ALL 'BURNIAN STORIES
SCHWEIKLE AND ZIMMERMAN RETIRE AFTER YEARS OF SERVICE
Two of Blackburn College’s professors are retiring this semester: Chair of the Business and Economics Department and accounting professor Robert Schweikle, who has been with the college for 18 years, and Chair of the History Department Dr. Jan Zimmerman, who has been teaching for 31 years...
GAME DESIGNER SPEAKS AT WERNER LECTURE SERIES
On Thursday, April 6, in Blackburn College’s Olin Lecture Hall, a presentation was given by Seattle, Washington, based game designer Dr. Evie Powell. Powell was invited by computer science professor Dr. Joshua Gross to speak to the campus community for the Werner Lecture series. Powell, the founder and director of The Verge of Brilliance (her own independent video game development company) discussed the direction in which the video game industry is moving...
ABSTRACT ATHLETICS: CHESSBOXING
What is evident from the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is that humans have a natural curiosity to form unions between two unlikely components. Perhaps this is what Dutch born artist Iepe Rubingh had in mind with his creation of the hybrid sport known as chessboxing....
COME CATCH THE CAREER FAIR
On March 1 at 11:00 through 1 p.m. the Department of Career Services will host a career fair in the Demuzio Campus Center. The career fair is open to all current students and alumni looking for jobs in the Carlinville area...
PORTAL PROBLEM
As with many education institutions across the globe, Blackburn College provides access to an online student information system. The student portal, known as CAMS Three River Systems, allows for faculty to post important information for courses such as downloadable documents, syllabi or hyperlinks to articles. One important function that the portal system serves is a record keeper of students’ grades. However the portal does not always reflect the most current grades for students. Sometimes students don’t find out how they are performing in a class until after a mid-term or final examination...
ABSTRACT ATHLETICS: BEER PONG
Sports have a long legacy of being a grand show of physical prowess. However, not all sports are the same. Some beckon forth humankind’s other skills beyond physical will. Some sports require the players to chug a beer from a boot shaped glass as quickly as they possibly can without spilling a drop...
TRAPPIST-1: A NEW FRONTIER
Last month, scientists at NASA announced the discovery of four approximately Earth-sized planets orbiting a star 39.5 light-years away. While the discovery of planets beyond Earth’s solar system is not particularly unique, the planets discovered in orbit around the ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1(aka 2MASS J23062928-0502285) may be capable of supporting life...
CONTROLLER EVOLUTION
One item that is integral to the video game experience is the controller, used to manipulate the on-screen events. What is a controller exactly? Controllers are devices that allow for some form of interaction with a video game such as moving the paddles in a game of “Pong” or firing a gun in a match of “Call of Duty.” Controllers range in size, shape and functionality and have evolved drastically since their creation, but many of their main features remain the same...
THE BURNIAN’S FEATURED BEAVER
Through his career playing baseball, Esparza believes his greatest accomplishment to date was winning the state championship on his high school team during his senior year. When he first started playing at the collegiate level Esparza broke his leg and couldn’t play. “It took a good year to get back into the rhythm of being able to run and throw again,” said Esparza. After his recovery he made his way back into practicing day in and day out to make himself better...
TALK NERDY TO ME: STRONGHOLD CRUSADER
Firefly Studios’ 2002 title “Stronghold Crusader” is a real-time strategy (rts) game for the PC that has really stood the test of time. The game is billed as a “castle simulator” which is not too far-fetched. The player takes on the role of a European lord during the Crusades in 1095-1291 A.D. in the Eastern Mediterranean...
TALK NERDY TO ME: TETRIS
In 1984, video game history was made with the creation of Alexey Pajitnov’s classic hit “Tetris.” Although simplistic in its design, the game was highly addictive in its execution. The game has been adapted into numerous versions ever since it was first released from the former USSR and is available for play on nearly every gaming console today. While each version has some unique spin, the basic way to play remains the same...
TRADITIONAL TV ON THE WAY OUT
In the hustle and bustle of the digital age the practicality of live television is diminishing as it is much easier to watch something on your own time. With popular streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix and YouTube the cases of linear TV viewing (watching programs when they air on their networks) are becoming less and less common. With thousands of movies, TV shows and unique content available online for a considerably cheaper price, there is not really much reason for financially struggling young people to pay for traditional TV packages...
THE SHADOW OF ST. NICK
Christmas is usually associated with warmth and cheer in the U.S. but in some regions of the world there are far darker undertones to the holiday. Many of these more frightening Christmas traditions center on the legend of the creature known as Krampus. In many American descriptions of Santa Claus or St. Nicholas, it is said that good children will receive gifts while bad children get lumps of coal. According to several passages in the book “Mountain Magic: Celtic Shamanism in the Austrian Alps,” author Christian Brunner explains how the legends involving Krampus state that St. Nicholas only deals with nice children and leaves the naughty ones for Krampus...
WHAT YOU CAN MAKE WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT
Next to water, food is essential for human life and can be extremely enjoyable when made properly. However, good food preparation is rarely an option in college. Kitchens are scarce and there are very few cooking appliances allowed in the dormitories at Blackburn. But what is permitted – electric grills, slow cookers and griddles – offer up numerous possibilities for culinary exploration...
MADRIGAL DINNER SURE TO SPLIT YOUR SIDES
The time honored tradition of the Madrigal Dinner at Blackburn reaches its 45th year this November. The dinners are a night of music, food and theatrics that feature Blackburn Voices and a group of student actors who put on a show to celebrate the Christmas season...
DEADLY NERF ASSASSIN SQUAD
Going from class to class at Blackburn isn’t normally very stressful, but Habitat for Humanity’s Blackburn chapter makes the task a little more exciting with their Nerf Assassin fundraiser. On Oct. 19, students on campus paid $5 each to become an “assassin” and receive a target to “eliminate” by shooting them with soft foam bullets. The game can be challenging because there is no way of knowing who is hunting whom. Students walk from class to class always looking over their shoulder. They have to watch out for everyone, including their friends, classmates and even their roommates...
TALK NERDY TO ME: WE DIDN’T PLAYTEST THIS AT ALL
Is variety the true spice of life or is it unpredictability? Asmadi Games’ 2007 card game “We Didn’t Playtest This at All” (WDPT) would argue that unpredictability is the answer since it is the main theme of the game. The game has very simple rules, stating that the objective of WDPT is to win. The fun of the game is discovering how one might go about accomplishing that goal...
BARNEY’S BARSTOOL OPEN A SUCCESS
This year’s Blackburn Homecoming included a new addition to the wide range of activities offered to the returning alumni. On Saturday, Oct. 1, from 2-6 p.m., the Alumni Board held Barney’s Barstool Open, a play on the classic bar walk but with the addition of mini-golf holes at each bar. Students and alumni formed teams of four and took to the bars of Carlinville to try their hand at this mini-golf competition. With a total of 45 participants, the bars were packed with alumni eager to drink and putt away the afternoon. The barstool open was formed to help raise funds for the Alumni Board. Each participant paid $25 to play in the competition...
TALK NERDY TO ME: MAD MAX
Conventional video game wisdom suggests that nothing good can come of a movie franchise turned video game. In the case of the 2015 WB Games title, “Mad Max,” conventional wisdom is quite wrong. “Mad Max” the video game came out in September of last year, a mere four months after “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the reboot of the 80s cult classic “Mad Max” series of films. Instead of an interactive retelling of the new film, the “Mad Max” video game is a fully open world experience set in the “Fury Road” universe...
TINA HALL: GREAT EXPECTATIONS, EVEN BETTER RESULTS
It’s no secret that the life of a college student is extremely different from the years spent in high school. However, the expectations about college life can be drastically different from what actually occurs. College is not the party that movies like “Animal House” and “Van Wilder” make it out to be, but it’s also not a daunting monster that some describe it as (at least not completely)...
OFF CAMPUS JOB MAY WORK FOR TUITION CREDIT
The Work Program is supposed to be about expanding horizons and raising the level of work experience for all those who participate. The Work Office is not only trying to give students experiences on campus that emulate the working world outside of Blackburn, but also the opportunity to gain real-world job experience. Furthermore the college hopes to give students tuition credit for these real world experiences, just like any on-campus job...
STOLEN SENSE OF SECURITY
On Friday, Sept. 9, two students were victims of theft on campus. After having a normal morning just like any other, freshmen Maya March and Blake Adkins returned to their room in Butler Hall to find the door wide open. On the inside there was clear evidence that the room had been searched and March found that many of her possessions, including a camera, a laptop and the money from her wallet, had gone missing...
TALK NERDY TO ME: BESIEGE
“Besiege,” the physics-based building game is probably not something of which many people have heard. This is because the title (created by Spiderling Studios), available on the Steam online game store for $9, belongs to the indie subgenre of video games known as “early access games.” Early access games are unique in that they are games generally developed by unheard of companies and sometimes individuals that often never get fully finished. Besiege is one such early access game that is not quite complete. However, the game gets full points for creativity, allowing the player to create a fully functional machine of war out of wood, wheels, cannons, blades and flame-throwers...
NO MORE QUARTERS
Many of the students on campus have noticed the brand new machines in the laundry rooms of every residential hall. But these are not the typical washers and dryers that Blackburn has seen in the past. Gone now are the days of scrounging for change or going to the bank for a roll of quarters because these machines are no longer coin-operated. Instead students can now operate their washers and dryers with just the touch of a button. While this does not necessarily mean that laundry is completely free, there are still some benefits that this new laundry system offers...
TALK NERDY TO ME: DOOM
With the video game market flooded with remakes, reboots and sequels attempting to recapture the magic of a franchise’s past, developers have to work hard to make a truly stand-out title. “Doom” (2016) has broken the standard for dull titles that bring only stale content to the table. The game brings the pulse-pounding 90s shooter classic to the modern era with beautifully rendered 3-D graphics and a heavy rock soundtrack...
GETTING TO KNOW YOU: PROFESSOR OF THEATER CAROLYN CONOVER
Carolyn Conover is the new professor of theater at Blackburn College. Conover grew up on a sheep farm six miles from any paved road. Outside of school, she spent most of her time playing in the nearby woods with her brothers.
When asked what first got her interested in theater Conover replied, “I was born this way.” Conover has been performing ever since the third grade where she “played ‘The Tooth’ in a play about the dentist.” She began to take the craft quite seriously at the age of 13 when she started auditioning and performing at a community college near her home. From that point on she claims she has “not gone a full year since then” without performing. Throughout high school she performed in 8-10 shows a year...