[GreenKeys] QSO's with glass tubes

[Keelan Lightfoot]

I agree that most teenagers are a lost cause, but not all of them, and 
the disease isn't permanent. Every now and then, one slips through the 
cracks of normalcy and wants to pursue things of a more intellectual 
nature.

Gil Smith's recent post of the work of his own daughter is a fine 
example of teenagers with interests that span beyond flat-screens.

The 16 year old son of a friend of mine recently contacted me looking 
for some server hardware to set up a few linux servers on. I managed to 
convince my company to donate a few older, but not too terrible rack 
mount servers to his cause. He was like a kid in a candy store when I 
loaded them into the back of his mom's minivan, and since then he's been 
doing all kinds of neat things with them. I've mentioned it here before 
-- some people have "the curiosity" and some don't. It's the way it is; 
we all don't grow up to be scientists and engineers. What is important 
is to expose kids to the opportunity to actualize their inner curious 
person.

Keep showing disinterested teenagers your teletype machines. Sooner or 
later you're going to find one that is interested. And even if he or she 
doesn't act on it at the moment, you'll set something in motion in their 
semi-rational hormonal grey matter. Give them a few years. There's a lot 
of 20-somethings and 30-somethings that are just starting to realize 
that they're really interested in DIY electronics. That interest had to 
start somewhere.

- Keelan