Daily Archives: October 10, 2010

Music Review: Beautiful Explosions in the Sky

If there were a perfect album, it would sound very close to The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky. While not new, this album serves as a great fallback album when the music market is waiting for its next big release. Explosions In The Sky is a Texas-based post-rock band that deals heavily in long, melodic jam sessions, which in this humble reviewer’s opinion, can suit just about any situation, whether it be beautiful sunrises, romantic encounters, or starry nights.

Deputy Gordon Neunfeldt
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Protect yourself from identity theft

Hill Hall welcomed in Deputy Gordon Neunfeldt Thursday morning to discuss the issue of identity theft. By describing the many ways that thieves can steal your identity, Neunfeldt hopes to help prevent identity theft from happening to you. “Identity theft is an ugly issue,” he explained, “…it is pervasive and it is not stopping.” Neufeldt added that the first step to avoiding identity theft is to become aware of the threat.

Scientific discoveries this week: 10-11-10

Tempe, Arizona – Old wives’ tales may have proved themselves partly true in a recent study at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The study seeks to determine if rainfall is linked to moon phases, following the past several years of data collection showing that river runoff seems linked to the moon. Using data from 11,000 US Geological Survey stations from around the country, the team of researchers noticed that stream runoff showed a slight increase in volume when the moon is one-quarter full. While certainly not enough to prove that rainfall is affected by the moon, it’s one more step in the direction of understanding our water cycle.

The manure connoisseur: Tackling acid mine drainage

Dr. Ronald Cohen came to Mines to work on cleaning up nuclear weapons sites and later received a certificate of special recognition from Congress, among other research accomplishments. Then something went horribly wrong. As Cohen put it, “Imagine me in a hardhat and rubber boots standing on top of a dump truck load of manure and I’m shoveling it into wheelbarrows as my graduate students are taking it into a mine.” Cohen continued, “That triggers thoughts of my mother telling me that if I get an education, I could use my head instead of my back, and what am I doing? I’m shoveling cow manure in a mine, where have I gone astray?”

web_marquez2
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Marquez Hall breaks ground

Although the sky was overcast and the wind was flowing, spirits could not have been higher this past Friday for the groundbreaking of the newest addition on the campus, Marquez Hall. Festivities started off with a performance by the CSM marching band and chorus, followed by a pleasant acknowledgement to the many people who helped make this building a reality by President Scoggins. “As you may know, 1980 alumnus Tim Marquez and his wife, Bernie, laid the groundwork for this new facility with a generous challenge grant of $10 million in 2005. Since then, more than 150 individuals and corporations stepped up to that challenge, contributing nearly $27 million and helping Mines fulfill its vision for a new home for petroleum engineering at the school. Thanks to donor support, Marquez Hall is the first academic building on campus completely funded with private resources.” President Scoggins then thanked the students for their support in helping fund the addition to the building through a portion of their student fees, “Because of [the student’s] own investment, we were able to add approximately 25,000 square feet of much-needed classroom space through a separate wing addition that will be built on the southeast side of the Marquez Hall building.

Heiland Lecture: Dr. Tissa Illangasekare

The October 7 Heiland Lecture focused on the importance of scale of modeling in a variety of different situations. Dr. Tissa Illangasekare, Professor of Civil Engineering at Mines, spoke at great length and in hurried detail about a variety of different topics that highlighted the relevance of modeling and attention to scale. Illangasekare is a world known specialist in the area of water and chemical flow through porous media, and after an insightful lecture, it is clear why such a field is of interest not only to geophysicists, but the entire Mines community. “We have to look at groundwater as a sustainable resource,” said Illangasekare, “46% of drinking water is subsurface water.” It is because of this that focusing on how liquids flow through the subsurface is important.

Headlines from around the world: 10-11-10

In fear of causing more problems in the mortgage foreclosure market, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are calling for Bank of America to put a stop on all foreclosure proceedings and thoroughly review the entire foreclosure process. The move was taken because of Bank of America’s employment of “robo-signers,” employees whose only job is to sign thousands of foreclosure papers. The system allows for incorrect paperwork to be filed and possibly unjust foreclosures to take place. Bank of America has since stopped foreclosures.

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