the oredigger issue 19 - march 19th, 2014

8/12/2019 The Oredigger Issue 19 - March 19th, 2014

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T H E O R E D I G G E R Volume 94, Issue 19 March 17, 2014

The student voice of the Colorado School of Mines

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

Sports 10

Opinion 12

Features 6

News 2

Mines hosts frack-

ing documentary

and discussion

Learn how to

make chocolatemouse cake!

Minds at Mines

asks about Spring

Break activities

MLB Spring Train-

ing Preview for the

National League

Henry Ted Kernan

Staff Writer

It is spring time at the Colorado

School of Mines and, for many people,

that means looking for or looking for-

ward to starting a job in a few months.

For those of us looking to work in

the petroleum industry, it is quite a

time! Although our age group has

massive unemployment, that hides

the fact that our industry is booming.

Any graduate that wants to work,

will. Freshmen that have expressed

an interest in petroleum engineeringare offered internships and paid three

times the countrys average salary. Its

a good place to be, and we should all

be thankful of the paths that brought

us here.

At the same time, however inflated

salaries might appear, they still do

not reflect the true value that a recent

CSM graduate could bring to a com-

pany. This is because we are at the

nexus of two tremendous booms:

technological breakthroughs in oil

extraction, and a massive growth in

computing power and the ease with

which it can be accessed. Everyone

here has heard of hydraulic fracturing

and how it has unlocked reservoirs

once thought uneconomic. At the

same time, Amazon now has serversthat offer literally unlimited computing

power to anyone with a desktop,

tablet, or smartphone at scalable pric-

ing. Even more importantly, the code

needed to harness this power is being

taught to grade school children. It is

no longer the domain of specialists,

but of the masses.

Our generation is unique. Many

The potential of a Mines degree

Nearly 50,000 attend March for Peace in Moscow to protest Russias recent invasion of Ukraine.

COURTESY DHARMIKATVA

of us were born before Windows 95

was rolled out. We may remember

our first website visit, or life before the

iPhone. Our generation is the driving

force for the transformation of the

world into digital space, and often-

times the first users of technologies

that have fundamentally changed the

way we live and communicate (Face-

book, Skype, Kayak, Pandora, etc.).

How does this relate to our jobs in

a few months? Very simply, we have

the experience and ability to remake

an industry that in many ways has not

changed since the last oil boom fortyyears ago. There is a massive amount

of value at stake: trillions of dollars of

not only physical oil and gas molecules

that the world will use to live on, but

also billions of dollars of effi ciency

hours that can be saved and used to

increase productivity.

One concrete example is right

in our backyard: Wattenberg Field.

This oil field in the Denver Basin has

been producing since the 1970s, but

amazingly it will produce more oil this

year than ever before. The reservoir

that is driving that production today is

the Niobrara Formation. The Niobrara

exists throughout the Rocky Mountain

basins, but it is only truly economic in

Wattenberg Field. What characterizes

the Niobrara in Wattenberg Field is asubsurface measurement of resistivity.

High resistivity indicates the Niobrara

will produce millions of barrels of

oil; low resistivity is not (currently)

economic.

Millions of wells have been drilled

in the United States over the decades,

and each has electric logs that were

run to test the rocks for certain

properties like resistivity. These logs

are public property held by the state

where the well was drilled. Geologists

interpret logs, traditionally by look-

ing at printed sheets that fold on to

each other inches thick. Computer

programs today allow geologists to

interpret on a screen instead, but the

process is mostly the same-- look at

each individual log and note its proper-

ties. It is time consuming and repetitive

work. Worse, every company looks at

the same logs every time. Yes, differ-

ent interpreters and shifts in geologic

thinking affect outcomes. But the bulkof the work is repeated over and over

again. This space is ripe for disruption.

In Wattenberg it is clear what the

winning strategy was for the compa-

nies that positioned themselves in the

best parts of the field. All available logs

were loaded into a computer interpre-

tation program. Each log was brought

up, the Niobrara interval identified, and

the average maximum resistivity value

captured. A map was then made of

these values, and the sweet spots

identified.

To those not famili ar with US

onshore oil and gas exploration it is

diffi cult to illustrate how much clicking,

zooming, resizing, and squinting is in-

volved. Each company that looked at

Wattenberg exerted massive amountsof human energy. However, only three

companies dominate Wattenberg be-

cause they were the fastest at identify-

ing its potential and acquiring leases.

Speed made the difference between

billions of dollars, so it is necessary to

ask, Where was the maximum effort

exerted? Part of it was in identifying

high resistivity as the driving force in

Niobrara production. This thought

process takes experience, and a

geologist with twenty or more years

in industry came up with the resistiv-

ity cutoff that defined Wattenberg

Field. But the bulk of the process, the

examination of thousands of wells and

capturing of thousands of values, was

a repeatable set of steps with clear

inputs and outputs. Quality control is

necessary but involves skills that are

basic to any young petroleum geolo-

gist. With minimal computing power

and programming, the identification

and delineation of Wattenberg couldhave been automated once the re-

sistivity cutoff was established. The

company to have done so would have

been first to the prize.

This is why our generation has

unprecedented value to petroleum

companies today. We have the skills

to take a process that has remained

unchanged for forty years and use the

experience and creativity we gained

by playing on and helping design

the internet to increase efficiency

a thousand fold. We still need the

experience and guidance of the gen-

erations before us; that knowledge

should not be lost! But we have at our

fingertips computing power that was

unimaginable when we sent men to

the moon. And we have the flexibilityto put it to use.

Unfortunately, companies do not

always see this potential. Hiring and

pay scales are still based on years of

experience, roughly the amount of

time someone chose to interact with

an HR department.

Continued at Jobson page 3


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n e w s march , page


Oredigger Staff

Lucy Orsi

Editor-in-Chief

Emily McNairManaging Editor

Taylor PolodnaDesign Editor

Connor McDonaldWebmaster

Lucy OrsiBusiness Manager

Arnaud FilliatCopy Editor

Katerina GonzalesContent Manager

Jared RiemerContent Manager

Karen GilbertFaculty Advisor

Headlines from around the worldLocal News

Dallas resident Tracy Gooddied in a sledding accident in

Marble, which is 35 miles southof Glenwood Springs. Good suf-fered a head injury while sleddingwith her family.

The six-year-old Denver stu-dent, Connor Johnson, thatstarted an online petition to saveNASA was invited to the KennedySpace Center Visitor Complex.Johnson enjoyed various activi-ties including the Robot RocketRally, lunch with an astronaut,and a presentation from the Ken-nedy Space Center director Rob-ert Cabana. Cabana presentedJohnson with a bolt from the ISSand a mission patch.

Sandy Nyugen of Aurora wasarrested for running a scam with

her six-year-old son. Nyugenconvinced her family and com-munity that her son had beendiagnosed with cancer in Sep-tember 2012. The communitycollected over $25,000 for Nyu-gen. Investigators say that thefamily used some of that moneyfor a vacation to Disneyland.Nyugen has since admitted thather son does not have cancerand is being charged with felonycharges of theft and criminal im-personation.

A raccoon caused a poweroutage in Woodland Park. Theraccoon got into a transformer.It took about an hour for powerto be restored. The raccoon was

injured in the incident.Neighbors are complaining

after a Colorado Springs womanhung two toilets and a sink on atree in her front yard. She saysthat it is to express her creativity;however, the neighbors do notshare her opinion. The installa-tion is described as nasty andneighbors are worried that thetoilets and sink are not properlysecured.

Ramiro Rodriguez, Staff Writer

Emily McNair, Managing Editor

Ann Arbor, Michigan- Ecologists at theUniversity of Michigan have found that ma-laria becomes more prevalent at higher eleva-tions during warmer years. The study ana-lyzed malaria cases in Ethiopia and Colombiaand suggests that global warming may result

in more cases of malaria in densely populatedareas of Africa and South America. The studyalso suggests that climate change explainsthe changes in malaria trends in the high-lands. Malaria was identified as a disease that

would be sensitive to climate change overtwenty years ago. The Plasmodium parasitesand the Anopheles mosquitoes that carry thedisease thrive in warmer temperatures.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, headof the Senate Intelligence Commit-tee, has publicly accused the CIAof illegally searching the Senatecomputer system and delet-

ing files relating to an IntelligenceCommittee study and investigationof interrogation and detention tech-niques during the George W. Bushadministration. CIA offi cers could

face criminal prosecution if an inves-tigation was launched by the JusticeDepartment. CIA Chief John Bren-nan says his agency acted appropri-ately and had not violated any laws.

NASA has made funding plansto build a robot to explore the

possibility of life on Europa, oneof Jupiters moons. The speculationfrom NASAs planetary science chief,Jim Green, is based around thespotting of a large geyser from theHubble Telescope on the dominantlyice-covered moon. Green says, Ifwe can find life there, either past life

or current life, then that tells us lifehas to be everywhere in this galaxy.

The Australian governmenthas been accused of misleading

the UN in an attempt to remove theWorld Heritage listing from tracts ofthe Tasmanian forest for the purpos-es of developing the land there. Theformal request for protected status

removal claimed that the 4.7% of theforest sought to be developed hadalready been degraded and shouldnot have protected status; however,former Greens party leader BobBrown has released photographyof the in-question region showingthe forest to not be in any degradedcondition.

Hampton, Florida is being

threatened with dissolution of

the 500 person townafter accusa-

tions of corruption. The small townlays claim to a small stretch of high-way a mile outside of town and hasits police force almost entirely therewith radar guns. The corruptioncharges came after part of the rela-tively large amount of revenue com-ing from the speed trap went miss-ing and its mayor was arrested in anoxycontin dealing sting operation.

Americas ambassador to Ukrainehas said that the US will refuse torecognize a referendum in the

Crimeaand will take further actionsagainst Russia if a poll is used to le-

gitimized military action in Crimea.The statement comes after similarstatements by German chancellor

Angela Merkel and UK prime minis-ter David Cameron. At the moment,this is suggested to mean strongersanctions as the three countries stillstrongly favor diplomatic and eco-nomic routes to solve the issue.

Soon some offi cers of the Den-

ver Police Department will be

beginning a six month pilot pro-

gram in which they will wear

body cameras in an attempt torestore credibility in the eyes of thepublic. The cameras will automati-cally upload to a police serve andbe unable to be deleted. Similar pro-grams have begun all over the coun-try and have led to reductions in thenumber of filed complaints against

offi cers.

The Inspector General of thePost Offi ce has released a statementproposing the Post Offi ce offer

low-fee banking services.Histori-cally, this service has been done bypost offi ces before and is seen as

a way to serve the roughly 10 mil-lion Americans who currently do nothave any formal banking account.

The proposed expansion of serviceshas gained national attention afterendorsement by Senator ElizabethWarren.

Edmonton, Canada- A team of scientists led by Graham Pearson from the University of Alberta have foundthe first water-rich gem which provides new evidence of large amounts of water deep within the Earth. This gem,

made of a mineral called ringwoodite, shows that water is 1.5% of the samples weight. This finding helps to

confirm theories that a large amount of water exists between the upper and lower mantle. Ringwoodite is a form

of peridot that, until now, had not been found on Earth. The mineral had previously been found in meteorites.

Garching, Germany - The EuropeanSouthern Observatorys Very Large Telescope(VLT) has spotted the largest known yellowstar, which has been named HR 5171 A. Thisstar is among the ten largest stars discoveredand is more than 1300 times the diameterof the sun. The star is a part of a binary starsystem where the second star touches themain star. Observations from the past sixtyyears show that this is a rapidly changingstar system. The star is 12000 light-yearsfrom Earth and has been growing for the pastforty years. Scientists used interferometry tostudy the star. This technique combines thelight collected from many telescopes, whicheffectively created a telescope 140m in size.

St. Lucia, Australia - Scientists at the University ofQueensland and the Australian Research Council Centre ofExcellence in Vision Science have found that budgeridarshave a predisposition to favor the left- or right-hand side.

This allows flocks of birds to better navigate around obsta-

cles. Researchers flew the birds through a tunnel with an

obstacle. There were paths on both the left and right sides,and thus researchers could then see a birds preferences.While some birds always flew through the wider opening.

others always selected the path on one side.


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Henry Ted Kernan

Staff Writer

Jobs continued

Continued from page 1

When interviewing, companies want

to know the specic skills you bringto the advertised position, rather than

the creativity potential you may own.Senior workers are given the most

dicult projects, while young mindsare made to languish with plug-and-chug assignments meant to trainthem. Managers and team leads areskeptical about new processes theydo not understand.

This is one reason we have seen

a rise in entrepreneurship. Thou-sands of people have quit jobs (or

never taken them) because the cor-porate structure sties their potentialto create value.

As you take that new job thissummer, remember you have abili-ties that may be incomprehensibleto your bosses. Push the limits. Donot accept to sit there repeating a

process over and over again when a

simple macro would solve the prob-lem and scale to the whole company.Companies should realize that yearsof experience no longer correlatewith a persons value. Those willing toditch the HR rules and motivate theiryoung employees to automate theidentication of the next Wattenburgfaster than the competition will be theones to succeed.

In todays world where the ex-pansion of technology is basedlargely upon the development ofnew materials, the demand formaterial innovation is constantlygrowing alongside the demand

for newer and faster technolo-gies. So, how are these materialscreated and tested for possibleindustrial uses? At this point intime, the answer to that is essen-tially by trial-and-error: repeatedhypothesizing, fabrication, andimplementation, which is con-tinuously getting costlier in termsof both time and money. In thisweeks installment of the Phys-ics departments colloquia se-ries, Prof. Abram van der Geestof SUNY-Binghamton explaineda recently developed process topredict the formulation of newmaterials and their properties bycomputational methods and anal-ysis.

At rst, van der Geest ex-plained, it seemed a bit of astretch that the properties of

materials not yet created couldbe accurately hypothesized by acomputer without actually havinga physical sample to work with.Since the methods of material de-velopment rely heavily upon mul-tiple trials or iterations, computingclusters seemed appropriate asthey excel at implementing re-petitive and iterative calculations.Regarding what these computerswould actually be calculating, vander Geest described how the sci-ence behind material structuresand surfaces was based upondensity functional theory (DFT),which states that all crystallinematerials (the focus of this formu-lation) are innitely periodic. Fur-thermore, it explains that thesecrystalline structures are com-posed of a basis and series ofBravais lattice, which are vectorsof a given cell with six degrees offreedom (an important feature inlater calculations).

The end goal of this computa-tional DFT method was to denethe stability (or in some cases,metastable points, which are ex-plained later) of a hypothesizedmaterial. These computations dif-

Chris Robbins

Staff Writer

Future of materials sciencefer slightly from the lowest-ener-gy-seeking, single-system ideasof quantum mechanics, as mate-rial surfaces do not generally havea single low-energy point. Pointsof minimal energy for materialstructures change in unison withexterior conditions such as tem-perature and pressure, leading to

several points of metastability,or stability at a specic set of cir-cumstance

The rst step in this method-ology, as with most computa-tional methods, was to dene theneeded parameters. In this case,these parameters were the ma-terials atomic computations, thenumber of formula units, the ma-terials lattice parameters, and theatomic positions within the mate-rial. Once these parameters areadequately set, van der Geest ex-plained, the prediction calculationcan then be run, and its compu-tational cost (in CPU hours) var-ies depending on how far into the

prediction process one wishes to

go with zero experimental input(meaning an entirely predicted re-sult). Generally, a basic character-ization of the proposed materialrequires on the order of 100 CPUhours to compute, and a moreprecise solution takes on the or-der of roughly 1000 CPU hours.

At both of these levels, mostcomputer clusters can handle thework with little diculty. However,for a thorough, highly detailed,true prediction of the materialand all of its properties, an orderof about 100,000 CPU hours isrequired for a complete predictionwith absolutely no experimentalinput. At this computational cost,a limit of feasibility proposed byvan der Geest is materials with nomore than 32 atoms in its compo-sition. Any more than this and thebenets of predicting a materialover simply producing and testingmaterials repetitively are virtuallygone at the current level of avail-able computing power.

Another major part of DFTis the provable fact that crys-tal structures are widely reusedthroughout nature, and that overtime scientists have discovered

and validated the existence ofnumerous structures. Thus, vander Geest proposed that to de-

termine the structure of a hypoth-esized material, dierent knownstructures are iteratively testedon the composition until one ts,or has the lowest stability energy.Once again, computing clus-ters are great for quickly runningall of these repetitive structure-composition combinations. The

only drawback that van der Geestpointed out, however, was thatpredictions using DFT are limitedto known structures. This processdoes not have any means of ex-perimenting with new crystallinestructures, and merely applies thebest tting structure to the hy-pothesized material, which up tothis point has been successful.

An example of how this newand growing idea has already im-pacted the world of technologyis in the development and appli-cation of metal borides. At thispoint, up to 41 metal elementsare known to be able to formmolecules with boron atoms andcreate materials with a wide vari-ety of properties. Some of thesemetal borides have been pre-dicted to be used as supercon-ductors, superhard materials, andrefractory materials, which remainstable in extremely challengingconditions (high pressures, tem-perature, etc.). Several of theseremain only predictions to thisday, but some predictions havealready been shown to be true,including the superconductorsiron tetraboride (FeB4), cadmiumhexaboride (CaB6), and man-ganese tetraboride (MnB4). Andeven for those that have yet to bephysically proven true the predic-tions hold astounding possibilitiesif they are able to be proven trueexperimentally, as in the case ofrhenium diboride, which predictsto be the worlds hardest material(even stronger than diamond).

While DFT is already intriguingto those in the study of materialsciences, van der Geest hopes tosoon improve upon the methodfurther. He plans on eventuallynding ways to apply the theoryto a wider range of surfaces andinterfaces, as well as modifyingthe functions involved within thecomputations to accommodatea wider range of material proper-ties.

Relay for Life comes to ColoradoSchool of Mines for the second timeon April 25. Circle K, an on-campusorganization dedicated to service andmaking an impact on campus and inthe community, is hosting the event,which is slated to run from 6 p.m. Fri-day evening to 6 a.m Saturday morn-ing.

The event will take place on Kafa-dar Commons and feature numerousbands, deejays and music through-out the night along with other activi-ties. Circle K president Kaitlyn Martinshared some of the exciting activities

planned for the event. We will havemidnight Zumba, and Katie Schmal-zel will be holding a willPower andgrace class. There will be sports go-ing on all night such as soccer, foot-ball and Frisbee, Martin said. Prizeswill be given out throughout the night,and there will be raes to win evenbigger prizes. There will also be lots offree food at the event. A designatedtrack will be set up outside of Kafadarfor walking.

Everyone is encouraged to form ateam and participate in this years Re-lay for Life. Teams can sign up aheadof time by going to www.relayforlife.org/SchoolofMinesCO. Each team isencouraged to raise $1000, and ev-ery individual participant who raises$100 will receive a free shirt. T-shirtsare only guaranteed the day of the

event to teams that sign up and raisethe money before April 11. However,teams can continue raising money upto and at the event and extra shirts

will be available for teams who raisemoney after April 11. All funds raisedfrom the event will go toward support-ing cancer research in Colorado.

Relay for Life is an overnight fund-raising walk that raises money to sup-port the ght against cancer. The rstlap in Relay, known as the SurvivorsLap, provides an opportunity for allcancer survivors in attendance to cel-ebrate their victory over cancer. Sinceits conception in 1985, Relay for Lifehas raised nearly $5 billion to fundand support the ght against cancer.

Circle K hosted Relay for Life atMines for the rst time last spring.Last year, as a Circle K club, wedecided we wanted to try to make abig impact both in the campus andin the community, Martin said. Wedecided that a great event we couldbring to campus that would both helppeople and be fun at the same timewould be Relay for Life since theyhave experience holding events atcolleges. We contacted people at the

American Cancer Society throughouttheir volunteer match center and goappointed someone from their organi-zation to help us coordinate the event.Last year we raised over $10,300 sowere hoping to raise more this year.

Questions about the event canbe directed toward [email protected].

Jessica Deters

Staff Writer

Relay for life 2014

Dr. John Warme, a professor ofgeology here at Mines from 1979-2002 and a professor emeritus sincethen, came to give a special talk aboutsome of his more interesting research

projects from the past. The unifyingconcept of the three dierent projectsthat he presented on was the idea

that anomalies in the geologic recordoften record great catastrophes, and

following up on these anomalies canlead to striking discoveries. A geo-logic catastrophe signies something

that happened rapidly on a grandscale, rather than something destruc-tive (though the two denitions oftengo hand in hand).

The rst catastrophe Warme de-scribed is a unique landslide in theGrand Canyon that Warme nick-named Panchos Radical Runup,because of its proximity to a raftingcampsite named Panchos Kitchen.

Along the Grand Canyons three hun-dred kilometers, there are many doc-umented landslides, especially where

the Bright Angel Shale is exposed.The Bright Angel is a weak unit whichsits between two strong, cli-formingrock units; because of this, manywater seeps form at this point in the

stratigraphy, which in turn instigatethe landslides. These landslides havesignicantly aected the geographyof the canyon walls; for instance, theonly waterfall in the canyon at riverlevel, Deer Creek Falls, is the result ofa young landslide which blocked thecreeks original route to the ColoradoRiver. At a spot called The Narrows,where the Grand Canyon is at its nar-rowest, Dr. Warme (who used to lead

rafting eld trips down the canyon)noticed something odd about theway the bedding on the high bankswas weathering. The location wasfairly inaccessible, located atop a twohundred foot cli, but Warme wasdetermined. After making it up to thestrange bedding to look at it up closeand taking photos from an airplanewith a good camera, he found some-thing surprising: the same rock unitswere overlying more of themselves, atan angle. Furthermore, the overlying,

Hope Sisley

Staff WriterVan Tuyl explores geologic catastrophestilted section of the units was shat-

tered but not dispersed, as if it hadbeen pulverized in situ, and containedrelaxation faults, as if it had been inmotion and settled back down. Con-versely, normal talus - chunks of rockthat broke o of the clis and rolleddown the slope - remained in chunkscalled boxcars, which maintainedinternal cohesion, not showing any ofthe breakage structures of the anom-alous beds.

After examining all of these clues,Warme realized that this was a land-slide deposit... from the opposite sideof the canyon. Such a phenomenon,

called a runup, occurs when a par-ticularly high-powered landslide formsan air cushion under itself when it hitsthe bottom of a slope and continuesforward, up the opposite side of thevalley, much as water poured downone side of a bowl will splash up theopposite side. This particular runupconsists of ve separate slabs ortongues, covers a few square kilome-ters of area, and went about sevenhundred feet up the canyon wall: thehighest cross-canyon runup in the

lower 48 states. At 750 thousand to1.25 million years old, this is also oneof the oldest landslides in the canyon.

The frictional heat of the slide was sogreat that it naturally converted thelimestone into quicklime, so that whenit came to a halt and the pore water inthe rocks bubbled out, the shatteredslide acted like man-made cement,freezing itself in place for Dr Warme tond it and unlock its secrets.

Next, Warme spoke of a landslideon the opposite side of the world,in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.During the Jurassic period, this wasa rift zone (a place where a continent

is breaking in two). Rifts often exudebasalt lavas and form depressed ar-eas called wrench zones which tendto catch water. The rhomboid wrenchzones in this area were rst dry rifts,lled with basalts, evaporite mineralsand redbeds, but once subsidencewas deep enough, the ocean wasable to ow into the zone and a car-bonate shoal developed. Later, whenthe Alps formed, the compressionforced the rift faults to reverse direc-tion, creating mountains out of a sea.

In the midst of these mountains arethree jebels, or ridges, separated byfaults, which comprise pieces of a sin-gle large carbonate grainstone blockthirty kilometers in length. The blockrepresents a former reef, with manyfossils in it. Reefs require sunlight, sothe jebel bedrock must have formedin shallow water... but there are deep-water landslide deposits, or turbidites,over the top of the reef. The turbiditesare themselves full of coral fragments,as well as chunks of dark deepwa-ter sediments and debris ows. Inthe past, researchers were baedby what appeared to be a reef that

had somehow sunk to the bottomof the ancient sea. After Dr Warmeexamined the rocks, however, he

determined the true story behind thejebels. This is not a reef but a piece ofa reef shed from the shelf edge in onecoherent block, called an olistolith,which fell down the continental slopeinto deep water.

Continued at Geologists discover

crater using rock records on page

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Hope Sisley

Staff Writer

FrackNation, a lm made in re-

sponse to the popular HBO docu-

mentary Gasland, was shown on

campus by the Coloradans for Re-

sponsible Energy Development, or

CRED, a community outreach orga-

nization put together by Noble Energy

and Anadarko to educate the public

about fracking and other industry

processes. The lm was introduced

by Mike Dickinson, from Noble, and

Mike Weaver, from Anadarko, both of

whom are Mines alumni. Dickinson

mentioned that in the last ten years

alone the number of CSM students

graduating from the petroleum engi-

neering department has increased

from thirty to over two hundred.

Weaver asserted that the industry is

under a threat and emphasized the

number of jobs created in the state

by the oil and gas industry. A panel

of CSM professors was held after the

showing for community members

to ask questions of experts. Manypresent at the showing were not stu-

dents, and the auditorium was all but

lled to capacity.

FrackNation is an eminently

frustrating lm. On the one hand, it

is undeniably propaganda. On the

other hand, the lm itself points out

that propaganda is the only thing that

gets heard in modern media. As a

rebuttal to Gasland, it is extremely

eective, managing to discredit Josh

Fox (the maker of Gasland), a pair

of his key interviewees, and much of

his data. When the lm diverges from

its refutation of Gasland, however, it

falls into absurdity.

In order to assess FrackNation,

it is helpful to watch the movie it re-

futes. Gasland, an Oscar-nomi-

nated 2010 documentary about the

Marcellus Shale, makes FrackNa-

tion look like the PBS News Hour:

it is full of artsy out-of-focus estab-

lishing shots; intolerably obnoxious

shaky-cam eects; pointless per-

sonal anecdotes; and Foxs slurring,

stilted, overly-theatrical narration. It is

profoundly unscientic, more art lm

than documentary. (Josh Fox should

really have stuck to banjo playing.)

Summarized, Gasland takes

Fox from Pennsylvania to Colorado,

Texas, and Wyoming in search of

water contamination caused by

gas drilling. He does not distinguish

between well drilling, completion,

or stimulation, instead lumping all

three together as a nebulous sort

of environmental disturbance. The

movie relies mainly on interviews

with people living near gas wells and

storage tanks. No scientic facts are

presented, except as a scare tactic;

Hydraulic fracturing debate comes to Minesthe word chemicals is treated as

synonymous with poisons. It com-

prises a vague, simplistic moral state-

ment along the lines of gas produc-

tion bad. Yet it proved so popular

that HBO nanced a sequel - not to

mention it sparked public opinion to

turn against fracking in many parts

of the country, without explaining inany detail what fracking actually is

or any other facts that might be help-

ful to the viewers in determining their

stance towards the process or the

industry at large.

In watching Gasland, it be-

comes clear that Phelim McAleer,

the director of FrackNation, was

either unable to, unwilling to, or unin-

terested in providing a direct rebuttal

to each and every one of the claims

in Gasland. Nor did FrackNation

have to address every point brought

up. Several telling points were dis-

cussed. For one, the gas develop-

ment lease in Gasland that Fox

claims was sent to his Pennsylvania

home is revealed to be a copy of a

lease negotiated with ChesapeakeEnergy by a citizens cooperative in

a neighboring rural township. This

is not the rst time McAleer catches

Fox in a lie, but it is the most com-

pelling. When McAleer requests an

interview with Fox, Fox hangs up

on him, refusing to answer any fur-

ther calls. Fox even goes so far as to

eject McAleer and his camera crew

from a showing of Gasland rather

than address McAleers questions,

suggesting that Fox has no interest

in debate, much less any discussion

of the errors or misinformation in his

lm. Craig and Julie Sautner - citizens

of the town of Dimock, PA, where

much of Gasland takes place -

were among some of the most vo-

cal opponents of fracking, claimingthat their water had turned black and

undrinkable after fracking in the vicin-

ity of their home. They, too, refuse

to speak to McAleer once they real-

ize he doubts their claims, behaving

with hostility towards him. (They have

since left Dimock for good.) There

are a number of other interviewees

in Gasland, however, who do not

show up in FrackNation; in fact, the

Sautners are the only complainants

interviewed in both lms. This could

mean the rest of Foxs contacts in Di-

mock did not wish to be in being in-

volved in FrackNation. It could also

mean that McAleer chose to show

only the most unreasonable of the

interviewees so as to demonize the

opponents of fracking.

One of McAleers main points is

that methane gas is naturally found in

water in the Dimock area, that it was

present long before people were and

that it has done them no harm. He

points out that methane-rich waters

have been set alight in many places

where no oil and gas development

has occurred. While it is true that

Gasland fails to mention even once

that methane can occur naturally in

groundwater, the famous scene of a

man lighting his tap water on re was

actually lmed in Colorado, not Penn-

sylvania, as McAleer would have

viewers believe. According to The

Denver Post, it is inconclusive wheth-

er the methane in the water is linked

to local drilling or not, but a few things

are known which both lmmakers

neglect to mention. First, drinking

water with methane in it is not harm-

ful to humans so long as the gas that

bubbles out of the water does not

collect in a poorly-ventilated area,

where it could explode if ignited. Sec-

ond, the energy company in Dimock

which Gasland focuses on, Cabot

Energy, was found to be responsible

for some water contamination there,

not because of fracking, but thanks

to faulty well casings. FrackNation

ignores Cabot altogether, insteadfocusing on Chesapeake, which is

presumably more diligent about up-

holding their well completion qual-

ity standards. Indeed, the Colorado

contamination, if connected to gas

production in the area, is probably

linked to faulty casings as well, as

normal migration of gas through in-

duced fractures into peoples water

wells would take far longer than has

been observed.

This leads to the real heart of the

matter. Fracking, or hydraulic fractur-

ing, has been in use since 1947. By

setting packers in a well to allow

pressure buildup, then pumping frac

uid into the well, the operator can

initiate a microquake, with the pres-

sure causing old natural fractures inthe rock to reopen or new fractures

to form. The induced fractures allow

the well to drain from a larger area,

since the fractures act as conduits

for gas to ow through. The propa-

gation distance of induced fractures

from the well, however, is 300 feet

on average and no more than 1500

feet, according to two 2011 studies.

Since the Colorado aquifer is a mile

and a half from the reservoir being

produced, it is unlikely that induced

fractures could have formed a path-

way between the rock units. Yet nei-

ther Fox nor McAleer seems to think

it is reasonable to blame contamina-

tion on the far more likely possibility

of leaky well casings. On Foxs part, it

is likely because bad well casings is

not scary-sounding, while fracking

sounds ominous to the unlearned

ear. On McAleers part, he prob-

ably avoided mentioning the lawsuit

against Cabot because, even though

fracking was not related to the inci-

dent, to suggest that the operator

was responsible for the pollution in

any way, even in an isolated circum-

stance, could be seen as anti-indus-

try, or perhaps used as ammunition

in the ght to ban gas production.

So the facts get glossed over in both

instances, and the truth McAleercontinually refers to remains hidden,

at least in part, from the public eye.

For anyone knowlegeable in oil

and gas processes, natural or arti-

cial, Gasland is obviously blatant

misinformation. FrackNations at-

tack on Gasland is systematic and

put forward in terms digestible to

the average uneducated American.

But FrackNation does not stop at

exposing Gaslands inaccuracies.

FrackNation attempts to change

public opinion, as Gasland did.

Josh Fox demonized the natural

gas industry; Phelim McAleer paints

it as a benevolent savior. He makes

three points: 1. the leases paid to

rural farmers in Pennsylvania by the

gas companies allow the farmers tocontinue their way of life, as the extra

money keeps them from the verge of

bankruptcy; 2. American natural gas

is an important alternative to Rus-

sian gas, especially for the European

countries in thrall to Russia because

they have no other source of gas;

and 3. energy is important, so natural

gas, as an energy source, is neces-

sary for a comfortable, civilized stan-

dard of living.

The rst point is true and valid.

When a moratorium was placed on

gas production in the Dimock area,

drilling was halted and many citizens

in the vicinity lost their monthly lease

checks. Having a gas well on ones

property ensures a sizable amount

paid to the owner by the well opera-

tor, which for a struggling farmer re-

ally can mean the dierence between

making it and going bust. The people

of Dimock were upset at the stigma

that Gasland pinned on their town,

no doubt losing precious tourist dol-

lars as well. The simple fact is, people

have to get by, and having drilling on

their property is an easy way to get

them extra cash without giving them

extra work. Perhaps a solution to this

would be to pay an added premium

for risk of air or water pollution, thus

satisfying the landowner and allaying

peoples fears, while still allowing pro-

duction to proceed.

McAleers second point, however,

is a stretch. American gas production

will do little to help the little old Pol-

ish widow interviewed in the lm, and

should gas production here decrease,

it will not lead to Russia controlling

America any more than American

dependence on Saudi oil has led to

Saudi Arabia controlling the U.S. As

for McAleers third point, it is here that

FrackNation falls to the same level

as Gasland. Besides being phrased

in the most childish of ways, the ar-

gument contains two oensive and

harmful sub-points. First, McAleer

takes the opportunity to attack clean

energy, saying that geothermal plantscause earthquakes, and that both

windmills and solar panels will make

the U.S. dependent on China and re-

sponsible for the deaths of workers in

Chinese factories with low health and

safety standards. Then he shows a

map of the world at night and makes

the claim that the poorly-lit areas (ie.

Africa) are hotbeds of violence and

starvation, where life is cheap and

disease runs rampant. The implica-

tion that hydraulic fracturing will solve

all the worlds problems is laughable.

Notwithstanding that most power

plants burn coal, electricity does

not mean an end to war and hard-

ship, nor does the lack thereof mean

that people might as well be dead.

To end on such a note is detrimen-

tal to FrackNations credibility, not

to mention it does little to combat

the emotionality and propagandistic

problems of the media that this very

lm itself laments.

One more thing worth noting is

the fact that Phelim McAleers other

lm credits consist of a pro-mining

documentary, Mine Your Own Busi-

ness, and a movie claiming that an-

thropogenic climate change has no

scientic basis called Not Evil Just

Wrong.

This leaves the educated, politi-

cally-aware viewer discouraged. On

one side of the debate is Josh Fox,

an extremist out of touch with the

economic concerns of real people

and the safety standards of local in-

dustry, and on the other hand is a

climate-change denying extremist

who imitates the very thing he de-

rides. Where is the voice of common

sense? Yes, there is no reason to

ban fracking any more than there is

to ban any other production method.

But at the same time, attacking clean

energy as a way of defending frack-

ing is absurd. In order to meet the en-

ergy needs of a modernizing world,

humankind needs every source avail-

able. This includes fossil fuels, but it

also includes wind farms, solar pan-

els, geothermal plants, and nuclear

energy. As a Pennsylvania politician

tells Fox in Gasland, Theres no

such thing as a perfect source of

energy. Technological progress and

increased eciency in all areas is the

only sustainable solution.

But then, that would hardly win a

lm producer an Oscar, now would

it?

Hope Sisley

Staff Writer

Geologists discover crater using rock records

Continued from page 3

As it fell, the block destabilized the

sediments it ran over, which then

came tumbling down after it, lled in

the space behind it, and topped over

it, spilling across and over. The coral

fragments in the turbidites are olisto-

stromes - small broken pieces of the

reefs edge knocked o during the col-

lapse - and the dark bits were ripped

up from the seaoor as the landslide

passed. This simple explanation failed

to be recognized based merely on the

sheer size of the olistolith.

Finally, Warme discussed the larg-

est of his catastrophes: the breccia

(or broken rock) left behind by a De-

vonian meteorite impact in present-

day Nevada. At the time of the im-

pact, Nevada was the Pacic coast, a

tropical carbonate ramp. Subsequent

compression caused a thrust belt to

form along the former seacoast, and

the area is now made up of hundreds

of subparallel mountain ranges. The

Alamo impact breccia is found in at

least twenty-ve of these ranges, and

had long stumped researchers before

Warme began his investigation. As

he explained, the broken rocks were

variously interpreted as coral-reef ta-

lus, karst cave-llings, and fault or so-

lution-collapse breccias. The thick-

ness of the breccia varies, but gets up

to three hundred meters in places.

The breccia contains many unique

characteristics which are signa-

tures of a bolide (or meteor) impact.

Shocked quartz, for instance, which

records the pressure wave from an

impact, is the classic sign of a meteor

strike. There are also carbonate im-

pact lapilli - rock hailstones - which

form the same way as volcanic lapilli,

aggregating about some nucleus in a

superheated debris cloud and falling

back to earth. The lapilli have fossil

fragments as their nuclei; the process

by which they were cemented is the

same quicklime formation phenome-

non seen in Panchos Radical Runup.

The unit contains intraformational fold-

ing and a smashed fallback layer be-

tween unbroken, undeformed rocks,

an unusual observation that records

the debris from the impact falling back

to earth. All of these clues pointed

Warme and his students towards an

impact, so they began searching for a

crater. Sure enough, they found one.

Though the crater has since been dis-

rupted by tectonics (the whole area

is now heavily faulted), it can be seen

in the rock record. The bolide struck

about 150 km north of present-day

Las Vegas. Because the impact was

underwater, it caused a tsunami,

which also left a record in the geology.

Successive graded beds, each thin-

ner than the last, signify successive

tsunami waves as water sloshed from

the crater to the seacoast and back.

Desiccation cracks in the tsunami de-

posits show that the wave travelled

inland far enough to get above sea

level. Graded resurge beds record

the same sloshing phenomenon be-

low sea level. Slumped normal sedi-

mentation records the collapse of the

oversteepened crater walls back to

a stable slope after the turmoil had

ended. Finally, a reef which grew atop

the breccia suggests that the sea in

this area was deepened enough by

the impact to make room, or accom-modation space, for corals to grow.

Warme concluded his talk by

pointing out that he was only able to

recognize these strange anomalies in

the rock record because he had seen

so many rocks and had so much

geological experience that he knew

what was normal and what was not.

In other words, he said, One must

understand the expectable in order to

recognize the anomalous.


5/12

n e w smarch , page 5


Courtesy Mines Newsroom

Mines students are working

with Mechanical Engineering (ME)

professor John Steele and Elec-

trical Engineering and ComputerScience (EECS) professor Qi Han

to build and develop a system to

automate oil and gas processes

through unmanned robots. Blast-

er, the original prototype, will be

deployed to the Petroleum Insti-

tute (PI) in Abu Dhabi to increase

the safety in oil and gas refineries.

Currently, refinery operators

are exposed to potential explo-

sions, gas leaks and extreme

weather conditions.

We are trying to get robots to

do the same operations humans

can do, but by taking the human

out of harms way, we are increas-

ing safety, Steele said. Abu

Dhabi can reach up to 130 de-

grees Fahrenheit, so people areexposed to extreme heat as well

as sand storms and possibly gas

leaks. If the robot is harmed, you

Mines builds robot to increasesafety in Abu Dhabi refineries

can always build another one.

The robot is equipped with a

methane gas sensor, video cam-

era, microphone, thermal imaging

camera, GPS, digital compass,

laser-range finder and Wi-Fi cli-ent-bridge. Each of these sen-

sors will help it navigate, avoid

collisions and transfer information

back to the control room opera-

tor.

EECS students Adewole Ayo-

ade and Marshall Sweatt are

collaborating to develop applica-

tions that will take readings from

the sensors to determine the ro-

botic location and remotely log

those readings for analysis. Alex

Yearsly, a ME student, designed

and manufactured the 5-degrees

of freedom robotic arm after tak-

ing over from Dan Albert, a recent

graduate. John Steuben, a grad-

uate student in engineering sys-

tems, designed and 3D-printedthe sensor housing for the robots

head.

Ayoade emphasized the im-

portance of testing the robot in

conditions similar to the refinery.

Because we are working on a

real life project, we have to un-

derstand the environmental con-

ditions of where we are sendingthe system, Ayoade said.

Once Blasters build is com-

pleted, Ayoade and Sweatt will

travel overseas to test its func-

tionality and transfer the technol-

ogy to faculty and students at the

PI.

Im really excited; Ive never

been to the United Arab Emir-

ates before, Sweatt said. It is an

honor to be invited.

Blasters capabilities will dem-

onstrate Mines ability to develop

a robotic system for inspection

and operations. The robot will be-

come the basis for a proposal to a

French robotic competition called

ARGOS Challenge, sponsored by

TOTAL, in which contestants fromall over the world will develop ad-

vanced robotic capabilities for oil

and gas environments.

Mines student select-ed for Arecibo Obser-vatory researchCourtesy Mines Newsroom

If you have seen the James Bond

movie, GoldenEye, or played the

Nintendo 64 video game, you might

remember the radio telescope at the

Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Mines mechanical engineering stu-

dent Alexis Humann was selected

for a 10-week summer research pro-

gram, during which she will working

on building an autonomous robot to

clean the world's largest single-dish

telescope.

Right now when people clean it

they put on giant snowshoes to even

out their weight; the weight of a per-

son would collapse it, Humann said.

We will need to build a robot that is

really light and well distributed.

The observatory telescope is

used to study the properties of plan-

ets, comets and asteroids. Scientistswho want to use the telescope are

required to submit proposals for an

independent scientific board. It will

be a unique opportunity for Humann

to work with the telescope firsthand.

Everyone in the aerospace in-

dustry knows about this observa-tory and it has a great reputation,

Humann said. I will be working with

some of the top scientists in the

world. I am so excited to be able to

meet them and learn all about their

work.

Humman is also looking forward

to the opportunity to combine her

mechanical engineering skills with

her interest in aerospace.

I think space exploration is go-

ing to move away from man explora-

tion and go into the robotics side of

things, Humann said. There is so

much technology to improve upon

there, and the possibilities are end-

less.

Currently Humann is working on

an undergraduate research fellow-ship with Dr. Douglas Van Bossuyt

to build a robot that can analyze its

health and make its own decisions.


6/12

f e a t u r e s march , page


Geek Week... Andrew Hyde, Senior: Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

of

the

Jordan Francis

Staff Writer

Enjoyably nerdy as Mines canbe, many geeks spend their time

here trying desperately to escape

this school as fast as possible.

Some succeed, some do not. Oth-

ers take their time in the academic

realm, get the most they can out

of their education, and pass on

as much hard-earned wisdom as

they can to underclassmen. Some-

where in the middle of those lies

Andrew Hyde.[Oredigger]: What made

you choose Chemical and Bio-

chemical engineering as a ma-

jor?

[Hyde]: Originally, I wanted to go

to medical school. The real ques-

tion is why did I stay with that ma-

jor? The answer to that is...I dontknow. Something about bioscienc-

es and making peoples lives better

through biotechnology.What has been your favorite

class so far?

Possibly Genetics with Dr.

Ogg. Not only...[are] both lecture

and lab...applicable to most bio-

technology...unlike so many other

courses at this school, [but] you

get to make mutants! And grow

them in a petri dish while listening

to Oggs sarcasm and general at-

titude of sunshine.

Are you a geek and why?

Lets parameterize geek for

a start. A nerd is someone with

above average intelligence, in my

view, who gets wrapped up in his

own intelligence. A geek is some-

one who is obsessive about a

certain individual, non-mainstream

concept. I guess the fact that I dis-tinguish between the two makes

me a geeks. The fact that I work [at

the Geology Museum] as a Chem-

E says Im a geek because this is a

hobby and a line of work that is be-

yond my own personal intelligence

or line of work.

Do you know what free time

is and if so, how do you spend

it?

Free time is time that is not

taken up by homework, classes,

or exams. I spend my free time

working two jobs, taking care of

my family, sleeping, playing classi-

cal guitar, [doing anything involving]

rocks. I write poetry, I compose

classical music, I make jewelry, and

I write calligraphy.What is your favorite thing

about Mines?

Hah! Yeah, next question.

What are some of your great-

est accomplishments?

Ive designed, prototyped, and

eld tested an intra-arterial stent.

Ive supervised a team that came

up with a new formula and deliv-

ery system for a thrombolytic drug

used to replace surgical treatments

in patients with heart failure. Ive

helped revamp the club sports pro-

gram at Mines. I created their side-

line medical protocols [and] trained

over eight hundred people in the

program in CPR and rst aid. Ive

kept myself alive.

If you could have any super-

power, what would it be and

why?

The ability to turn o my emo-

tions because [the ability to evalu-ate] an option completely rationally

is a valuable tool in life for making

decisions that benet others.

Who would win in a fght

between a Star Wars storm-

trooper and a Star Trek red-

shirt?

The stormtrooper because al-

though he cannot hit the redshirt,

the redshirt is gonna die anyways.

[Speaking realistically,] the storm-

troopers going to win because he

has armor and training...Storm-

troopers have six years of training

at the Academy whereas redshirts

have approximately one semester

of tactical training, so yeah, the

stormtrooper wins.

If you could be dropped intoany fctional universe, what

would it be and why?

Probably the Lego universe sim-

ply because the way its portrayed

in all of the games, movies, com-

ics, etc, malice exists, but it has

no major impact on people, which

makes [that universe] one of the

most free places you can be. You

can be what you want to be and

feel what you want to feel and really

its only the positive things that are

long-lasting and matter. Ultimately,

you can only do so much damage

before you reduce [someone] to a

pile of bricks, which you cant hurt.How would you handle

things if Mines was invaded by

a horde of rabid Bronies?

With prejudice. Friendship is

bullets.

Do you have any plans for

the future?I plan to work in biotechnology

and medicine because they oc-

cupy my time and I enjoy them. [I

plan to] live frugally, care for others,

[and] not die for a little while.

Do you have any advice for

fellow geeks and Mines stu-

dents?

Dont go to Mines.Do you have a favorite

quote?

If you wake up and youre not

in pain, youre dead. -Russian

proverb.

Elizabeth Starbuck McMillan

Staff Writer

This cake takes a lot of precision,

patience, time and love. The ingredi-

ents are simple considering the com-

plexity of the cake.:

Cake:

* cup boiling water

* 2 oz unsweetened chocolate,

chopped

* cup unsalted butter, cut into

pieces* 1 large egg, at room tempera-

ture

* cup sugar

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

* 1 cups all-purpose our

* 1 tsp baking powder

* tsp baking soda

* tsp salt

* cup hot, strongly brewed

coeeMousse:

* 3 cups whipping cream, di-

vided

* 12 oz semisweet chocolate,

chopped

* 3 large egg yolks, at room

temperature

* cup sugar

* 1/3 cup waterChocolate Glaze:

* cup water

* 1 cup sugar

* cup whipping cream

* cup Dutch process cocoa

powder, sifted

* 1 Tbsp unavoured gelatin

powder

1. For the cake, preheat the oven

to 325 F. Grease 2 8-inch round

Decadant chocolate mousse cake recipecake pans, line the bottoms with

parchment paper and then lightly

dust the sides of the pan with our,

tapping out any excess.

*Please note that only 1 cake

layer is needed for this recipe, but it

is easiest to make this recipe in its full

measure and freeze the second cake

for a later use.

2. Whisk the boiling water, choc-

olate and butter together until melted

(it will be visibly grainy) and set aside.

3. Whip the egg, sugar and vanilla

until the mixture doubles in volume(about 2 minutes on high speed) and

then fold in the chocolate mixture by

hand.

4. Sift the our, baking powder,

baking soda and salt over the batter

and fold in, then stir in the hot cof-

fee (this will make the batter become

uid).

5. Divide the batter evenly be-

tween the 2 pans.

6. Bake the cakes for about 25

minutes until a tester inserted in the

centre of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool completely

in the pans.

7. For the mousse, have ready

a 9-inch springform pan, lining the

bottom with parchment paper (in or-

der to make the mousse-lled cakeeasier to remove from the pan).

8. Whip 1 cups of the whipping

cream until it holds a medium peak

when the beaters are lifted and chill.

9. Heat the remaining 1 cups

of cream to just below a simmer

and then pour it over the chopped

chocolate. Let this sit one minute,

then gently stir until incorporated.

Set aside.

10. Place the egg yolks in a bowl

and whip for a minute on high speed.

11. Place the sugar and water in

a small pot over high heat and boil

(occasionally brushing the sides of

the pot with water) until it reaches

250 F on a candy thermometer.

12. Start whipping the egg yolks

on medium speed and then carefully

pour the hot sugar down the side

of the bowl to avoid splashing, and

then increase the mixer speed until

high and whip until this has doubled

in volume and cooled to about 105

F.13. Measure the temperature of

the ganache to ensure it is close to

105 F as well and fold the ganache

into the whipped yolks.

14. Let this cool for 15 minutes

or until just above room tempera-

ture, then fold in the chilled whipped

cream in 2 additions.

15. Pour half of the mousse into

the ungreased springform pan. Slice

one of the cake layers in half horizon-

tally and place this over the mousse,

as centred as possible.

16. Pour the remaining mousse

over the cake layer and gently place

the other half of the cake layer on top,

pressing gently just so the mousse

covers the sides of the cake, but not

so that it sinks in.17. Wrap the pan in plastic wrap

and freeze the cake to set it, at least

4 hours, or overnight.

18. While the cake is setting, pre-

pare the glaze. Bring the water, sug-

ar, and cream to a boil in a medium

saucepan.

19. Once boiling, whisk in the

cocoa powder and simmer (reduc-

ing the heat if needed) for 4 minutes,

stirring often, (the consistency will

not change).

20. Remove from heat.

21. Soften the gelatin in cup of

cold water and then whisk this into

the hot cocoa mixture until dissolved.

Cool the glaze to room temperature,

then chill completely, at least 3 hours.

22. To nish the cake, remove it

from the freezer invert the pan onto

a cooling rack placed over a parch-

ment-lined baking tray.

23. Use a hair dryer on a low,

hot setting to gently warm the pan

so that it releases from the pan, thesides rst and then the top.

24. Warm the chilled glaze while

whisking occasionally until just melt-

ed and smooth and pour this over

the torte, spreading gently with a

spatula to ensure that it covers the

top and sides of the torte evenly.

25. Chill the cake for at least 30

minutes, then lift it onto the presenta-

tion plate and store chilled until ready

to serve.

To make peanut butter icing, use

1 cup of peanut butter for cup of

powdered sugar and a 1 tsp of va-

nilla. And as the nal touch, put mini

Reese cups around the edge. Makesure to store the cake in the fridge

and it can keep up to four days.

Chocolate mousse cake is sure to please any sweet tooth.

ELIZABETH STARBUCK McMILLAN / OREDIGGER

Andrew Hyde looks forward to graduating from Mines and

starting work in the elds of biotechnology or medicine.

JORDAN FRANCIS / OREDIGGER


7/12

f e a t u r e smarch , page 7


In late 2008, Ubisoft released

Prince of Persia, which wasmeant to be a reboot of the

original series released in 1989.

While the later reboot, Prince of

Persia: Sands of Time, was met

with more acclaim, Prince of

Persia is definitely a game that

can stand on its own.

The game itsel f i s no thing ex-

tremely special. The story follows

an unnamed warrior (who will be

referred to as the Prince) who

stumbles upon a lost woman

while searching for his missing

donkey. The woman explains that

her name is Elika, she is a prin-

cess, and she must return to the

temple. The Prince follows her

and watches as her father de-

stroys the Tree of Life. Ahriman,the god of darkness, is trapped

within this tree, and breaking the

tree releases him. This corrupts

the world, and Elika explains that

the only way to stop the corrup-

tion from spreading is to heal the

fertile grounds.

While this

seems

to be

a sim-

ple task,

it is quite

d i f f i cu l t , as

v a r i o u s m o ns t e rs

g u a r d the fertile

g r o u n d s and many re-

quire special powers granted by

Ormazd, the god of Elikas peo-

ple. To access these powers, the

player must collect light seeds

and take them to the temple.

The light seeds then unlock pow-

ers that are used to reach more

fertile grounds. After healing all

of the fertile grounds, the Prince

and Elika return to the temple to

fight Ahriman himself.

Sadly, the game builds up to

what could have been a great,

satisfying ending, but instead

leaves players angry. Essentially,

all of the players hard work goes

to waste and the world is left in

a corrupted state. While Ubisoft

did release DLC to add more to

the ending, the DLC costs much

more than the game and adds

very little to the story.

The character development

mostly occurs through optional

Emily McNair

Managing Editor

Prince of Persia is asimple, fun game

conversations between Elika and

the Prince. These conversations

mostly focus on the background

and the future of the characters

and do little to advance the sto-ry. At times, the dialogue feels

forced and unrealistic, which

takes away from the game. Ad-

ditionally, there are only two

notable quotes from the entire

game: I could have had carpets

*this* thick, which is what the

Prince says when he explains the

significance of losing his donkey

to Elika, and if you would have

your wish, then give me mine,

which Ahriman says at the end of

every one of Elikas flashbacks.

The fact that there are only two

memorable quotes shows how

boring most of the dialogue re-

ally is. At times, the Prince and

Elika are amusing; however,

most of their dialogueseems to be filler

to help reduce

the repetitiveness

of the game.

T h e

gameplay

leaves much to be

desired. It is extremely re-

petitive and, once players under-

stand how to defeat each of the

monsters, the battles are of little

challenge. The worst battles take

place between the Prince and

the Warrior King, a large mon-

ster made of stone. In the PS3

version of the game, it is nearly

impossible to mash buttons fast

enough to defeat the monster.

Many players have resorted to

using pencils to push the but-

tons as fast as possible. This has

made the battles with the Warrior

King little more than a nuisance

and adds very little to the game.

One of the most interesting

aspects of the gameplay is that

the player can never die. Instead,

Elika saves the Prince whenever

he takes off more than he can

chew by falling off a wall or jump-

ing into a chasm. This is extreme-

ly helpful as the landscape is filled

with jumps, wall running, and all

sorts of various dangerous acts.

However, at the same time, it can

be frustrating as Elika returns

the Prince to his last location on

solid ground. There are many se-

quences where the Prince does

not touch the ground for nearly

a minute, so if the player fails to

navigate a ledge, all of that workis lost. This aspect becomes es-

pecially important on the quest

for light seeds.

Light seeds are often placed

along the route used to reach

the fertile ground. These are the

easiest to collect and only require

a small amount of the players

time. However, collecting all of

these light seeds is not enough

to unlock more powers - in fact,

many of the more remote light

seeds have to be collected in or-

der to finish the game. This pro-

vides an interesting challenge to

players as some light seeds are

in locations that require

powers , w h i c h

makesco l -

lect-

ing them that

much more difficult.

This game really

excels in the environments.

The landscape requires players

to use all of their skills to navi-

gate the world and collect light

seeds, and this often requires a

bit of creativity on the part of the

player. While the rocks, water,

sand, and other environmental

features are not the most realis-

tic, the level of detail fits well with

the style of the game. Areas with

healed fertile grounds can be

quite beautiful with lots of foliage

and light. However, corrupted ar-

eas are extremely dark and the

environments can be difficult to

navigate at times. The corrup-

tion, a black slime, reaches to

grab the Prince as he runs past

it, which can block the players

view. However, it is extremely fit-

ting and gives those areas the

dark ambiance expected of an

area covered in evil.

Even though the gameplay is

quite lacking, Prince of Persia

is an interesting game. The story

itself is not very complex, but it is

engrossing enough to keep play-

ers asking for more. Specifically,

this game is perfect for those

who love to collect everything in

the world and those that want a

casual, inexpensive game to play

between new releases.

giving.mines.edu/studentsMines Senior Gift on

Your gift will be matched 1:1 by Mines alum and

Board of Trustees member, Tim Haddon 70!

Make a gift to The Mines Fundor to the area that means themost to you.

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Mines Tradition!

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APRIL 26

COURTESY WALLPAPERSHD1080P

What Prince of Persia lacks in combat it makes up for in environmental detail.

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ISOFT


8/12

f e a t u r e s march , page


Jessica Deters

Staff Writer

One choice, two lives. If/

Then, which opens on Broadway

on March 30, follows Elizabeth,

a 30-something who recently

If/Then: The power of choices versus fatemoved back to the Big Apple after

a failed, decade-long marriage in

Arizona. Elizabeth plans to meet

up with an old friend at Madison

Square Park to begin her new

life in New York City. One friend,

Kate, played by Tony award win-

ning actress LaChanze for her

role in The Color Purple, says

Liz returned to the city to nd her

true love. Another friend, Lucas,

played by Broadway veteran An-

thony Rapp, believes Beth came

to the city to advance her career

as an urban planner. In that mo-

ment, Elizabeth, played by TonyAward-winning best actress Idina

Menzel, must choose whether to

follow Kate, becoming Liz and

discovering a new love or to fol-

low Lucas and eventually become

successful urban planner Beth.

What dierence does one choice

make anyways?

Each path unfolds and Eliza-

beth lives out the next years of her

life having made each respective

choice. Down one road Beth nds

herself in a dream career, leaving

her mark on the New York City

landscape, but her love life is quite

simply a hot mess. Down the oth-

er Liz nds lovereal, true love

but advancing her career falls by

the wayside.This original musicalthe only

musical opening this spring with

a completely new and authentic

story and scorecrafted by Tom

Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Pulitzer

winners for their musical Next to

Normal, opened at the Richard

Rodgers Theater on Broadway for

Previews on March 5.

The new-age concept coupled

with the immense star power of

Idina Menzel make If/Then a

must-see. Menzel is best known

for voicing Elsa in the new Dis-

ney lm Frozen as well as for

originating the role of Elphaba in

Wicked, for which she won a

Tony. Menzel and If/Then costar

Rapp play old friends in the newmusical, which is quite accurate

as the two also co-starred in the

original Broadway production of

Rent 18 years ago.

If/Then explores the power

of choices. A choice as simple

as deciding to answer the phone

or deciding to go to Starbucks

in the morning can change the

course of a persons life. If/Then

is not the rst work to explore this

ideathat of one choice altering

a persons life course. Sliding

Doors, a 1998 lm starring Gwyn-

eth Paltrow, depicts the power of

a simple event in the course a

persons life takes. As Helen Quil-

ley (Paltrow) rushes to work, she

barely catches (or barely misses) asubway train. Her making or miss-

ing that train completely alters her

life. One road takes her to a new

love. The other keeps her with a

cheating ance. The plot unfolds

the two parallel universes, explor-

ing the power of one train ride to

alter Helens life.

Though the idea of parallel lives

has been explored before by other

works, If/Then is the rst to do

so in a musical format. If/Then

portrays life. Nothing is sugar-

coated. Nothing is brushed over.

Nothing is o-limits. The produc-

tion proves to be an incredibly

moving and thought-provoking

work, portraying gay, lesbian, and

biracial relationships, the chal-lenges of becoming attached to a

soldier and the eeting nature of

time in an eortless manner. If/

Then manages to portray each

relationship as simply another as-

pect of life--not something to be

debated or even something worth

dissenting over.

The incredibly powerful musi-

cal holds nothing back and even

brings its audience to tears. It ex-

plores the idea of all of the other

versions of self who are living dif-

ferent lives because one thing

went dierently along the way. If/

Then resonates with audience

members in a way most musicals

cannot because it tackles a con-

cept that impacts everyone as wellas featuring challenges that most

face throughout their lives.

As daunting as it may be to

think that every choice leads away

from one life and toward another,

If/Then oers a little piece of sol-

ace to viewers. Perhaps, despite

the choices made, both good and

bad, everyone ends up where they

belong.

If/Then explores the idea of all other versions of self who are liv-

ing different lives because one thing went differently along the way.

Some people argue that older

movies are classics and there-

fore better. This isnt always true,

but in the case of The Breakfast

Club, they might be right. The

Breakfast Club tells the story

of ve teenagers who

discover friends in the

most unlikely of places.

The Breakfast Club

is the story of ve teen-

agers who are attending

an all day detention on a

Saturday. The story de-

picts their experiences

as a brain, an athlete, a

basket case, a princess

and a criminal. This un-

likely group of teenag-ers are forced into each

others company due to

their detention and nd

in each other things that

they never expected.

The students partici pat-

ing in the detention are

Andy, the jock; Brian,

the brain; Allison, the

basket case; Claire, the

princess and Bender,

the criminal. Presiding

over the detention is

Richard Dick Vernon,

the schools assistant

principal.

The ve students are

left in the library and in-

structed to each writean essay about who

they are. They have the entire

day to complete a single page

essay so, inevitably, they get up

to all sorts of mischief. Bender

has a very dysfunctional relation-

ship with Vernon so he speci-

cally tries to incite mischief and

chaos. He primarily does this by

trying to rile up the other stu-

dents, mostly Claire and Andy,

Jacqueline Feuerborn

Staff Writer

A classic that never agesbecause their stereotypical jock

and princess personalities easily

clash with Benders. While thereare some stereotypical portrayals

of characters at the beginning of

the movie, by the end the audi-

ence sees that none of them are

as simple and one dimensional as

it originally seems, they all have

deeper character development.

The primary example of how

each of them are not what they

seem is when all of the charac-

ters sat around discussing why

they are in the Saturday deten-

tion. This is an incredibly moving

scene as viewers see more into

who each character is and how

they act and why. The especial-

Sherlock Holmes has been

brought to life onscreen most re-

cently by the BBC in the popular

drama series Sherlock. Audiences

around the world have been enter-

tained by this 2010 xture, now at

the conclusion of the third season.

Benedict Cumberbatch brilliantly

stars as Sherlock Holmes with Mar-

tin Freeman as Dr. John Watson

accompanying him on his journeys

through London and beyond.

(Movie connection! Interestingly

enough in The Hobbit: Desolation

of Smaug (2013), Cumberbatch

provides the voice for the dragon

Smaug, while Freeman plays Bilbo

Baggins. Sherlock fans may nd

the irony of their encounter giventhey work so closely in Sherlock

as partners, rather than adversar-

ies.)

For those unfamiliar with the

Sherlock Holmes novels penned by

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creators

of Sherlock have prioritized the

importance of maintaining details

unique to the novels. There are four

original Sherlock Holmes novels

and fty-six short stories. Collec-

tively, these pieces create the world

in which Sherlock Holmes lives and

environment where readers are able

to envision that he solves mysteri-

ous and distinguishing crimes. Ob-

viously, the time setting diers be-

tween the Sir Arthur Conan Doyles

work and the work of the modernadaptation. The creators of Sher-

lock place this legendary character

in the modern streets of London,

where he is able to communicate

using mobile devices and the inter-

net, as well as travel in taxis or by

means of the tube.

The original Sherlock Holmes

novels have remained popular since

their publication beginning in 1887.

Readers in Europe, the United

Sarah Dewar

Staff Writer

Holmes lives onStates, and beyond are intrigued

by Sherlock Holmes rst as a char-

acter and second as a player in thecrime scene. This is apparent even

today, as crime movies and televi-

sion dramas are consistently the

most protable and popular genre

of entertainment. However, the at-

tractiveness of Sherlock Holmes

originates from the fact that he is

not a police ocer but rather an

independent private detective. He

is made out to be smarter than the

police force, to be more cunning

and observational than the authori-

ties. To state is simply, Sherlock

Holmes is a crime-solving genius.

Sherlock Holmes is a man that

transcends time. His character

is just as eective when placed in

the late 19th century as in modern

times. He is supremely individu-alistic, neither adapting to current

standards or adopting appropriate

social protocol. He is quirky, sar-

castic, and working for good. He

is a mental powerhouse, who uses

his fascination with science and his

profound abilities of observation to

solve implausible crimes.

The format of many original

Sherlock Holmes novels and short

stories is retrospective, meaning

that the events have already taken

place and either Sherlock Holmes

or Dr. John Watson is retelling the

succession of preceding phenom-

enon. This gives the reader insight

into each criminal case so that lit-

tle clues piece together with each

page and the reader can solve themystery right along with Sherlock.

For readers intrigued in reading the

original works, the novels are quite

easy to nd digitally for free. Even

though there is quite a bit of read-

ing to get through, these novels and

short stories are immensely enter-

taining and recommended for all

readers looking to immerse them-

selves more into the wonderfully il-

legal world of Sherlock Holmes.

ly prominent part of this scene

is the outside knowledge that

none of their reasons for beingthere were scripted. The director,

John Hughes, told all of the ac-

tors to improvise the scene and

so each actor or actress was able

to imagine their own reason why

there character was there. This

allowed the actors and

actresses to make their

characters even more

compelling and intri-

cate.

As the audience

watches the characters

actions, they become

more and more relat-

able which is one of the

things that makes this

movie so good. Every-

one who watches themovie can nd some

part of one of the char-

acters that they can

connect with. By the

end of the movie, all of

the characters are seen

in a new light. While the

overall plot isnt very

intricate or particularly

attention grabbing, the

movie does an incred-

ible job of showing peo-

ple, real people, and

how they interact. The

Breakfast Club also

successfully disarms

stereotypes and shows

people that humans

are much more com-plex and confusing than

people might initially assume.

All in all, it is an incredible

lm that will make any audience

watch in fascination. Anyone

looking for a good classic movie

to watch should pull The Break-

fast Club o of the shelf or go on

Netix and take a look. Watching

this movie is not something that

will be regretted.

The Breakfast Club is a fascinating lm.

COURTESY UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

JESSICA DETERS / OREDIGGER


9/12

f e a t u r e s / s p o r t smarch , page 9


Karen Gilsdorf

Staff Writer

Short Hair, No Cares has

become the motto of Morgan

Halls 3rd floor after eight of its

residents donated their hair to

Locks of Love and Pantene Beau-

tiful Lengths. As of late, the group

has been working on finding waysthat college students can make a

difference in the world on a low

budget. Carmella Caltagirone, the

Resident Assistant of Morgan 3rd,

explained that previously they had

done a day of silence, working on

how to change the world as a col-

lege student when you dont have

any money. Now, they continue

this trend with the donation of

their hair.

One of the girls on the floor

came to me last semester to see

Short Hair, No Caresif it was something we all could

do, explained Colista West, the

community service chair of the

floor. This semester it actually

happened, and it was something

we could do all individually, she

continued. And now, every girl has

at least 8 inches less of hair and

wears it proudly. It is kind of weird

to get double takes, but its prettyawesome, West said.

As many can imagine, cutting

off this much hair was no small

feat (10 inches for Locks of Love,

8 inches for Pantene). Hair is a big

security blanket and a big comfort

item, but as women, donating

your hair in a group is a really cool

and empowering experience, ex-

plained Caltagirone. And this truly

seemed to be the case. When the

eight women went to Aprils Sa-

lon, they booked the entire salon

for a two hour block. All of the

stylists that cut [the girls] hair had

such a fun time, exclaimed Cal-

tagirone. But even though it was

a scary process, it was a surpris-

ingly simple decision for some.

We were making a contribution to

raise awareness by getting a hair-

cut, which would have happened

anyways, Caltagirone continued,Its been an awesome community

builder, and everyone that went

through it relied heavily on the

moral support of her floor mates.

These women are truly an in-

spiration at Mines, and a phe-

nomenal example of what can be

done with a little bit of willingness.

Though sacrificing something like

hair is not always easy, the ben-

efits far outweigh the downfalls,

both for the participant and the

persons being aided.

(pictured left to right) Petra Atwood, Hayley Armstrong, Emily Echelberger, Dale Mathisen, Stephanie

Panza, Hannah Wysocki, Colista West, and Carmella Caltagirone all donated their hair to Locks of Love.

KAREN GILSDORF / OREDIGGER

The CSM Baseball team finally

got to play a series on their own

grass the weekend of March 8.Mines went against the Color

the oredigger issue 19 - march 19th, 2014

Documents