May 2010 – The Oredigger

Creativity found at Mines

Boasting the largest crowd in history and an overflowing Ballroom A, High Grade’s April 23 launch went off without a hitch. With a live musical performance, readings from some of the published authors, and a special tribute to a Mines student who passed away.

High Grade, the school’s literary journal, started in 1970, has always published the pieces that showed the right-brain prowess of students at Mines. Students, faculty, and staff have always had their best works of fiction, poetry and art published. This year, for the first time ever, the edition features a music and spoken word CD, which was composed with the help of the Music Department here at Mines. The journal, though originally a fairly amateur-looking publication, has undergone a stunning transformation, partially thanks to the constant mentorship of Toni Lefton.

OpinIan: Airlines, HP and Adobe Backward Compatibility

To give you some background, Tim Weilert left a vacancy when he ended his Two Cents column last week. So I, being a rather opinionated person with a couple of areas of expertise, have decided to step up and see whether anyone agrees with my analysis of various current events. my takes will be of a different style than Tim’s succinct nuggets, but we’ll see how this goes. Bear with me.

First, Continental Airlines and United Airlines are apparently merging. I’m a bit surprised that the two companies are coming together, but I guess that in this economic climate, and with the downward price pressure placed by the Frontier-Midwest coalition (soon to be simply Frontier) and Southwest Airlines, it’s merge or die. After all, the cool kids (Delta-NWA, Frontier-Midwest) are merging, so why not climb to the top of the airline heap by a merger of your own?

M.I.A.’s “Born Free” makes bold statement

Last Monday, musician M.I.A. released a 9-minute music video for her song “Born Free”. Shortly after, it was pulled off of Youtube due to its graphic violence and nudity. The video depicts the intensity of political violence and the horrors of genocide. Since Monday, there has been much controversy and debate on the content of this video. There is more that meets the eye, though, and the entirety of “Born Free” must be taken into account when forming an opinion on the video.

Though they make us uneasy, explicit representations of such real things are good for a sometimes necessary eye-opening. So, despite its graphic content, I support the creation of this video.

Baseball ends on a high note

{jcomments on}The Orediggers won their 2nd consecutive series Saturday at Jim Darden Field taking two games from Colorado State–Pueblo. The Diggers got hot at the right time by winning 5 of their last 7 games, but unfortunately it was already too late as they missed the RMAC playoffs for the second consecutive year. It was the second straight year in which the Diggers won only 7 conference games.

If Mines could have avoided a mid season 12 game losing streak or proved better on the road, where they went 1-13, they would have had a legitimate shot at the playoffs and could have made some noise with the way there were playing lately. During Mines’ last two series they outscored their opponents 74 to 38 and found stability in one of their season-long weaknesses when Marshall Schuler was moved to the bullpen.

LAIS prof sweeps awards

Professor Toni Lefton of the LAIS Department has been awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award. Every year graduating seniors choose a professor from each department to receive this honor. This year, Professor Lefton was chosen by the undergraduate and the graduate seniors. “I can’t think of a greater honor,” Professor Lefton reflected upon her double win. “To have students remember those moments we shared in class…this is why I teach.”

My last article; A satirist’s goodbye

I have been contemplating what to write for my last Fool’s Gold article for YEARS. Should it be a quirky piece on the school and its students? Should it be a testimonial to how a certain staff member should have been fired years ago for a chronic history of brainlessness, harassment, too much cologne, and just being a horrible, horrible person to the core? Should it be a final, uplifting memoir to how great the school is and what it has taught me? Should it ask several questions about what the article should be about? Or should it simply be a heartfelt thanks to the school? I took the high road and went with the latter.

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Board of Student Organizations honors outstanding clubs with Organization of the Year award

Student organizations are a fundamental part of student life at Mines. With almost 160 organizations, Mines organizations have something for everyone. This year, the Board of Student Organizations would like to recognize two organizations for their outstanding leadership and dedication to the students on campus. We feel these organizations exemplify what it means to be an active, responsible, and effective club on campus. Please help us thank them for all of their hard work!

Mines alumnus returns for Leadership Summit

Graduates from the Colorado School of Mines are well trained in the science of moving mountains. But on October 2, Mines alumnus and celebrated author Mr. Robert Waterman will lead one of many plenary sessions that will help Mines students learn how to mobilize people and teams to move those mountains. They will be learning how to apply engineering principles to the art of leadership.

Along with co-author Tom Peters, Waterman penned the leadership tome “In Search of Excellence”, which has been heralded as the “greatest business book of all time” by Bloomsbury UK.

CSM track and field defeats at meet

The CSM track & field team hosted its first meet at the Stermole Track & Field Complex on Friday afternoon. CSM competed in a dual meet against UC-Colorado Springs as the men defeated UCCS, 92-26, while the women defeated UCCS, 74-19.

The Oredigger women had two athletes with provisional qualifying marks. Kiera Benson recorded her first provisional qualifying mark in the long jump of 5.71 m (18’-9”) which ranks her in the top 20 on the pision II performance list. Savannah Afoa improved on her mark in the discus moving up to 15th on the pision II performance list with a distance of 44.91 m (147’-44”). Mines scored first-place points in 8 of the 12 women’s events.

Scientific discoveries this week: 5-3-2010

Beijing, China – A new study shows that certain dinosaurs changed the appearance of their feathers during adolescence. Somewhat like modern birds, who molt while growing, the study suggests that the basic structure of dinosaur feathers changed as they grew. The study’s authors analyzed two 125 million-year-old fossils of the feathered dinosaur, Similicaudipteryx. One of the dinosaurs, presumed to be younger because of its size and skeletal structure, had ribbon-like bases on its feathers. The older dinosaur, however, had quilled feathers along the base. It is presumed that this change took place after the animals molted and their feathers grew back.

Monthly Archives: May 2010