One Laptop Per Child

About five years ago I first heard of One Laptop Per Child while reading an article in Popular Science. I saw a product that was meeting third world students at an impressive place. OLPC was building cheap durable computers to be used by students in developing countries. They could be powered by a hand crank or a small solar panel. This is one step towards equipping students to learn material that can only be reached by a personal computer.

During my Highschool days OLPC was running a program called Give One Get One. A tax deductible contribution of $400 sponsored one computer to be sent to a school in a developing country and one computer would be sent to you. At the time I really wanted a personal computer so I did a lot of research to convince my parents with the fact that it would be contributing technology to a place of need and at the same time I could get my own computer.

In the end it made little to no sense for me to buy a computer created for elementary school children with many of the features focused for young children.

If you would like more information about this non-profit that is placing technology in the hands of school children all around the world. I can not wait to see how this influence of technology will change the communities that are impacted. If you would like to donate a machine simply go to http://one.laptop.org/.

OLPC in 2010 announced the development of the XO-3 concept for a durable tablet computer that could be produced for under $100. This advancement requires some serious reductions in the cost of screens, processors, and other basic computing components. Therefore after missed deadlines and failed product releases OLPC's director Nicholas Negroponte announced that a tablet was being developed for the developed world that would be used to refine the design before it was produced for developing countries. This is an exciting development because I would be interested in purchasing a durable, reasonably priced tablet for my mobile computing.

Below you can see some videos from the OLPC website.

All is Great in the Lord

Paul Shackelford

http://one.laptop.org/action/spread

Alleluia - Jesus Culture with Martin Smith

Once again worship last night was Glorious! Had a great day just chilling with my SDP folks from last summer, went up the river and just talked about the past season of life and where the Lord is leading us into. Exciting and scary stuff but it was great to be back with some awesome people who speak some potent truth. Last night during worship was one of many firsts... For the first time in a long time I actually stood while I sang, for the first time in a long time I was singing from a place of Joy, for the first time in a long time I did not care how I worshiped my Lord I just worshiped. Well its not like these things have not happened ever in my life, but I just felt so much peace during worship. So I decided to throw the song that we just repeated for a long while up here, mainly cause I did not know the name so I was looking it up and now I am pumped, gotta buy this album! All the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God ...

Rise Again - Needtobreathe

I have been reading a book about the arts and Christians role in creating culture. Steve Turner, the author, asserts a major critique that modern Christian art does not speak about real life. The art created does not sound genuine or have any ties to real life that people outside the faith can connect with. While reading the book I listened through this album and I think that this song does a great job of breaking the mold. The members of Needtobreathe are all outspoken followers of Jesus but very little of the art that they produce mentions Jesus or Christianity at all. Instead they craft creative music, written from places of pain and joy. "Rise Again" steps through pain that occurs in life as we see relationships stretched and torn. The bitterness of broken hearts and friendships is then contrasted with the truth that we will get up from this pain and rise again. "I can see us moving on, I can feel that coming on strong", the j...

Stones Under Rushing Water - Needtobreathe

Last weekend was the Big-Little retreat, where all of the associates and their Big Brothers bond over a weekend together. I went this semester because I love camping and I am on the committee that planned the event. On Friday night us brothers when for a hike down in Cloudland Canyon. It was intensely dark but still an amazing sight of nature while its masked by night. We found a waterfall that turned out to be great for an early morning worship time on Saturday. We had some great conversation as we walked talking about life. I loved being away from Tech for just two days and being at a place where the stresses of school could not effect me in the slightest. Once people started to head back to the cabin Borsch and I just stayed behind for some time in thought and prayer. It was utterly amazing, just looking out into the canyon when I could not see a thing. Yesterday I was thinking about this and I am not sure if t...

Letters from Lilongwe

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