Driving The Bus

I've seen a lot of conversation on Facebook and elsewhere about this story, so I decided to give Jeremy Wuitschick my Weekly Salute. In case you didn't hear about this, the seventh grader is being praised by local police and many others across the country for his heroic actions after his school bus driver fainted. According to Good Morning America, the bus driver started to "grasp for hair, waving his hands frantically in the air, and losing control of the bus." That's when Wuitschick stepped in. 

He jumped from his seat, took the wheel, and pulled the bus over on the side of the road, saving what a, possibly, horrific scene if nothing had been done. Wuitschick said he was "acting out of instinct" and one of the assistant superintendents of the school district said that students are "trained for emergency situations on the school bus, including how to shut them down."

This only begs the question: should all school districts have this sort of training? I think schools should do something like this because it could really save lives!

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Dial A Star

I love watching The RidicuList on Anderson Cooper's CNN show "AC:360." This week's Oops Award comes straight from one of those segments with this brand new online sensation called Dial A Star! Check it out!

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NMM: Changed

My next enstallment of New Music Monday focuses on a brand new album from my favorite band of all time: Rascal Flatts. The album, called "Changed," has already debuted #1 on numerous charts and is probably my favorite Flatts album of all eight studio albums they have recorded. The band has a nice mix of fun, upbeat songs (like "Banjo" and "Next To You Next To Me") coupled with powerful ballads (like "Changed" and "Come Wake Me Up"). They even go back to classic country roots with "Next To You Next To Me."

I think this album will propel the band to the top of all the charts (like that's anything new) and I also think they'll win many awards for this album. Maybe even a Grammy or two!

Below is a video of their song "Come Wake Me Up."

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Brotherly Bond

I'm a big fan of those "E:60" stories that are on ESPN, so this week's salute goes out to the Long Brothers, Conner and Cayden, and their remarkable determination to bond.

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Mannequin Madness

What would you do if someone dropped a mannequin head? You might think twice after seeing this! Check it out!

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Chris Hughes Lecture

I had the great opportunity to see Chris Hughes in person here at NC State! In case you didn't know, Hughes is most recognized for co-founding Facebook while at Harvard. In addition to that, Hughes worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, integrating social media for the first time, and bought The New Republic, where he became editor-in-chief in March of this year. All of this amounting to a net worth of $600 million, according to Forbes.

Chris talked about many various topics but focused his lecture on investing in media that is considered “old and outdated” today. For example, The New Republic is a very historic publication. However, it is still able to maintain its readership because it can adapt to the digital changes that come along with social media and other technologies. Hughes also encouraged everyone to invest in these “big idea” journals to get away from the daily headlines and news feeds we see. I found it really intriguing how Chris said that these journals are, truly, the basis of our democracy. He went on to say that these journals keep us informed on a broader range of topics than the regular news does.

He also addressed how many believe Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of digital media are taking over traditional forms of media. He cited a recent Pugh survey which concluded that social media outlets are actually complementing traditional media and older forms of journalism instead of taking them over. However, he said that the actual “newspaper” has seen its better days and more and more news websites (such as Politico and Huffington Post) are flourishing. He said that people tend to be turning toward more direct, shorter forms of journalism. I found it interesting that Chris predicted that the era of “Nightly News” will end in the next decade because of this turn toward more direct journalism and not having to wait until the evening to hear someone read off the news.

He talked about the “Social Network” film and said that it had many exaggerations in it and romanticized what he, Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and Dustin Moskovitz actually did at Harvard. Despite what many experts say, Chris said that Facebook is more akin to telecommunications than a form of media. In other words, he said that the conversations we had on a daily basis are the same now on Facebook as they were before it.

During the question and answer session, Chris was asked questions on various topics. One in particular regarded privacy and how should we handle it with the digital boom. Chris said that privacy is not disappearing. Instead, the cost of privacy is increasing structurally. In other words, it’s harder and harder for us to keep things to ourselves. However, Hughes said that we need to be smart when it comes to our privacy and don’t do anything stupid. I took it as we have an individual responsibility to protect our own privacy.

Since he was on the Obama campaign, he was asked his opinion on how the president was doing overall. He had a pretty long response to the question but one thing that stuck out was his use of the term “armchair quarterback.” He said it’s easy for everyone to be an “armchair quarterback” and it does seem to help the administration figure out what it is doing right and wrong. Hughes also talked about how technology has enabled grassroots political efforts. He cited the Romney campaign as one of the best at doing this and also by using “digital targeting” to place ads on videos and other media voters use on a daily basis.

Overall, I found the lecture to be really interesting. I learned a lot from Chris and I will definitely take what he said to heart. Chris was right in that we should invest in these “big idea” publications because they keep us informed on a wide range of topics and allow us to cultivate our sense of curiosity and investigation as American citizens.

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New Music Monday: Clear The Stage

Since I'm a big music fan, I've decided to start a series where I profile some new music (hence the name). Some of the songs will be top new hits and some others lesser known. I plan on profiling various songs from all different genres so stay tuned!

Kicking off this new series is a song called "If I Ever Needed Grace" by Jimmy Needham. The song really speaks to different situations going on in a person's life and how they need God's grace to get through them. The song is from Jimmy's new album, "Clear The Stage," which was released last week.

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