the oredigger issue 6 - october 10, 2011

8/3/2019 The Oredigger Issue 6 - October 10, 2011

1/8

T H E O R E D I G G E RVolume 92, Issue 6 October 10, 2011

The student voice of the Colorado School of Mines

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

Mens soccer

beats CMU 4-2

Sports 6

Opinion 7

Lil Wayne cant

come back after

jail time

Features 5

Easy-to-make

staple foods:

Queso!

News 3

Can OPEC

handle the oil

game?

The Bureau of Ocean Ener-gy Management, Regulation, andEnforcement (BOEMRE, formerlythe Minerals Management Service(MMS)) recently released what hasbeen called the most comprehensivendings to date on the causes ofthe Deepwater Horizon incident of

April 20, 2010. The incident killed11 workers and resulted in the worstoil spill in US history, which lasted 87days and released almost 5 millionbarrels of oil.

The report placed shared blameon BP, Transocean, and Halliburton,the three main companies who wereoperating the Macondo Oil Prospect.

The main cause of the blowout wasconcluded to be the failure of thecement barrier which allowed hy-drocarbons to ow up the wellbore,through the riser and onto the rig,resulting in the blowout.

A number of problems duringdrilling led rig personnel to refer toMacondo as the well from hell.

These included kicks (suddenchanges in pressure), stuck pipe,and equipment leaks. Schedulingconicts and cost overruns resultedin a situation where as of April 20,BPs Macondo operations weremore than $58 million over budget.

The report concludes that Hal-liburton was responsible for con-ducting the cement job but that

BP made a series of decisionsthat complicated cementing opera-tions and added incremental risk.

Although BP, as designated opera-tor, was ultimately responsible forsafety at the Macondo operation,Transocean personnel onboardthe Deepwater Horizon missed theopportunity to remedy the cementproblems when they misinterpretedanomalies encountered during a

Extensive report released on tragicDeepwater Horizon oil incidentJoseph Grogan

Staff Writer

critical test of cement barriers. Thereport states that the incident mightnot have occurred had the failure ofthe cement been detected, but bybypassing a critical ow meter andalso performing multiple simultane-ous preparations to move the rig,the possibility of early kick detectionwas limited.

The report lists several federalregulations violated by BP, and in

some instances its contractors,but also recognizes that strongerregulations, for instance in cement-ing procedures, could have beenput in place by the MMS and mighthave reduced the likelihood of theMacondo blowout.

The report is dedicated to the 11lives lost that day.

http://www.boemre.gov/pdfs/maps/DWHFINAL.pdf

Crews attempt to extinguish the initial res on the Deepwater Horizion rig.

COURTESY US COAST GUARD

Students showed their enthusiasm in the form of baby footprints and signatures on the Up Til Dawn banner. See

page 5 for more photos from the kids carnival.

KEVIN EMERY / OREDIGGER


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n e w s october 10, 2011page 2


Oredigger Staff

Ryan Browne

Editor-in-Chief

Katie HuckfeldtManaging Editor

Robert GillBusiness Manager

Steven WooldridgeWebmaster

Barbara AndersonDesign Editor

Zach BoernerCopy Editor

Will ParkerAsst. Design Editor

Ian LittmanAsst. Business Manager,

Web Content

Carissa SummerfeltAsst. Business Manager

Trevor CraneContent Manager

Deborah GoodContent Manager

Stephen HejducekContent Manager

David TauchenFaculty Advisor

Headlines from around the worldLocal News

The comedy lm starringSteve Martin called The Big

Year, is based on a Coloradonative. Al Levantin, from Snow-mass, Colorado, is the modelfor Martins character. Levantinis an avid birdwatcher and themovie follows his character andtwo rivals that are competing tosee who can observe the mostbirds in North America duringone year. Jack Black and OwenWilson are cast as Levantins ri-vals, and Rashida Jones of TheOfce is a part of the supportingcast.

Last Friday in Erie, Coloradoa pregnant cow named Luckywasnt as lucky as once thought.Lucky was in a eld near a live-

stock pen where she walkedonto a wooden platform placedover a well. Luckys 1,500 poundframe proved to be too much forthe platform which shattered,sending Lucky to the bottomof the eight foot well. Fireght-ers, animal-control ofcers andneighbors rushed to the sceneof the bovine emergency. Theneighbors climbed down to calmLucky while a crane was called.

Thieves in Denver, Coloradomanaged to pull an $11,000

jewelry switch. Myrna Munozfrom the Joyeria El Ruby Store,received a call from two menwho wished to sell some gold

jewelry. Munoz tested the 10pieces of jewelry and the goldamounted to $11,000. WhileMunoz was in the process ofcounting out the money the menswitched the bag of gold with abag of fake replicas. The menthen took the cash and quicklyleft the store before Munoz dis-covered the false gold. The Den-ver Police are still looking for thetwo men.

Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer

Joshua Kleitsch, Staff Writer

The ghting continues inLibya, as NATO has stated thatit is still unwilling to withdraw itsmilitary operations in the region.Citing the ghting surrounding theLibyan city of Sirte as an exam-ple, the American Defense Secre-tary has said that NATO is beingvery careful so as to ush out allthe remaining loyalist forces be-fore giving their political leadersofcial consent to pull out.

In an effort to reignite his sup-porters, former Libyan leaderMuammar Qadda has broad-

cast a message while in hiding,urging those still loyal to him torise up and denounce the new

Transitional National Council,which is currently taking over thegovernmental operations of Lib-ya. Qaddas goal is to seed dis-content among his former peo-ple, hoping that they will accepthim as their leader once again.

The death toll for Syriananti-dictatorship protest has

risen to 2,900, according to aUnited Nations report releasedlast week. The Syrian govern-ment refuses to give way tothe protesters, and as a re-sult the casualties continueto mount. While the protests

started peacefully in March,they have escalated into anarmed struggle as govern-mental opposition grows.

Afghan and Americansoldiers at an outpostoverlooking Taliban-con-trolled territory in Afghani-stan received a welcome,yet unusual respite to theghting last week. Thistime of year is prime harvest

season for pine-nuts, a common,annual produce of the Afghanhills. Because many of the lo-cal laborers need this harvest tosurvive, the Taliban declared atemporary, unilateral cease-

re to allow the locals to harvestthe pine-nuts without fear of be-ing shot.

The economy may not be indecline again, as the U.S. LaborDepartment reported an addi-tion of roughly 100,000 new

jobs for the month of September.Amid fears that the economy may

be facing a double-dip recession,this is very welcome news. Un-employment is unchanged, how-ever, and hovers at 9.1 percent.

Russian president DimitriMedvedev continues to defendthe Russian Veto of a United Na-

tions Security Council resolutionthat would levy sanctions againstSyria. The proposed sanctionswould force the Syrian gov-ernment to end the violence

against protesters, but Russiawill continue to veto this resolu-tion until the council includes aclause eliminating military actionas a possible option.

The federal governmentcracked down on medical

marijuana dispensaries in thestate of California, claiming thatfederal law takes precedence

over state law. The claim is thatthey are only cracking down onthose in violation of state laws,although there are fears that thismeans the federal governmentwill crack down on all medicalmarijuana facilities.

Nantes, France - New evidenceshows that there may be ice on Mer-curys surface, defying the long-heldbelief that the hot planet is complete-ly dry. Several years ago, astrono-mers took radar images of the planetand found many little patches on theplanets surface that were much morereective than the surrounding areas.

After NASAs Messenger spacecrafthad been orbiting the planet for a few

months, astronomers concluded thatthese bright patches could be ice. Itwas determined that the small patch-es lay at the bottom of deep cratersnear the Mercurys poles, where theyare not exposed to the suns light.

This environment would allow ice toremain frozen despite the searingtemperatures on the planets surface.

Durham, North Carolina - Researchers atDuke University in North Carolina have begunworking on a new prosthetic limb technology.

Their prosthetic limbs would give the user tactilefeedback, rather than simple motor control. Theshortfall of current prosthetics is that the userhas no idea what their articial hand or foot isfeeling. Simple tasks such as lifting a cup of wa-

ter become nearly impossible without the tactilefeedback. Duke University Neurologist MiguelNicolelis has been working on a new technologythat implants a set of electrodes in the brain, pro-viding a tactile awareness from a set of sensorson the prosthetic limb. With one electrode in themotor center and one in the sensory center ofthe brain, Nicolelis can close the loop, allowingthe user to feel the sensations that the pros-thetic is feeling, and respond accordingly.

Geneva, Switzerland - The head scientists at the worlds three largestphysics research centers have formally stated that they will pursue proving ordisproving the existence of the Higgs Boson, a particle whose existence ispostulated to be necessary in order to hold modern particle physics together.CERNs lead physicist, Rolf Heuer, said that he hopes to present a conclu-sion by this time next year, in a statement last Thursday. The Higgs Bosonis the particle believed by modern physicists to have given the Big Bang itsshape, and allowed the universe to exist on a particle level. If it does not in factexist, then our understanding of particle physics will be fundamentally altered.

Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany - Earths abundant water may have come from comets, according to a new study byresearchers at Max Planck Institute in Germany. Scientists have long wondered where Earths water came from in light oftheir belief that during the formation of Earth the surface temperature was so hot that all volatiles, including water, would havedissipated into space. Therefore the water currently present on Earth must have come from elsewhere in space. This studyalso suggests that asteroids would have contributed to much of the Earths oceans, supplementing the comets contribution.


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n e w soctober 10, 2011 page 3


On the second oor of the Stu-

dent Center outside the entrance

to Slate, the names of those

belonging to the Mines Century

Society are forever enshrined

in a metal dis-

play. The Mines

Foundation hon-

ored members

of this esteemed

society with a

South American

themed din-

ner. Designed

to highlight our

educational con-

nections with

our neighbors

to the south,

the night started

with empanada

and plantain chip

hors doeuvres.

After open-

ing remarks by

President Scog-

gins, in which

he thanked the

attendees for

their donations

and apologized

for the inconve-

Mines Century Society hosts dinnerfor esteemed campus donors

The worldwide oil market is

unique, complex, and very dif-

cult to predict. Robert D. Cairns,

an economist from McGill Univer-

sity, laid out this message loud and

clear in his recent research paper

on the oil industry and the impor-

tance of OPECs involvement.

Cairns, who visited the Colorado

School of Mines campus last

week, explained how OPEC, the

Organization of Petroleum Export-

ing Countries, continues to hold

lions share of the oil market and

cautions that they must be careful

in how they use that power.

In the oil market, the primary

players must look at the specic at-

tributes of the oil reserves in order

to maintain protability and power

in the market. For each individual

oil reserve, there are marginal costs

involved in extracting and process-

ing the oil. Therefore the optimal

point of production for a company

producing oil is somewhere be-

tween marginal costs and maxi-

mum protability. Cairns explained

Carmella Caltagirone

Lucy Orsi

Staff Writers

Can OPEC handle the oil competition?Joshua KleitschStaff Writer

that the primary players in the oil

world, such as OPEC, have the

power to control these attributes

and predetermine the overall prot-

ability of specic oil reserves by the

way they invest in and develop the

reserve.

This is important because if the

leading oil producer sets their price

point above these industry-stan-

dard levels, it increases the incen-

tive for more rivals to enter the mar-

ket, taking away prots from the

leading producer. However, if the

leading producer sets their price

well below the standard, they are

wasting their mass-production ad-

vantage. If OPEC seeks to maintain

their edge in the global oil market,

they must set their oil prices and

production levels in such a way

that the upper limits of produc-

tion are predetermined, resulting in

greater protability in the long run.

Cairns added that the prime ob-

jective for the oil producing states

in the Middle East is to perpetuate

their dynasty. For the Saudis, this

means keeping their ruling house

in power for as long as they can.

What do [the Saudis] do with

their money? Like many of the oil

states, much of the population...

is on state payroll, doing essen-

tially nothing. There has not been

a Saudi Spring yet. They pay the

people to keep quiet. For the Sau-

dis to maintain this peaceful wel-

fare state, they must continue to

be protable in the oil industry. For

them to be protable, they must be

careful in how they predetermine

the upper limits of production while

not wasting their reserves.

As a result, traditional economic

models that determine the devel-

opment and utilization of natural re-

sources are all but useless when it

comes to oil. Oil gives nations and

governments power, and without it

they are vulnerable. This results in a

unique situation in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia now sits on massive

untapped oil reserves, as they at-

tempt to maintain that price and

production control. This discour-

ages further entry into the market,

resulting in greater protability. Be-

cause of this, OPEC now sets the

standard for oil production, and

any other participant must match

their price in order to compete.

Develop your English language skills throughout

your academic career

Part-time English classes for undergraduates and graduates

Women's conversation program

Private tutoring available

Contact info: Mountain Language Institute, 1212 Arapahoe St., Golden, CO 80401,

www.mlienglish.com - [email protected]

For SHBP participants enrolled in the Plan during the

2010-2011 Plan Year:

If you did not submit a claim for associated ttings for

either eye glasses or contact lenses, please resubmit

claims to UHCSR by 10/31/2011 for reconsideration.

Public service announcement

from Student Health Benets Plan

A plot of money earned from oil production, consumption,

imports and exports for OPEC nations.

COURTESY MAZAMASCIENCE.COM

nience of campus construction

made possible by such generos-

ity, a delicious Argentinian steak

dinner was served.

Highlights of the night includ-

ed the awarding of the Young

Philanthropist Award, which was

given to James and Lousie Plutt

as well as Jack and Lindsey Say-

ers. The Tourmaline Award was

also announced and given to Dr.

Franklin and Darlene Stermole.

Finally, one of our own staff, Dr.

Steven Sonnenberg, was recog-

nized and given the Faculty and

Staff Philanthropy Award. The

night concluded with two impres-

sive tango dance demonstrations

from the Mines Ballroom Dance

Club.

The Century Society Members are proudly displayed on a plaque in the

student center.

STEVEN WOOLDRIDGE / OREDIGGER

COURTESY CSM PUBLIC RELATIONS

James and Lousie Plutt received the Philanthropist Award

at the Century Societys dinner.


4/8

f e a t u r e s october 10, 2011page 4


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Master of Management Practice

Meeting with Dr. Paul Martin,

Professor of Applied Mathemat-

ics and Statistics, one is immedi-

ately struck by his gray-ecked full

beard and British accent. He has

a unique philosophy and teaching

style, which is a result of the time

he has spent on both sides of the

Atlantic. His experiences and hab-

its make him a different kind of

professor, but in the best way pos-

sible.

Martins journey to becoming a

CSM math professor began in high

school. He realized, I was kind of

good at mathematics in school,

and so then I went to University.

He graduated with a bachelors in

Mathematics from the University of

Bristol, UK, in 1975. Before com-

ing to Mines, Martin had been a

student and professor at the Uni-

versity of Manchester for over 20

years, having received his mastersin 1976 and doctorate in 1980. He

said, I went there as a grad stu-

dent and stayed. His rst experi-

ence with CSM came during a sab-

batical year. Said Martin, Some

years later an opportunity came up

to come here, and so, I came. He

began teaching at Mines in 1999,

making the move from England

with his three children. The transi-

tion was not too hard to make be-

cause, said Martin, My kids had all

lived here for a year, so they knew

what it would be like.

In making the move from Eng-

land, Martin brought with him his

own style of teaching. In the Brit-

ish system, he said, Its not usual

to have textbooks. And so its

usual to propagate information by

ensuring that students get good

sets of notes from the lectures. Ive

always thought about teaching in

that way.

Students in his classes can at-

test to the textbook-like quality of

his notes. Martin prefers to write

in complete sentences while giv-

ing lectures, because, Apart from

teaching students a little bit about

spelling and punctuation, it also

slows you down a bit. This tech-

nique prevents him from rushingahead, and helps students to keep

up with the lecture material.

Compared to when he was in

England, Martin feels that he is a

better teacher at Mines. He said,

In England I didnt really have the

chance to teach, because it was

more like lecturing when in the big

theaters. You really are only show-

ing things. The smaller class sizes

at Mines make teaching more re-

warding for him because, You can

understand where the students are

having trouble, and you dont get

that so much in a big class. Martin

added, I think here, I actually try

to teach things to some students.

Martin does not have much free

time when he is not working, but

he likes to use it spending time

with his grown children when he

can and doing family things. Im

not a typical person in Colorado, in

that Im not interested in anything

to do with the outdoors, he said, I

mean I like to look at it and things,

but Im not an active person. I nev-

er do any exercise for example.

His advice for students is to,

Try and get uent in mathematics.

When youre struggling with engi-

neering, you can focus on that and

not worry about the math. Martindescribed his life as one in which

he, almost always tried to never

make any decisions, and if this is

the case, then he did not choose

the path to Mines, but rather, the

path chose him.

Ian Mertz

Staff Writer

Learn uency in math

The Internet has brought huge,practical advances to human-

ity. Information is now available

instantly worldwide, increasing

productivity and making research

far easier. However, the Internet

is not exclusively useful - it also

has virtually limitless resources

for procrastination.

A case in point is the ubiq-

uitous simple, addictive ash

game. These games may not

have state-of-the-art graphics or

technical gameplay, but one taste

of them can hook players for

hours, if not days.

The ideal time-wasting game

is simple, yet challenging. It has

an easily understood control sys-

tem but a progressive increase indifculty. Players must practice to

advance farther.

One example of this sort of

game is Slime Soccer World

Cup. This simple game consists

of 1-on-1 matches between two

animated slime balls in their na-

tional colors. There are player vs.

player matches and a ridiculously

addictive World Cup mode.

The object of the game is fora player to defend his or her goal

while attempting to knock the

ball into the oppo-

nents goal.

This seems

simple, but the

nuances of game-

play can be com-

plex. Players who

sit back too far

might never score.

Players who at-

tack can fall victim

to easy lob shots

on their empty

goal. Those who

get caught in a

jump might see

the ball sail beneath them into thenet.

In Slime Soccer, scoring is

constant and own goals are fre-

quent. The key to winning is nail-

ing down the defense.

World Cup mode consists of

four matches of increasing length

James Kergosien

Staff Writer

against intensifying computer

competition. Players seek to bat-

tle through the tournament and

become the ultimate champion.Players can play as one of

dozens of nationalities. They can

surge to glory in the

classic green and

yellow of Brazil, or

stun the world in the

orange and white of

Senegal.

In Slime Soccer, all

slimeballs are created

equal, so big-name

countries are not at

any advantage.

This game is al-

ways entertaining,

frequently frustrating,

and denitely worth a

look.

Slime Soccer World Cup isavailable in many places around

the Web, but its source is at

www.slimegames.eu, a site with

a number of similar games in

such diverse sports as ice hock-

ey, basketball, water polo, and

cricket.

Simply addictive SlimeSoccer World Cup

These games may

not have state-of-

the-art graphics

or technical game-

play, but one taste

of them can hook

players for hours, if

not days.

One of the best things about

Wilco is that, while they have al-

ways had a distinct sound, they

have never been conned to one

particular genre. They have been

a little bit rock, a little bit punk,

a little country, and even a little

metal.

Never has their sound on one

album been more undened,

though, than on their newest and

rst self-released album, The

Whole Love. Jeff Tweedy, the

bands lead singer, describes the

new album as jumping betweensnot-nosed obnoxious pop

songs... and

more languid,

a tmospher -

i c - c o u n t r y

music. This

hardly seems

a p p e a l i n g ,

but while

The Whole

Love is not

Wilcos best

album (that

award still

belongs to

Yankee Ho-

tel Foxtrot), it does benet from a

more condent and relaxed band.

That is not to say the albumis relaxed. The opener, Art of

Almost, is anything but. It may

even turn some listeners off im-

mediately, but let the song play

the full seven minutes and the

experimental introduction is given

some context. The song is en-

gaging and unpredictable, break-

ing into a refreshing instrumental

build up ve minutes in that is

sure to captivate the listeners full

attention.

It is not the best song on the

new album, but is one of the

more interesting ones. The sec-

ond song, I Might sounds more

like the Wilco of recent albums,

A little bit ofeverything onThe Whole LoveLucy Orsi

Staff Writer

featuring Tweedys voice, an up-

beat tempo, and an unrened

guitar backing.

The rest of the album mim-

ics the tone set by the rst two

songs, with sections of the always

experimental, boundary-pushing

Wilco, followed by moments of

more relatable catchy riffs.

The album itself, though,

seems like more of a represen-

tation of Wilco than any of the

previous ones. This is probably

a result of Wilco having greater

control with their own new label.

One of the songs is even entitled

I Love My Label.

Songs like Born Alone andthe title song Whole Love are

t h o r o u g h l y

e n j o y a b l e

and musi-

cally interest-

ing. Capitol

City shines

under what

is clearly

country inu-

ences. The

album ends

on an ambi-

tious note,

with Black

Moon.

The song is not quite as im-

pressive as Art of Almost, but is

a climatic way to end an impres-sive album.

For a band that has released

seven albums, each of them

unique and surprising in their

own right, it is hard to imagine an

eighth album with any new ma-

terial. It is true that The Whole

Love is not Wilcos most innova-

tive album.

Instead, it is an album that

shows off their experience. Every

song shows another side of Wil-

co and every listen reveals some

new detail added to spice up the

song. The album is not legendary

like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but it

might be a little more enjoyable.

COURTESY WILCO

Wilcos album The Whole Love gives them an undefned

sound, leaving the listener with an unpredictable track list.

The album itself, though,

seems like more of a repre-

sentation of Wilco than any

of the previous ones. This is

probably a result of Wilco

having greater control with

their own new label.


5/8

f e a t u r e soctober 10, 2011 page 5


Kafadar Commons hosted a

rather unique event amidst the

hustle and bustle of classes last

week - a charity carnival. Accord-

ing to spokespeople StephanieIves and Whitney Rucker, Up Til

Dawn held the carnival to con-

clude their awareness week.

Throughout the week, the

organization hosted events to

provide information about activi-

ties and to gain support from the

campus community. Up T il Dawn

raises money for St. Jude Chil-

drens Research Hospital to fund

cancer research and support the

well-being of patients.

Fridays festivities were based

on the concept of being a kid for

Kids carnival brought to campusMichael Estrada

Staff Writer

a day. The activities included giv-

ing away rubber ducks, balloons,

darts, and golf cart rides. The

idea was simple, but much more

signicant to someone whose

childhood has been compro-

mised by medical treatments.

Other awareness events in-

clude a bake sale and a bannersigning. The bake sale served to

bring attention to the organiza-

tion, and the generosity on cam-

pus yielded over two hundred

dollars in donations. St. Judes

will be receiving one hundred

percent of this money. Students

also showed their enthusiasm in

the form of baby footprints and

signatures on the Up Til Dawn

banner.

The entire campus was in-

volved in the events. Donations

have been received from stu-

dents, faculty, recruiting repre-

sentatives, and even personnel

from off-campus businesses

such as Wells Fargo.

Participants in the events were

informed of the upcoming letter-

sending event on November 16

and encouraged to participate.

Teams may register to send let-ters to friends and family to raise

money for St. Jude Childrens

Research hospital. Also, students

are encouraged to keep an eye

out for Up Till Dawn fundraisers

throughout the year.

Those interested in becoming

a part of the letter-sending event

should contact Travis Smith at the

Student Activities ofce to receive

information or to register a team.

Those with questions about Up

Til Dawn should contact either

Smith or Ives ([email protected]).

Students participated in awareness events such as a bake sale, banner signing and golf

cart rides.


BEN TRAQUAIR / OREDIGGER

Jak III is a Playstation 2 game

from 2004 that, despite its age,still manages to provide gamers

with an entertaining experience.

The game is the third installment

of the Jak and Daxter adven-

tures, created by Naughty Dog

(the same developers responsible

for the recently popular Unchart-

ed series). The game works well

as a standalone title, as it starts

by quickly bringing players up to

speed on both the basics of the

story and the fairly simple con-

trols, but it also recognizes and

uses its status as the third in a

trilogy to its full advantage, giving

nods to veteran players through

improvements in gameplay, sto-

ryline and gratuitous inside jokes.

The game begins with seriesprotagonists Jak and Daxter in the

process of being banished to a

vast desert known as the Waste-

land by the power-hungry Count

Veger. Veger, along with every-

body else from Jaks home, be-

lieves the Wasteland to be a hos-

tile, barren land where no one can

survive. However, Jak and Daxter

are soon found and rescued by

citizens of a secret city of hard-

ened desert-dwellers. The duo

soon discover that they must earn

their place among the Wasteland-

ers and thus begins their quest

to prove their worth to stay in the

desert city of Spargus. Of course,

since survival alone is not enough,

Jak must also deal with the factthat the ongoing war back home

will eventually nd him.

As the story progresses, it re-

tains the tongue-in-cheek humor

fans of the series expect, but it

also manages to weave in some

surprisingly tense and dramatic

moments. Often, these dramatic

scenes are mixed with humor to

keep things from becoming too

serious, but the game does have

its share of shocks, including one

scene that has left more than one

gamer stunned at its end. The

characters of the game are en-

gaging and generally very funny,

drawing the player further and fur-

ther into the events of the game. It

is an entrancing story that broad-ens the myths of the Jak and Dax-

ter world and answers a lot of the

series ongoing questions while

remaining accessible and enjoy-

able for newcomers to the fran-

chise.

The gameplay manages to

achieve a similar level of depth

and accessibility. The game re-tains the sandbox elements from

Jak II, though the amount of

world the player has to explore is

vastly increased through the ad-

dition of the Wasteland location.

Essential upgrades, such as ar-

mor upgrades, new powers, and

weapon modications are all pre-

sented to the player through the

missions. Additional upgrades,

however, are scattered all across

the sandbox in the form of Pre-

cursor orbs that can be traded

for aesthetic modications, addi-

tional challenges, innite ammo,

and other Easter eggs the game

holds.

The gameplay itself consists of

sections of third person platform-ing and gun combat and rst or

third person driving. The objec-

tives of most missions are very

clear without being obtrusive, al-

lowing the player to deal directly

with the challenge without having

to gure out what to do. The mis-

sions involve stationary defense,

rail shooting, driving exploration

and gunning, go-here-nd-this

objectives, linear exploration, and

unique blends of several of these.

Most missions remain entertain-

ing in both the gameplay and the

visually captivating backgrounds

they are set against. The only

notoriously frustrating objective

involves a Pac-Man-esque mini-

game with lasers. Outside of that,most missions are challenging but

achievable and the sandbox na-

ture of the game allows for more

experienced players to seek out

their own challenges through bo-

nus objectives.

Overall, Jak III is an enjoyable

game. The gameplay is fun and

intuitive, the characters are funny

and relatable, the graphics are

good for the time, and the story is

surprisingly deep and manages to

suck the player in amazingly well

for a notoriously humorous series.

It is a fun game for those who

are new to the franchise and a

satisfying adventure for those who

have been with Jak and Daxter

from the beginning. Those whohave never played it before should

check it out and those who have

played it can testify that it is al-

ways worth a replay.

Jak and Dexter inthe WastelandsJordan Francis

Staff Writer

Every college student should

develop an arsenal of easy-to-

make, cheap foods. These dish-

es are what get students through

grueling semesters, in hopes

of graduating and never having

to eat pickles with cheese ever

again. There are some staples,

though, that will follow students

past their college years. One of

them is a simple and delicious

queso dip.

Ingredients (makes roughly

4-6 servings):

1 pound of ground beef

1 box of Velveeta cheese1 can of salsa (mild or hot)

1 can of Rotel tomatoes

Directions:

Cut the Velveeta cheese into

smaller cubes. Place the cubes

into a pot on the stove and set

the stove between low and me-

dium heat. While the cheese

melts, brown the ground beef in

a frying pan. When the cheese is

halfway melted, pour in the to-

Luke McPherson

Staff Writer

Simple and tasty Queso!matoes and salsa. Make sure to

mix the cheese frequently (about

every 3 minutes) to keep it from

sticking. Once the ground beef isthoroughly cooked and browned,

pour it into the cheese. Continue

stirring the cheese every 3-5 min-

utes. Once the cheese reaches

the desired consistency, pour

it into bowls and enjoy. Another

popular way of enjoying queso dip

is making and mixing the cheese

in a crockpot. This method has

the advantage of keeping the dip

warm during a party as well.

[Jak III] is a fun game for those who are new to the

franchise and a satisfying adventure for those who have

been with Jak and Daxter from the beginning.

COURTESY SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT

Up Til Dawn was the focus of Kafadar Commons on Friday.


6/8

s p o r t s october 10, 2011page 6


The CSM soccer complex was

abuzz last Friday night as the Lady

Orediggers hosted familiar foe FortLewis College in the Lady Sky-

hawks rst-ever visit to the new

Mines soccer eld in Golden. The

twenty-fth-ranked Lady Oredig-

gers were seeking to make a

statement and climb higher in the

RMAC standings against confer-

ence leader and ninth-ranked Fort

Lewis. Mines earned a resounding

4-0 victory.

These two very talented teams

played an excellent game, the

lopsided score notwithstanding.

Mines did not dominate the game,

but their goals resulted from capi-

talizing on virtually every opportu-

nity that the Skyhawks provided.

The game was a back-and-forth

possession battle throughout, andthere were a number of strong

challenges on both goalkeepers

early on in the game. Mines mid-

elder Dani Hering intercepted a

deection by the Skyhawk defense

and launched a spectacular arcing

chip shot from outside the penalty

area, dropping the ball into the up-

per corner of the net in the twenty-

third minute.

Mines soon struck again, as

Anna Evans outran the Fort Lewis

defense and gathered in a perfect-

ly-played through ball from Megan

Woodworth. Evans then juked

out Skyhawk goalkeeper Amanda

Raso in a close-range, one-on-

one situation for an impressive

goal. Suddenly, Mines had takencommand of the game, but the

onslaught was far from over. Fol-

lowing a Skyhawk foul deep in their

own territory, Woodworth rocketed

a 30-yard free kick directly into the

far corner of the net for her fourth

goal of the season. Suddenly down

3-0, the Skyhawks were reeling,

and Mines managed to sneak an-

other goal in just before halftime,

as Aubrey Bagley knocked home a

header from Kelsey Neal for Minesfourth goal of the night. Mines was

now ahead on the heavily-favored

Skyhawks 4-0, all in the rst half.

The game settled down after

halftime, as Fort Lewis regained

their composure and denied Mines

any more scoring opportunities for

the remainder of the second half.

Fort Lewis substituted in backup

goalkeeper Amanda Snider. As the

game progressed, the Skyhawks

played more aggressively, des-

perately trying to break past the

Mines defense. Mines held strong

and Oredigger goalkeeper Penny

Rogers made a number of excel-

lent saves to preserve the shutout.

Mines still applied offensive pres-

sure, but the new Skyhawk keeperproved up to the challenge, sav-

ing a number of difcult shots and

beating out the Mines strikers on

a number of one-on-one break-

aways.

In the end, Mines last barrage

of shots was turned back, but the

nal whistle sounded, signifying a

brilliant victory for the home team.

With the win, Mines improves to

8-1-1 overall and 4-1-1 in con-

ference play. After going 0-1-1 in

heartbreaking fashion in their last

two games, the stunning win Fri-

day was was just what the doctor

ordered for the Orediggers. Mines,

who has never won the RMAC reg-

ular season championship, is now

only six points behind the confer-ence-leading Skyhawks. Mines

continues its conference play Oc-

tober 12 at Colorado Christian

University before returning home to

play the University of Nebraska Ke-

arney October 14 on senior night.

Womens Soccercrush Ft Lewis 4-0James Kergosien

Staff Writer

The Mines Intramurals programis off to a strong start, with over

2200 members of the Mines com-

munity participating in leagues

and tournaments such as Grass

Volleyball, Flag Football, and the

Doubles Golf Scramble. Participa-

tion statistics such as these show

that Mines students are nd-

ing intramural sports as a great

outlet from the weekly grind of

tough classes. Here are a few no-

table performances over the past

month and a half of the intramural

season.

Flag Football

Participation numbers were

strong again for this agship sport,

with 64 total mens, womens, and

co-rec teams and almost 800 par-ticipants. With the regular season

wrapping up last week and teams

focused on making a playoff push,

lets take a look back of some of

the most valuable players from the

ag football regular season.

Adam Huerta, Senior, Beanz

and Krackerz An offensive and

defensive dynamo, Huerta was

second in passing touchdowns

with 10, added two rushing

Mines intramuralsports in action

touchdowns, and had seven in-

terceptions. He led his team to a

3 0 record and a #4 seed in the

playoffs. Andy Maul, Senior, Backyard-

ers Equally adept as both a

running and throwing quarter-

back, Maul led the league with 14

touchdown passes, often extend-

ing plays by dodging would-be

tacklers; led his team to an unde-

feated regular season and the #6

overall seed in the playoffs.

Tamer Elsayed, Sophomore,

Seven Nation Army One of the

top athletes in the league, Elsayed

was a jack of all trades for the

Seven Nation Army. In four games

played this year, he passed for

six touchdowns, ran for another

four, and intercepted six passes,

which was good for second in the

league.Cody Sloan, Freshman, Hot

Mines Chicks Winner of New-

comer of the Year if we had such

an award, Sloan led the mens

league is passing touchdowns per

game (4.5) during the regular sea-

son while leading the Hot Mines

Chicks to the #5 overall playoff

seed.

Continued online at

http://www.oredigger.net/sports

Steve Dowhan

Club Sport Council

Coming off of two hard loss-

es against Fort Lewis and Metro

State, the Orediggers needed a

win against a Colorado Mesa Uni-

versity (CMU). They played hard

with heart, coming from behind to

defeat CMU 4-2.Mines opened Sundays game

against CMU with an intensity that

seemed to be missing as of late.

They controlled the ball early, and

were only limited by some com-

munication issues in the front line

that prevented a couple of early

goals.

But the Orediggers got their

chance in the 23rd minute after

one of their forwards was taken

down in the box by a CMU, result-

ing in a penalty kick that Alex Nass

successfully converted for the 1-0

lead.

The score remained for much

of the rst half until CMU con-

verted two late chances in the

38th and 41st minutes, leaving

the Orediggers down 1-2 as they

went into halftime. CMU out-shot

Mines nine to six, and they had

four shots on goal versus the

Orediggers two. The momentum of the game

shifted three minutes into the

second half when CMUs Jay

Cort was given his second yellow

card, resulting in a red card being

shown and he was forced to leave

the match. Therefore, CMU was

forced to play down a man for the

rest of the match.

Playing with a man advantage,

CSM came out and attacked early

and often. While the shots initially

refused to go in, Phillip Wilson

hooked a free kick into the goal

Orediggers defeat CMU 4-2

Enhance your technical undergraduate degree with a Master of

Science in Engineering and Technology Management (ETM).

A growing number of engineers and scientists have taken

advantage of this unique graduate business education program.

Join us for an Info Session & Reception to learn about the

benets of the ETM Program and to meet the ETM faculty and

students.

Tursday, October 27th at 6:00 p.m.

Student Center, Ballroom C

Refreshments will be served

Please RSVP to [email protected]

Engineering

andTechnology

Management

Division of Economics and Business Colorado School of Mines

Te best

of both worldsGRADUATE STUDIES

http://etm.mines.edu/

FellowshipsAvailable

Join us!

Kevin Emery

Staff Writerin the 67th minute to tie the game

at 2-2. Continuing the aggressive

strategy, Sean Ogunmodede and

Tesho Akindele added goals in the

83rd and 88th minute to seal a 4-2

victory for CSM.

Overall, the Orediggers were

quite pleased with how everything

turned out. Head coach Frank

Kohlenstein had this to say afterthe match, Were happy with

the result. Its always big to get 3

points here in RMAC play. [CMU]

is a tough opponent, but we man-

aged to pull it out in the end. The

win pushes Mines to 7-3 overall,

and 5-2 in conference play. This

coming week they face the pros-

pect of three games in a week:

a home game against Colorado

Christian followed by two away

games against University of Colo-

rado Colorado Springs and Ad-

ams St.


Senior Philip Wilson (#17) moves the ball up the feld.


7/8

o p i n i o noctober 10, 2011 page 7


Ian Mertz

Staff Writer

Beginning of fall

Minds at Mines

Editorials Policy

The Oredigger is a designated public forum.Editors have the authority to make all con-

tent decisions without censorship or advance

approval and may edit submitted pieces forlength so long as the original meaning of the

piece is unchanged. Opinions contained within

the Opinion Section do not necessarily reectthose of Colorado School of Mines or The

Oredigger. The Oredigger does not accept sub-

missions without identication and will considerall requests for anonymity in publication on a

case-by-case basis. Submissions less than 300

ALL PHOTOS IAN MERTZ / OREDIGGER

In October when the leaves, like the temperature, begin to drop it isclear that fall has arrived. Whether it is the MLB playoffs, Halloween, orsimply the change in weather, fall is always a season packed with excite-ment. The chance of snow, mixed with the occasional last gasps of sum-mer heat, make the beginning of fall at Mines an especially magical timeof year. To gain a student perspective on the change of season, Mindsat Mines asks, What is the best part about October and the beginningof Fall, and what are you looking forward to as the season progresses?

I enjoy the leaves changing colors andwearing jackets. I am looking forward to lots

of candy during Halloween.Andre Wolff

Fall means the start to ski seasonand crunching leaves. As the seasongoes on and the snow comes, I can startski racing.

Kelly Whittlesey

The best part about October is the foot-ball. Apart from that its usually cold and fullof tests. Im looking forward to Thanksgiv-ing because there is football then, too.

Trevor Crane

Its cooler, and the leaves change.Whenever I think of fall, I think of No-shave November. The guys all growout their beards, and it is sad that itsgetting closer. I am looking forwardto skiing and winter break.

Staci Mueller

I like fall because all of the kids are back inschool. I can do things during the day with-out dealing with them. Going to the pump-kin patch with my son will be a highlight of

October.Aaron Mohl

You know what really grindsmy gears?

Lil Wayne.In recent years, no one has

gone downhill as much as Weezy.Back in 2005, Tha Carter II washot. With a hit like Fireman, itseemed as if Weezy could nothave been stopped. Then came

Tha Carter III, the icing on thecake. With tracks like Mr. Cart-er, Mrs. Ofcer, A Milli and ofcourse, Lollipop. Weezy was onthe top of the list and was nevercoming down.

Or was he? Waynes lyricsstarted to take a downturn in ThaCarter III. For example, in Mrs.Ofcer, when speaking with ahypothetical female law enforce-ment professional, Wayne says,I said lady whats your numbershe said 911 [insert drunken,drug-infused cackle here]. Now,the mark of all bad comedians iswhen they start laughing at theirown jokes, and Weezy has start-

ed down that path. Furthermore,half of that very song is wee oohwee ooh wee (3x), like a cop car.When you start inserting soundeffects in place of rapping, youare just trying to produce a songrather than spit hot re. Despitethe shortfalls of Mrs. Ofcerthough, this album was actuallydecent and received much praise.

However, in August 2011, thelong awaited, and much post-poned Tha Carter IV was releasedand for all you Lil Tunechi fansout there, Im sorry. This album isabysmal.

The only semi-decent song onthe entire CD is 6 Foot 7 Foot;and it was released before thealbum even came out. Sure, thealbum has sold over one millioncopies, but the only thing fuelingthe Weezy re is hype. His albumis like the Shake Weight, peopleare buying it in massive quanti-ties, but nobody can point towhy. Also, for anybody out therewho has attempted to listen, in itsentirety, to How to Love withoutturning the radio off, my hat is off

to you. If Rebecca Black and Wil-liam Hung had a child, and thatchild had laryngitis, it would stillbe more harmonious than Weezytrying to sing.

Something must have hap-pened in between Tha Carter III in2008, and Tha Carter IV in 2011.

All research has pointed to onething the 8 months he spentbehind bars in 2010. There aremany things that could have hap-pened to our beloved Lil Wayne inprison. Maybe he was beaten ina rap battle by a warden, maybehe was picked last in playgroundbasketball, or perhaps the monthlong solitary connement sen-tence he got served for havingcontraband headphones was justtoo much for Wayne to handle.Either way, it is apparent that ifWayne could not cope after a fewmonths in the slammer, he de-nitely could not handle it on thestreets of Golden. We go hardin the paint, and Lil Tunechi justcannot keep up anymore.

And that, ladies and gentle-men, is what grinds my gears.

Grinds mygears

Jarrod Sparks

Staff Writer

Medical marijuana, also re-ferred to as weed, grass, hash,dope, pot, and reefer, is currentlylegal in the State of Colorado and15 other states, but illegal in theUnited States of America. So, it isillegal to own marijuana anywherein the United States, which Colo-rado is a part of, but it is legal topossess it in this state as long asthe federal government does notnd out. This contradiction cre-ates for an interesting situation forthose who possess or dispensemedical marijuana, particularlywhen the federal government de-cides to enforce their law.

Last week, federal prosecutorsdecided to crack down on Califor-nias medical marijuana dispen-saries. These dispensaries aresimilar to Colorados, and underCalifornia state law, they are legal.But under federal law, marijuana

is considered a Schedule 1 drugand any dispensary owner whohas more than one plant may besent to jail for up to ve years andreceive a ne up to $250,000. Thepenalties may be increased to 10years and one million dollars de-pending on how many plants theowner has. The prosecutors havethreatened California dispensaryowners with jail time, telling themthey have 45 days to shut downor they may be arrested. Whilethis is not happening in Coloradoyet, this is the road this state willbe heading down in the near fu-ture.

The problem here is a conictbetween state and national law.Under the supremacy clause in

Article VI clause two of the UnitedStates Constitution, This Consti-tution and the laws of the UnitedStates shall be the supreme lawof the Land. This means that thestate laws about medical marijua-na are irrelevant, because federal

law trumps them all.If Colorado and the 15 other

medical marijuana states want toavoid their citizens being arrest-ed, they must challenge the fed-eral law in court to determine itsconstitutionality. By not doing soand having conicting laws, thestates are sending mixed mes-sages with large consequencesto their citizens. It is like a childsfather telling him or her it is okayto eat a cookie while the mothertells the child not to. The problemfor the citizens is which authorityto listen to.

Medical marijuana quandryWill Parker

Assistant Design Editor

Davids Math Problem of the Week

A number of the form , where nis a nonzero integer, is called a Fermat

number. Does it necessarily follow that the first five Fermat numbers F0, F1, F2, F3,

F4 are primes?

Math Quote of the WeekTo divide a cube into two other cubes, a fourth power or in general any power whatever

into two powers of the same denomination above the second is impossible, and I haveassuredly found an admirable proof of this, but the margin is too narrow to contain it.

Pierre de Fermat

Please submit your solution to this weeks problem to [email protected]

Answer to last weeks problem first submitted by James A.:

No. i.e. y=2, x=3, 2^3 < 3^2


8/8

a d v e r t i s e m e n t october 10, 2011page 8


the oredigger issue 6 - october 10, 2011

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