Google
 
Web www.scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com

The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family. I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become. Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

Saturday, October 25, 2008

On living a life of significance.

I always listen to the words of "great men" and "great women", for what they say of the life they have led. Now, whether or not Vidal Sassoon could be considered "great", he is certainly successful and I remember what he once said of his life. He expressed regret into having gone into "hair" and wished he had done something else with his life.

I remembered his words, today, and they reminded me of how important it is to check whether the goals one sets for oneself are actually worthy of achievement, in the first place. Vidal Sassoon didn't think much, in the end, of his life work. He rather rued that he had chosen something as trivial as hair to build a life around. I have seen this kind of thinking in many successful people. They mature as they get older and realize that the goals they set themselves when younger were not really worth achieving: life is so much deeper than the choices they made.

So, if a life is to be lived well and worthily, the first thing to consider is what, ultimately, would make a meaningful life? Is the glittering path laid out for one by the society around, actually worth treading on? So many people lead lives that are externally successful - by which I mean that other people adjudge them successful (usually in material terms) - but do those lives actually have meaning? I would suggest that that question should be answered, first, before embarking on such a life. Otherwise, at the end of a long, successful career, one could end up like Vidal Sassoon, looking back on his life and thinking of how pointless it was and how he would rather have done something else.

A significant life has a different meaning for different people: for some it means to be socially connected, for others it means to be rich, for others still it means to be famous - for many it means to help others, for a few it means to create lasting works in either science or the arts. Whatever it is that is significant to you, and you alone, should be what life is built around. One should never live a life that is significant only to others (meaning that fulfils the common values of the society in which one lives) since, too often, those external values are not in alignment with one's core inner values. The values of modern societies often seem a little too shallow, a little too materialistic, to constitute a purposeful and meaningful life, for deeper people - or people who mature into deeper people as they get older (like Mr. Sassoon).

Only you know what is of value to you. I wish you luck in living a life that fulfils those values - irrespective of what society actually thinks of your goals. It only matters what you think of your goals.

Be significant!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 3:18 PM  2 comments

Friday, October 24, 2008

Prisoners' Rights to Vote in the United States.

I recently discovered two things about prisoners in the United States: the first is that, in most states, prisoners are not allowed to vote; the other thing is that in two states, Vermont and Maine, they are.

Now, this situation gave me pause to reflect. Firstly, I noted that the fact that the law is different from one place to another, inside the USA, is different to many countries, in which the law is uniform. Secondly, I found myself agreeing with one side and disagreeing with the other.

What effect does it have if a society has a large number of prisoners (as the USA does) and they ARE allowed to vote? What sort of people are more likely to get elected? I contend that representatives who are SOFT on crime are more likely to be elected. Over time, society's stand against crime would be eroded in any society that allowed prisoners to vote. If you want to have a low crime society that is low crime partly because it is hard on criminals, you cannot and should not allow prisoners to vote. To do so, is to gradually allow the nation to drift away from a position hard on crime. In short, to allow criminals to vote is to ensure that there is more crime on the streets of your nation. Voting criminals would lead, eventually, to shorter sentences, reductions in punishments, the abolition of the death penalty and so many other of society's stands against crime, would vanish.

It doesn't make sense to give criminals a say, however indirect, in how they are punished for their crimes. Hence, I think it is a foolish society that allows criminals a vote - it is a society that is guaranteeing the expansion of "criminals' rights" and an upsurge, ultimately, in crime, that no-one could ever want, apart from the criminals, themselves.

Maine and Vermont disagree with me. In those two states, US prisoners enjoy normal voting rights in the upcoming Presidential election. It stands to reason that they are, as a unit, more likely to vote for the President whom they perceive is softer on crime, or more likely to behave in some way to make their lives better. I cannot think that this is a good influence on the election in the US.

Now, does it really matter? Well, it does, for the numbers of people involved are huge. One in forty Americans is presently barred from voting owing to a felony conviction - that's right 2.5% of the US public cannot vote, because of a criminal past. That also means 2.5% of Maine and Vermont voters who CAN vote despite a criminal past, will influence the electoral results there.

Ten of the states in the US have a permanent ban on the voting of ex-offenders, who committed a felony, a further fifteen states have a ban that extends beyond the end of the prison sentence, for a certain time (for instance, five years in Delaware). Only two states allow voting by prisoners.

There are many who protest that the civil rights of prisoners are being denied by this. Yet, I ask you were not the civil rights of their victims being denied when they mugged, murdered, raped them? Surely, such a basic denial of rights to other humans should be punished by a denial of the right to vote (since it influences how they will be punished)?

The term for this denial of the rights of prisoners to vote is called Felony Disenfranchisement. Contrary to those who argue against it, I think it is a wise move to prevent undue influence of criminals, as a voting block, on matters that might affect how they are treated by the system. So, I find myself in the unusual position of supporting a denial of rights - but I think that is the only reasonable thing to do, given the peculiar nature of the situation. Would you give a criminal under trial a vote on his own jury? No-one would...but giving a prisoner the vote is equivalent to doing so - because it gives them an indirect say in the nature of punishment that will be enacted in law, for the crimes they might consider committing in future, should they be released. Society is not made safer, thereby, by giving criminals the right to vote - it is giving them an indirect power over their own fate that cannot, by any sensible society, be given to them.

So, well done to those US states that disenfranchise their felons...and shame on Vermont and Maine for not thinking on a longer term basis about the influence of criminals on their legal system.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 6:06 PM  8 comments

Thursday, October 23, 2008

One voice to overrule them all.

I remember a line from the Lord of the Rings: "One Ring to rule them all.". Sometimes, life is just like that.

For twenty, long years on my estate, hundreds of children have celebrated Halloween every year on October 31st. They have dressed up in scary costumes, as witches and vampires, ghouls and nightmarish visions of monsters unknown; they have traipsed from house to house, saying "trick or treat" and been rewarded with sweets. The householders, too, have played their part, decorating their homes in suitably gothic ways, with cobwebs and unsettling light and an imaginative variety of frightening accompaniments. Yet, this year, all of this looks set not to be.

Why, you might wonder, after twenty years, would such a wonderful tradition be set aside? Well, it is not by choice. On our estate one person has complained that the annual event is "too noisy" - and so the management office has stated that, this year, they will not be organizing a Halloween celebration.

I found myself shocked at this, for many reasons. Firstly, the kids are NOT very noisy: they simply talk among themselves and walk from house to house. They make no more noise than they usually make. They are not really noticeable. Secondly, every year hundreds of children participate - or at least it seems like hundreds. It is something that occurs estate wide: everyone gets involved. So, if the democratic principle were followed one might get 1,000 votes for Halloween and ONE vote against. Why, is one voice allowed to overrule everyone else? Whatever happened to the basic idea of democracy? It seems that the estate management are unaware of democracy.

Now, I do not know who has complained. Are they someone "important"? Is that the reason why they have been heeded and a thousand voices have been ignored? I find it all rather nauseating. The Halloween celebration has been traditional on our estate since it was built and so I see no reason to permit a single dissenting voice to put a stop to it. If this person doesn't like to see children celebrating - then perhaps they should go out for the evening (or don't they have any friends or relatives to go to? I wouldn't be surprised if that were so, given this attitude.)

Singapore surprises me, sometimes. The voice of the majority doesn't seem to be important, in many contexts. What the people want is not considered. What is important is what a few individuals want - in some cases, like this one, nameless, faceless, individuals.

Our children have enjoyed Halloween every year. This year they may not get to do so - and all because of one anonymous naysayer, without any joy in their hearts. I am reminded of Scrooge, for surely this person's personality cannot be too different. A whole estate load of children are being asked not to celebrate, so that one person can be undisturbed by the sound of happy kids.

I can see why some people laugh at the idea that Singapore is "family friendly": clearly, it is far from being so.

Think of it another way. Would anyone listen if one lone child complained about an annual gathering of adults on their estate? Would the event be cancelled because a child said that the adults talked too much? That shows how ridiculous it is that the event should be cancelled because one adult complained about the children.

We are not going to let this anonymous spoilsport ruin our celebration - we will find our own way to mark the day for our children. However, it does rankle that the management would actually elevate one voice above a thousand. There is something wrong about that. I wonder who it is?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 5:20 PM  2 comments

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The aspirations of a Russian student.

Recently, I read a declaration by a Russian student over what she wanted most from life. She is studying English in Singapore but her remarks made me wonder whether studies were her true desire.

She wrote that she most wanted her parents to be healthy and to do well in her studies. That, I thought was reasonable enough, and expected. Then she wrote that she wanted to meet a rich Singaporean guy, marry him and spend her life, "shopping everyday for branded stuff". She topped this off with "I want to be a famous model."

The girl in question has a very high self-image, which has comic effects on her movement - she sashays around as if everyone has nothing better to do than to look at her. The funny thing is, they usually do look at her - but only to wonder why she is moving in such a strange way. The looks are not, I feel, in admiration of her appearance.

I have seen other things written by this girl. Her most frequently expressed desires are to "have lots of plastic surgery" and "to buy branded stuff". She lives entirely for image and seems to think that life actually consists of image - that that is the meaning of life, itself.

Considering her, I wonder how many other young foreign women, studying here, in Singapore, are actually here, not for their studies - but for the chance of capturing a "rich Singaporean guy" and occupying the rest of their days spending his hard-earned money on "branded stuff". In a way, I feel sorry for anyone who gets caught up with a girl like this. She is too shallow to give deep meaning to anyone's life - and will very quickly impoverish anyone she encounters.

There is a recent trend towards Singaporeans marrying overseas women and men. This is fine and should bring many interesting people into the world, of diverse background (assuming that they have children). However, I am a little concerned over the quality of the women concerned (and perhaps men, too...I haven't any information concerning them). Are many of them like this young woman with her fantasies of an earthly branded goods heaven? If so, then I fear for the future of Singapore - for surely the children of such a one can only promise more shallowness? Surely, she can only bring more empty-headed people into this world?

There needs to be an assurance of a certain level of sophistication in the migrants to Singapore, if Singapore is to maintain and enhance whatever sophistication it possesses, in the long-term. On the other hand, if the intention is to create a consumerist society with no deeper purpose than to shop (which seems to describe a lot of people in Singapore, actually) then this Russian acquaintance of mine is perfectly suited to the society in which she finds herself. Perhaps she will find a husband here who is delighted that she is so interested in Gucci, Cartier, and Bulgari (her top three brands according to her).

Perhaps it is all part of some cunning plan to boost the local economy: import hundreds of thousands of consumerist airheads to flood the local shops and buoy up the economy with their excessive purchases (or excessive demands on their boyfriends' pockets). Perhaps we should start shipping young Russian girls in by the cruiseliner load. It could do wonders for the local economy and its brand name stores.

Then again, such women could lead to a lot of unhappiness for local men, caught up in their consumerist whirl.

You have been warned.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 8:01 PM  7 comments

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

F1 racing cars from the perspective of a child.

Recently, Fintan, five and Tiarnan, two, went to a museum in Singapore that had some F1 racing cars on show.

They circulated, eyeing each car with great attention, very impressed with the glistening engineering on show. They were very excited to see these fast machines up close.

Then they came to a Singaporean made "F1" racing car. It had been constructed by NUS (the National University of Singapore). This one made the two brothers pause and stare at it in silence. There was something not quite right with this one.

Finally, Fintan spoke, addressing his silent mother: "Why did they make this broken car?"

He had seen its homemade nature and found it wanting. It was funny. For the car was mounted in a museum, on proud display - but all Fintan could see was its lack of finish and haphazard construction. The moment reminded me that often young children see the world more truly, for they see what is actually there - and not what they have been conditioned to believe is there. An adult looking at the same car, might just see that it is a racing car. A child looks at it and sees technological lack of finish, and shabbiness of construction. They don't see what it is supposed to be. They see what it is.

I like seeing the world through my children's eyes. It allows me to shrug off the veil of all my years, and see what adults long ago forget how to see: an uninterpreted world of the senses.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

e are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 6:57 PM  9 comments

Monday, October 20, 2008

The imagination of a child.

Tiarnan, two, is an imaginative child, even as children go, I think.

The other day he reported, in all seriousness, something to his mother: "I saw two cockroaches...five cockroaches. They were brushing their teeth (he paused to let the image sink in), washing their hands (he paused to let the image sink in), having a bubble bath."

Syahidah, a little surprised at this story, checked each fact with him, "You saw cockroaches brushing their teeth?"

"Yes." he said with a certain nod.

"You saw cockroaches washing their hands?"

"Yes." he said with a certain nod.

"You saw cockroaches having a bubble bath."

"Yes. Just now." he said with a certain nod.

Wow. What a wonderful world young children live in - where even the cockroaches maintain the highest standards of hygiene.

I think all of our children display varying degrees of wackiness in their imaginations. It may be that Tiarnan turns out to be the wackiest of all (though he has stiff competition from Fintan, I think).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 8:29 PM  1 comments

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The world escapes from economic reality.

It seems that, around the world, adults are escaping from economic reality. Everywhere, in houses and apartments in developed cities around the world, fully grown adults are escaping reality into alternate worlds. They are fleeing the economic troubles all around them. What are they doing? They are playing video games.

Sales in the video games industry are up 43% on last year - which is really a lot of growth for any industry to undergo in one year - especially in a year of economic decline. Instead of cutting back on such "luxury" and seemingly unnecessary items as video games, adults around the world are making sure they splash out on these highly distracting items. Now, video games are not cheap, particularly console games - but they do offer something other forms of distraction do not offer: many, many hours of complete absorption. Quite simply, it is impossible to think of the global economic meltdown when you are playing an intense computer video game.

In the days of the Great Depression, it was a trip to the movies that provided distraction and consolation from the universal troubles all faced; now it is the video game.

I find it interesting that people are fleeing their situations in this way. It shows, in some respect, that they are choosing not to face up to the problems, but are, instead, turning their minds away from them and hoping that they will go away in the midst of their video game playing.

Now, I can understand the common desire to find sanctuary from the problems that people face - but, while it might be psychologically beneficial to do so - in terms of lessened stress etc. - it may actually be counter-productive. For if people are hiding from their troubles, then they are not actively seeking ways to deal with them. This could lead, in turn, to a heightening of the very troubles they face.

Perhaps, people are not so very different from ostriches, with their head in the sand ways. It is just that any sand that people see nowadays, will be digitized, in computerized dunes, in never ending games.

Then again, it must be good to be a computer games manufacturer. Just think of their business model: in good times, sales will, by definition be good - but in bad times, they will be BETTER. Wow...they have really got something.

The funny thing is, though, I haven't played a single computer game since the crisis began. My reaction is not, though, it seems, typical: I am outnumbered by legions of dedicated reality escapists, around the world, playing away in darkened rooms, while the economy burns.

I bet the games industry is just about the only industry hoping that the recession will be a long one.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Labels: , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
posted by Valentine Cawley @ 10:31 PM  0 comments

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape