rebelling against low expectations
(CNN) — The submarine’s body may be constructed from drainage pipes and the hatch from a recycled skylight, but according to its 18-year-old inventor, this single-person U-boat can plunge to a depth of 30 feet and has already completed three successful dives. The Nautilus took high school inventor Justin Beckerman just six months and $2,000 to put together — all while keeping on...
There’s an idea going around that technologies like Facebook are morally neutral. The problems we see in them arise from how people choose to use them. In the words of William Gibson: “[T]echnologies are morally neutral until we apply them. It’s only when we use them for good or for evil that they become good or evil.” I am familiar with this argument because I’ve...
As digital technology becomes more embedded in our culture, the need to discuss how it is shaping our lives increases. That is why this lecture, delivered Dr. Felicia Song on the campus of Cornell University, is so important. Dr. Song is a sociologist, a Yale graduate, and a Christian. In this 30-minute lecture, she focuses on how Facebook and other technologies impact friendship and community...
Wisconsin Rapids • May 12, 2013 • Deb Cleworth (Photo: Casey Lake) A small group of teenagers from central Wisconsin sat around Saturday talking about their siblings. Some had never met before, but they already had a common thread: Siblings with disabilities. The teens were part of the Teen Sib Shop, a workshop geared to share the good and sometimes frustrations teens who have a sibling with a...
Imagine you are blind person who loves baseball. Too bad, huh? You can’t even watch a baseball game, let alone enjoy playing the sport yourself. Might as well give up on baseball. Right? Meet the Long Island Bombers — a dedicated group of baseball enthusiasts and athletes who just happen to be blind and visually impaired. The Bombers play beep baseball, a modified version of traditional...
Teens United Live was created when two 14-year-old students from Crossroads School in Santa Monica heard that the funding for a local school’s music program had been cut. Bella Porter and Sol Was felt they could use their own musical talents to raise money for their peers. They gathered their musical friends and curated a benefit called Teens United Live. The benefit was held at The Roxy...
One random act of kindness doesn’t make that big a difference — or does it? This creative video shows how one small decision can have big repercussions. Like a small stone sending ripples across the entire pond, our actions have consequences we never see. Though we have no reason to assume the producers of the video are Christians, their “advertisement” for kindness has pretty...
AOL Jobs • May 14, 2013 • Claire Gordon You might think that kids today are entitled and self-absorbed, too busy watering their virtual tomatoes and tweeting their breakfast to know the meaning of hard work. But every now and again a story comes out that seems to bust this myth. The latest comes from Arizona, where a police officer pulled over a teenager who was walking down the street late at...
Associated Press • May 13, 2013 • Morgan True Nashua, N.H. — Nashua teenager Jennie Lamere recently took home the top prize at a Boston computer programming competition, beating out competitors in the almost entirely male field, which included professionals from companies like ESPN and Klout. Many who bemoan the gender disparity in the tech industry see a great deal of promise in Lemere’s...
PolicyMic • May 9, 2013 • T. Chase Meacham (Photo Credit: YouTube) A new video released last month by the Christian youth group “Reach America” calls for teens to join a “Christ-centered counter-culture,” or “C4.” They claim their traditional opinions on abortion and gay rights have put them at odds in an increasingly secular and accepting society, resulting in anti-Christian bullying in schools...
rebelling against low expectations
