Selamat Hari Raya

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Happy Eid to all who are celebrating this Muslim festival today, in Singapore, and around the world.

Malaysia's First Astronaut in Space

A 35-year-old Muslim doctor, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, is aboard the International Space Station for an 11 day visit. He is not only the first Malaysian in space, but the first Muslim to celebrate Ramadan in orbit.

It feels strange to write those words above, because I am living in Singapore. Of the two nations, Malaysia and Singapore, the latter has always prided itself on being the more advanced, the more modern, the more "together" of the two - yet it is a Malaysian who is in space, today, not a Singaporean. This is one first that Singapore will never, now, be able to claim. Perhaps, one day, there will be a Singaporean in space. It would be good to see. Who knows, maybe Singapore will have its own space authority, one day. However, today is Malaysia's triumph - and the Malays'.

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who is an ortopaedic surgeon and University lecturer, took off from Baikonur space station, in Kazakstan with two other astronauts, US Commander Peggy Whitson and Russian Yuri Malenchenko, both space veterans. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was selected from an amazing 11,000 candidates, in a deal with Russia over a $1billion purchase of jets. The canny Malays bargained their way into space as part of the purchase deal. That bit of political manouevering has won them a place in Space history, as far as South-East Asia and the Muslim world are concerned.

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's colleagues will be staying in space for a full six month stint. His words prior to lift off echoed Irish American astronaut Neil Armstrong's when he said: "It is a small step for me, but a giant leap for Malaysia". He promised to share his experience with all Malaysians - and Muslims - on his return.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The origins of the Irish people

My post on “Irish roots go deep into History” attracted one very intense response from a man who argued against it. I am not going to post his remark, because it is so misleading. He had the temerity to tell me which paper I had supposedly taken the data from – a completely different paper, by different authors, that completely omitted the evidence that the authors of the paper I had referred to, had uncovered. He seemed to think I was either misreading what I had supposedly read, or misrepresenting it: not so, to both.

The paper I referenced in my article is called: Y-Chromosome Variation and Irish Origins, published in Nature, by Dr. Emmeline W. Hill, Dr. Mark A. Jobling and Dr. Daniel G. Bradley. The work was done at Trinity College, Dublin, in Ireland, by the Department of Genetics, there.

The commenter stated that the Irish were of Medieval origins. This is, in fact, an old misconception that was formed without knowledge of the Haplogroup 1 distributions and what they imply. His view cannot explain why there is a gradient of Haplogroup 1 across Europe. It cannot explain why this most ancient of DNA is so dominant in Western Ireland. The only conclusion is that the Irish are descended of the pre-Neolithic hunters who lived in Europe before the farmers came from the South-East. Were this not so, there would be no way to explain why Irish people bear the pre-Neolithic DNA, Haplogroup 1, in such a high proportion (up to 98.3 % of them in Western Ireland).

So, my post, "Irish roots go deep into history." stands uncorrected. Every statement made in it is justified by the study of Dr. Emmeline Hill and colleagues, above.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Gerhard Ertl, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2007

Given the subject of Ainan’s central interest, it seems appropriate that I should mention Gerhard Ertl, Emeritus Professor at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, in Berlin. He has just been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his ground-breaking research into surface chemistry.

Now, like many areas of basic research, there are often many applications that go beyond the obvious. Ertl’s extremely precise work, under conditions of vacuum, has revealed the inner workings of many chemical mysteries. Ertl has provided an answer as to why iron rusts, the destruction of the ozone layer, how fuel cells work, the operation of catalytic converters (through the oxidation of carbon monoxide on a platinum catalyst) and other catalysts such as the iron used in the Haber-Bosch process for fixing of nitrogen fertilizers. His work began in the 1960s and has had an extensive influence over all areas of surface chemistry.

This is the first time I have heard of Gerhard Ertl – a name known, I suppose, beforehand only to his colleagues in Chemistry. It is this way with many Nobelists. Their work is of great importance to mankind – but they labour in the relative obscurity of their respective niches. It is only when they win a major prize, such as the Nobel, that we become aware of them. I am not sure that that is the best situation. I, for one, would like to know of the names and personalities of those who shape our world – and not have to rely on the decision-making powers of a body in Sweden to bring them to my attention. I would rather have known of Ertl beforehand – and all the other great scientific thinkers at work, today, whose names may never be known, by the public, unless they are recognized by a Nobel Award.

Congratulations to Gerhard Ertl. Unusually, in these times of scientific co-operation, in which group work is common, Ertl does not share the prize with any other scientist.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, too: the prize was announced on his 71st birthday.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

"Hogwarts Castle" J K Rowling Sues

I marvel at the cheek of J K Rowling creator of the unremittingly imitative Harry Potter. J K Rowling is suing an Indian community group over their erection of a "Hogwarts Castle" - in reality a wooden structure bearing only a remote resemblance to the filmed object, as seen in the many Harry Potter films.

Her objection is that the Indian group, FD Block Puja Committee of Salt Lake, India, have breached her copyright over the Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, by building a structure and referring to it as "Hogwarts Castle".

The wooden structure, known as a pandal, is one of over 10,000 pandals constructed in the Kolkata area to mark the festival of the Goddess Durga and her slaying of a demon - thus representing the triumph of good over evil.

What struck me as quite curious was how different their presentation of Hogwarts is to be. Dominating the set will be a statue of the 10-armed goddess attacking a demon as it emerges from a buffalo. That doesn't seem too much like Harry Potter to me. However, there will also be life-sized images of Harry Potter and his companions.

The festival is the biggest in East India and communities there pride themselves on the pandals that they create. The organizers of this one chose the theme, thinking it would draw the crowds in. Santanu Biswas, secretary of the community group, said, "We had no clue we had to seek permission from the author."

Now, I can understand their point of view. They are from India, and such matters are probably not well known. So, the idea of the extent of copyright was not likely to be known to them. Yet, there is something about all of this that bothers me. Anyone reading any book by J K Rowling can only be struck by their derivative nature - she owes so much of her contents and "ideas" to other authors that there is very little, if anything, in the books that she can truly call her own. To exercise copyright so virulently over such a collection of derivations (to which there are internet sites devoted to all over the net), is really rather cheeky. J K Rowling cannot claim to be free of imitation. In fact, she would be hard pressed to claim origination without stretching the truth, rather.

I remember reading a much more erudite tale of a Wizard school when I was a boy - long before J K Rowling became a single mother and cafe haunting writer - The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K Le Guin. If you look around, you will see that everything J K Rowling says in her books, has a precedent elsewhere.

So, my feelings on the Indian situation are mixed. Yes, copyright should always be upheld. But no, not if the author in question owes so much to others - the question then becomes: whose copyright should be upheld? J K Rowling's...or the the legion of authors that she owes multiple huge debts to?

Incidentally, Warner Brothers and J K Rowling are suing for 2 million rupees - about $55,000 USD. That is a lot of money to the organizers. If they can't get agreement to go ahead - they will have to dismantle their work.

The unseen factor in all of this is that the Indians are, basically, engaged in a big Harry Potter promotion. Perhaps, in that light, J K Rowling should be paying them, not suing them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize for Literature

Doris Lessing, the well-travelled British writer, has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The really surprising thing about this is that she is still alive. Doris Lessing was elderly when I was a teenager. She is eleven days short of her eighty-eighth birthday.

Now, you may wonder why I mention this. Well, there is, as usual, a good reason. The Nobel Prizes were originally intended to be awarded early in the life of the recipients, to free them from the burden of commerce, and allow them to focus on creative work. 88 years old is not young. It is not what the prize was originally intended to be for. Now, this is not Doris Lessing's fault - it is the way the prizes are deliberated over that delays the awards for decades, in many cases. It takes a long time to come to a consensus - and this is where the problem arises.

Nobel stipulated, in his will, that the prizes were to be awarded in "the year subsequent to the work". They really were meant to be awarded swiftly.

The most frequently mentioned work of Lessing in connection with the prize has been The Golden Notebook, a feminist classic from 1962. That is a long time to wait to be recognized.

Don't misunderstand me: I wish Doris Lessing well - and her lifetime work has now been recognized by the highest of prizes - it is just that such recognition should have happened a long time ago, if at all, were Nobel's intentions respected.

Well done Doris Lessing.

The Nobel Prizes are to be awarded on December 10th, by King Carl XVI Gustaf, in Stockholm, Sweden. They are valued at $1.5 million USD.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The best party in the world

Fintan, four, is rather fond of drawing and painting. His compositions tend to the well-designed and/or story telling. There is always something in particular going on.

About a month ago, he showed us one painting that was heavy on the dark green and other dark colours - and had been done on dark paper. Off to one side was a large cat.

"It is called Leopard at a Party", said Fintan, to his mummy, Syahidah.

Syahidah looked at it for a moment, drinking in its anatomically correct cat, its well-observed trees and other animal guests and pointed out something she had noticed:

"Fintan, the Leopard hasn't got any eyes."

Fintan looked at his mummy, then, as if she had overlooked something pretty obvious:

"Mummy, it doesn't need eyes: it is dark!"

What a wonderful - and logical - perspective he has on things.

Sadly, that evening, when I came home, I found Fintan on the floor with a pair of scissors. He had cut up his wonderful painting. Perhaps, I thought, he had taken Syahidah's remark as a criticism.

I asked him why he had cut it up. He pointed at a part of it and said: "I wanted to take that bit out." I had an awful feeling that it was the Leopard he was referring to.

It wasn't entirely clear which bit, though - but perhaps, he had become dissatisfied with his own work, once the omission had been pointed out. It was a pity because it was a well-observed painting that got everything just right - apart from the eyes of one who did not need to see.

It seems that Fintan is both creative - and sensitive. Though, of course, I cannot be sure why he decided to cut up the painting. Perhaps he had another creative intent behind it. I, for one, however, would have liked to have kept "Leopard at a Party".

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The importance of creativity

Yesterday, an old friend asked me: "Are you still writing that blog?" His intonation seemed to say: "Why bother?"

"Yes." I answered, simply, ignoring the message of his tone.

"I don't see where you can go with that.", he replied.

That hurt. I had spent a year writing this blog, day by day, for the purpose of expressing my thoughts on matters of what, to me, are some importance - but that isn't necessarily clear to others. For him, there was no purpose to writing, perhaps because it didn't produce any observable financial return. Yet, there are more reasons for doing something, than money alone.

Without creativity, a life is not fully lived. Each of us has an individuality that will never come again into this world. I believe that a person has somehow failed if they don't express their own essential nature, in whatever way best suits them. For me, one of those of ways is writing. If my friend had actually taken the trouble to read my blog, he would seen that I have poured much thought and feeling into these 550 pages or so. I feel that there is much of value, there, for anyone who takes the time to read it.

I hope that some of you agree.

As for his remark: such words tend to silence creativity - they tend to make a writer fall silent. It has, therefore, been a struggle today to write this entry. I hope to resume my former momentum tomorrow.

Best wishes all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Does anyone think anymore?

We live in a time when more people have more access to more information than ever before...but does that mean more people are reading and thinking?

I have evidence that suggests otherwise. All I need to do is look at the searches that people have made to arrive on my site. One particular search was surprising the first time I saw it some weeks ago - but what really surprised me is the fourth time I saw it. This is a search that several people, in different parts of the world have made...people who all share something in common: a lack of the ability to think for themselves.

Each of these searchers used a variation on: "A sentence with child prodigy in it." I found that unnerving in its implication for the searcher's level of creative ability. Clearly, they were unable to write a sentence, for themselves, that used those two words meaningfully - and so searched the net for such a usage, which they could then copy.

It is likely that they are students, or other people, who have been assigned a writing task regarding child prodigy - but who are unable even to construct a single sentence that uses the terms.

It is all rather worrying. Are people forgetting how to think for themselves?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Computer software and the child

Do children need computer training? Today, I was struck by the absence of any such need, if my children are anything to go by.

Ainan, 7, sat at the keyboard, using a drawing program for architectural use. I was struck by the fluency of his movements, as he selected functions, drew, selected further functions and modified the result and so on. It seemed just so natural to him. There was no hesitation, no picking at wrong keys or functions - just a fluid expression of the thought he had and the result he wanted.

"How do you know how to use this program, Ainan?"

He kind of shrugged. "Just..." and trailed off, not communicating the mystery, perhaps mystified himself at the ease with which he was able to use the computer software.

I remember my own childhood with regards to computers: there weren't any - at least not until I was much older. "Space Invaders" - the first real computer game craze (apart from those simple tennis games) came along when I was eleven years old. So, seeing Ainan so at home with computers - as if they were a natural extension of his thinking, made me feel somewhat surprised. No child of my time had been as Ainan is with regards to computers.

Truly, the children of today are not as we were: their skills differ, their minds differ - and the world they will give rise to, as adults will differ too. Looking around, further afield than my own family, I can't help but wonder if their world will be a lesser world, not a greater one in some ways. For along with their gains in certain areas - such as the use of technology - there seem to be losses in other areas.

Perhaps I am just getting old to feel so!

But for Ainan and my other children, at least, computer technology looks to be little challenge at all to use.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)