Rare White Bengal Tigers should be left alone.

A couple of days ago, a Zoo cleaner working at the Singapore Zoo, Mr. Nordin bin Mondong, 32, decided he had had enough of life and climbed into the Bengal White Tiger enclosure where he was promptly attacked by them, and killed.

Now, some people have been asking why the tigers weren't shot, to save the man. Well, firstly there is the issue of response time: it really didn't take long for the tigers to kill him; secondly, should the tigers be put down because someone wanted to commit suicide? To the latter question, the answer is I really think not. It was not the tigers' fault that Mr. Nordin bin Mondong climbed into their enclosure armed with a brush and a bucket, shouting at them, trying to attract their attention. It is not easy to get into the enclosure and it would have taken a determined (and suicidal) man to do so. This is not an accident. This is not a case of someone being attacked, unbidden, by three tigers - it was an invited attack by someone determined to be so attacked. The tigers should be left unharmed.

Bengal White Tigers are very rare. One tiger in 10,000 carries the mutation necessary to produce a white coat. Given this, it would be tragic indeed if three of the very few white tigers in the world, were put down, because of the actions of this man.

So, if any one is thinking that the tigers should go, they should think again. These three White Tigers are too rare to have their fates affected by the rash act of a suicidal man.

I hope that my thinking matches that of those in authority over the matter. Please ignore those who think the tigers should go. They are too rare and too beautiful to be put down. Thanks.

(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.

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No smoking in taxis, please.

Smoking kills. So, does passive smoking (that is when you don't smoke but someone else does nearby, or recently). Knowing this, Singapore's authorities moved a couple of years ago, to control smoking in public places, banning it except in designated smoking areas, at cafes, hawker centres, eateries, restaurants (and later bars and clubs). Unpopular though this move was, with smokers, I think it is a good thing.


The other day, I got into a cab that had the strongest smell I have ever encountered in public transport: smoke. The whole cab reeked of cigarettes - every inch of the place emanated old, dead cigarettes. It was horrible. Now, I knew, at once, that this could only be because the driver was a heavy smoker and smoked in his own cab - because the smell was just too thick, too all-encompassing to have come from a recent passenger's cigarette. It wasn't the smell of just one fag - it was the smell of hundreds, all laid on top of one another. It was truly dreadful.



The stench was all the more surprising in that he had clearly not been smoking recently, since there was no smoke in the air and he had not a cigarette in his hand. It is just that he had smoked so consistently and persistently in his cab, that the very substance and fabric of the cab itself had come to smell like an ashtray, filled with fuming butts.



Now, I don't want my cab to smell like a cheap nightclub. I don't want to have to absorb thousands of airborne toxins, permeating the air of the cab. I want to breathe clean air. Why should I not when cabs are simply so expensive, anyway, these days? Did I ask the driver to give me free cigarette fumes? No. Yet, he did.



Now, I didn't know when I took that cab that smoking was not allowed in cabs. If I had known this, I would have noted his license number and reported him. Clearly, the fact that smoking in cabs is banned yet his cab smelled of smoke, indicates that the legislation is not working. It needs to be enforced. Taxis should be smoke free zones. Neither drivers nor passengers should smoke in cabs. If a passenger smokes, they will leave behind fumes for the next passenger to breathe - so no-one should smoke. Perhaps it is time to stiffen the penalties: a cab driver should lose the right to drive, if his cab smells of smoke. Such a penalty might actually work, if enforced.

I understand that some drivers are smokers and that, for them, ironically, smoking is a matter of life and death and they really must get their puff every hour/minute/second. Well, there is a simple solution: they will have to stop their cab somewhere, GET OUT, then smoke. They should not smoke in an enclosed space, because then they will smell of cigarette smoke, too.


I am glad, however, that this incident made me research the law around smoking in cabs. The next time I get into a cab that smells of smoke, I will report the driver. If everyone did this, it wouldn't be long before drivers (and passengers) did, indeed, stop smoking in what is, after all, a public place: a taxi.

(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.)

What one would most give to another.

I asked a class of students, once, what they would most like to give to another. The answers were many and various - indeed, some were sweet and thoughtful, even surprising. However, it is to the answer of the Russian student to whom I have referred before (she of the brand buying obsession), that I shall turn.

The Russian girl, who so loves branded goods, didn't wait to answer the question in writing: she shouted it out across the classroom, seemingly unaware of how people would respond to her stance.

"Give?", she began, scornfully, "Never! I never like to give...only to take, take, take. Especially from men. I take and receive presents from them, only - but I never give." (She paused here in consideration of her own words). "I think a lot of girls do like this."

Even though I had come to expect something empty-headed from her, her words perturbed me. They were spoken with such passion, that they gave me the creeps. Here, for sure, was one who liked to use others.

I wonder at people like her. How common are they? Is this a typical way of thinking and viewing the world, among some nationalities, today? Is it all about "me, me, me!"? I rather hope not. I hope that my Russian student is an aberration and that she is wrong in her opinion that "a lot of girls do like this".

However, if she is right, then men would be wise not to place much faith in the women they meet, nowadays. The Russian student's attitude leads directly to a breakdown in the relationship between the sexes - for what faith can the man have in the woman if her sole interest is the material goods he can give her? That would be a relationship based on the transfer of goods and not a relationship based on love or any emotion of either substance or endurance.

In a way, I shudder at the thought of a world filled with people like this Russian girl: a more soul-less, empty, life-destroying world would be hard to imagine. Here is a girl who gives nothing to others, who seeks to take as much as she can and who wishes to milk the men she meets for all the material goods she can get from them. I see for her either a lonely future (as people realize what she is and stay well away) or a whorish one - for such is her core attitude.

Attitudes like this Russian girl's are the inevitable end product of a materialist society. If life is measured by the goods one accumulates, then it makes sense to be a taker and not a giver. He or she who takes, will achieve a relative accumulation of material goods, over one who is generous and gives as much as they receive. It seems that she has imbibed too well, the material philosophy of our age.

To me, this girl represents an Archtype of all that is undesirable in the modern age. She brings emotional poverty and material greed together in one unending quest for branded goods at the expense of any man she meets. She sees life and human relationships as a means to rob another of their wealth and find gratification in the piling up of branded symbols of the age.

The most urgent question posed by her most ugly of ugly attitudes is this: how common are people like her? Is it right for modern man to be on guard against such exploitative personalities? (Of course, there could be cases of men like this, too).

As a final comment, I would like to note that, unlike every other student in the room, she never wore the same clothes in the several months that I taught her. Every day was a fashion parade with her - with each outfit carefully thought out, sometimes in the most elaborate manner. Truly, someone, somewhere was spending an awful lot of money in keeping this particular Material Girl, materially happy. It was quite unnerving, in a way, especially since she was in a classroom with others who almost always wore the same clothes and could barely afford their school fees. The contrast could not have been more discomfiting. She never seemed to notice, however.

What did the other students think of her? Well, sometimes they smiled or laughed at her expense. Perhaps there is hope for this world, after all...

(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.)

The meaning of Barack Obama's election.

Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States. He shall be the first black President in the history of the United States. What does this mean for the question of race in the United States?

Well, everyone is saying that it means that America is no longer racist - but it is by no means so clear. You see, America is not what it used to be. More precisely, America is not as white as it used to be. Caucasians in America are on the decline and the "minority" races are on the rise. This colours the interpretation of what this particular election means, racially.

Wikipedia supplies data on the demographics of the US in 2006. At this time, 66% of Americans were non-Hispanic Whites; 14.8 % were Hispanic or Latin American; 13.4% were Black; some other race alone 6.5%; Asian alone 4.4%; two or more races 2.0%; American Indian or Alaskan native 0.68%; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 0.14%. The figures don't add up to 100% exactly because Hispanics are being counted twice across all the races.

What can be seen from this is that America is very racially diverse and that the minority races are in very significant numbers. Indeed, in August 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau predicted that, by 2042, that non-Hispanic Whites would be in the minority, in the US.

Barack Obama won the election. However, this does not mean that racism is entirely on the wane in the USA. It could mean that whites (the expected origin of anti-black racism) are on the wane. There is still likely to be remnant anti-Black racism among some whites (the racist cries at Palin rallies is enough to indicate this), however this was overwhelmed by the weight of minorities voting for another minority. Racism is admittedly less of an issue in the USA than it used to be - but just because Obama won, that does not mean that racism is at an end.

Everyone is amazed at the election of a Black President. I am not so amazed myself. The changing demographics in the US have almost come to guarantee that a minority President was soon to be elected. Indeed, the time will come, when it will not be a surprise that a non-White is President - but a surprise that a White is President. You see, it is only just over 33 years before Whites become a minority in the USA. In that time, it is, perhaps, the White candidates who will find themselves unelectable. It may not be long before we will have seen the last White President of the United States of America.

(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.

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The influence of school on children.

School has many and various influences on children, quite obviously. Some of those influences are quite unexpected.

A couple of days ago, Fintan was looking a bit downcast.

He approached his mother.

"What can I do to make lots of money?" He began, intensely. "What am I GOOD at?", he inquired, emphatically.

Syahidah was quite startled to see the weight of the world on her son's shoulders so. It seemed that he had been listening to the talk of his fellow students in kindergarten - and their topic of conversation had been money and its making - at least, that is the only way we can think of, to explain his sudden interest in the issue of money, when he is just five years old.

It is very telling that the values of the society that we live in - Singapore - are imparted to the children, so young. It shocks me somewhat that at just five years old, Fintan should already have picked up on the Singaporean obsession with making as much money as possible. It seemed out-of-place on his tongue - most disconcerting, in fact, to hear him say such a thing. A child should not be concerned about the world of finance: that should be a distant matter that they will grow into as adults. Unfortunately, in Singapore, money appears to be something spoken of in kindergarten, as the little kids echo their parents' conversations and concerns.

I find it most odd, however.

(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.)