of
Batman and Captain America, their
replacements were their former pro-
tges, Bucky and Robin, respect-
fully. Doc Ock is not Peters prot-ge. Spidey hasnt spent countless
hours impressing upon this guy his
perspective on right and wrong, his
ways to ght, live, and how to accept
and move on from mistakes. Heck,
this wasnt even some random guy
on the street to whom a dying and
desperate Peter chose to pass on
his legacy, hoping that this person
would ght the good ght in his
stead. No, this was one of Spider-
Mans greatest foes, one of Peters
worst enemies who fought against
everything Parker stood for, then
stole his life along with his costume.
Bucky and Robin were trained
by their mentors to continue their
work, even if that meant one day
replacing the irreplaceable legendsBatman and Captain America had
become. Doc Ock had to be very
close to Peters last choice on the
list of people hed want to some-
day take on his mantle. Doc Ock
standing in that suit, a suit he did
not earn, is a huge insult to every-
thing those red and blue webbed
tights represent.
So yes, I am mad about this
situation. When I rst found out
about these issues, I ranted long
and hard to anyone who would
listen. Im mad at how Peter was
treated. Im mad about the death
he was given. Heres the thing
that a lot of fans are skipping over
though: Peter is coming back. This
is comics, nobody stays dead ex-cept Uncle Ben. Also, Spider-Man
is pretty much the Mickey Mouse
of Marvel. He is one of their most
recognizable characters to comic
fans and, more importantly, non-
comic fans alike. The man who
deserves to wear that mask is not
staying gone, especially not with
the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie
on the way (it is slated to come out
May 2014). Marvel can make stu-
pid moves, but they are not stupid
when it comes to proting from their
movie tie-ins. Additionally, one of
the big complaints I hear a lot from
comic fans (either directly or in theundercurrents of what they say) is
that they want to see some variety
in the characters they love. They
want to see writers take chances
and shake up the status quo. Then,
when the writers do take a chance
and change things up (in the safest
way possible because, as Ive point-
ed out, hes not staying dead long),
the fans explode on them and call
for their heads. Thats not an exag-
geration, by the way. Dan Slott, the
most recent writer for the Amazing
Spider-Man series and the current
Superior Spider-Man series, re-
ceived multiple death threats over
these issues. Were this a permanent
change, I think this would be a hor-
rible way to leave things in the Spi-der-Man universe, but knowing that
it is temporary, Im fairly interested to
see what kind of stories can come
out of this situation. Im curious
how Parker, when he nally makes
it back, is going to handle the fallout
from any trouble Ock causes during
his time as the Superior Spider-Man.
I also really want to see a couple of
team-ups with other Marvel heroes,
just to see Doc Ock try and inter-
act with other do-gooders. Also, Ill
admit, I really want to see a cross-
over between this Spider-Man and
Deadpool, just to see what kind of
chaos results. Plus, split personali-
ties, in the right hands, can be really
entertaining, especially in this case
once Doc Ock actually recognizesPeters presence. Am I saying this
run will be good? No. But Dan Slotts
a good writer and this is a compel-
ling premise, so I am at least willing
to give it a chance to be interesting
and enjoyable. Finally, whether this
story is good or bad, the fact is that
the controversy is getting Spider-
Man comics some serious attention.
People who only know him through
other media are getting interested inthe comics and people who barely
read his comics are getting back
into them. If youre heavily into the
comics industry/medium, you have
to have been living under a rock the
past few weeks not to have noticed
this. Amazing #700 alone has sold
over 250,000 copies thus far. In ev-
ery comic shop Ive gone to lately, all
of these issues have either sold out
or theres only one left and its be-
ing sold for a much higher price. No
matter what people are saying with
their words, their wallets are telling
Marvel that this was a good move,
so if you really hate it, dont buy the
comics and stop talking about it so
youll stop spreading the word and
piquing peoples interests. If youcant stand this change, ignore it til
its over, because honestly, Id guess
this might last about a year maxi-
mum before Peter Parkers back
and swinging around New York
once more.
When I rst started discussing
these issues, I fully expected to trash
everything related to this storyline
and afterwards and refuse to touch
anything related to this stupid idea.
Now that Ive had a chance to cool
down and think about it, Im still not
going to go rush out and buy ev-
ery variant cover for this run, but if
a couple of good stories come up
or the trades from this series get
collected together, Ill probably put
some effort into getting my handson them. Ill even stick around if
Mephisto shows up again and of-
fers to annul this whole storyline in
exchange for the memory of another
marriage, as long as its the one be-
tween Aunt May and Doc Ock.
Comic Corner: The Spider-Man universeentangles readers in an intricate webJordan Francis
Staff Writer
In Amazing Spider-Man #699, Peter Parker and Doctor
Octopus have swapped minds.
COURTESY MARVEL COMICS
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
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RECEiVE a fREE GaRbaNzO DEal* wiTh ENTRE PuRChaSE(*Grno De ncdes yor coce o sde nd ontn drn or reed ce te.)
Due to the improved sound qual-ity of headphones like Beats by Dr.Dre, people have started to switchfrom earbuds to over-the-ear head-phones. Anyone who enjoys anddislikes the pain caused by typicalearbuds should consider switchingto over-the-ear headphones. For
those lacking the budget for top ofthe line headphones like Beats, asmart and affordable option is theiB45 Headphones from iHome.
Anyone who has ever owned aniPod, is likely familiar with the iHomebrand. The nice thing about thebrand is their considerably high qual-ity and affordability. For $30, theseheadphones are great for collegestudents looking for a way to listen totheir music on the go.
The iB45 Headphones havesome innovative features. Theycome with a carrying pouch and foldinward on both sides, which is per-fect for keeping them in a backpackgoing to and from classes. Not onlyare they compact and portable, the
sound quality is superb. The bass issmooth and loud while the quality ofthe sound produced by the 40mmdrivers allows the listener to hearsubtle auditory details in songs he orshe would not be able to hear withmost earbuds or laptop speakers.
Aesthetics are always important,and the iHome headphones deliverwith sleek and stylish design. Atrst glance, the iB45 could be con-fused with the more expensive Beatsheadphones. Not only do the head-phones look good, they also feelgood. Comfort is probably the mostimportant feature next to sound, andthe adjustable band, padded cush-ions, and lightweight design all con-tribute to a high level of comfort.
For $30, its hard to beat theseheadphones in terms of quality, por-tability, style, and comfort. Even bet-ter, for those that are skeptical aboutthe purchase, the iB45 iHome Head-phones come with a lifetime warran-ty, so if they ever break they can beeasily replaced. For anyone sick ofearbuds and wishing to upgrade toheadphones, the iB45 Headphonesare a great starting point for studentson a budget.
Evan Ford
Staff Writer
iB45 Head-phones aniHomerun
Assassins Creed 3, the fth
installment of the popular fran-chise, takes players to the be-ginning of the Revolutionary War.Connor, an American Indian, mustght to protect his home and, in
doing so, realizes that his life willnever be the same. As the contin-uation of an established franchise,Assassins Creed 3 builds uponthe previous games, providingsome new features, but in otherways falling short.
For example, the single playerstory does not live up to its pre-decessors. The graphics are notanything special. On a PlayStation3, the game looks the same asthe others in the series. However,the main problems come from themultitude of glitches. Many of the
single player missions must bedone just right to be completedeven if there are multiple waysto achieve the objective. Evenworse, the story is too predict-able. The few plot twists breakup the monotony, but they cannotmake up for the storys simplic-ity. Sadly, the shortening of the
single player mode throughouteach new installment has contin-ued as well. The main story line inAssassins Creed 3 is simply notlong enough. A lot of parts couldhave easily been expanded, whichwould have made this game muchmore enjoyable.
Although the single player issomething of a disappointment,the improved multiplayer some-what makes up for it. The additionof a cooperative mode, Wolfpack,really brings another level to thegame. In this mode, teams of four
players kill various targets in aneffort to complete 25 sequences.
Along the way, optional objectives,such as getting an aerial kill, offerchances to increase the scores.
This mode is a nice break from thecompetitive modes, which havenot changed very much since theirbeginning. However, Steal the Ar-
tifact was removed from the lineupand Chest Capture was replacedwith Domination. Domination cre-ates a unique challenge for play-ers. The goal is to capture andhold territories, which is vastly dif-ferent from the usual objectives ofsimply killing other players.
In addition, Ubisoft added manynew abilities to the lineup. Manyof these, such as glimmer, whichmakes a player invisible for a shortperiod of time, provide many newways to achieve the objectives.Old standbys, such as poison
and smoke bombs, still exist, butthe level required to unlock themis somewhat higher than it hadbeen in previous games. If play-ers do not want to wait to unlockcertain abilities, then they may useErudito credits, which provide away to get around the level locks.
This holds true for ability sets as
well, which also had an upgrade.Instead of two abilities per set, aplayer may assign three. The thirdspot is reserved for a ranged abil-ity, such as throwing knives or thehidden gun. This is a nice changein that players have more availableto them. However, sadly, there arenot many new places to use theseitems. The game comes with onlyfour base maps. Although this isinteresting in the beginning, a fewmore would make this game muchmore enjoyable.
One of the nicer upgrades to
the game is the character cus-tomization in multiplayer. In ad-dition to clothing unlocked as aplayer levels up, each characterhas many costumes that can beused from level one. Some char-acters even have costumes fromprevious games. Players can alsoadd war paint to their characters,
so no two are alike.The multiplayer portion of As-
sassins Creed 3 shows a lot ofthought on Ubisofts part; howev-er, it simply does not make up forthe problems in the single playercampaign. The multitude of glitch-es take away from the gameplay,and the short, predictable storyline leaves a lot to be desired.Future updates may make thecampaign run smoother as wellas extend the story, but, as is, As-sassins Creed 3 only shines as amultiplayer game.
Assassins Creed 3: An imperfect trip to the pastEmily McNair
Staff Writer
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
R i d e w i t h P R i d eThe Colorado School of Mines Alumni Associaon partners with Colorado DMV
to oer special Mines license platesHeres how it works:1. Purchase the DMV required cercate ($50 payable to CSMAA) at mam.m/ma.2. Redeem your cercate at a Colorado DMV branch, where youll be asked for an addional $50.3. Aach your plates and Ride with Pride!
MinesAluMni.coM/MinesplAtes
Geek Week...Dani Hering, Senior: Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
ofthe
Jordan Francis
Staff Writer
Almost all of us at Mines have,
at some point, run into that rare
brand of geek who manages to
simultaneously maintain both their
nerd status and regular social inter-
action. However, this weeks geek
is of an even rarer breed. Senior
Metallurgical and Materials major
Dani Hering is among the few who
can actually convince fellow nerds
to participate in various forms of
social activities. Whether shes
inviting new people to a random
game of dodgeball or cracking
Scooby-Doo jokes with friends in a
game of League of Legends (LoL),
Hering certainly understands that
geekiness is a dish best enjoyed
with others.[Oredigger]: Why did you go
for a major in Metallurgical and
Materials Engineering?
[Hering] My best friend talked
me into it.Whats been your favorite
class so far?
Electrical Properties of Materi-
als. The professor was awesome
and the class was interesting. Id
recommend it to anyone in Met-
allurgy, Physics, or anyone who
wants a fun, [but] hard class.Are you a geek and why?
Well, I go to Mines, so I have to
be at least sort of a geek. Id say
the most geeky thing about me is
I love to watch people play video
games. I can watch for hours and
hours. My current favorite is LoL.
Its great.How do you occupy your
spare time?
I really like taking naps, but
when my friends convince me, Ill
go running, rock climbing, play
indoor soccer, or just chill with
friends and watch them play LoL.
Whats been your greatest
accomplishment thus far?
I guess Im proud of the soccer
team, since Ive played varsity
just the achievements weve had
over the past four seasons. Ill re-
ally miss the girls and the people
from Christian Challenge, which is
a group I helped start.How would you react in the
event of a massive squirrel up-
rising against humanity?
If you cant beat em, join em.
Squeak squeaker squeak squeak-en.Would you rather be able to
travel through time or stop it
temporarily?
Stop it temporarily. You could
stop at an embarrassing moment
and run away. Or, you could make
someone else have an embar-
rassing moment by moving things
and being a jerk. Or, I could do my
homework and hang with friends.
If you could be dropped
into any fctional setting, what
would it be and why?
I would get dropped into the
Mistborn series by Brandon
Sanderson, [but] only if I were a
Mistborn because I would want to
use all their cool powers.Whats your favorite thing
about Mines?
I really appreciate the friend-
ships Ive developed at Mines. You
can be friends with anyone be-
cause weve all struggled through
what Mines is.
Whats your best nerd story?
In the Metallurgy computer lab,
someone started an argument
about one of the rst episodes
of Pokmon when Ash is ghting
Brock, Pikachu against Onix, and
Ash goes to recall Pikachu with
the Pok ball. They were argu-
ing about whether the beam that
came from the Pok ball was a
straight beam or a lightning bolt. I
said it was a lightning bolt and we
went to look it up on YouTube. Ev-
eryone was freaking out, saying itcouldnt be a lightning bolt and I
was right.If you could turn any inani-
mate object (or set of inani-
mate objects) sentient, what
would you choose and why?
I think shoes because theyd
have so many different person-
alities and then theyd run away
when you tried to put them on and
itd be funny and youd have an
excuse not to get to class on time
in the snow.
Do you have any plans for
the future?
Im planning on going back to
Bangladesh this summer for lan-
guage and cultural exchange and
then Im still praying about where
God wants me to go after that.Do you have any advice for
fellow geeks and Mines stu-
dents?
If you dont love it, you should
probably not do it as a career. So
think about that before deciding
to graduate with a degree in engi-
neering from Mines.
Geek of the Week, Dani Hering, plans to return to
Bangladesh after graduation.
JORDAN FRANCIS / OREDIGGER
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
The immersive and beautifu l
world of Far Cry 3 is entertaining,
as the intelligent storytelling and
elaborate plot establish a foot-
hold for video games as a new
(and unexpected) medium of art.
Many view video games are anavenue to mindless violence, but
the deeper layers of the journey
contained in Far Cry 3 are sure
to conjure astounding emotional
responses.
Far Crys franchise is known
for their single player campaigns
and for good reason. In the third
installment of the title (all games
surround unrelated characters
and settings, so do not worry
about the previous games), a
group of college-age thrill seek-
ers end up on a tropical island
in the South Pacic. Known as
Rook Island, this place is tainted
with a sordid past of Chinese
Treasure Fleets, WWII war crimes,
drug dealing, and more. Now pi-rates that conduct a heinous
slave trade dominate the island.
These pirates capture the player
and your friends and their sadistic
leader begins to torment your ex-
istence. Also inhabiting the island
are the native people fed up with
the oppression, and so begins
a revolution. Many threats apart
from the murderous pirates ex-
ist on the island, including tigers,
sharks, and even komodo drag-
ons. To survive, the player must
embrace the ways of the jungle
and become a warrior.
The path begins with inno-
cence, but in the quest to sur-
vive and save your friends, you
COURTESY UBISOFT PUBLISHERS
become submerged in violence.
This journey alludes to the novel
Heart of Darkness, and as the
player ventures deeper and deep-
er into the depth of the jungle, the
line between sanity and madness
becomes blurred. Missions and
narratives in this game are capa-
ble of shocking your socks off,
as well as evoking spine-chillingeeriness. Quotes from Alice in
Wonderland often appear in load-
ing screens, and elevate the pur-
pose of the storyline to another
level.
Not only is the story of the
game highly alluring,
the action sequenc-
es and options for
customization are
sure to t all play
styles. Whether one
enjoys aggressive
and loud weaponry,
or rather a silenced
and stealthy arse-
nal (complete with
recurve bow), Far
Cry 3 presents bothpreferences for the
player to decide.
The game does not
contain an extreme-
ly large number of
weapons (around
30 all-together), but
nearly every gun
can be outtted for
personal prefer-
ence. Additionally,
the game presents
an intricate skill tree
that progresses over
time, granting play-
ers a variety of spe-
cial abilities like ad-
vanced takedowns
and prolonged sprint. These
skills come in handy when trying
to clear an enemy camp without
alerting any of the guards.
Aside from the main storyline,
there are other activities to take
part in on Rook Island. Racing
leagues, minor quests, hunting,
knife throwing, wanted posters,
relic hunting, supply drops, ra-dio tower activations, lost letters,
and the crafting of syringes and
equipment all keep the player
busy. Instead of rushing through
the main story, try to savor the
experience of this videogame by
slowing accomplishing all of these
minor tasks in-between missions.
Some small aspects of this
game do deserve some criticism.
Most notably, minor characters in
this game have low sound qual-
ity when talking. Initially this is a
disturbance, but as time goes on,
the other qualities of this game
outweigh this problem. The multi-player is also lackluster. Because
the focus of Far Cry 3 is an un-
matched single player story, this
is understandable, but it should
be noted that the game does
have its limitations. It is recom-
mended that the user play the
game on the hardest difculty
and attempt to gather 100% of
the items in order to maximize the
value and splendor of the story.
Rushing through each mission
would denitely subtract from the
experience. Honestly, the single
player is so good (worthy of a re-
play in the future), that the gameis a must play. Far Cry 3 not only
advances the sandbox FPS genre
(and videogames as an artistic
medium), but also induces rich
emotional responses and unfor-
gettably gratifying gameplay.
Far Cry 3 shows a visually striking landscape that immerses the player in an alternate world.
Far Cry 3 immerses players with artistic gameplayEvan Ford
Staff Writer
Toward the end of last semes-
ter, Sigma Lambda members pro-
vided crayons, markers, and brown
bags in the student center atrium
for anyone in need of a quick study
break to volunteer for Project Angel
Heart. Members of Sigma Lambda
took the doodling opportunity se-riously and also spent many club
meetings decorating bags.
One might ask, What is Project
Angel Heart? The goal of the or-
ganization is to provide free meals
with love for people of all ages
with life-threatening illnesses in
Denver, Colorado Springs, and the
surrounding area. The organization
started in 1991, when its mem-
bers received a pan of lasagna and
served it to their rst twelve clients.
In their twenty-rst year, the orga-
nization is now serving over 800
clients every week.
There are many volunteer op-
portunities in Denver Metro Areafor the CSM clubs and commu-
nity to take part in. Sigma Lamb-
da sponsors three public service
events each academic year. Its
members strive to nd volunteer
ventures that engage students and
Esther Lowe
Staff Writer
are entertaining as well as bene-
cial. The Project Angel Heart bag
decoration endeavor provided the
perfect opportunity for engineers
to use their creative talents while
honoring and protecting the dignity
and emotional health of those living
with life-threatening illnesses.
Later this semester, Sigma
Lambda will sponsor its annual
spring Safe Zone event. The clubpresident, Jon Pritchard, explained,
I would say that Safe Zone is our
way of reaching out to the cam-
pus community to promote a more
accepting and informed student
body.
Sigma Lambda studentsdonate time and food
Whether it is called ping-pong or
table tennis, CSM has a club that al-
lows for both the best players and
the novice to get together and have
a great time playing the sport. The
president of the Ping-pong Club,
Tim Musgrove, organized a time
and place to train and hone the
skills of every person interested.Besides the fact that it will be
distinctive on any rsum, the Ping-
pong Club is a great way to relax
and forget about homework. There
are many other benets, physi-
cally and mentally, for taking up
this tabletop sport. Physically, ping-
pong is light on the body and is a
simple way to work up a sweat and
increase heart rate. Mentally, the
planning and strategizing involved
in this activity helps the brains re-
sponse time.
To anyone wondering whether
there is a registration fee of some
kind, there is no need to worry.
Musgrove said, Anyone can come
by and play, theres no signing up
for anything.
Currently, Ping-pong Club
meets every Saturday, from 4 to 6
pm. However, if the timing is incon-
venient, Musgrove can adjust the
schedule to meet popular demand.
He said, If enough people come to
me and complain about it, I can al-
ways change it.
I think people believe they needto attend every meeting, Musgrove
said. Its a fun club and you dont
have to worry about staying the
whole time or making every meet.
Due to the small membership of
the club, many of the planned activ-
ities have yet to take place. Weve
already organized a few intramural
tournaments, Musgrove said. Im
trying to set up more tournaments,
but more people need to come by
rst.
For those looking for a great way
to relieve stress and have some fun
with a fast-paced tabletop game,
Ping-pong Club is the place to be.
Chinmay Upadhyay
Staff Writer
Ping-pong Clubunder the spotlight
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
The Colorado School of Mines
Mens basketball team squared off
against UCCS Friday night in Lock-
ridge arena coming off of a tough
loss to crosstown rival Metro State.
This season, however, the Oredig-gers have typically responded well
after a loss and it was no differ-
ent against UCCS as Mines used
a strong second half to pull out the
82-66 victory.
Both teams found it tough es-
tablishing much of a rhythm in the
rst half. UCCS led early 7-2 but
neither side could muster more
than a ve point lead during any
point in the rst 20 minutes. Both
offenses struggled to score, and
if it was not for an 11-12 perfor-
mance from the free throw line by
the Orediggers, the game could
have gotten out of hand early on.
Still, behind 11 rst half points from
sophomore guard Brian Muller, the
Orediggers held a 32-30 lead atthe break.
Whatever the Orediggers were
missing in the rst half offensively,
they found in the second half, scor-
ing 50 points and opening their two
point halftime lead up to 21 points
with just under three minutes re-
maining. After turning the ball over
10 times and shooting just 37.5%
in the rst half, the Orediggers re-
bounded in the second session to
shoot 55.6%. While the Oredig-
gers also recorded 10 second half
turnovers, they forced UCCS into
12 of their own and got to the free
throw line 21 times in the second
half, making 17 of them to cement
the win.
When the nal buzzer hadsounded, it was Mines 82 and
UCCS 66. The win brings the Ore-
diggers overall record to 9-5, 6-4
in the RMAC and drops UCCS to
2-12, 2-8 in the RMAC. As a team,
Mines shot 47% from the eld,
33.3% from three, and nearly 85%
from the charity stripe.
The second half offensive bar-
rage was led by Muller and center
Trevor Wages who combined for 31
second half points. Each player tal-
lied 24 apiece for the game to lead
all players in scoring. Wages led
the Orediggers with 11 rebounds
on the night to keep his season
average at 10.8 boards per game.
Muller added three rebounds, three
assists, a block and a steal to his24 points.
Junior Nicco Mucci tallied 12
points and ve rebounds, and Luke
Meisch scored nine to go along
with nine rebounds in his team
leading 38 minutes of play. Trey
Winbush led the reserves with six
points, three assists, and one re-
bound while making all four of his
free throws.
Mens basketball destroys UCCS 82-66Jared Riemer
Staff Writer
Trevor Wages (#32) posted 24 points against UCCS.
Brian Muller (#22) goes up for a jump shot.Trey Winbush (#5) played for 28 minutes to help contribute to a 82-66 win.
ALL PHOTOS MICHAEL RODGERS / OREDIGGER
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w w w . O R E D I G G E R . n e t
The Colorado School of Mines
wrestling team took on the Western
State Mountaineers in Gunnison,
Colorado, Friday night for a confer-
ence dual meet. Coming into the
match, freshman Paul Wilson was
riding an 11 match win streak in the
197 pound division and looked to
continue his streak while bringing
home a victory for the Orediggers.
The night started off great for the
Orediggers, with Luis Gurule beat-ing his opponent by a score of 4-3
in the 125 pound weight class to
give the rst points of the night to
Mines, 3-0. The lead was short lived
though, as the Orediggers lost their
next three matches to fall behind
3-13.
In the 157 pound bout, Fresh-
man John Crowley won by a score
of 9-6 and Sophomore Justin Frazer
scored a 7-6 victory at 165 pounds
to give Mines six more points bring-
ing them to a score of 9-13. Need-
ing just a pin to tie the dual at thir-
teen each, the Orediggers lost the
next three bouts by pin, decision,
and decision, respectively, to put
the Mountaineers ahead for good
going into the nal bout of the night,
25-9. With one match remaining,
the heavyweight division, Alec Bird
ended the night the way it started
Trevor Crane
Content Manager
The Mines mens basketball
team entered the weekend drop-
ping three of their last four games,
looking to rebound and head in a
new direction. After pulling away
from UCCS on Friday night, the
Orediggers were looking to buildon their momentum Saturday
against CSU-Pueblo during a
White-Out hosted by SAAC and
WAM.
And build on their momentum
they did, holding off the Thunder-
wolves 74-71 to earn their tenth
win of the season and their third in
the past four games.
The Orediggers earned the
win, but unlike their victory the
night before, they did not avoid
any drama in this one. Mines built
an eight point advantage late in
the game at 69-61 before stav-
ing off a furious Thunderwolf rally
that fell just short as a desperation
three point attempt clanged off the
rim at the buzzer.
Leading 69-61 with threeminutes remaining, CSU-Pueblo
would score the next eight points
in a furious 49 second barrage to
even the contest. But on the next
possession, as they had done
all night, the Orediggers found
center Trevor Wages inside for a
momentum-changing jump shot
to end the run and take the lead
for good. After a missed three by
the Thunderwolves, Wages would
convert on one of two free throws
to push the lead to 72-69.
With 16 seconds left, CSU-
Pueblos Nathan Tigner stripped
the ball from the Orediggers and
coasted in for the layup to close
the gap to 72-71. Junior Luke
Meisch then connected on two
free throws and with 12 secondsleft. CSU-Pueblo had one last
chance to send the game to over-
time, but Ryan Arels contested
three-pointer fell short at the
buzzer.
For the Orediggers, it was
yet another close win. In their 15
games this season, Mines is now
7-1 in games decided by ve
points or less. Of their seven con-
Mines hangs on for 74-71 win over CSU-Puebloference victories, six have come
by ve points or less. In Friday
nights victory over UCCS, Mines
won by 16 points. In their other
six RMAC wins, they have won by
just 21 points combined. These
late-game heroics are not what
the Orediggers had planned on,
and they may give a head coach
nightmares, but for now, they havepushed Mines into the top tier of
teams in the RMAC standings.
For Mines, the game was de-
cided in the paint, as Wages and
Meisch combined for 49 of Mines
73 points, but another deciding
factor lay at the free throw line,
where the Orediggers outscored
the Thunderwolves 19-5, taking
nearly 20 more attempts. This
disparity helped the Orediggers to
overcome a 13-2 decit in bench
scoring.
In the win, Wages led all scor-
ers with 27 points, three shy of
his career high, and added three
steals and three blocks. Meisch
added 22 points including a per-
fect 7-7 from the free throw line,
while Nico Mucci nished with 10points and Brian Muller had nine.
The victory for the Orediggers
pushes Mines to 10-5 overall and
7-4 in RMAC play. CSU-Pueblo
falls to 6-11 overall and 5-6 in
the RMAC. After closing out their
four game homestand with a win,
Mines heads on the road for six of
their next eight games, starting at
Adams State at 8 pm January 25.
Wrestling travels to Gunnison tochallenge the MountaineersJared Riemer
Staff Writerfor the Orediggers by scoring a
13-4 major decision over his oppo-
nent to bring the nal tally to 25-13.
Also in the loss, Wilsons win
streak was snapped at 11 in a hard
fought 5-2 decision. Crowleys vic-
tory earned him his team leading,
twenty-rst victory of the season.
The Orediggers continue action Fri-
day at 7 pm at home against CSU-
Pueblo.COURTESY CSM ATHLETICS
Orediggers fall to Western State in road clash, 25-13.
The ski resorts here in Colo-
rado make the state the nations
number one ski and snowboard
destination. Colorados resorts
allow skiers and snowboarders
more time on the mountain, as the
26 resorts gener-
ally open earlier
and stay open later
than anywhere
else in the country
usually October
to April. Colorado
also has the high-
est altitude lift-
serviced terrain in
the country, mak-
ing this state an ideal location for
the Colorado School of Mines SkiTeam to compete.
During the 2010-2011 ski sea-
son, many ski areas across saw
the best snow falls they had seen
in decades. So far, the 2011-2012
season hasnt met the high snow
fall standards set by last season;
however, the Mines Ski Team
didnt let this dampen their spir-
its. Instead, the Ski Team used the
lack of open terrain and powder as
an excuse to train and prepare for
one of its best seasons ever.
The CSM Ski Team competes
in both Slalom and Giant Slalom
races at Loveland, Powderhorn,
Telluride, and Winter Park through-out January and February. CSM is
a part of the Rocky Mountain Con-
ference under the United States
Ski and Snowboard Association
(USSA). This conference allows the
team to compete against schools
such as CU, CSU,
Air Force, and DU.
Throughout this
semester, the team
will be competing
in multiple races
across the state.
The rst race of the
semester was Jan-
uary 19, 2013 in
Winter Park, with
the second race of the semester in
Loveland January 26 and January27. The following weekend (Feb-
ruary 2 and 3) nds the team in Tel-
luride. The team will then be racing
February 16 and 17 in Powderhorn
and February 21-23 in Red Lodge,
MT. The season wraps up with the
team in Sun Valley, ID from April 4
to April 9.
The Ski Team has its largest
team ever this year, boast
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