Michigan teen finishes 40-mile walk while carrying brother Hunter Gandee, 14, carried his brother Braden, who has cerebral palsy. For comparison, soldiers in basic training have to complete a march of about 10 miles carrying a 40 pound pack. Good job, Hunter!

Non-Verbal Teen With Autism Says 'No One Can Place Limits' On You In Moving Graduation Speech Dillon Barmache, using a speaking tablet, gives an inspiring commencement address. I’ve included the complete transcript, below, after the TED Talk.

Photographer Captures Mystery Beach Proposal... Uses Facebook To Save The Day A story of Heather Swanner, a photographer who—luckily for the couple’s family—was in the right place at the right time.

Daily TED Talk

8 secrets of success (4min) This may be a repeat, but worth re-watching. Richard St. John summarizes a three hour talk he gives to high school students.

Transcript of Dillan Barmache’s commencement speech

"Hello, my name is Dillan Barmache.

"When I examine each day, it's just incredible how a student, an autistic one, could ever feel a part of a class of future academics. Education is a better institution when all students have opportunity, plus a chance to take an idea and see the lessons within.

“With your mind, no one can place limits on where an idea can take you. Living without a voice creates almost no way to be heard, but there are people who refuse to think in a box. Open your mind in high school. You will learn to think about different ideas, and examine new findings. Always look inside other people’s experience in order to gain another perspective outside of books. Only then are we able to start opening our eyes to the amazing things around us.

“I so believe that there is so much more each one of us can do for other people, causes, and fields of study. I know too that the thought of high school is daunting, and also exciting. We will be challenged to think for ourselves as we live each day out. Part of education is showing what we have learned, so then tests measure our ability to learn, and are necessary. However, another measure of learning often seems based on insight and guidance. Insight is a guide that separates our knowledge into what we are taught and what we are capable of doing.

“Take a chance to experience your education in a meaningful way, and think outside the box, into yourselves. Insight always leads to truths that an individual either chooses to accept or not. Always consider looking to your own insight and seeking another viewpoint. We are the reality of our thinking life and are capable of so much if we just open our minds."

LEGO to Launch Female Scientist Minifigure Collection Love it! “Lego, the Denmark-based toy company, has approved designs for a new collection titled “Research Institute,” an all-female line with characters such as an astronomer, paleontologist and chemist.”

$5 Billion revival leaves Milwaukee River cleaner, more valuable Nice article on the river’s reclamation (though, as a writer I’m dismayed by the dozens of one sentence paragraphs.)

School Janitor Called to Clean Up Mess, Gets Surprise Gift Instead Great little story about students collecting money for the janitor, so he could travel overseas to see his son and grandson.

Daily TED Talk

Forget multitasking, try monotasking (3min) The evidence keeps rolling in that humans “multi-task” badly. Mr Cardini presents humorous examples of why to focus on just one task.

On days like this, when I don’t post articles, it’s tempting to think there was no good news today. In reality, I just didn’t find a news (not blog) article that I liked from the few sites I check. I need to expand my sites!

Daily TED Talk

Got a meeting? Take a walk (4min) Nilofer Merchant presents a simple idea: more walking meetings. Why? “Nowadays people are sitting 9.3 hours a day, which is more than we're sleeping, at 7.7 hours.”