Lifestyle

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Professional graphics cards on a student’s budget

Professional graphics cards exist to fill a lucrative niche market. Professional software – like SolidWorks or ANSYS Fluent – and the time of the engineers using this software is extremely expensive. Companies that have spent a minimum of $5,000 on a single seat license for a professional program are willing to pay drastically increased hardware costs to maximize the productivity of their engineers. Professional graphics cards do this by carefully optimizing their drivers for specific programs and workloads. If your sole interest in graphics cards is pumping out higher framerates in Quake or Doom (or whatever kids are playing these days), these cards are not for you. If you are more interested in getting the most out of SolidWorks, you may want to consider a professional card.

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Book Review: Mort

“Mort” is the fourth book in the Discworld series by Sir Terry Pratchett and the first book of the Death series of stories within the Discworld. “Mort” stands out as the point where the Discworld series goes from an occasionally funny if bland send-up of the fantasy genre to a legitimately good piece of fiction with depth that is capable of delivery both laughs as well as heart-wrenching moments of true emotional attachment to its characters.

Comic Corner – Injustice: Gods Among Us Volume 1

“Injustice: Gods Among Us” is a popular fighting game based on the DC universe released last year. The game takes place in a world where Superman killed the Joker after the Clown Prince of Crime managed to kill Jimmy Olsen and trick the Big Blue Boy Scout into killing Lois Lane and all of Metropolis. These events convince Superman once and for all that he has not been doing enough to protect his adopted planet and he successfully takes over all the world’s governments, establishing himself as ruler in order to maintain peace and safety among Earth’s people. Batman establishes a resistance and heroes choose sides. The player enters the story five years after the death of the Joker. However, given that this is a game based on a comic book world, it seems only natural that expansions to the story in the form of comics would exist and indeed, DC began releasing a series of prequel comics a few months before the game came out. Without further ado, it is time to explore the first volume of comics that made the unthinkable a reality.

Book Review: “William Shakespeare’s Star Wars”

This book is exactly what is on the cover: “Star Wars: A New Hope” written in the style of William Shakespeare, and it is a glorious experience. It imitates the Bard’s style quite well, turning the familiar story of “A New Hope” into a worthy Shakespearean play with dialogue written in iambic pentameter, a list of Dramatis Personae at the beginning, lines for a chorus interspersed throughout the production, and a five act structure with stage directions galore. It even goes so far as to direct interested readers to the publisher’s website using a sonnet at the end of the book. There are a few illustrations scattered about the book showcasing the familiar “Star Wars” characters clothed in a mix of their familiar movie costumes and the capes and frills for which Shakespearean plays are known, which are a lot of fun to run into as the reader makes his or her way through the play.

Book Review – “Divergent” Dystopia Thrills

Everyday people make decisions based on core beliefs. Some value honesty and bravery, others the pursuit of knowledge, but rarely does a person base every single decision throughout their life on one sole value. Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” wields a world in which children are raised by only one virtue—the virtue their parents believe will lead to world harmony. The citizens live in one of five factions in a futuristic society, set where modern-day Chicago currently resides. Each faction values a different ideal: Abnegation, or selflessness; Amenity, peace; Candor, honesty; Dauntless, bravery; Erudite, knowledge. For example, a child raised in Candor would be taught to be brutally honest without regard for anything else, including the feelings of others. A child raised in Abnegation would be raised to be completely selfless, always putting others needs above her own.

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Off the Shelf: Angels and Visitations

Enter the mind of best-selling author Neil Gaiman with his collected anthology “Angels and Visitations”. Literary brilliance is exemplified in each one of these tales. Coupled with several illustrations by Dave McKean, “Angels and Visitations” is an experience like none other. Each short story or poem reflects upon Gaiman’s perspective of some moral or social value.

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“The Book of Mormon”: An “All-American” Musical

The Broadway musical that caught the world by storm in 2011 returned to Denver this October for its second U.S. tour. “The Book of Mormon,” written by Robert Lopez and “South Park” co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, won nine Tony Awards in 2011 including Best Musical.

TV Review: The Legends of Korra, Book 2 Spirits

Nickelodeon has come a long way from churning out childish cartoons. If a statistician were to randomly sample college students and ask them what television shows they watch, a range of answers from How I Met your Mother to Game of Thrones and not to forget about Breaking Bad would probably come up as the majority of responses. These TV shows are directed towards a very specific demographic, so while The Legends of Korra may not seem like it can be a part of this list, it most certainly should be. Between the juggling of studying and the normal everyday happenings of life, finding the time to watch some TV can be hard. However, Korra promises to captivate one’s attention and surely satisfy the need for a good story.

TV Review: The Tudors

“The Tudors” is a wonderful show in terms of story and character development, but has serious flaws in historical accuracies.
“The Tudors” is loosely based on the reign of King Henry VIII. There is a strong emphasis on the word loosely, as the show has many historical inaccuracies. Several historical facts about Henry’s many marriages and affairs are often blown out of proportion or altogether newly invented. Anyone who is watching the show will more than likely start noticing flaws in the casting of the characters.

Mad Men Review

By the time most students graduate Mines, they will have jobs. Alumni will mostly have decent starting salaries and lead a comfortable lifestyle. In a few years there might be a promotion, then a wife, a nice new house, and a family. But what about those who want more than just a mundane existence? What about those who want not just a promotion but to own a company? Or maybe go out with the girl they were too nerdy for in high school? And own a mansion with so many bedrooms that it looks more like hotel? That is how the other half lives. They live like they have nothing to lose but the world to gain. That is what the show Mad Men is all about. How does the other half live? Or rather, how did they live?