November 6, 2011 – The Oredigger

Scientific discoveries this week: 11-7-11

Baltimore, Maryland – Wrens appear to have a remarkable memory for music. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland have been studying how the small birds sing their perfect duets. The wren, when singing together in male-female duets, are so perfectly synchronous that at times they sound like one bird. The scientists thought that this was because of an instinctual response in the birds’ brains, a type of code that would make one bird respond in a certain way to the song of the other. Rather than being pre-programmed to work, the researchers found that the male and female wren each have a perfect memory of the duet, which allows them to sing it together so well. They don’t just remember their own parts, they remember each other’s parts and the final song.

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Geek of the Week: Trace Tomme, Engineering Physics

If there is one thing Mines teaches its students, it is that geeks come in all shapes and sizes. Geeks can be found all over campus, from graduate students who have been here longer than anyone can remember, to freshmen who are still finding their way around the school. As if to prove that point, the Oredigger found freshman Trace Tomme in his room learning to play “Settlers of Catan” with several of his dorm mates while taking a break from his work as a Physics major. Despite his important geek activities, Tomme readily agreed to be interrupted for an interview such as this.

Cross Country NCAA Championships

The Men’s Cross Country team found themselves in a familiar place, finishing third behind Adams State and Western State Saturday, November 5, 2011, at the NCAA Regional Championships at Washington Park in Denver.

The Football Informant: A few important things happened

It is no secret that college football has perhaps the most dramatic, entertaining regular season in all of American sports. This week appeared on paper to be slow, with only a few seriously impactful games. However, it was not to be. The Big Ten provided the early drama, as the tightest divisional races in the land were thrown into further chaos. Nebraska controlled its own destiny in the Legends Division, and had an easy schedule remaining to potentially cruise to the conference title game.

Weekly sports recap: 11/7/11

November 1:
Men’s Soccer – Mines 2, UCCS 1 OT – Baski Baker scored his eighth goal of the season just over a minute into overtime as the Orediggers stayed alive in postseason play. Alex Gunberg also scored, netting his fourth of the year and goalkeeper Manville Strand made two saves in the win.

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Mines finishes last home game with 31-24 win over Chadron

Chadron State held RMAC leading rusher Dan Palmer to just 59 yards until late in the fourth quarter, but Palmer needed only two runs to wipe all of that work away.

Athlete of the Week: Sean Gildea, Junior, Cross Country

19. That is the sum total of Junior Cross Country runner Sean Gildea’s finishes through the entire 2011 season. If he placed nineteenth in just one race, he would, on average, still place higher than 85% of the competitors.
Gildea has finished in the top ten in eight races in his career and placed first overall twice in the 2011 season. Saturday, the junior double majoring in Mechanical and Environmental Engineering finished eighth overall at the NCAA Division II Regional Championships while leading the Orediggers to a third place finish behind powerhouse programs Adams State and Western State.

Headlines from around the world: 11-7-11

The Italian government has welcomed the oversight of the International Monetary Fund in its restructuring plan, an effort to help pull them out of another financial meltdown.

This Week in Colorado History: Athletics, Metals, and Double Jeopardy

The Colorado School of Mines Miners commandingly defeated the University of Denver in football 18-0 on November 6, 1915. Due to exceedingly high winds, CSM threw only one pass and did not make any of their extra point attempts. In addition to their three touchdowns in the second half, “The Colorado Transcript” believed that as many as two more touchdowns “should have been the Miners’ share had it not been for misfortunes” in the first half.

The Decemberists – Long live the king EP

It really should not come as a surprise that the newest release from The Decemberists continues where their last full length album ended, but it is disappointing nonetheless. On their last full length album, “The King Is Dead,” many listeners applauded The Decemberists for what was, once again, another album filled with literary references and Colin Meloy’s strange but always engaging voice. However, while the album was still very much a Decemberists album, something had been lost. Instead of songs that surprised the listener with original melodies and surprising twists, “The King Is Dead” sounded a little too predictable. Much like its predecessor, “Long Live the King” fails to surprise and instead features a band that has embraced everything about them that worked but left behind a lot of the nuance that made them appealing.

Daily Archives: November 6, 2011