Volume 2 - Issue 5 February 2009

Who should hold the smoking gun?

State senate votes no on“The Gun Law” SB 82

By Melanie Satchell As you sit in a class, a res-taurant or wherever you maybe today, question your stanceonwhetherornotguns shouldbeallowedoncampus.Doyouthinksittingnexttoan18yearoldwithasemiautomaticweap-onwouldbeanappropriateen-vironment for learning?Wouldyoufeelsaferifhewasallowedtocarrythatconcealedweapon,potentiallyprotectingyoufromashooter,even thoughhemayhave zero ‘gun fight’ situation experience or training? Or insuch a situation would he justdrawmoreattentionyourway? The South Dakota legisla-ture iscontemplating theexactsamequestions.SenateBill82proposed allowing individualswho hold concealed weaponpermits to carry on universitycampusesacross the state.Thebill was voted 5-4 in the Sen-ate StateAffairs committee onaDoNotPassmotionandthenon the Senate floor with a Do Passmotionitfailed10-25.Thechair noted that the majorityopposed thebill, andhedeter-mineditlost.Thisisthesecondconsecutiveyearthisbill,inthisidentical language, has comebeforethelegislature.LastyearitstartedintheHouseand,aftermakingitthroughcommittee,itbreezed by the floor on a 63-3 voteonlytobelostontheSen-atesidenearthetailendofses-sion. Therearerumorseventhoughthisbillhasfailedtopassafterits initial filing; it is not a lost cause.Rep.Brunnerandotherswilllikelybringasimilar,ifnotidentical,pieceoflegislationtotheHousethissession.Thebill,if filed in the House, may have chances of making it out; I doubt the Senate willbeveryamusedwith thata c -

tion. The legislature, along withproponents and opponents ofSB82,willdebatetillthecowscomehomeoverwhichmethodwillprove tobemostpracticaltoprotectthestudentsofSouthDakota universities from anarmedgunman.Duringthepasttwo legislative sessions bothsides have given testimony re-gardingthemechanismswhichcould save lives. The propo-nents ofSB82not only claimtheright toconcealedcarryoncampuseswilldetergunmanorstopthemifanattackismade,buttheyalsoargueprohibitingtheright tocarry isaviolationoftheir2ndamendmentright. The 2nd amendment states,“AwellregulatedMilitia,beingnecessary to the security of aFreeState,therightofthepeo-pletokeepandbearArms,shallnotbeinfringed.”TheSupremeCourt inthecaseofDistrictofColumbiav.Hellerupheldeachindividual’s 2nd amendment rights; this decision lifted a 32 yearbanonhandgunsinWash-ington D.C. The Court, in thesamedecision,upheldtherightfor universities, among others,to prohibit the right to carry aconcealedweapon.ThisCourtin June 2008, even afterthe mass shootingsat Columbine,Vi r g i n i aT e c ha n d

Northern Illinois University, upheld this decision, citingschoolsandgovernmentbuild-ings as “sensitive places” thatmay self regulate policies inregard to concealed carry; that speaksvolumes.As per the Court’s decision, uni-versitieswillregulatethepolicyandinSouthDakotathatmeansfirearms are prohibited. The statehasnorighttosaywhetherornotcitizenswillbeallowedtocarryforthesimplefactthatthedecision is not theirs to make.Sen.BerryTourbakstatedquiteclearly“itisnottheleg-islature’s job to microman-age the

uni-v e r s i -

ties”, and in asense that’s an accu-

rate description of whatSouthDakotaLegislatorsaretryingtodo. The real question isn’t if the gun will be smoking; but rather who will hold

the smok-ing gun? We

can talk foreverabout the probability

andpossibilityofashooteroncampus but that still isn’t good enough. In the real world we looktotheworstcasescenarioand“intheunlikelyevent”.Butthose are the things we say tohelpussleepatnight. Therealargumentinregardstogunsoncampusiswhetherthestudentsintheclassroomortheactivepolicearebettersituatedto handle the armed gunman.

T h a tq u e s t i o n

has been de-bated by Senator

Schmidt, the South DakotaGun Owners Association, theSDSU Rifle Association, along withSenatorAbdallah,whoisaformerpolicechief,andcurrentPoliceChiefArtMabryofVer-million.SenatorSchmidtalongwith other proponents of SB82wouldarguesecondscount,andifastudentwerecarryingafirearm they could take out the shooter before massive casual-ties were inflicted. On the other hand,PoliceChiefMabrysug-gests that a student put in thatsituation may or may not besuccessfulat takingoutagun-manduetovariousreasonsin-cludingnerves,inexperienceor(See Guns, Con’t on Page 5)

Raver - Page 2 February 2009

EDITORIAL

Matthew DesEnfantsWeb Editor After several months ofwork and collaboration, theRaverhasabrandnewwebsite!http://www.sdsmtraver.com Features already availableinclude tools to write articles,personal profiles, and a form to write letters to theeditor. WecanevenhostYouTubesnippetsforvideonewsstories.Whatcanyouexpectinthefu-ture?Trythese:• RSSfeeds• Onlineadvertising• Classified ads

Campus news now at the click of a mouse

• Staff profiles (for viewing articlesbyauthor)• Archivesofpublishedar ticles• Home-cookedmeals,just likemomusedtomake, straightfromyourprinter• Rapid 3D prototyping of livefarmanimals YoucansignupforaccesstotheRaverandallofitsgood-ies online. Simply go to theaddress above, click the “SignUp” link on the left navigation bar, and fill out the form to cre-ate your profile.

Marcus BartlettStudent Association Presi-dent Hellostudentsandwelcomeback! I hope everyone had safe and enjoyable break. This se-mester is filled with many spe-cialeventsandtheallimportantspringbreak.StudentAssocia-tion is spending a lot of timethis semester with the currentlegislative session. CurrentlywearedealingwithbudgetcutsandSenateBill82. Firstofthebudget,asmanyofyouknowtheeconomyisnotgreat at all and the Governorsbudget cuts reflect this. Rough-ly 5.5 million dollars were cutfrom the South Dakota BoardofRegentsbudget,whichisthegoverningbodyofhigheredu-cation.Amongthesecutswere1.6 million dollars of matching fundsfromthestatetotheBOR(Board of Regents) maintenance and repair fund. The StudentAssociationandStudentFeder-ationareworkinghardtomakesure thesemoniesareonlycutfor this year’s budget and not forgotten about permanently.If this were to happen the fund would come from student dol-larsandinturnraisetuitionandfeestoadjustforit. Senate Bill 82 is an act toprovide for the right to pos-sess a firearm on the campuses of public institutions of highereducation. If this bill were to passstudentswouldbeallowed

Letter from the Student Association Senate

to carry a firearm anywhere on campus providing they havetheproperpermits.OnJanuary29ththisbillwasvoted5-4donotpassintheSenateStateAf-fairs Committee. The bill willgo to the Senate floor and may be put back into action withapprovalof18membersof theSenate. Thisisaverycontroversialbill,asyoucanimagineallow-ingstudentstocarryaconcealedor openly seen firearm raise a lot of concerns. My personalstance is a vote no on 82. I have spoken to several teachers andfaculty members and they ex-pressed thesameviewsasme.Someoftheirconcernsincludethedistractionofastudentsit-ting in themiddleof the roomwithashotgun leaningagainsttheirdesk.Thisofcourseisanextreme case. Students voicedsimilar concerns, I have heard comments such as “If I went to class and a student had a fire-arm I would not feel comfort-able and would stop attendingthat class.” Students’ voices will be heard quite loudly onthisissueandencourageyoutoemail your local Senators andRepresentativestoexpressyourconcerns. I would like to leave youwithonelastthought.Cur-rently firearms are not allowed in the capital building so whydolegislatorswanttoputtheminourclassrooms.

Editor-in-ChiefKatieAurand

Managing EditorEricaKjar

Web EditorMattDesEnfants

Health/Comics Page EditorEricaDaniels

Staff WritersMeganMallett

Staff PhotographersTylerArmbruster

Advertising SalesRepresentatives

WillEaly

Faculty AdvisorDr.KathyAntonen

RC Journal Rep.AlanPlatt

The Raver is publishedmonthly by students at theSouthDakotaSchoolofMinesandTechnology,501E.St. Jo-sephSt.,RapidCity,S.D.,57701asaforumwherestudentsreadabout and express views onschool, local and world eventsandissues. TheRaverstaffrecognizesthat with the right of freedomof thepresscomes the respon-sibilitytobeaccurate,fairandobjective,andwillnotprintanymaterialwhichtheeditorscon-siderobscene,libelousoranin-vasionofprivacy. The opinions expressedherearethoseofthewritersandnot the administration, facultyorthestudentbody.TheRaverwelcomes signed letters to theeditor,butreservestherighttoreject lettersoredit for length,grammarorlibel.

DEADLINESFeb.24

March24April21 “Congratulations to Dr. Jon

Keller on winning the South Dakota Professor of the Year.” Photo by Tyler Armbruster

University Public Relations Dr. JonKellar, chair andD.Fuerstenauprofessorofmateri-als andmetallurgical engineer-ing, has been named the 2008South Dakota Professor of theYear by the Carnegie Founda-tion for the Advancement ofTeaching and the Council forAdvancement and Support ofEducation (CASE). Kellar was selected from nearly 300 top professors in the United States. “Weareextremelyproudofthe recognition that Dr. Kel-lar has received and delightedthathehasjoinedsuchanelitegroupofprofessors,”SchoolofMines president Dr. RobertA.Wharton said. “This award isa well-deserved acknowledge-ment of Dr. Kellar’s dedication toteaching.” KellarreceivedhisB.S.andM.S.inmetallurgicalengineer-ing from the School of Mines,and his Ph.D. from the Uni-versity of Utah. He joined the School of Mines as an assis-tantprofessorin1990,andhasservedasthechairofmaterialsand metallurgical engineeringsince 2000. He has received anumberofawardsandrecogni-tions, including the South Da-kota Board of Regents Awardfor Excellence in Research,the School of Mines PresidentAward forOutstandingProfes-sor and the National ScienceFoundationPresidentialFacultyFellowaward. Several years ago, a groupoffacultybeganexploringnewwaystoteachthebasicsofen-gineering education to first-year students. Those efforts con-tinue to positively reverberatethroughouttheSchoolofMinestoday, specifically with an in-creased emphasis in direct ap-plicationofengineeringprinci-plesattheundergraduatelevel.The metallurgical engineeringdepartmenthasdevelopednewemphasesthatintegrateartandhistorywithinthecontextofthediscipline.Kellarbelievestheseefforts result in graduates whoarebetterpreparedtotacklethechallenges of engineering, andlifeingeneral. Kellar’s personal philosophy

Kellar is SD professor of the year

of teaching is that while thereisnosubstitutefor therigor inengineering education, by in-jectinghumorandhands-onap-plicationssuchas thoseabove,ateachercanmakethelearningprocessenjoyable. “This award is very specialasitsfocusisundergraduateed-ucation,” Kellar said. It is even morespecialgiventhenumberof great teachers I had while as astudentattheSchoolofMinesand that I am associated with today.” The U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the mostoutstanding undergraduate in-structors in the country-thosewho excel as teachers and in-fluence the lives and careers of their students. It is recognized as one of the most prestigiousawardshonoringundergraduateteaching.Recipientsareselect-edbasedonextraordinarydedi-cation to undergraduate teach-ing, which is demonstrated byexcellence in the following ar-eas:impactonandinvolvementwith undergraduate students; scholarly approach to teachingand learning; contribution to undergraduate education in theinstitution,communityandpro-fession; and support from col-leaguesandcurrentandformerundergraduatestudents. CASE and the CarnegieFoundation have been part-ners in offering Professors oftheYearsince1981.Thisyear,there are winners in 44 states,the District of Columbia andGuam.

INSIDE this issue

Sleeping in an airport bathroom

Page 13

Fashion Equations

101“can you assign a color to a number?”

Pages 14-15

UFOs: 27 years of research show they existPage4

Visitournewwebsite!www.sdsmtraver.com

How to maxi-mize your time

at the career fairPage9

Comics.............8Fashion.....14-15Feature.....12-13 Health...........6-7 National...........4Sports............10

Raver - Page 3February 2009

OPINION

I hope your spring semester is off to a good start. The BIG NEWSisthattherenovationofthe Surbeck Center will finally begin in mid February. Withthisprogresstherewillalsobelotsofnoise,dust, anddisrup-tion in thebuilding and in the“back”parkinglot!Thankyouin advance for your patience.Most importantly, thank youforyourcommitmenttotheim-provementsthatwillbefundedthrough your General ActivityFees.Theseimprovementswillbenefit students for several de-cadesintothefuture. Student Association Sena-torsworkeddiligentlytogatherand incorporate your sugges-tionsin theplans.Renovationsindining serviceswill includemore flexible/useable space; new comfortable seating; more studentstudyandloungeareasthat provide computer/tablet support (accessible electrical outlets,enoughwirelessaccesspoints) space for groups andstudent organizations to gather; improved atmosphere, includ-ing higher ceilings, new floors andwalls,andincreasednaturallighting from energy efficient windows; purchasing of dining coolers,ovensandotherequip-mentupgradestoenhancefoodpreparation; modernize rest-rooms on both levels; improved “back entrance” by dumpsters; andrepairandupgradeofinfra-structureonbothlevels. If all goes according to plan, the project will be com-

From the Dean of Studentspletewhenyoureturntoschoolnextfall.Pleaserefertothenotefrom Reeny Wilson that pre-liminarilyoutlinestheSurbeckoffices and space relocations duringtheproject. If you have not signed up for the campus alert notification system, PLEASE REGISTER TODAY! Instructions are avail-able at http://sdmines.sdsmt.edu/campusalert.This system willsendyoucriticalemergen-cyandweather-relatedalertsviayourcellphoneorcomputer. Asareminder,throughyourstudent activity fees you payfor services at Student Healthlocated in Surbeck (down the hall from the bookstore). Ser-vices range from free to veryreasonable.Hoursare:Mondayand Friday 9:00-12:00 noon; Tuesday 12:00 noon-3:00 pm andWednesday11:00-2:00pm.There is a student insuranceplan thatmaybeof interest toyou. Information is available at: https://myhealth.sdbor.edu/in-dex.cfm. Please let me know when I can be of assistance and I look forwardtoseeingyouoncam-pus. Marie Romano, SeniorSecretary, is also happy to as-sist; we are located in the Sur-beckCenter.

Sincerely,Patricia G. Mahon, Ph.D.

Vice President for Student Af-fairs and Dean of Students

605-394-2416Patricia.Mahon@sdsmt.edu

Letter from the SDSM&T President

Dr. Robert A. Wharton, Ph.D.

DearStudents, Welcome back to campus!Springsemesterbeginsinsnowand ice and ends with greengrass on the campus quadran-gle. A fewmonths fromnow,youmaybelessrested,butyouwill be proud of all you haveaccomplished this semester. I applaudyourhardworkandde-termination and look forwardto visiting with you over thecourseofthesemester. Springsemesterisalsothetime toplanfornextyear. Asearly as mid-March, the pro-cessing of financial aid awards begins. So write yourself a

reminder to go to http://www.fafsa.ed.gov to fill out the stu-dentFederalaidform.Formosttypes of financial support, fill-ingouttheFAFSAistheplaceto start. Call our FinancialAid office at 394-2274 or visit their web site at http://sdmines.sdsmt.edu/finaid for more in-formation. Ensuring that youhave the resources needed toreachyourgoalsismoreimpor-tantthanever. We will celebrate our32nd Engineer’s Week Feb. 15 through21. Alleventsarede-scribed at http://engineering.sdsmt.edu/20545/, but I highly recommendtwoofthemtoyou,the South Dakota EngineeringSociety Forum (Luncheon) and presentation on Tuesday andtheOrderoftheEngineerLun-cheononThursday. AttheTuesdayForum,youcan enjoy a free lunch (if you are one of the first 40 students to register)and listen toscien-tists and engineers from theSanford Underground Labora-tory describe the engineeringchallengestheyfaceandtheex-perimentsproposedforthelab. At Thursday’s Order of the Engineer event, you can enjoy

lunch and be inspired by thepersonal stories of this year’s Outstanding Recent Graduateawardees. If you are a senior or a graduate student in engi-neering, you can be inductedintotheOrderoftheEngineer.This event reminds us all ofthe strong spirit and irrepress-ibleingenuityofourSchoolofMines alumni, students, facul-ty, and staff, and I hope to see youthere. Also this semester, youwillseethebeginningofgreatthings tocomeasworkon therenovationof theSurbeckStu-dent Center gets underway. In theshortterm,youmayexperi-ence some dust and noise, butthe results will be terrific thanks tothehardworkoftheStudentAssociationandeveryoneserv-ing on the Surbeck renovationcommittees. Asyougothroughthisse-mester, stay healthy and safeand thinkof thewarmdays tocome.Yourhardworkwillpayoff, and the entire School ofMinescommunitywillapplaudyoursuccess.

Sincerely,Robert A. Wharton, Ph.D.

President

By Raver Staff Crimson coatings, crashedceilings and computer cordswere all parts the constructionofthenewRavernewspaperof-fice. Formerly located in a space that barely deserved the label“glorified closet,” the Raver staff made a deal with KTEQtoswitchspotswiththeirrecordstorageroom. Afteratradingspacesswitch-eroo,theRaverstaffhasroomtoactuallywalkbetweendesksin their edgy office. The room is nowcoated incherryredpaintwithblackoutlinesofbuildingsgrowingfromthebaseboards. “Wewantedtomakeourof-fice stand out from the rest of the campusbynotpaintingitintheblasécolorsthatrunrampantin-sideotherbuildings,”saidKatieAurand,EditorinChief.“WhenMegancameupwiththeideatopaint it bright red, I was wor-

New Raver office opens; mod decorum proves trendyried that itwouldbe sickeningandcausethestafftogetornery.Theblackskylinehelpedtoneitdown though, and so far therehaven’t been any walls punched inanger.” To initiate their office, the staff is having an open housefrom 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Mon-day,Feb.9.Home-bakedgood-ies and pizza will be aplenty.Thepurposeoftheopenhouseis two-fold according to Au-rand:tofamiliarizethecampuswith the Raver staff membersand the location of the office and to hopefully recruit morestudents. “The Raver newspaper hascome a long way in the pastyear,andthiswillserveasacel-ebrationofwhatwasandwhatis to come,” saidAurand. “Soput on your Monday best andstopby!”

Mix, mix, mix it up! (from left to right) Katie Aurand, Megan Mallett and Erica Daniels mix some cherry hot sauce paint prior to coating the walls of the Raver office. Photo by Tyler Armbruster

Watch yo’ back! Megan Mallett washes the wall with red poppy paint while Erica Daniels and Katie Aurand sneak up from behind... Photo by Tyler Arbruster

Taping time: Chris Cody and Erica Daniels take tape off the walls after painting. Photo by Tyler Armbruster

Raver - Page 4 February 2009

NATIONAL

By Melanie SatchellGuest Writer As a child you have fearsand this sneaking suspicion ofsomethingunderyourbed,onceyou let your guard down… itwilljumpoutandgetyou.Nowyou’re grown up and in the adultworldwherethemonstersstill exist and fear is still real.Apparently Wall Street, untilrecently,wasafraidofnothing. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, isan author and mathematicalfinance guru who deals with RiskManagement.Herecentlypublished a book called TheBlackSwan,andheessentiallypredicted the downturn of theeconomy. A dragon or blackswan in the finance world is like a housing crisis or dropin thevalueof thedollar. Ta-lebclaimsthatWallStreetdis-regarded the possibilities ofDragonsorBlackSwansandsowhentheDragonjumpedout,we knew it was over. We don’t seedragonscomingmostdaysandsomeofusarestilltryingto figure out if they exist; but Taleb will tell you they’re real. Financial institutions,such as Myrell Lynch andLehman Brothers use(used) risk man-agement modelscalled Valueat Risk orVaR. Thesemodels areextensive al-gorithms thatcalculate theriskofaninvest-ment, such asability to repay orprobability of loss.It appears the ‘ex-tensive’ research that wentintodevelopingthismodel doesn’t include data from poor economic timessuch as the Great Depressionor the housing crisis of the1980s; apparently, the creators didn’t think it too important to include.Sowehavesomethingto predict dragons, but it’s a fair weatherutility. Wearestupid.Wesawhur-ricaneKatrinacomingfromfarout in theAtlanticOcean,youknowanearthquakewillprob-ablyhitinyourareaifyouliveon a major fault, like the SanAndreas.Andyouknow,ifyouhave too much risk and you’re caught with it when the dogscome calling, you’re done for. Wall Street ignored signs andindications because they didn’t believe in Dragons. I don’t care ifyoubelieveinahigherpow-er; I don’t care if you believe in Santa Clause. But you sure ashell better believe in Dragons,because they’re real. Let’s set that aside for a second. So what monster wasouttherethatnoonesawcom-ing? Banks were handing out

The economy... or what’s left of itmortgagestopeoplewhoreallydidn’t qualify. According to Elizabeth Warren, a professorat Harvard University School ofLaw,theaveragedownpay-mentonahouseprior to2007was18%,andtheaveragenowsits at 0%. Warren, not only alaw professor, but also was amember of the FDIC Commit-tee on Economic Inclusion, and was the chief adviser to theNational Bankruptcy ReviewCommission. Warren also speaks of fi-nancialwoesduetoCreditCardcompanies which are underregulatedandcreatingfeeslikelate fees, merchant fees, andothersthatareunexpectedpullsfornotjusttheconsumerbuttheproducer as well. This causes,amongotherfactors,forpricesofretailgoodstoincrease,andtheamountofmoneyorcredit

available to an individ-

u a lto de-

c rea se .It also

tears downtrust the con-

sumers have inthemarketandthey

become wearier oftheir spending. Warren claimstheseproblemsare inpartdueto under regulation of CreditCardcompanies. JeffreyFrankel,aprofessorof Harvard University’s Kenne-dy School of Business claims,among other things, that therecessionwas thefaultof irre-sponsible spending by house-holds and the government. Ir-responsibility of those groupsalong with the failure of cor-porationstogovernthemselvesand thebusiness theyconduct.Look at the ‘Big Three’, beg-ging congress for money be-causeofabadbusinessplanorpoor management. Seems likethesamesongotherbusinessesaresinging. Thesebusinessesandinsti-tutions ignored the imminentpossibilityoflessbecausetheyrefuse to accept the modelsdon’t know everything and the

1% possibility a Dragon willjumpout.Forsomereason,noone thought a person who didn’t qualify for the loan for theirhome,thesamepersonthatput0%down,woulddefault?Crap-py game boys, because lots ofpeople defaulted, and now wehaveasub-primemortgagecri-sis. Hard to predict, I know. Ok. Now that that’s out of my system. What’s going to save us? Congress will pass astimulus package backed byPresident Obama on the orderof $800 billion that they hopewill repair the economy. Here’s the good part, this is so good,I swear you can’t make this up. DavidObeyistheChairmanoftheHouseAppropriationsCom-mittee,andhesaidinregardstothe stimulus, “Mymainworryis whether or not we can find enough places to responsibly

putmoneysothatyouhaveabigenougheffect tocor-

rect the problem orat leastmitigate the

p r o b l e m .”This tellsme thatwe re-

ally haveno ideahow to fix

the problem,but yet westill think thatgove r n me nt

should be theone to fix it.

My bet is thatthe market itself needs

some changes. First andforemost, the lesson Ameri-

canslearnedin2008aboutliv-ing within your means muststick and it must not revertbackwards into the never end-ingpileofdebtwelivewithto-day. On the other hand, pricesfor consumer goods need tobe leveraged. The Federal Re-serve needs to stop messingwith interest rates that depletethestrengthofthedollarwhichin turn affects our economy.Credit cardcompaniesneed tobe regulated, the SecurititesExchange Commission (SEC) needs to be more vigilant andprosecute people like BernieMadoff, and the governmentneedstostartbalancingabud-get and paying off debt beforeRussiaandChinacomeknock-ingonourdoor for theirmon-ey. Thisisjustathought.May-be a minimum wage job isn’t paying the bills because pro-grams like Medicare and So-cial Security take half of yourearnings,andthenpaylessthanaquarterof thecostsyoufaceduring retirement. Maybe, justmaybe, if we keep our handsinourownpocketsthenthingswill start to improve. And itwillallhappenwithoutbailingout theporn industry, you canbetonthat.

Katie AurandEditor in Chief Few people cansay that they havebeen to Antarctica,much less performresearch there. How-ever, the School ofMines’ new president, Dr. Robert Wharton,has not only partici-pated in 10 expedi-tionstotheAntarctic,buthasalsoreceivedthe United States Antarctic ServiceMedal. Engineers andScientists Abroad(ESA), a student or-ganization at theSchool of Mines, ishosting “Polar Re-gion Research,” a

Pres. Wharton to speak about research experiences in Antarctica

presentation detailing researchexperiencesforthoseinterestedin engineering and science re-latedinternationalprojects.OnThursday, Feb. 5, at 6 p.m. in CB204, people have a chanceto hear about Wharton’s expe-ditions. Refreshments will beprovided. WhartonhasbeenthePres-ident of the School of Minessince July 1, 2008, and he hasserved on the National Re-search Council’s Polar Research Board. ESAhopesthatthispresen-tationwillincreasethelevelofstudentinterestandcommunityinvolvementinrelationtotheirprojects. ESAisastudentorganiza-tion at School of Mines where

By Megan MallettRaver Staff Is it worth spending 27 yearstravelingaroundAmericato talk about whether or notUnidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) exist? OnThursday,Jan.22,Rob-ertHastingsvisited theSchoolof Mines totalk aboutthe role ofunidentif iedflying objects innotjusttheUnited States, butintheirre-lationshipwith themilitarybythe military nuclear facilities.Since March of 1967, Hastings has been enthralled with UFO’s afterwitnessingadefectivemis-silelaunchtowardsanunidenti-fied flying object. The missile sailedstraightattheobject,butwas deflected before it caused anyharm.Hastingssincethenhas investigated strange inci-dentsthatthemilitaryandciti-zenskeeponthedown-low. With the discoveries hemade through formal docu-mentedworkhefoughthardto

UFOs: Hastings says there’s proof

“Discs, round, flat-shaped objects or phenomena, moving at fast velocity,

emitting a brilliant white light or reflected light.”

discover to personal militaryinterviews,reasonableinforma-tiondeductedintothefactthatsomethinghad tobeout there.Hastingsbelieves it is foreign-ers fromothergalaxies, but toencourage people to think forthemselves,aslideshowpresen-tationwasmadewithavariety

of documents,research find-ings, andquotes frompeople in-volved.Alongwith that,Hastings add-

ed many instances and powershortagesaroundthetimepeo-ple were reporting odd lightsand discs in the skies. Muchmore evidence was discussed,and more information can befound at ufohastings.com tolearnmoreabouttheseinterest-ingdiscoveries. Overall,fordoingsomuchtime traveling and spreadinghisbeliefs,maybethese‘brightlights’ shine best when people can relate to them. If UFO’s do come back to earth, people can’t say they haven’t been warned!

students can apply their en-gineering and science knowl-edge on an international scalethrough humanitarian efforts.Thisbabyorganization,found-ed in the fall of 2006, has now seen the birth of internationalprojects in three countries:Chile,SurinameandMongolia. Thispastsummer,fourstu-dentstraveledtoChileandonetrekkedtoMongoliatodoworkforESA. “ESA’s purpose is to pro-motethewelfareofunderdevel-opedorganizationsonaglobalscale,”saidESAPresidentEricHoffnagle. “We use engineer-ing and science application tobenefit these organizations so theycangetabetterstartintheworldthatweliveintoday.”

BRRR! President Wharton poses at the South Pole during a research expedition. (Photo courtesy of UPR)

Raver - Page 5February 2009

NEWS

Maureen WilsonDirector of Residence Life and Surbeck Center Due to the lack of meet-ing room space as the projectprogresses, we have alreadycontactedpeopleaboutrelocat-ing their events/meetings on an individual basis. As you planevents between February andAugust, please keep in mind,we will not have the flexibility forlocationoptionsthatwecur-rentlyhave.Wedohavecontactinformation for offices/areas that have departmental meet-ingroomsthatareavailableforcampususeandwillsharethatas requested (please contact Surbeck Scheduling for moreinformation). Thefollowingistheplanasof today (subject to change):AreasimpactedstartinginFeb-ruary: • The Bookstore will stillbe open, but the entrance willshift as work is completed inone half of the store and thenthe other half (starting 2/16 un-til approx 3/16). •Seating&servingfortheHardrocker Dining Hall willbe relocated to theRecCenterarea within the lower level ofSurbeck (starting 2/16 until Au-gust). • The Miner’s Shack will remainopen–theentrancemayshift; the location may change; servinghoursmayvary.MoreinfoasweknowmorefromtheGeneralContractor. • The Miner’s Shack seat-ingareawillbenotbeavailable(starting 2/16 until August). • Dining Services MainOffice will be relocated to the PlumaRoominthelowerlevelof Surbeck Center (starting 2/16 untilAugust). • Meeting rooms that willgo off-line – Hisega, Roubaix,Cove and Pluma (starting 2/16 Hisega,RoubaixandCovewillno longer exist; Pluma will be availableagaininAugust). Areas impactedstarting inMarch: •CounselingServiceswillberelocatedtotheEurekaCon-

Surbeck Renovation creates temporaryinconvenience for long-term improvement

ference Room (Jolie McCoy will be in Eureka starting 3/9 until 5/20). • ADA Student ServicesLab will be relocated to theSurbeckPCLab.Thecomputerlabwillstillbeopentogeneralstudent use. (starting 3/9 until August). • Student Health Servicesrelocation is TBD(starting 3/9 until ???). •Meetingsroomsthat will go off-line–BumpEast,BumpWest, Dorr, Eureka(starting 3/9 until August). Areas impactedstarting in April,MayorJune •DiningServicesKitchen. . . locationTBD (starting ~April 1untilAugust). • Alumni Of-fice, Career Center, Counseling Servic-es, and the Dean ofStudents Office will relocatetothreenewconferenceroomsonthemainlevelofSur-beck Center (starting 5/20 until August). •Hallways,exte-rior entrances (west andlowerlevel),andstorageroomswillberenovatedstartinginmid-May – alternaterouteswillbeestab-lishedasneeded. •HardrockRoomandrestroomsonthemain level will gooff-line sometime inApril or May (as de-terminedbythecon-tractor’s schedule). • Restrooms onthe lower level willgooff-lineassoonasthe main level newrestrooms are com-pleted (or vice versa) sometimeinAprilorMay. We appreciateyour patience as the

projectinterruptsourlivesandlook forward to fantastic newspacesinAugust. Please let me know if youhaveanyquestionsorconcerns

what have you. In fact, that stu-dentmighttakeinnocentpeopledown if he or she doesn’t con-sidertheirsurroundings. ChiefMabryalsoclaimsstu-dents with concealed weaponsdrawninthissituationwillbeadistractionandahazard topo-lice. An officer who responds toashooteroncampusislook-ing for a gun. The description

of the ‘bad guy’ is an enraged student with a firearm; if placed in a school shooting situation,how many students carrying aconcealed weapon would meetthat description to a police of-ficer or another student? Things aren’t going to be black and white, they never are. And so I askyouagain,whoshouldholdthesmokinggun?

Guns (con’t from front page)

Raver - Page 6 February 2009

HEALTH

By Will EalyRaver Staff Alright, so there you are inyourdormwithapot,andbak-ing dish and no desire to feedatthecrackshack.Allyoucanfind is a few slices of cheese, aboxofmacandcheeseandacanofcreamofmushroomsoupandforsomeoddreasonafewcans of tuna (hey, no one’s here to judge). No need to worry, it’s timetomakesometunacasse-role. Here’s what you need: AboxofKraftDeluxeMac&Cheese 1smallcanCreamofMush-roomSoup AfewcansofTuna 1 onion (optional) Milk Cheese Nowtogetdowntoit,settheoven for 325 degrees (Fahren-heit,notCelsius)andmakethemacaroni and cheese like younormallywould.Thenaddthecanof soup. Take the cansoftunaanddrainoffthejuiceand

By E.M. DanielsRaver Staff Don’t have the money to go all out for treats this Valentine’s Day? Try these microwavablerecipes to impress your sweetheart. TryamakingafudgeyMug-O-Brownie. Take a microwav-ablemugandmixthefollowingingredientsinit:- 4 tbsp flour- 4tbspsugar- 2tbspcocoapower- 2tbspvegetableoil- 2tbspwater- Dash of salt (to bring out the chocolate flavor) Microwaveforaboutamin-ute. Depending on the micro-wave used, it may need moretime. If you add time, watch it carefully. Make two Mug-O-Brownies or just one to share

Microwave Treats For Your Sweetie

Cooking With Will

Cut the fat, not your New Year’s resolutionsBy Megan MalletRaver Staff New Year’s came and left, leavingbehinda fewweeksofexcess weight around waistsandthighsdueto theholidays.Thanks to these chunky left-overs,resolutionspromiseayearof healthier eating, toned bod-ies,andgrowingminds.How-ever, without knowing how toaccomplish this, the resolutionmightaswellnotexist.Hope-fully, as the year progresses,situations will help one on thewaytoasuccessfulhealthydiet,confidence with one’s body, and arejuvenatedmind. First and foremost, drinkplenty of water. The recom-mendedamounttodrinkishalfyour body weight in ounces.For example, soameone whoweighs 160 pounds would drink80ouncesinwater.Thiswill not only keep your bodyhydrated, but it will also keepone’s metabolism functioning toaveryhealthylevel. Secondly, and imperatively,is the food diet. While it’s nice to see overnight weight loss,thisenjoymentcausesayo-yo-ingwithweight.Althoughitisnormal to have a flux between five pounds, it isn’t stable to domoreyo-yoingforahealthybody. In order to lose weight and keep it off, try some ofthesetricksthatwasoutlinedbynewsweek.com: 1. Protein. While it maybe a bit fattier than carbs, thisfood fills one up faster than any otherfood.Accordingtonutri-tiondata.com, one serving sizeofsteakhas95%proteinneededinaday,withlotsofzinc,vita-minB12,andseleniumpresent.However,becauseofitshighfatlevels,itishighlyrecommend-ed toeatonlyoneSTEAKperweek. Grilledchickenbreasts,eggs, lamb products, and tofuare other, healthier options inthe protein department. Makesure portions are correct, andmakesuretotryavariety! 2. Nuts. Especially al-

monds!Whiletheservingsizeis pretty minimal, this food isactually great in weight loss.Munching on these at leasttwiceaweek,according toDr.LeoGallandof“TheFatResis-tance Diet” book, can help fill up the body while supplyingunsaturated (healthy and need-ed) fats, which increases goodcholesterol and helps the bodyburnexcessfat. 3. Fruits and Vegetables. Althoughthesefoodsarelovedand hated, for complete bodyhealth, they remain absolutelyimperative. The levels of an-tioxidants and amino acidsareveryhigh andveryhelpfulin refueling the body and themind. These foods are besteatenraw,althoughothersmayprefer them in alternate forms.To tell how rich in nutrientsthese are, the ricer the color,thehealthier. Alongwith that,these foods not only work forlosingweight,buttheypreventcardiovascular disease, cancer,chronic disease, diabetes, andhigh book pressures. In order to find out how much your body needs of fruits and vegetablesper day, visit mypyramid.govand don’ worry, it’s free to use andcanhelpkeeptrackofyour

eatinghabits. a. Foroptimalweightloss,berriesaretoppicksduetotheirhighlevelsofantioxidants,freeradicals,andnutrients. 4. Milk products. As el-ementary schools preach, milkcontains calcium that helpsbones. What they forgot tomention is that calcium alsohelps balance diets and ‘restart’ thebody.Someofthebacteriainmilkproductshelpthebodymetabolize, and even wholemilk, with it’s high fat content, will help the body functionbetter when consumed in por-tion.Low-fatmozzarellastringcheese is a great mid morningsnackforweightloss! Wrapping up the food por-tion,watchintakeofsugarandcarbs. While it’s necessary to haveboth,eatingtoomuchwilloffset one’s diet. As for exercise, it takes 4-6 weeksbeforeapatterncanbe-comeahabit,whichbecomesalifestyle. In order to get toned, start pumping weights beforedoingthecardio,andworkoutat least three times a week. If weights aren’t up your alley, try roller or ice skating, walk-ing, hiking, snowboarding orskiing, biking, or even rockclimbingdostellarwondersforbodies.Exercisenotonlyhelpsthebody functionbetter,but italsobringsmoreoxygentothebrain. Thishelps rid thebrainof stress hormones and helpsonefocusbetter. And don’t forget to take a break periodically from study-ing! That will keep the mindfunctioningandrejuvenatedforaccomplishing a lot of study-ing. Have a great year, and re-member,listeningtowhatyourbody needs will help you suc-ceedincreatingagoodbalance.Goodluck!

addthemintoo.Howmuchyouadddependsonhowtuna-eeyouwant your casserole. If you are going to add theonion,dice itupandthrowitin.Nowmixallof it together. If it looks a little dry add some milk (remember class, the higher the fat con-tent the richer it’ll be so avoid skim).Nowtakeyourmixtureandpouritintothebakingdishand spread it out flat. Here’s the partwhereyoucanbecreative.Take the cheese you have andput iton top. Anycheeseyoulike.Velveetaisprettystandardbut I made a pretty good dish usingsomepepperjack.Maybeyoulikesharpcheddarorcolby.Go for it, it’s your dish. You can try adding other things intoolikeceleryorusingadiffer-entcreamsoup.Youmightalsowant toseasonitupa littlebitwith some pepper or cumin ormaybegarlic.Beadventurous,you never know when you’ll comeupwithsomethinggood.Now that you have it all to-gether throw it in the oven. It’s readywhenthecheesemelts.

withyourbeloved.

Foradashofpinkfor theday,try making Strawberry Krisp-ies.First,get the following in-gredients:- 3 tbsp margarine or butter- 1 (10 ounce) bag of straw-berry flavored marshmallows- 5cupsricekrispies- 6 oz. white chocolate First, in a large microwav-ablebowlmeltthebutter.Thenaddthemarshmallowsandmi-crowave in 30 second intervals. Stireachtime,untilmeltedandblended well with the butter.Add the cereal and mix well.Then press into a greased 13x9 pan.Nowmeltthewhitechoco-late, be careful not to burn it!Pouritovertopthecerealmix-ture in thepan, and refrigerateforabit.Cutitupandservethepinktreats!

Raver - Page 7February 2009

HEALTH

Microwave Treats For Your Sweetie

Cooking With Willaddthemintoo.Howmuchyouadddependsonhowtuna-eeyouwant your casserole. If you are going to add theonion,dice itupandthrowitin.Nowmixallof it together. If it looks a little dry add some milk (remember class, the higher the fat con-tent the richer it’ll be so avoid skim).Nowtakeyourmixtureandpouritintothebakingdishand spread it out flat. Here’s the partwhereyoucanbecreative.Take the cheese you have andput iton top. Anycheeseyoulike.Velveetaisprettystandardbut I made a pretty good dish usingsomepepperjack.Maybeyoulikesharpcheddarorcolby.Go for it, it’s your dish. You can try adding other things intoolikeceleryorusingadiffer-entcreamsoup.Youmightalsowant toseasonitupa littlebitwith some pepper or cumin ormaybegarlic.Beadventurous,you never know when you’ll comeupwithsomethinggood.Now that you have it all to-gether throw it in the oven. It’s readywhenthecheesemelts.

withyourbeloved.

Foradashofpinkfor theday,try making Strawberry Krisp-ies.First,get the following in-gredients:- 3 tbsp margarine or butter- 1 (10 ounce) bag of straw-berry flavored marshmallows- 5cupsricekrispies- 6 oz. white chocolate First, in a large microwav-ablebowlmeltthebutter.Thenaddthemarshmallowsandmi-crowave in 30 second intervals. Stireachtime,untilmeltedandblended well with the butter.Add the cereal and mix well.Then press into a greased 13x9 pan.Nowmeltthewhitechoco-late, be careful not to burn it!Pouritovertopthecerealmix-ture in thepan, and refrigerateforabit.Cutitupandservethepinktreats!

By Will EalyRaver Staff Alright, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m getting a littletiredofthiscoldweather.It just doesn’t get to twenty be-low in Indiana. So when it does getbelowzero I’m going to escape to my happy place, my nice war=mhappy place where I won’t have to worry about freezingtodeathifmycarbreaksdown.Of course it’s a little difficult to share your warm happy placewith everyone else sohere areafewdrinkstomakeyouthinkofwarmerplacesyoucansharewithfriends.Andofcourseberesponsible; follow the letter of thelawandtheBOR. First, what could be nicerthan a sandybeach in Jamaicawhen there is frost formingon the inside of my windows?And what says Jamaica betterthan rum (unless you’re a Red Stripefan).Sohereisasimplerumdrinkwithatwist.Allyouneed is some sweet and sourmix (available at Wal-Mart or any grocery store), ginger ale,and rum. It really doesn’t mat-terifyouuselightordarkrumalthough I use Bacardi Light because of its relatively mildnature.Agoodspiced rumcanbeusedalthoughitmightover-power theginger ale.Now, allyouhave todo ismix1ounce

Thumos, apenname, adis-guise,amask,aword-passion,ofGreek.Thiscolumniswrit-ten for education and amuse-mentofthereader,butwhatofthe author? What is the avail?Is it that I myself have indeed found the fount of such a for-gotten entity, or is it that I am stillinsearchofit? Passion is something I con-sider to be present regardlessof circumstance, but is expe-rienced only based on exteriorcomponents. It’s not a matter of race, background, or even ori-entation for I believe passion underlies all encounters. Onemust merely unleash what po-tential is available in passion.I have found it to be true that passion is a puzzle of sorts. It isaclichétosaythateachindi-vidualholdsalockandkey,butperhaps the basic principles ofhuman anatomy are symbolicenough. And yet it’s difficult to say a simple disposition of flesh could determine such an intri-cateanddelicateoccurrence. In numerous novels, films andreallifeinstances,individu-alsarefacedwithadecisiontoaligntheirprospectswithaper-son of whom they are not built; anatomically,astronomically,orotherwise.Wefacethisdecisionbecause as humans we requirecompanionship, stability and

Time to Think Warm and Warm Up Jamaican inspired drinks reminiscent of warmer days

Lessons From Childhood

Number 58: Don’t run with spears.

Xkcd http://xkcd.com

of rum with 2 or 3 ounces of ginger ale (depending on how strongyouwantit)andasplashofthesweetandsourmix.Stirit up and throw in some ice ifyouwantit. If rum isn’t one of your fa-vorites maybe a variation ona margarita will do the trick.First, pick up six limes, somesweetandsourmix,sugar,andtequila.Next,slicethelimesinhalf and juice them. It’s the juice you’re after and this part is much easierifyoupickupajuicerfora couple of bucks. Once youhavethelimejuiceaddacoupleouncesofsweetandsourmix,a

fewtablespoonsofsugar,andasmuch tequila as you’re comfort-ablewith.Alittletricktotameitdownifyouaddtoomuchistoaddsomemoresugaralthoughthisonlyworkstoapoint.Nowif you have a blender and icehandyfeelfreetomakeitintoaslushy. Of course if you’re go-inglowbudgetjustputitontherocksandthesaltrimmedglassis optional. If you do want to salt theglassmakesure tousea finely ground salt and if you want to add a little extra youcan get flavored and/or colored saltsatbarproducts.comforthatextratouch.

support. It is absurd to believe each individual was designed totravel a path marked for themwhen the path may only bewideenoughforone.Thepathmarked was made for one yetrequireda travel for two.Howdoes one decide for whom thepath will widen? Thumos isfound by only few; the rest are damned to walk the path in astale and stagnant world, ac-companiedorotherwise. I do not propose to say love in itsown rite is far frompas-sion, but I do propose true love cannot exist without passionand individuals such as myself; regardless of circumstance,should not be cast down dueto our pursuit of passion. It is when passion, unaccompaniedbyloveisreckless. And what of the casualtiesalongtheway? Those that are wounded ortakenbyalackofpassion,talktoyourfriends,yourfamilyandtry to find out how to help your-self.Godforbid,evengotothenearestbookstoreandwalkthe“self help” isle to find a book thatmeetsyourneeds.Bigsis-ters are good help and somemomsare,butbecarefulcausethat’s a dangerous road, often traveled but most don’t return.

Raver - Page 8 February 2009

COMICS

Xkcd http://xkcd.com

End of the World Days

Raver - Page 9February 2009

NEWS

SPRINGSDSM&T CAREER FAIR

TUESDAY, FEB. 1011 A.M. - 5 P.M.

09

CAREER FAIRduring the Fair - COMMUNICATE - Organize a plan on which employers you want to talk to.

- Dress appropriately and bring numerous copies of your resume.

-Makeagoodfirstimpression—smile,makeeyecontact, useafirmhandshake,andintroduceyourselfinapositive, friendly manner.

-Rememberyourbodylanguage!Don’tchewgum,fidget,twistyourhair,orlookaroundwhileemployeristalkingto you.- Be respectful of the recruiter’s time.- Ask questions and take notes to keep track of pertinent information.

after the fair - FOLLOW UP- Send a follow-up letter or email the employers that especially interest you.- Reinforce your enthusiasm in working for that employer

andreiteratewhyyouarea“goodfit”.- Submit any applications or other information that recruiters recommended.

How to maximize your time at tHe career fair

Knowinghow to“work” acareer fairandknowingwhat toexpect can help you maximize your efforts. A career fair can be auseful tool forstudents from freshman tograduate levels.Forsomestudents,thecareerfairisthe“footinthedoor”thatleadstoajobinterviewandeventuallyanactualjoboffer.Forothers,thecareerfairoffersachancetoexplorecareeroptionsandvisitone-on-onewithpeopleactuallyworkinginvariouscareerfields.Others takeadvantageofcareer fairs tonetworkandgetadviceon how to be a strong candidate when they are ready to apply for positions. Regardlessofyourpurposeinattendingacareerfair,hereareafewtipstohelpmakeitaproductiveexperience:

before the Fair - PREPARE -Findoutwhichemployerswillbeattending.

- Check the employer list at www.hpcnet.org/ careerfairdirectory- Research the employers that interest you.

-UpdateandPROOFyourresume. -Developa30-secondintroductionofyourselfandpractice

saying it!- Think of 1-2 questions to ask employers.

By Darrell SawyerSDSm&t career center

TOPIC DATE TIME LOCATIONCareerFairTips Tues.,Feb.3 3:30-4:30pm McKeelSPRINGCAREERFAIR Tues,Feb.10 11:00am-5:00pm BallroomSearchingforInternships Tues,Feb.24 3:30-4:30pm McKeelInternetJobSearch Thurs,Feb.26 4:00-5:00pm McKeelEvaluatingJobOffersandBenefits Tues,Mar.3 3:30-4:30pm McKeelArtof“MixingandMingling”Reception Thurs,Mar.19 4:00-5:30pm BumpWest

Youmustregisteron-linetoattendthiseventStillDecidingonSwitchingMajors? Wed,Apr.8 3:30-4:30pm McKeelAdvicefromIntern/Co-opStudents Thurs,Apr.16 4:00-5:00pm BumpWestJobSearchTipsforInternationalStudents Mon,Apr.27 4:00-5:00pm McKeel

Call the Career Center at 394-2667 or visit their website at www.sdsmtcareers.com.

Our Graduates =Great Jobs + Great Salaries99% PlacementRate06-07Grads: EmployersThatHiredOur06-07Grads

95% Placementof07-08Grads (asofJanuary,2009) EmployersThatHiredOur07-08Grads

$55,705AverageSalaryOffer: AverageSalaryOffers07-08Grads

75% of07-08GraduateshadIntern/Co-op Experience:EmployersThatHiredOur 07-08Intern/Co-opStudents

Raver - Page 10 February 2009

SPORTS

By Brad BlumeSports Information Director With the recent wave ofwarmweatheronewouldthinkthattheSouthDakotaSchoolofMines men’s and women’s track teams were preparing to com-peteoutsideratherthangearingupfortheindoorportionoftheHardrockersschedule. Toobad. Never-the-less, the SDMtrackscheduledictates that theHardrockerthincladswillbein-doorsforacouplemonthsstart-ing Friday at the Dave LittleInvitational in Spearfish. The Hardrocker men’s teams willroster17menfortheindoorseason.SDMineshastwosig-nificant losses in two-time All-AmericanpolevaulterChandlerCaldwell and three-time NAIA National qualifier (hurdles) Ty-lerFlattum. The Hardrockers do have anumber of athletes returningthisyearthatarepoisedtohaveagoodseason.ToppingthatlistisseniorthrowsspecialistMattDeardoff. Deardoff will com-pete in the shot put during theindoorseasonandshotputanddiscusoncetheoutdoorsseasonstarts. “Matt is a real steady com-petitor.Wearelookingforhimto have a banner year,” saidHardrocker head track coachJerry Schafer. “He was on theverge of going to Nationalslast season and is hoping hecan reach that goal in his final year.” Junior Colton Reid is an-other that coach Schafer isexpecting good things from.After spending a year as a redshirt after an injury during the2007crosscountry season, themiddle distance runner shouldbethatmuchstrongerandfasterinreachingthenextlevelinhisathleticcareer. ReidhasbeentotheNation-alChampionshipsbeforeaspartof the4x400relay teamand ishopingtopunchaticketbacktothebigdancebyhimself. “WewanttogetColtonbackto Nationals as an individual.”Schafer said. “He’s as healthy as he’s been in a long time. The injury is healed, he’s taken care of some other (running) prob-lems and I am expecting him to take off and do some goodthingsthisseason.” Otherupperclassmenreturn-ing to the men’s roster are Scott Anderson,a juniormiddledis-tance runner; Jason Simmons, a senior sprinter; Marcus Moor, a junior distance runner; and AaronDeCurtins,aseniorlongsprinter. Schaferfeelseachoneofhisremaining upperclassmen havetheskillsneededtobecompeti-tiveintheDakotaAthleticCon-ference. Anderson and Moorhave been training hard andlooking to take that next step,Simmons seems to be free of

SD Mines track team set for strong run into 2009 seasonnagging hamstring issues thathave hampered him in the past; and DeCurtins (a long sprinter) isbacktotheteamafterservinghis country in Iraq. “He was deployed for Na-tional Guard duty,” SchafersaidofDeCurtins. “This ishislast semester to compete and I hope we can give him a goodsendoff.” The ‘Rocker men’s squad alsocontainssomeverytalent-edunderclassmen. Schafer had good things tosay about sophomore LucasFried, a distance runner thatis coming off a fairly success-ful cross country season. AddfreshmanMattPike to themixandtheHardrockershaveapairthatarerunningatthatnextlev-el. “Lucasisagoodteamleaderfor those distance runners,”Schafer said. “I think they will both have pretty good indoorseasons and that should transi-tiontogreatoutdoorseasons.” The Hardrockers also haveapairofyoungsprintersinJa-mieDaleandRodMcRae thatshould bode well for the trackteam. Both have exceptionalspeedandbothwillbefeaturedassprintersaswellaslongandtriplejumpers. Some other notable under-classmenarefreshmenEbNor-dahlandThomasEverett.Theyarecurrentlynursingsomeinju-ries, but after promising crosscountry seasons, once healthy,they should be competing at ahighlevel. Also look for sophomoresNateSnyderandEverettBrilltohavebreakoutseasonsthisyearinthethrowingevents.Schaferis impressed with how Brill isprogressingintheshotputandweightthrowandfeelsheisonthe rise. The coach added thatSnyder has shown improve-mentsintheweightthroweventaswell. Looking at the conference,Schafer feels there won’t be a wholelotofsurprisesthisyearand said a focus on individualimprovement will be the maingoaloftheindoorseason. “We will be fighting to be in the top half of the conferenceas a team,” Schafer said. “Westruggled last year but I think wewillreboundwiththepeoplewehavethisseason.” On the women’s side, the Lady Hardrockers have nineon therosterwithanumberofturnoveratdifferentevents. The top returners thoughdohaveall theproperskills tomake a run at a national qualifi-cation. JuniorAshleyStewarthasadecent shot to qualify for Na-tionals in thehigh jumpevent.Shehasspentthelast twosea-sons honing her skills and hasshown steady improvement.She will also compete in thejavelinanddiscusoncetheout-

doorseasonbegins. SophomoredistancerunnersBrittneyHovdenesandKendraCrismanare comingoff stellarcross country seasons. Eventhoughbothareunderclassmen,theytooarerunninglikeveter-ansthinclads. “Weareveryexcited toseehow much they’ve improved at track,” Schafer said. “We’ve got some lofty goals set for them.Hopefullytheycanreachthemearlyintheseason,thenwecansetnewgoalsforthegirls.” Junior Kendall Donegan isabitnewtotherunningscene.Afterspendingtwoyearsplay-ingcollegiansoccer,she trans-ferredtoSDMinesandwantedtogiverunningawhirl.Sherancross country this past fall forthe Hardrockers and will nowtransitiontotrackrunning. Freshmen on the Hardrock-er women’s team are Ash-ley Kemnitz, Madisen Lane,Kelsey Feist, Christy QuiettandLauretteBeal.KemnitzandLane cross over to track fromthe volleyball team, Feist andQuiett ran cross country andBeal seems to be a gem of anathletethatwillbegroomedtobeamulti-eventcompetitor. Lane’s main focus will be high jumping. Schafer alsoplans to put her in the triplejump,buthermainfocuswillbewhat she’s more familiar with. “Madi is a talented highjumper coming out of highschool,”Schafersaid.“ShehasanoutsideshotofqualifyingforNationals.” Kemnitzwillbe featured inthehurdlesandsprintingeventsfor the indoor season. Schaferfeelsshehastheabilitytobeahighcaliberhurdleraswellasafierce competitor in the confer-ence. Schafer said Feist is a hardworker and feels thatQuiett isstartingtoshowsomesolidim-provementandthinksbothcrosscountryrunnershaveahugeup-sideforthetrackseason. Beal will spend the indoorseasonoftrackasaHardrockerontheredshirtlist.Schafersaidsheexcelsatpolevaulting,highjumping,hurdlingandsprintingand after a season of learningthe ropes, she’ll be a solid ath-leteinthemultipleeventssuchas the pentathlon and decath-lon. Much like the men’s team, the Lady Hardrockers just don’t have the numbers to make asolidrunasateamorbeintherunningfortheDakotaAthleticConferencetitle.SDMineswillagain focus all their efforts onindividualimprovement. Helping with the cause thisseasonaretwoassistantcoach-esthatarealltoofamiliarwiththe Hardrocker track program.MitchRudebusch,aformerdis-tancerunningstandoutwillas-sistthecurrentdistancerunnersandKentJacobsasprinterand

formerholderoftheschoolre-cordinthe400-meterdashwillhelpcoach thesprinterson theSDMinesteam. The indoor season officially started Friday, Jan. 23, in Spear-fish and will go full circle with the DAC Championships backin Spearfish on Feb. 20-21. The Indoor National Champion-

Feb. 7 USD Invite Vermillion, SD Feb. 14 Northern State Invite Aberdeen, SD Feb. 20-21 DAC Championship Spearfish

Feb. 6 vs. Dickinson State* 5:30 p.m.Feb. 7vs.MinotState*4p.m.

Feb. 11 at Black Hills State* 5:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Valley City* 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 19 at Jamestown College* 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22DACPlayoffsTBAFeb. 25DACPlayoffsTBA

ships will be held March 5-7in Johnson City Tennessee.The first outdoor meet is slat-edforMarch21inColorado.The DAC Meet will be heldin Madison this year May 8-10 and the National OutdoorMeet is set forMay22-24 inEdwardsville, Ill.

Indoor Track

Women’s Basketball

Men’s Basketball

Feb. 6 vs. Dickinson State* 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 vs. Minot State* 6 p.m.

Feb. 11 at Black Hills State* 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Valley City* 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 19 at Jamestown College* 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22DACPlayoffsTBAFeb. 25DACPlayoffsTBA

Raver - Page 11February 2009

NEWS

Mary Jo FarringtonCampuses Community Prevention Coalition Approximately 22SDSM&T students affiliated with one of the Greek orga-nizations on campus attendedan all day retreat on January24, hosted by the Inter-Frater-nity Council, Dr. Pat Mahon,DeanofStudents, and Schoolof Mines staff. Students andstaff planned the day’s program which included presentationsonriskmanagement,improvingpublic relations, conflict reso-

Greek reatreat held on January 24

lution, information on drink-inganddrivingand related is-sues. Event facilitators MikeKeegan, Coordinator of Stu-dentActivities andLeadershipDevelopment, and Cathy Sass,AlphaChiSigma,putthegroupthrough various team buildingexercises.Presenterswere:Lo-gan Sanow, Alpha Chi Sigma:Ashley Johnson, Alpha DeltaPi; Chelsey Larmie-Rhoades, Alpha Omega Epsilon; Robert Keller, Delta Sigma Phi; Jason Miller, Triangle; Jerilyn Rob-erts,EnvironmentalHealthand

Safety Manager; Joel Wendell, Counseling Services; and Jared Ball,CityofRapidCityGrowthManagement Department andalum/fraternity member from East Tennessee State Universi-ty. “It was great to see so many studentsgiveupaSaturday toparticipate,” saidMary JoFar-rington, Director of the Cam-puses Community PreventionCoalition.“Wehadfun,madenew acquaintances and cameaway with pride in our Greekstudents,” said Marie Romanoof the Dean of Student’s office.

By Madame Snupperbuttom

Aries(Mar. 21 to April 19)

Candyheartswillmugyou.

Taurus(April 20 to May 20)

Cupidwillrevoltandspreadanarchyinsteadoflove.

Gemini(May 21 to June 21)

You’ll find a Valentine, but don’t forget the chloroform.

Cancer(June 22 to July 22)

Grubbyisstalkingyou.

February Horoscope

By Megan MallettRaver Staff

Love. Everyone looksfor it, wants it, evencraves it. The mediasellsit,familiesworkforit; people look for it in their friends. What’s all in this mystery of lovethat makes it one of life’s greatest obsessions? In-terestinglyenough,manyreasons exist as to whyour minds, let alone ourbodies,actuponseekinglove, and someof it hasto do with the physicaland spiritual chemistrygoing on. Even thoughbothofthoseaspectscre-ate ‘touchy’ moments, there’s a reason both hap-pen. Jumping into themoment, let’s see what’s happening when lovecaptures more than justtheheart. Ahugeaspectof‘fall-ing in love’ is undeniably the physical chemistrybetween two people.According to SusannaSchrobsdorff of News-week web exclusive,menandwomenarebothmore attracted to peoplewhohaveoppositechem-icalmake-up.Oneofthemajor ways of knowingwhether or not physicalchemistry works is bysmell. This smell picksout the body’s chemi-cal of pheromones, andpheromones help piqueinterestinothers. Whena man finds a girls hair smelling very pleasing,or a woman finds herself drawn to a sweaty man,that’s the physical chem-istry of pheromones atwork. When the chem-istry’s don’t align, the opposite will be moresubconsciously repulsed.This does not include

peoplewhoneglect to takecareoftheirhygiene.An-other way one’s body might find a good chemistry match isthroughamuchmoreinti-mate manner; kissing. Old wives’ tales say kissing existed to help women tellwhetherornotthemanhadopposite chemicals, whichin turn would producestrongerandbetterchildren.Sogirls,thenexttimeaboycomes and kisses, just re-memberhemaynotbesucha bad kisser; his chemicals could just be too close toyourDNAmakeupforhimto be attractive! Anothersupposedly physical attrac-tiontidbittalksaboutpeopleinpower. Thosewhohavemore positive pheromoneson others are more likelyto have powerful positionsin their communities thanthose who don’t have that chemicalasstrong. More studies show thatmenareattractedtowomenwith glass hour figures, and womenlikethebroadshoul-ders and strong backs. It is said that men like those fig-uresbecauseitshowsfertil-ity,andwomenlikestrongerupper bodied men becauseitshowshecanprotecther. Overall, whether or notbodily chemicals interferewith the ‘love’ process, only one thing is true; love is a choice, not necessarilyjustamomentofappreciat-ingthesmellorthetasteofanother. It’s the choice to serve and the choice to al-low someone to help you.No matter the current situ-ation, just remember; true love will only exist if it ischosen to be worked forfrom all sides. No matterthe body chemistry, happi-ness can only come fromthe heart. With that beingsaid,haveawonderfulandhappy valentine’s day!

Leo(July 23 to Aug. 22)

Use protection, wear a helmet!

Virgo(Aug. 23 to Sept. 22)

Those aren’t chocolates!

Libra(Sept. 23 to Oct. 23)

Ooo!Cupcakes!

Scorpio(Oct. 24 to Nov. 22)

I see a ring in your future. A ring of fire.

Sagittarius(Nov. 23 to Dec. 21)

YouwilldrowninaseaofValentine’s Day cards.

Capricorn(Dec. 22 to Jan. 19)

You’re roommate will auctionyouoffonadateto

his80yearoldaunt.

Aquarius(Jan. 20 to Feb. 18)

Yougetanarrowshotthroughyou.

Pisces(Feb. 19 to Mar. 20)

Yougomadfromallthepinkhearts and flowers.

Love is in the air (and the nose)

Alcohol Awareness: Greek members pose for a photo during a retreat about drinking and driving. Photo coutesy of Rob Kellar

Raver - Page 12 February 2009

FEATURE

Then we got closer and saw that the entire channel was blocked up by a log jam. “No big deal,” I thought. I told Phil to paddle for a sandbar where we could pull out and portage around the

dam.This is the point

in our little journey where the bad idea became a bad reality. We were making for the sandbar and we reached a point where we could see

past the log jam. The stream on the far side was a good ten to fifteen feet lower than where we were and there was a very audible and somewhat ominous sound coming from the dam itself. This is when I had one of those moments of clarity where your brain suddenly puts everything together and you have that ah-hah. I suddenly realized why the stream was so deep here. It was dammed up. And underneath of that dam was a waterfall. And if we hit that thing with our little raft it’ll probably get pulled under. And if we wound up in the water we wouldn’t make it out from under there and if by some stroke of chance we made it through that we would have to worry about hypothermia which the locals had already told us was a real bitch.

I’m pretty sure one part of my brain called the other part a dumbass at this point. I now paddled for the sandbar with a renewed vigor. I did want to live after all and I think my partner had the same epiphany I did. He looked back at me with a panic stricken face and began to paddle like mad. Then he tried to seal our fates.

We were just about out of the main channel when he reached up and grabbed a limb hanging overhead. When I say limb I am being very generous. This was more like a little twig that a finch wouldn’t think about perching on. Now when he grabbed that branch something interesting happened. Our little raft did a 180 and went right back into the main stream quicker than you could blink. So we were now going backwards down this creek heading right for this friendly log jam with all of these happy little branches sticking out like harpoons. I’m pretty sure one part of my brain called the other a dumbass again.

So there I was watching over my shoulder as we inevitably sailed into what I thought was going to be a very bad time. Really, drowning in the middle of nowhere was not high on my list of ways to go although I suppose it beats freezing to death (none of that

By Will EalyRaver Staff

Summer internships, those brief forays into the real world where we learn what it’s like to be out in industry and develop some real world experience. Oh yeah, and the whole thing about getting paid is nice. I’ve had a few internships in my day. Some have been good, others not so much. And I’ve learned a few things in my experiences. Being the generous fellow that I am, I’ll take the time to share a few of the things I’ve learned with you.

I spent my last summer working for an underground lead mine out in northeastern Washington in a little town where the mine, school and Border Patrol (in that order I think) supplied the vast majority of jobs in the area. There really was nothing around there. Of course Canada was just a skip away (literally 10 minutes) but there wasn’t much up there either until you drove a good 40 miles past the border, and when gas was pushing six bucks a gallon we didn’t take many road trips. I went a month and a half without being more than 10 miles from my house and when I finally had to get my Wal-Mart fix, which was a bit of an endeavor since it was forty miles to get there over mountain roads, it was like stepping into a mystical, magical wonderland where everything I could ever want was at my fingertips. Hey, all we had where I was for shopping was a gas station and small grocery store. I’ll admit I stood there in the doorway just marveling at how big the place was for a minute.

So, my roommate Phil and I began to stock up on everything imaginable. OH toilet paper is CHEAP when you get the giant pack. Never mind that there’s no way we’ll use all of it that summer, we just couldn’t resist the bargains. Now I’ll skip how we blew a few hundred bucks at Wal-Mart (it may have had something to do with our not having found the local liquor store yet) and cut to the part where things began to go wrong.

When Phil and I arrived the streams and river in the area were all at flood stage thanks to a large snowmelt and a lot of rain. There was a stream in every hollow and these little mountain streams were moving a lot of water. We thought it would be fun to raft down these things. Now we tried to find a local place where we could get a raft or canoe to take these things in but we had no luck and this brings us back to Wal-Mart. You see, Wal-Mart has a sporting goods section and in that section they have inflatable rafts. We put one and one together and

figured that we would get our forty bucks out of that little thing in fun running those mountain rapids. At this point you would have thought that the picture of a happy family of four sitting in this thing in a nice calm swimming pool and not shooting a class four rapid would have caused our bad idea alarms to go off. They did not. We bought the thing and the cheap plastic paddles to go with it.

We approached this little expedition with a fair amount of confidence. My roommate, after all, kept talking about all of his white water experience and how he had rafted the Colorado River and some other places I hadn’t heard of and so I figured we’d be able to handle whatever the mountains threw at us. Our confidence was shaken a little when a fishing boat in the river had inadvertently entered a stretch of rapids and disappeared with all onboard.

The locals were unnervingly pragmatic when they called off the search after a few hours saying the bodies would show up in the screens at the hydroelectric dam a few miles down river in a day or two. They never did.

Well, finally the day came when we worked up the nerve to go try this thing out. We drove out into the mountains into a pretty desolate area and parked my car next to a bridge. We then drove a few miles up the road and found a good place to put in. Now I’ll let you know this was a pretty tame part of the stream. While the current was swift there was no white water and from the road earlier downstream we could tell it was only a foot or two deep in most parts. We figured if things went badly we would just jump out and walk back to the nearest vehicle. So we put in on a little sandbar. There were a couple of locals fishing upstream from us and they let us know that they thought we were crazy. And so began the maiden voyage of the Pond Orielle Princess.

After we got off the bar things were going smoothly although I did notice that the water here was considerably deeper than it was downstream, well in excess of 6 feet. I couldn’t see the bottom. There would be no walking to shore if we bailed. A few hundred feet into our expedition we noticed a bend in the creek and a couple of logs that had gotten jammed on the shallow side. We were clipping along in the main channel and figured we’d just ride the current right through the thalweg and be fine.

Up a creek with a broken paddleLessons learned during a summer internship

The locals were unnervingly pragmatic when they called off the search after a few hours saying the bodies would show up in the screens at the hydroelectric dam a few miles down river in a day or two. They never did.

The stream on the far side was a good ten to fifteen feet lower than where we were and there was a very audible and somewhat ominous sound coming from the dam itself.

huddled for warmth in the fetal position crap for me!). Of course on the bright side I wouldn’t be alone. Then my will to survive kicked in and I took my little plastic paddle and tried to brace against the logs with it hoping to avoid spearing the raft on one of the many pongee sticks radiating out. I figured if Phil did the same when his side swung around we might be able to hold out for a while and prolong our existence that much more. Maybe even long enough to broker a deal with God or anyone else listening…

Let’s go back to Wal-Mart for a second and think about the piece of high performance hardware that I’m equipped with here. We bought two of these paddles for 5 bucks. That should tell you something. I could have made something more durable out of PVC and construction paper but I didn’t because Wal-Mart was just so darned convenient. So it was me against the log with my $2.50 of plastic. I may have uttered something along the lines of “Bring it b*&$#,” but I probable didn’t. I remember the f-word flying around my head quite a bit.

So here it comes. The moment of truth. Will my paddle be enough to buy me a few more precious moments? Nope. It folded faster than one of those maids at the Hotel Olympics (look it up). Literally, it had a crease. And then impact. I saw the spike punch into the hull of our raft and felt the air rush out but it didn’t collapse like I thought it would. I wasn’t even getting wet. Our cheap Wal-Mart raft had a secondary air bladder in it for just such an occasion. Not that I stopped to analyze why I wasn’t wet. As soon as we contacted I yelled “Bail,” and we both climbed onto the logjam.

So there we were standing on a logjam in the middle of a mountain stream with our tattered raft harpooned to the thing almost like a macabre trophy. We pulled our raft off of the dam

and walked the 200 yards back to where we put in. The total time of our aquatic adventure was about two minutes.

Here’s the lesson I took away from that. If you’re going to dive into a

situation that may be life threatening make sure you trust the person you’re with not to do something stupid. Oh, and good times can go bad very quickly. The locals told us we were nuts for even trying that although I disagree. We should have done more research though and scouted out the route we were going to raft before going all Lewis and Clark on it. So there you go: a lesson from my internships.

I could have made something more durable out of PVC and construction paper but I didn’t because Wal-Mart was just so darned convenient. So it was me against the log with my $2.50 of plastic.

Raver - Page 13February 2009

FEATURE

Sleeping in an airport bathroomAerial adventures with lengthy layovers and cankerous childrenBy E.M. DanielsRaver Staff My bad luck and I havealways been at odds. But nowthe battle has reached an epicheight. My bad luck started on theway to the airport, I was travel-ing to see my dad in Alaska forChristmas.At 4:30 a.m., a friendwas driving me to the airport inmy car, because the battery haddied in his. We were just get-ting close to the airport whenmy car started wobbling on andoff. We thought itwas the road, un-til the car joltedroughly making usboth swear. Thenrolling out into theheadlights acrossthe road and into the ditch was atire—it had popped off the backwheel. We pulled the car overand got out into the freezingmorning to inspect the damage.The car wasn’t going anywhere.My friend started to changethe tire, and gave me more badnews. The spare didn’t fit. I had to call another friend to comeby and take me to the airportand to borrow the spare fromhis car to get my car off theside of the road. But time wasrunning short; I had a plane tocatch. That’s when a van pulledup, a lady inside asked if I need-ed a ride. Of course I said, “Yes,please!” She drove me to theairport and I was able to catchthe plane. Now the plane from RapidCity would take me to Minne-apolis, and then from there toSeattle, then Juneau, and finally Sitka. I thought my car becom-ing handicapped was the worstthing that would happen. I arrived in Minneapolis ontime, and then waited patientlyfor my next flight. I had my com-puter and a few movies with meso I was set for the three hourwait. But when it came timefor the plane to leave, it stillhadn’t arrived at the airport.Other travelers and myself wereconfused. The TV walls thatdisplayed arrival and departuretimes said nothing about theplane being late. I found out theplane was supposed to be twohours late, but it was pushingthree. Resigned, I sat and talkedwith other travelers. I chattedwith a girl from Minnesota onher way to Anchorage. I neverasked her name and she neverasked mine. Finally the plane arrived,and we found out we wouldhave to wait another hour. Theflight crew was deciding on whether or not to fly out to Se-attle. Apparently, Seattle wasgetting pounded by snow, andin order for a plane to get off theground there can’t be anythingon the wings. Seattle had run outof de-icing fluid for the planes.

Also, the airport couldn’t getmore fluid because the delivery trucks couldn’t get up the roads.The airport workers kept tell-ing us to wait longer and longertimes. Until, the captain rushedout and said excitedly “We’regoing! We’re going!” After atotal of nine hours in the Min-neapolis airport, I was able tofly out. When the plane toucheddown in Seattle, I looked out thewindow. The runway and tar-mac resembled a place affected

by nuclear winter.Everything wascovered in at least afoot of snow, if notmore. It was prettyto look at but borea forewarning, that

was confirmed by a flight atten-dant: all outgoing flights were canceled. Inside the airport was acomplete 180º flip. Outside was deathly still and quiet, whereasinside was complete chaos.People ran, yelled at each other,pushed, and shoved. They allacted like the world was end-ing. I traveled down to bag-gage claim, which was evenworse. Imagine a small dormroom, with 30 people and 50large suitcases all packed, thatis what it was like. I ended upgoing to the wrong conveyorbefore finding the right one. Af-ter an hour and a half my bagfinally came tumbling down the chute. I grabbed it and quicklyshoved my way upstairs to cus-tomer service. I was met by along line. I jumped in at the end,and heard from the group infront of me that they had beenwaiting for six hours already. Ittook another two hours before Iwas able to have a turn with acustomer service agent. At thistime, the line to change ticketshad stretched the entire lengthof the airport. I was given a chance to re-schedule my flight. To my hor-ror, the flight the next morning was full, and another won’t beavailable until three days later.The customer service agentthen said she put me on standbyfor the flight in the morning al-ready. I thanked her about 20times before scurrying away. Now I had all night to wait,and nothing todo. Literally, allthe hotels in Se-attle were bookedfull I wanderedaround the air-port trying tofind a spot to sleep. Along the walls were people wrapped upin bundles using baggage as pil-lows. The airport was freezing,and I found the bathroom wasthe warmest spot in the entireairport. So I curled up next theentrance and tried to get somesleep. It was embarrassing, but

I was so exhausted and frustrat-ed with the day I didn’t care. Igot about an hour of sleep. An-nouncements about safety overthe intercom pounded throughevery corner of the airport. Therecorded voice seemed intenton driving us all insane. Later I had to join anotherline, this one was to check bag-gage though. I waited in thisone for about an hour and half,and right before it was my turnto check my baggage, I was in-formed that those with standbystatus were supposed to wait in adifferent line. Now wide awakewith anger and a migraine Icharged over to the correct line,and waited for an hour glaringat whoever dare look at me. Thebaggage check lines now grewat an exponential rate; theywrapped around the airport, justas long as the customer serviceline that seemed to have notshrunk at all. Now I got to check my bag-gage. The lady said I was no lon-ger on standby and had an actualseat on the plane. I thought I’ddie of relief; I really didn’t wantto be stuck in Seattle for threemore days. But things seemedto be going my way now. I wasgoing to get to see my dad, I’dbe able to have a hot shower andsleep in a real bed! The planelanded on time at 7:30 am,the passengers boarded, and Ipromptly fell asleep when I satdown. I woke up an hour laterto find the plane hadn’t moved yet. But that changed shortly,and thirteen hours after arrivingin Seattle I was finally able to leave. I missed my connectionflight by half an hour. The next flight to Sitka would not leave until 10pm. I had ten hours towait to take a 25 minute flight to Sitka from Juneau. With noth-ing to do, I went through secu-rity and waited for my plane. When my plane landed, itcouldn’t dock at the gate be-cause of the plane before it. Ap-parently there’d been an extrapassenger, so the stewardesseshad everyone get off the planeand then recheck their tickets.This process was lengthy andmy plane had to wait a half hourbefore they thought to reroute itto a different gate. But I was fi-

nally on a plane toSitka! I had a mi-graine and smeltlike dirty laundry,but I was happyI’d finally get there.

I stepped off the plane inSitka’s tiny airport and saw myfamily. I got squished with hugsand finally was able to get to my dad’s house and sleep. I wouldhave a very pleasant vacation.Sitka is a beautiful place; itsits on Baranof Island and issurrounded by mountains. It

snowed frequently, but it was apretty snow, with fat flakes fall-ing languidly. The end of myvacation drew near and I dread-ed getting on any plane again.But my family assured me thatthere’s no reason why I shouldhave any trouble on my wayback to Rapid City. I believedthem and braced myself for myred-eye flights. My plane would leave Sitkajust after 6p.m. It was late, butthat’s normal for Sitka. I goton, and before the plane start-ed moving, a little kid a fewrows away started screaming.“Okay,” I thought, “The momwill shut the kid up, and it willbe quiet again.” The kid keptgoing. During the flight turbu-lence also shook us around likebeans in a tin can. We landed inJuneau to pick up more passen-gers bound for Anchorage. Thescreaming kid got off with hisparents, only to be replaced by

another one. Juneau wasn’t so calm andserene this time around. Thesnow fell heavy and fast. Theplane’s wings were covered.We had to wait for the plane tobe de-iced. This whole process,including the first de-icing, seemed to take an hour. Finallythe plane took off; kid #2 keptscreaming. In Anchorage, I missed myconnection flight to Seattle, and would not get to leave until onein the morning. That time rolledaround and the boarding processbegan. I was about to hand overmy boarding pass when all thealarms in the airport went off.“An emergency has occurred,please evacuate the building,”proclaimed the computer gen-erated voice. The airport em-ployees had everyone go outinto the -10º weather includinga woman with a newborn! Wewaited outside for half an hourbefore they let us back into theairport’s warmth. The boardingagent told us that an alarm hadgone off in the airport’s “fanroom.” The boarding finished, and

you guessed it, there was yet an-other screaming kid. The planestarted to move, and then lostpower. After all that, I got stuckon a broken plane. Why did theomnipotent Lord of Luck hateme that day? The plane startedworking again a bit later andtook off to Seattle. There, I hadfive minutes to run from one end of the airport to the other to getto my connecting flight to Min-neapolis. I nearly lost my shoeto the closing door of the tramcar, and arrived breathless at thegate just as they were boardingthe last passengers. Screaming kid #4 kept mefrom sleeping on this flight also and seemed determined toslowly chip away at my sanity.I wanted to tell the parents offand yell at the kid myself, but Iwas trapped in the widow seatby a large couple. Otherwise,this was the nicest flight on the trip back to Rapid City. I got to

Minneapolis fine and my last flight home was on time. However, Rapid City triedits hand at foiling my flight. The wind speeds in Rapid City wereover 50 mph. The pilot said weneeded the extra fuel because ifwe couldn’t land in Rapid City,we would have to turn aroundand go back to Minneapolis. Ivoiced my opposition to thatplan loudly. I wanted to getback to Rapid City, and awayfrom screaming kid #5. But for once I worried fornothing. The plane landed inRapid City on time. I had towait for a friend to pick me up,but I was finally done with trav-eling. My bad luck extended tomy checked luggage. My baghad been inspected by TSA, anda few items were stolen. To this day I still don’tknow why I had such horribleluck. Because of it, I’ve becomea bitter person, and hate chil-dren even more. A friend evenforbade me from riding on anyplane trip with him after I toldhim this story. I can only hopethat I never have this muchtrouble flying again.

The runway and tarmac resembled a place affected by nuclear winter.

The airport was freez-ing, and I found the bathroom was the warmest spot in the entire airport.

Graphic by E. M. Daniels/Raver Staff

Raver - Page 14 February 2009

FASHIONdr

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forS

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SS

0%

Many disciplines atthe School of Minesare known for beingat the cutting edge oftheir field. Regretfully fashion is not one ofthem. From the everyday cloth-ing you wearto class to howyou dress foran interview, itis known thatyou, as a “te-chie”, have ahigh frequen-cy of havingno “fashionsense.” Un-for tunate ly,books are some-times judgedby their cover;hence, we shallpresent the classthat each techieshould be enrolledin immediately: Fash-ion Equations 101. Each month we willbring you fashion tips,quizzes and equationsto help you help your-

In the professional world, a first impression is the most important, as most would tell you. For students entering this realm, the assumption holdstrue. “An interviewer makes a decision within the first five minutes,” professors have told us. Half of the decision made by an employer, whether wewould like to buy into the assumption or not, isbased upon the amount of professionalism pre-sented within the candidate. Professionalism is

“Because not every style can be defined…”New Year New YouCanary Yellow Scarf + Flannel + Chuck Taylors = Ideal Studious OutfitThe Color of 2009: Yellow

0% 10

WARNING!this major fashion

faux pas runs

rampent on campus

self. Fashion is not about being superfi-cial or “plastic”; it isabout defining who you are and lettingothers know about it.

True or FalseYou wear sweatpants more days than you wear jeans. True -- FalseYour hoodies = everyday attire. True -- FalseYou stick your hair in a pony before rushing to classat least 3 days a week. True -- FalseYou don’t own heels, don’t know where or when youwould ever wear them. True -- FalseYou only wear tights as a joke for a dress up party or80s-a-thon. True -- FalseYou never wear makeup on a daily basis. True -- FalseYou can’t remember the last time you wore a skirt/dress other than your high school prom dress for yoursorority formal. True -- FalseLast time you wore a necklace was to match yourdress for the same sorority formal. True -- FalseYou can’t remember the last time you painted yournails, got a pedicure, shaved your legs. True -- FalseYou are more familiar with the pages of your Organicchemistry book than even the cover of a Vogue orMarie Claire. True -- False

Do you find yourself falling victim to

pilled, saggybutt sweat-

pants, darksweatshirts,

and a heavygeneric back-

pack that makes youlook like Quasimodo?Spice up your life with asleek pair of jeans and abright winter accessory(i.e. wool hat or scarf), find a bold jacket, and trade out your booksbetween classes so youdon’t break your backbefore you turn 25.

Are you on the positive or negative pole of fashion?

Fashion quizx + x = ladies

If you answered mostly True:You have definitely fallen into the “techie” trap. Just because you see guys in sweatpants everydaydoes not mean you do not have style. Remember in high school when you knew you looked good goingin there everyday, all done up and a hot outfit? Just because you are learning does not mean other areasof your life should fall on the back-burner. Make sure you keep your sense of hot trendiness, and make sureto keep yourself in check. Ever watch project make-over? Yeah, most of the 38-year-old women on thereare targeted for wearing hoodies everyday. Spice it up. You might just like the benefits of looking and feeling sassy. You’ll feel better about yourself, you will be more alert, and more attractive all around.

If you answered mostly False:Congratulations, you have maintained a sense offashion despite dire circumstances. You must be the example to the rest of our chicas who have lost sightof “primping” motivational goals. If you start raising the bar subtly, pretty soon there will be more womenon campus than these techies know what to do about(which, given our odds, wouldn’t take more much)! Knowing your own fashionista stylish ways and com-binations of owning it, we say props. Step it up, and be the girl that catches the eyes of those who woretheir pajamas to class and thinks, “I remember whenI used to dress cute…”. It’s an investment not only in yourself, your future, but also your professionalism.

model:

eric

zimmer

phot

ogra

pher

: ary

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DEMEANOR:to make an impact onyour potential em-ployer, try to presentyourself in a positivelight by showing (orfaking) your interest

HAIR:that “just-rolled-out-of-bed” look is notgoing to land youthat co-op. shower + brush = forwardthinking follicles

SHIRT:keep it in yourpants, boys

SPECS:if you’re thestudious type,present your-self as suchby throwingon that pair oflenses

TIE:we’re notin Hawai’i. don’t hangloose

KICKS:hey karatekid- make sureyou wear yourblack shoeswith that blackbelt (or brownshoes with thatbrown belt,ect.)

directly correlated with how you present your-self; hence, your appearance is important. The purpose of this explanation is not to assist youin changing who you are, but rather to enhanceand define your personal style through express-ing yourself. Check out the “do”s and “don’t”s above for some tips on landing that oh-so-glaminternship on the coast or the money-maker sixfig. salary.

Raver - Page 15February 2009

FASHION

Your Spring break plans include: A) Cancun! Where else would you go on spring break!? B) backpacking through Europe, finding hos-tels and cute little mod cafes, C) hitting some heli-skiing in the backcountry of AK or Whistler, finding a hole-in-the-wall bar in the evenings to listen to old ski bum guys talk about adventures of back in the day, or,D) running to the fridge a few times in be-tween being the victorious patron of halo for a week straight.

You’re heading out for a fun night on the town. Your first drink is:

A) teeing off at the course with a close friend, or hitting the courts for a little tennis volley action, not to forget your POWERTHIRST and cellular device.B) riding your bike to the coffee shop before heading to the park to enjoy the beautiful day and a nice read in the sun, not to forget those cookies you made.C) already up at Rushmore, hitting some clas-sic climbs or finding new biking trails, not to forget your granola bars, oranges, and nal-gene bottle.D) hanging out in your dorm room, syncing your laptops with your roomie while playing WoW or experimenting with your new robot, not to forget your dew and external.

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QUIZ:What is your signature style?

It’s a gorgeous blue bird day and you have no school, no homework and you’re out and about. You find yourself:

1When you jam out to your favorite tunes youA) rock the guitar hero, X-Rock, hot 93.1, or Kanye, Rhianna, whoever is on the top of the charts and gets their beat boppin, B) pluck some classic 90s jam out on your own acoustic or throw on some Shiny Toy Guns, Two Gallants, or Cloud Cult,C) Dispatch, 70s classic rock, or your “pumped up” ipod mix that gets you ready to huck that 20 foot cliff on your recre-ational device of choice, or, D) nothing, you like just listening to your modem purrrr…

2

Right now, you are wearing: A) polo, zip-up hoodie, your favorite 3-year-old jeans that you should have thrown away 2 years ago but still have a nice relaxed fit, and your brown leather kicks, B) skinny jeans, grandpa cardigan, flannel shirt or cool graphic tee, and either converse all stars or something you picked up at a garage sale for $.25 this summer, C) your new Marmot jacket with Patagonia base layer, Carharts or Prana pants just in case you decide to go bouldering after school, and either Keens or Chacos, D) black tee shirt, hoodie, sweatpants or Levis your mom bought you, and white sneakers, but not the good sneaks, the white Adidas ones that were out of style 5 years ago.

Your favorite website is: A) nytimes.com, foxnews.com, or googlefi-nance.com,B) urbanoutfitters.com , Americanapparel.net, or myspace,C) moosejaw.com, steepandcheap.com, or backcountry.com, D) you don’t really visit other websites, you’re too busy programming your own. why waste time critiquing other site’s mis-takes?

3

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A) a mojito, gin and tonic, or brandy,B) a glass of wine, probably a cab or merlot of some kind,C) something at the local brewery D) redbull/vodka or a beer, doesn’t matter what kind.

A A A A A A a a a a a a a a a

C C C C C C C C c c c c c c c C D D d d d d d d d d d d d d d D

mostly A’s: You enjoy looking presentable and somewhat take pride in your prep-piness. Generally, you’ve got the whole match and go technique in the bag. To fire up your already sensible style, try adding a bit of pizzaz perhaps with a brilliant dress shirt and a cardi gan or an old school Brit-ish-blazer. Add some vintage to the trendy prep. The business casual look is really workin’ for ya- but make sure you’re not coming across as a stick-in-the-mud who is all work and no play. Authors recommend: Bust out of the classic new clothes look and go for something a bit more unique. Try a vintage-looking polo that has bright colors, or great big stripes, similar to Harry Pot-ter’s scarf. Your jeans could be a little bit less baggy; trends are getting more Euro, and therefore a bit tighter. You have a great start, so go with it, and look good walking to class—who knows, maybe one of the 3 girls you see on your typical walk across campus will notice the change!

mostly C’s: Style? You are just in the threads that keep you comfortable. Whether it’s keeping you warm while hitting the slopes or keeping you cool while tearing through the trails dur-ing the summer, your fashion sense is defined by the activities you love. It doesn’t really matter what brand or color it is, as long as it serves the purpose it was designed for. Authors suggest: Try just a bit to make your outfit look like you tried, so pair a great scarf with your Patagucci coat. Add a little bit of flair to your already defined style; the outdoorsy is a great look to use as a starting off point for achieving hot & rugged combina-tions. Ladies love a guy that shows he can take care of himself and build a shopping mall out of a toothpick and a twig. Make sure that rugged look doesn’t go too far and look like a statement of indifference, but rather oozes with refined, sporty, and adven-turous fashion.

mostly B’s: You have a pretty firm grasp of what’s the hot newness and what you like to wear. You are comfortable in looking a bit edgy, knowing that flannel does not sccream “Paul Bunyan,” but rather a big city trendy statement. You are ex-perienced with dressing in the newest and latest. You visit ga-rage sales, second-hand stores, and friend’s dad’s closets often, knowing what to look for and at the right price. Authors suggest: Make sure to keep a healthy as-sortment of yellows and grays, not to forget that the scarf never looks bad. Try kicking it up a notch with a nice sport blazer or cardigan paired with your fa-vorite flannel. The combo states that you are a healthy balance of studious and stunna.

mostly D’s: As for your so called “personal style” or rather, no offense, but lack therof--

B B B B B B B B b b b b b b b b B

STOP conform-ing to the masses and stear your-self out of that fashion rut! You can do your own calculus equa-tions; it’s time to start doing your fashion ones too!

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Raver - Page 16 February 2009

Engineers and Scientists Abroad invites you to:

Polar Region ResearchA presentation detailing research experiences

for those interested in Engineering and Science related international projects.

Presented by: Dr. Wharton

Thursday, Feb. 5 6:00 PM

SDSM&T CAMPUS CB 204

Refreshments provided.

I love humanity and dogs. -Robin C. (paper guy)

Tothegirlwhowears22:The pain I endured form the tat onmybackis nothing compared to the lovethat I lackI wish you felt the same way Ar-ielGranilloI want you to spend as much timewithmeasyoudoonyour“Three-O.”–Fromtheboywhowears55

Katrina K., I’m so glad we’ve gottentoknoweachotherbetterthrough the bible study. HappyV-dayandgoodluckwiththerestofthesemester!–Abby

I remember that exciting day when I paid for tuition and met mygirlfriend.

Treatyourself or a lovedone toa Valentine’s Day treat, courtesy of Alpha Omega Epsilon soror-ity. Come visit our table in theClassroom Building on Friday,Feb. 13, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. to choose from our selection of Valentine’s chocolates and lollipops. Pro-ceeds raised will be donated totheAmericanHeartAssociation.

Hey Sexy! (aka Ashley O.) I to-tallywanttocutoffyourskinandwear it to my birthday... It’s com-ing up... <3 your secret admirer

Hey Cheeks!After all this timewe are still going strong. <3 Love ya!–Weirdo

Teneil R., I’m glad you’re back and I hope you have a great se-mester!WithLove,Abby

Maria Luze, Even though weargue about everything- Youknowwhat theysay,“Opposites

Attract.”WillyoubemyValen-tine? Because you’re the Perfect Catch!–SecretAdmirer

Looking for the One that’s Been Missing -- I am a down to Earth, passionate, outgoing, caring,thoughtful, and goofy person.A hopeful romantic, one whoenjoys the simple things in lifewhileenjoyingtheuniquethingsthat life has to offer with a flair for the dramatic. I’m looking for an adventurous, smart girl witha cheesy sense of humor whorespects herself and is clean.The classic girl next door, who’s non-high maintenance, a non-smoker,andwhoiswillingtotrynew things. I think of myself as ageekyMr.Niceguywithafun-box who’s ready everything from Playboy to the complete KarmaSutra. Send responses to ker-madec@tds.net with Missing inthesubjectline

Bemyvalentine.–BWS

Dearest Jenika B., Roses areRed/ Violets are Blue/ Carnations are sweet/ And so are you! Glad you’re back, Abby

Phoebe!!!! “On Valentine’s Day wethinkofthosewhomakeourlivesworthwhile,thosegracious,friendlypeoplewhowethinkofwith a smile. I am fortunate to know you, that’s why I want to say,toarareandspecialperson:Happy Valentine’s Day!” –Abby

Dear James, I’ve loved you since the first time I heard your sexy Southern accent. The way youwalkinthosebootsandthewayyour butt looks in those tightwranglersmakesmewanttocon-fess my undying love for you. <3 YourLongtimeAdmirerKelsey Koch, I’m wild about

you. You’re always mine. I want towrapyouinbutterandsmotheryou.Withlovealwaysyourboy,JoshSherman

My dearest Boo, Your long flow-ing blonde golden locks remindme of my teenage love NickCarter (from the Backstreet Boys). This Valentine’s Day I hope you emotions show, espe-ciallytowardsWhitney,mydear-est friend. I will wear your love necklace with a smile. <3 the one withyourleash

Bekah ->“Steven”You lightupmy world! I love you! <3 Meg

Dear Kelsey, My love for youburns with the fire of one thou-sandsuns.–Anonymous

My dearest Leah,You blow meaway, and then some. Alwaysyours,Batch

My Valentine, I’d like to thank youforsharingafewthingswithme: Poking; Chicago; spoons; faith; tacos; pizza; subway; the stars; stories; laughter; ice skat-ing; tea; snowball fights; firefly; kisses; trick-or-treating; much more poking; hot chocolate; the Game; … and I ran out of room. Before I go, I’d like to warn you: Everytileyoustepontoday=1poke.YoursTruly

To: LucasFried“HappyValen-tine’s Day!” From: ???

Kyle Victor Lichty, you knowthat I can use somebody, some-body like you! Happy Valentine’s Day!–LorynSchuetzle

Dear Whitney, I love the way you dribble the basketball and bury 3-pointersfrom5ft.behindthearc.Youare thecheese tomymaca-roni and I will always love you. <3 your secret admirer

DarrenwillalwaysloveSurirat!Good luck Baja at competition!Weloveyouguys!

Dear Jose, You’re so much fun and I love spending time with you. Thanks for being there forme when nobody else is. Meetme at Murphy’s tonight for beer pong.Love,Margarita

DearFreddy@theLapinAgile,I would like to apologize for my latest antics with the bricklayer,thelamplighter,thevariousartistsandpoetswhopassthrough…ohandmylatestrompwithPabloPi-casso. Please don’t be angry, they really didn’t mean anything to me…Afterall,whocancomparewithmyslow,naïve,Frenchbarkeeper?Restassured,as longasthemoneyanddrinkscontinuetoflow at the Lapin Agile, I promise to remain sort of faithful. Love,Germaine... P.S. I think Picasso mighthavehadsyphilis

Adam Galden, You’ll always be myteddybear.

To: Laertes From: The Duke ofChablis... Oh Laertes, I miss you so much. When will you comebacktome?Noonecouldkeepa“secret”likeyou.

Colton Reid, Please don’t kill yourself this semester doinghomework. I would miss you too much. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dark Phoenix, You are my flame in the cold, dark world. My ev-erything. Know this if nothingelse.-Tower

MyDearestThomasBoyle,ThisValentine’s Day I’ll forgive you forlettingStephputherheadonyour shoulder. I love your thug style and I love it when you call me big Momma. Throw yourhands in the air if you’re NOT a

trueplayer…‘Cuzyoubetternotbe!.. on Valentine’s Day. Love you!Whitney

DearStephandMegan,Youarethetwohalvesofmyheart,mak-ing me whole. Without you I wouldn’t have purified water or be able to play the wii and re-lax.Thanks for being theBESTRoomies Ever!! Love always,Abby

Cody F., I know how much you love the Office so here’s a quote for you. Happy a Valentine’s Day! “Would I rather be feared or loved? Um... Easy, both. I want peopletobeafraidofhowmuchtheyloveme.”–MichaelScott

Looking for Someone to “Dig”Me -- I’m a classical hearted per-sonwhobelievesthatchivalryisnotdead.Lookingforagirlwholikespinacoladasanddancinginthe rain and who wouldn’t mind a bit of travel. I’m adventurous, into theoutdoors,andwillingtotryanythingnew.Mymostrecentguilty pleasure is Twilight. I’m looking for a girl who doesn’t mind being cooked; someone with a free spirit and who’s ad-venturous- ready todanceunderthestars,walk in thepark, likescoffee, into the fine arts and en-joys a night on the town. Sendresponses to kermadec@tds.netwithDiginthesubjectline

Ryan Z., I remember when I first met you. You didn’t know what you got yourself into. I would follow you around every day.Looked in your 2nd story win-dow at night. When you filed that restraining order aginst meI thought it was going to be all over. But now that you say I to me I know how you feel. Will youmarryme?

BackgroundgraphicbyKatieAurand

Happy Valentine’s Day!