Here at Mines, we have many quirky, eccentric, and just downright geeky people. We have computer geeks, rock geeks, physics geeks, and the occasional music geek. Some have speculated that there may even be petroleum geeks, only to have the thought dismissed out of hand. An Alaskan native, Andrew Bosela is just such a geek, with a passion for energy. Here’s a mountain man for ya’.
Can you imagine a world without computers? We are coming to a point in time, or have even surpassed it, where some of us may not know what to do with ourselves without a computer! Technology has advanced so much in so little time that there have been emerging students who have never heard of a floppy disk. A solution to this has managed to pop out of the woodwork in the past year or so. Somewhere between Einstein’s and the computer commons front desk sits a little museum of gadgets and gizmos for the world to gaze upon.
It’s not very often that a club at Mines has the potential to attract such a diverse set of interests, both artistic and technical. The Mines A/V Club offers just this opportunity. Just in its beginning stages, Dr. Christian Shorey serves as the brains behind the club and explains just what an audio/visual club really entails.
Dr. Shorey, an Earth and Environmental Systems lecturer, started creating audio podcasts with more in-depth versions of his lectures and covers more material than a 50 minute class period would allow. Shorey then expanded into video podcasts, and the idea for the club was born.
There is an unwritten rule at Mines. Every time a distinguished figure addresses a group of Mines students, that figure is expected to spend at least one minute of that address heaping praise on the quality of Mines students. However, as the authors of a prominent game theory textbook so eloquently put it, talk is cheap, actions are a far better indication of intent and beliefs. Anyone can say good things about Mines students, so the real test is what actions are being taken by those in a position to act. That is, employers.
While most of the Mines campus was fast asleep Thursday night, one jolly band of hardy folk were making their way up the side of one of Colorado’s famous 14ers, Quandary Peak. Known as the CRU Challenge, this event takes place once a year about four weeks into the fall semester, and it attracts a unique group of people. The CRU Challenge consists of 40-50 Mines students driving up to one 14er late at night, climbing to its summit, and descending back to Golden by about 7:00 AM Friday to enjoy some hot, fresh pancakes.
Earth, Energy, and the Environment, these are the main goals of the Colorado School of Mines. So, what was I doing sitting in a small office in the Green Center talking about Mars with one of the school’s leading planetary scientists? Jeff Andrews-Hanna is one of the leading experts in the fields of Martian tectonics and I found myself there to pick his mind about his current research into the formation of what could possibly be the largest impact crater in the observable solar system.
Registration has officially opened for the October 2 Mines Leadership Summit, a one-day event that will host 2 internationally recognized keynotes, 15 breakout sessions, and three scholarship opportunities for attending students.
First announced in June, this year’s Summit will focus on four core competencies: vision, planning, communication, and team building. “These core competencies … will help sculpt this Leadership Summit into a unique and beneficial experience,” said Alec Westerman, President of the Associated Students of Colorado School of Mines.
A Venezuelan man and his wife have are being investigated for allegedly attempting to pass classified US nuclear secrets to an agent they believed to belong to the Venezuelan government. Leonardo Mascheroni, 75, a naturalized U.S. citizen, will face up to life in prison if convicted.
Little Italy in New York City is experiencing a taste of old-world Italian fun, featuring the Feast of San Gerrano street fair and its traditional favorite, the cannoli-eating contest. Rather than “athletes” competing for cash prizes, the Feast of San Gerrano gives free food to anyone who wants to eat, and the only prize is a full stomach.
Sydney, Australia – Researchers at University of Sydney, Australia have found a way to make aluminum as strong as steel, while maintaining its lightweight properties. By crushing aluminum disks under 10-ton forces while slowly rotating them, the researchers have created super-strong aluminum. The new metal will hopefully come as an economical replacement to titanium, whose high costs limit its use to only the highest-tolerance applications. The final product of an alloyed aluminum put under this stress is a metal that can withstand three times the stress as pure aluminum.
ivi, an online TV service available for just a few dollars per month for Windows, Mac and Linux systems, could stand to revolutionize internet video, free of ties to the telephone, cable or satellite company…if it could step things up a notch or two…and survive the impending tsunami of lawsuits about to crash into it full force.
The service’s premise is simple: take content that is available for free over the air in various major markets, then pipe it onto the Internet for all to see. Add in a few independent stations via encoders on-location, mix in a premium channel or two and charge a few bucks per month for the package. Bake until done and use a heat gun to check for profit.