September 15, 2013 – The Oredigger

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Movie Review: Amélie

Amélie, originally titled Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain in French, is a whimsical romantic comedy set in Montmartre, France starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. It follows the life of a shy and somewhat reclusive waitress who goes around trying to change the lives of those around her while attempting to deal with and understand her own self-imposed isolation from others. Amélie has won several awards including Best Film at the European Film Awards, four César awards, and two British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. It is also still the highest grossing French-language film released in the United States.

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Music Review: The EP Edition

Rather than review a new album, this week four extended play (EP) will be reviewed, some by artists that have had an album come out, and others that have albums on the way.

Book Review: A Pebble in the Sky

Although Isaac Asimov’s A Pebble in the Sky may appear to be an everyday sort of science fiction novel, this short but poignant story is anything but. Set on Earth in the far distant future, this book is the story of an ordinary man in 1949 who is accidentally sent forward in time to a nearly unrecognizable Earth. In the future, the human race has expanded to inhabit more than 200 million planets, all of which are part of the Galactic Empire. Earth is regarded as an insignificant “pebble in the sky” and is ruled by an extremely strict religious sect. Under this theocracy, the people of Earth are subject to “the Sixty,” mandatory euthanasia for all people over the age of sixty. As it happens, this sect also has serious plans to overthrow the rest of the human race through the use of mass biological warfare.

The Stars Above Mines: Tips for a good stargazing experience

It has been astronomically tragic that for the past week the skies were clouded over on the Mines campus, which means now that the skies are clear, it is the perfect time to get re-acquainted with the stars. Stargazing is one of the easiest activities around, at a basic level there is no need for complicated instruments, arduous classes, and hours of travel to do. All a stargazer needs is a patch of sky and a bit of imagination to partake in an activity as old as humanity. Of course that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to make the experience better, but the fundamentals are there if the sky is open.

Club Spotlight: Judo Club

Frustrated students can throw fellow classmates on the floor in a controlled environment as a part of the Mines Judo club. Judo has been around for over a century with its origins in Japan. Judo manipulates the weight of one’s opponent, using it against them to throw the opponent to the ground in competition. As a martial art, Sensei Rich Mignogna considers Judo to be a great athletic endeavor in which size does not matter. Judo club president, Alex Golden, reasons that Judo is a sport where even the “smallest girl can throw the biggest, toughest, bouncer guy with the right technique.”

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Geek of the Week: Paris Spinelli

Many of the geeks at Mines prefer to focus their nerd energies on specific areas such as science, gaming, computers, science fiction, or any number of stereotypical nerdy engineering interests. However, the population at Mines is nothing if not diverse and it is not difficult to find a geek that both holds to and breaks the stereotypes with great enthusiasm. Enter Paris Spinelli, a Mines Renaissance man. He is a wordsmith and an outdoorsman who finds himself equally fascinated with both the works of Shakespeare and classical works of fiction as he is with inter-molecular reactions and the quantum realm.

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A Hidden Campus Treasure

Beyond conventional resources, the Colorado School of Mines has a small set of off the beaten path collections and campus resources. While it is hardly small by any means, the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum is more than just a stop for an Earth and Environmental Systems lab. The museum was started in 1874 by Arthur Lakes. It began as a small mineral collection that could be examined by prospectors and miners heading up to the gold rich hills to the west. In the 139 years since its establishment, the museum has had pieces displayed in the Chicago World’s Fair, it has hosted several moon rocks, and has moved from building to building to its current location in the General Research Lab on the northern edge of campus.

Game Review: Illuminati – Deluxe Edition

Illuminati : Deluxe Edition is the 1987 revamp of the Illuminati collectable trading card game. It was meant to be contained within a single box, to make play easier, as the game’s popularity was slipping and was already esoteric to the general public. The game is centered around controlling one of the secret societies that secretly rules the world including the Bavarian Illuminati, Gnomes of Zurich, or the Discordian Society to complete their assorted secretive goals and prevent anyone else from completing theirs.

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Becky Lafrancois

Everyone remembers being the “new kid” and their first day walking into preschool, or maybe that first day after a big move. Sometimes it is tough being a newcomer in an unknown environment Dr. Becky Lafrancois, a Ph.D. in economics, is one of the newest addition to the Colorado School of Mines faculty and is in her first semester in teaching at Mines. As an economics professor coming to an engineering school such as Mines, there definitely will be some transitions for Dr. Lafrancois, but with eager-to-learn students, the transition will be smooth. Lafrancois had a few things to say about her experience teaching at CSM to The Oredigger.

Computer Talk

It was 1089698856 seconds since January 1st, 1970 (2004-07-12 18:07:36 for the user-friendly) according to the old 1985 AT&T PC7300, or using the Mac’s younger way of telling time, 111348456 seconds since January 1st, 2001, when the Mac sent a GET request to the 7300, asking the question every old computer dreads to hear: how are computers made?

Daily Archives: September 15, 2013