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DFR (Daily French Roast)

Do you know the website GOOD.is? It’s a great digital find. Two articles caught our attention yesterday.

The costs of education in America are skyrocketing. Few of us could ever dream of having a Stanford education four decades ago. Today — forget it! With a dwindling middle class in America, even the most self-sacrificing parents can’t manage the financial struggle to educate a child a Stanford.

BUT YOU CAN ATTEND STANFORD CLASSES ONLINE!

Inspired by the success of 160,000 people from around the world signing up for Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, taught by renowned Stanford professors Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun, and 35,000 completing all the assignments and exams, next semester students will be able to take Technology Entrepreneurship—a class on how to launch a successful startup, and The Lean Launchpad, which will teach how to turn “a great idea into a great company.”

If the school keeps expanding its offerings, an entire Stanford education could soon be available for free online.

More DFR

Believe it or not, these cuff links made from AK-47s don’t belong to an African war lord. Peter Thum, the entrepreneur behind Ethos Water — now owned by Starbucks —and partner John Zapolski are working to take AK-47s out of the hands of teenagers in Nairobi and elsewhere.

Their new foundation Fonderie 47 buys AK-47s in conflict zones, then works with master cratsmen like Roland Itan to turn them into high-end jewelry. A set of cufflinks — $35,000 — destroys 100 assault rifles in Africa.  Earrings destroy 500 rifles. Read on at GOOD.

Creative Destruction: Peter Thum’s Fonderie 47