People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People List.

People Magazine has published their 100 Most Beautiful People List for 2009. Now, I haven't been one to pay particular attention to this list, in the past, but something made me take notice this time. The list is full of people who shouldn't be on it.

What does it mean to be one of the world's "most beautiful" people? Well, to me, it means to have such great visual appeal, in the aesthetic sense, that almost no-one approaches it. It is clear, however, that this is not what "most beautiful" means for People Magazine.

The biggest surprise of the list is that Michelle Obama, the First Lady, is featured. Now, I have nothing against the woman, but "most beautiful" she is most certainly not. She is well-dressed and well presented and smiles a lot...but that does not make her one of the world's most beautiful women. To say that she is diminishes all the other women who are more beautiful than her - who, in my estimate, would constitute about 45% of the world's women. Michelle Obama, is slightly above average in appearance - and no more. She does not, if one is being truthful, honest and unbiased, have the physical wherewithal to be accounted one of the world's most beautiful people.

There are other surprises, too. Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary, appears on the list, as does White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. Again, these men are well presented, and very polished...but that only makes them well presented and very polished, not "most beautiful" - though it has to be said that both are much better looking people than Michelle Obama, relative to other men. Perhaps this list should be renamed to: the Most Influential but Not Ugly, list, or The People we Most Need to Suck Up to list, or Well Dressed Famous People list.

Other inclusions in the list have more justification: Robert Pattinson, vampiric star of Twilight, has a place, as does Halle Berry. Also present are others, such as Angelina Jolie who is widely considered very beautiful but of whom I have never thought so (some of her features are disproportionate).

A walk down the high street of any major city in the world would reveal better looking people in half an hour, than are contained on this list. The only difference is that such "beautiful people" are unknowns. This People Magazine list is a meaningless annual rite, in that it does not live up to its name. It would be great if it did...it would then be truly of interest, to see who were the most beautiful humans on Earth. However, the Most Beautiful People list is not even remotely a catalogue of the world's greatest beauties. It is a catalogue of well presented famous people, nothing more. It is a list that confuses fame with beauty, that confuses being well-dressed, with beautiful, that confuses influence with being beautiful. Beauty does not come from fame, good clothes, or influence...beauty is in the person, innately, if it is there, at all. It comes from a perfect symmetry of the features, a balanced proportion of the body, a quality of skin and hair, an overall aesthetic perfection of form. It is something immediately obvious when seen - and it is also immediately obvious that quite a few of the Most Beautiful People, do not have it. The most obvious case is Michelle Obama who does not remotely qualify, in the Most Beautiful People category, if one were to be truly impartial. She belongs on other lists: lists of influential people, of well-connected people, of famous people...she does not belong on a Most Beautiful People list.

What worries me about such lists is that they tend to influence the way people think. A principle is at stake here, even though who is beautiful or not, is not a particularly important issue. The principle is that when accolades are given they should truly represent what they are stated to be. Otherwise, people get a distorted idea of the world. In this case, the Most Beautiful People list does not truly represent the world's most beautiful people - it represents a selection of well-presented famous people, at least one of whom is perfectly AVERAGE in appearance. To say that it is a true record of the world's most beautiful people is to lie to the world's people. This is unfortunate, for there are people who will read this list and believe it...they will not trust their own eyes, which might say otherwise, but will actually believe that not only is Michelle Obama, lucky enough to be First Lady, but that she is also lucky enough to be one of the world's top 100 most beautiful people.

In another sense, Michelle Obama's inclusion trivializes her position. Being First Lady should not be about being beautiful - it should be about her role in support of her husband's leadership of a great nation. That People Magazine think she must also be beautiful, is an illustration of what Americans think is important. For modern Americans, looking good is considered to be of immense value. It seems, from this example, that it is of more value than being married to a President and supporting him in his daily role.

I would like to see a very different kind of "Most Beautiful People" list. I would like to see a list populated not with well-dressed famous people...but the 100 people who are truly the world's most beautiful. I wonder how many of them would be completely unknown to the public before their inclusion? I strongly suspect that many of them would be. Now, that would be a list worth looking at.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Antiviral stockpiles and value systems.

Antiviral stockpiles, against the influenza virus tell a lot about the value systems of a society. This silent action - to stock or not to stock - speaks eloquently of what is important to a government: saving money, or saving lives.

Around the world, different governments have made different decisions on this saving money, saving lives spectrum. You see the problem that some governments see, regarding stockpiles, is that it could all be money down the drain. A large stockpile of antiviral drugs may never be used because, after all, it will only have a shelf life of a few years - perhaps five or so. It will, therefore, have to be replaced if maintained. Thus, some governments are cautious as to how much money they tie up in such stockpiles. Again, what we are seeing is how much they value the lives of their citizens, versus the money on hand.

America has a stockpile of 50,000,000 courses of appropriate antivirals according to Bloomberg. That is enough for one in six of the population. Britain, on the other hand, is showing greater caution and clearly placing greater value on the lives of its citizens, by stockpiling 33 million doses (source: The Guardian newspaper). That is enough for 55% of the population: a three fold preparedness advantage over the USA.

However, the USA is not doing too badly. Canada has only 1,400,000 courses of antivirals on hand (Bloomberg), for its population of 33.6 million people. That is only enough for one in twenty-four, or just over 4.1% of the population. To my eyes, that seems rather unprepared since swine flu could easily infect a large fraction of a population, if it behaves like the flu pandemics of the past. Norway, also has 1,400,000 courses of antivirals on hand. However, they have a population of just 4.8 million - and so have enough to treat 29.1% of their population. There is some confusion as to just how much antivirals Singapore has on hand. At the beginning of the week, the Singaporean media mentioned 500,000 courses of Tamiflu, for a population of 4.8 million, allowing the treatment of 10% of the population. Today, the newly stated number for courses available is 1.15 million courses of Tamiflu and Relenza (50,000 courses). Should these newly issued figures turn out to be true (the sudden change could indicate new purchases of anti-virals, and I hope this is so, or could indicate PR spin) then Singapore now has enough antivirals for 25% of the population. This is much less than for the UK...but rather better than that of Costa Rica, whom Nacion.com says has just 3,000 courses of antivirals for a population of almost 4.6 million. This is enough to treat just one person in 1,533. (These figures for stockpiles are checkable on Wikipedia, too).

Clearly, there is no international agreement about how much a nation should plan ahead, against a flu pandemic. There is such a great range of preparedness that it is quite clear no two nations quite see the situation in the same way. Yet, the truth is, all face the same potential outcome: large scale sudden deaths in their populations, from a flu pandemic. It has happened many times before, in human history and it will happen many times, again, until there are no humans left to suffer from it. All we can do is prepare.

I am puzzled, however, that so many developed nations are so relatively undefended. The antivirals cost about one hundred dollars per person, per course. This is not a great sum for a developed nation. To my mind, it seems an easy decision to make to have enough antivirals on hand to treat the entire population. The upside is the minimization of death in the population in the face of a pandemic, the downside is the loss (if unused) of about 20 dollars per year, per person, to protect the nation. (Since the drugs will probably have to be replaced every five years or so). This assumes that only one type of antiviral is stocked. It would be wise to stock more than one type to guard against resistance. In any case, the cost of stockpiles is minimal, compared to the cost in life that would be paid, in the event of not having enough drugs on hand.

What surprises me, therefore, is how much many nations seem to value money, over human life - for so many of them are relatively unprepared for what humanity could soon face. I use the word humanity deliberately, for pandemics put all of humanity at risk, in the sense that anyone could die, of a flu pandemic.

My hope is that this particular "pandemic" turns out to be much more moderate than feared - and that all nations learn from it, to be better prepared for the next one to come. Perhaps the stockpiling of antiviral drugs should not just be a national responsibility, but should be taken up at the international level at the United Nations. It would seem to me to be sensible for the United Nations to ensure that ALL nations have good stocks of antivirals on hand - even the poorest nations. The rich nations could, in effect, buy antivirals for the poor nations. This should be done, at least to some extent, to moderate any pandemic. It would be the humane thing to do - and not only that, but moderating the pandemic anywhere in the world, will help reduce its spread everywhere in the world, for we are all interconnected.

I would like to see a shift, in national priorities, away from saving money, towards saving lives. Too many nations, seem to have chosen to guess what kind of need they might have, and so have stocked, like Singapore, an "adequate" amount. They don't seem to see that the only adequate amount is full coverage of the population. Anything less is not only short-sighted (for a pandemic could truly be one that infects almost everyone), but also immoral. It is not moral to have to force doctors to choose how they ration the medicine available; it is not moral to have doctors choose who will live and who will die. That is not a choice for humans to make. All lives are valuable, all lives should receive, therefore, the best of care, humanity presently has available...and that includes anti-viral drugs.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Singapore is lagging in flu preparedness.

Singapore is lagging in flu pandemic preparedness, compared to Britain. This article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/28/swine-flu-mexico-scotland

...shows that the UK has 33 million courses of anti-influenza medication stockpiled for a pandemic. That is enough to treat 55% of the population. As I noted, however, in my previous article, Singapore only has enough drugs to treat 10% of the population. Clearly, Singapore seems to care less for its people than the UK does, for its.

Presumably, Singapore's relative lack of drug defenses against flu are due to a cost saving mentality: they would rather not overspend on something that may never be used, is how I think, they "think". Of course, they haven't given much to thought to what would happen if they have grossly underestimated treatment needs in the event of a pandemic (which they have...since in a true pandemic, treatment would most probably be needed for greater than 10% of a population. Western Samoa, for instance, showed 90% infection, in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.)

So, Singaporeans can be happy in the knowledge that their government prefers to save money, rather than save lives. You can all rest assured that the national reserves will be there when you need them. The only problem is, since they have saved so much money on drugs never bought, you might not be there to enjoy the national reserves when the day they come to be needed.

Seriously, though, I think more forethought should be given to worst case scenarios - and less to how to cut costs and be minimalist about investing in the health of the nation. Should Singapore ever truly underestimate a pandemic, the nation might not survive in its former state. Britain has clearly thought of these worst case scenarios and has enough drugs on hand to treat over half the population. If Britain can do it, why hasn't Singapore?

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Swine Flu: is Singapore ready?

Swine flu is spreading around the world. In Mexico it has already killed 152 people (a 50 % jump from the previous tally, on Monday). Cases have been noted in various parts of the world: the USA, Spain, New Zealand, South Korea and Israel. The World Health Organization have declared this a level 4 threat (out of 6 levels). This is the highest they have ever declared, since the system was put in place, five or six years ago. It looks like the world could be in for a rough time. The question is: is Singapore ready?

Singapore has already set up infra red cameras at the airports, scanning arrivals from known infected nations. This is exactly what was done in the face of SARS. Hospitals have isolation rooms available. Doctors and nurses have been trained for this occasion. But is it enough?

I ask this question for a reason, you see, I was struck by something: Singapore has a population of 4.8 million people, yet it has on hand only 500,000 courses of the antiviral, anti-influenza drug Tamiflu. (Figures are from Singapore's daily newspapers...) Thus, in the worst of all possible scenarios, with a virus that is easily transmitted between people, Singapore only has enough drugs to treat 10% of the population. Now, there is a dilemma. Who do you treat? What if those not treated die? Is this the kind of choice we want our Doctors to have to make? The choice of life or death?

It need not be this way. All the rich state of Singapore would have to do to ensure the complete NATIONAL SECURITY of its population, is to have enough Tamiflu stockpiled to treat the entire nation. Sure, it would cost ten times as much...but what is money compared to the deaths of thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people?

Let us look at the example of Mexico, the epicentre of this new disease outbreak. They have had an estimated 2,000 cases. They have also had 152 known deaths. That is a lethality rate of 7.5%. Now, that might not seem much compared to the plagues of history, but in modern times, it is a completely unacceptable, even horrifying, degree of lethality. What is worse to consider is just who is dying. The flu commonly kills the old. Now, while tragic, we all see this as less tragic than the death of the young. The elderly have lived long lives, have had the chance to express their natures, have a career, children and grandchildren and come to understand the world and their place in it. However, this is not so for the young - and the young is precisely who are being killed by the H1N1 swine flu emanating from Mexico. This particular disease loves to take away young adults in their prime, by ravaging their lungs in one last bout of pneumonia. It sounds a terrible way to die...and that way is on its way across the world, even as I write.

So far, no-one outside of Mexico has been killed by the disease. Perhaps this is due to effective treatment being ministered to the victims. However, we should not be complacent because medical infrastructure has inherent capacity limits - and a global pandemic would soon overwhelm that capacity to treat people properly. There could, in a bad scenario, be far too many cases to treat. Many would not receive adequate care...and many would die, therefore. Returning to the matter of drugs: there simply is neither the supply nor the production capacity to meet potential demand for Tamiflu, in the event of a global pandemic. The manufacturer of Tamiflu, Roche, said they could supply an additional 5 million courses to the world, if required. What is that in a world not far short of 7 billion? The stockpiles that exist around the world, of Tamiflu, are adequate for a moderate outbreak - but they cannot meet the needs of a global pandemic. Quite simply, Doctors would have to choose whom to treat, and with whom to let nature take its course: to live or to die - let the virus decide.

We are fortunate that the H1N1 swine flu (a mixture, apparently, of avian, swine and human influenza viruses) is treatable by both Tamiflu and Relenza. Tamiflu has been specifically stocked in Singapore, however, this seems inadequate to me, on two counts. Firstly, different viruses are likely to be resistant to different drugs and there are FOUR drugs available to treat influenza. These are: Symmetrel (amantadine), Flumadine (rimantadine), Relenza (zanamivir) and Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate). The H1N1 swine flu is resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, but susceptible to Relenza (zanamivir) and Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate). However, it could easily have been resistant, for instant, to Tamiflu, as well - and what good would Singapore's Tamiflu stocks have been then?

What is needed is for Singapore to stock ALL types of influenza drug, as a precaution against any and all influenza pandemics, which are CERTAIN to come, at some point in time. Not only that, but the stockpiles should be large enough to treat the entire population of Singapore, if need be. The only thing that is needed to ensure this is money - and money is the only thing that is risked. On the upside, Singapore's people would be made as safe as possible from flu pandemics as it is possible to be. This is, in fact, the only wise choice. It is the choice that defends against the worst possible scenario, rather than being optimistic about patient numbers. One must assume the worst in such planning - and the worst is a disease so transmissible that almost everyone gets it. Thus, there should be treatment available for everyone - and in all possible varieties, in case the disease is resistant to several drugs.

Of course, it is possible that there could be a flu pandemic resistant to all drugs...in which case, human civilization could be struck a very hard blow indeed. Let us hope, though, that our luck holds and that at least one of our drugs works, on all future pandemics. Let us hope, too, that we will have had the wisdom to stockpile it sufficiently.

This swine flu may or may not become a global pandemic. It may or may not become a wholesale killer. However, the fact remains that one day there will be a wholesale flu killer of mankind. It is the responsibility of the state - of all states, in fact - to ensure that the national defenses are as strong as possible against such an eventuality (which shall eventually come). The price that unprepared states could pay, is too high to contemplate. In the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, some states lost up to 30 % of their people (according to Wikipedia, Western Samoa, for instance lost 30 % of adult men, 22% of adult women and 10% of all children). The most recent estimates of total deaths worldwide are from 50 to 100 million people. This was in a much less populated world of only 2 billion people. Comparable figures for today would be in the region of 175 to 350 million people, were we as badly affected, today, as the world was in 1918.

I hope that the swine flu does not become a global pandemic. I hope further that all states learn this lesson: to prepare for the worst possible scenario, by having enough drugs to treat the entire population of their countries, with all possible drugs: anything less, is dangerous foolishness.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Tiarnan's way with the camera.

In recent months, Tiarnan, three (though he began this when he was two) has been doing something funny in front of the camera. Whenever a camera is pointed at him, a change comes over him. He drops his childishness, and adopts a serious demeanour. His face becomes all composed and mature and he looks into the camera, with wise little eyes. It is quite astonishing to see the fullness of the change. Then, when the picture has been taken, the usual Tiarnan returns: playful, fluid, mischievous and he rushes over to see the picture.

"Can I see? Can I see?" he will demand, then will study the image at the back of the digital camera, intently.

In the image, there will be this serious little boy with the wise eyes - and Tiarnan, seeing this will be quite happy, even though this doesn't express his inherent playfulness at all. It seems that Tiarnan is image conscious and has, in mind, a particular image that he wants to portray.

There are days, however, when Tiarnan is determinedly camera shy and refuses to be photographed, at all, as if he were some big star hounded by paparazzi...he will hide from the camera, or obscure the lens. Of course, when he is in such a mood, we give up on trying to photograph him. The pity of it is, that we miss good photo opportunities, at such times.

Photographing Tiarnan is like photographing a little actor. He poses for the camera, controls his image in it, decides what he wants to portray - then does just the right things to portray it. He even monitors the results closely, checking to see if he has succeeded in putting across his "public image". On those days when he doesn't like to be photographed (which are random and have no discernible pattern), he is again behaving like an actor - only this time, one who is in a private mood and doesn't want to yield to the paparazzi. Or perhaps he is just being shy, at times, for reasons of his own.

So, we have a mix of photos of Tiarnan. In some he is putting across an image he wants to portray. So, in a sense, these are not authentically him, of that moment - they are just how he wishes to be seen. The others are ones captured when he is not in a posing mood, or is unawares: these show a wider range of expressions and behaviours and embody him more fully.

I only hope that, many years from today, we are able to tell the posed photographs from the unposed ones and see in them, glimpses of the little Tiarnan he once was. It would be a pity if we were unable to see him as he really was, and were only able to see him as he wished to be seen (though, of course, this expresses part of who he is, as well...for how he wants to be seen, is a manifestation of his own self-image).

What is notable about his photos, though, is that he has a very expressive face. There are so many different "airs" to be seen in his images...so many different emotions, thoughts and expressions. On the evidence of this, it is telling that he poses as if he were an actor doing a publicity still, for he may just be one, one day. We will see.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

On having readers.

It is a privilege to have readers. That is something that is easily forgotten. I am fortunate to have readers from all over the world. Some are dedicated readers who visit every day. Others pop by once in a while, and perhaps leave a comment. Then there are those who stumble upon my blog, read the one or two articles that exactly fit their interest, then move on. For all of them, I am grateful, for having a reader allows one to communicate thoughts.

What I find most interesting about readers in the Internet age is that they are all voluntary. They are voluntary in a very special way: they CHOOSE to be on a particular web page. Most of my traffic arrives through the search engines. The searcher is looking for material on particular terms and the only reason they are directed to my page, is that my page is relevant to those search terms: I have written something relating to their search. I find that amazing. We live in a time in which only the most relevant material to our concerns is brought to our attention. That means that we only get to read what we really want to read. Thus, though I may not have the number of readers that a newspaper attracts, at least each of my readers has specifically decided to read the particular web page they find themselves on. That is the not the case with a newspaper, in which a random selection of stories is served up, many of which will not be of real interest to the reader.

We thus live in an age in which the right reader finds it easy to find the right writer. Whatever I write will appeal to a small segment of the world's population - but that small segment is now able to find what I write, should they so wish. That is most refreshing.

Since I started this blog over two years ago, I have had almost 183,000 readers. That may not sound much, to some people, compared to the millions that might read a daily newspaper, but it is a lot when you consider that each of those readers is a relevant reader: they are reading precisely because they want to read the particular post I have written.

I am grateful that the Internet connects the right writers with the right readers in this way. It means that whatever I write will one day find the exact people who might wish to read it. Now, that may only be a small number of people compared to the world's population - but it will be those who actually would appreciate a particular piece of writing so, in that sense, those readers are the only important ones. The others, the vast majority of others, don't search using the right terms and never find my web pages, precisely because their content doesn't match their interests. It is best, therefore, that my words don't trouble them - I would rather be found only by those who are likely to appreciate what I have expressed.

It is clear, therefore, that the Internet age provides an ideal medium for the distribution of the written word. In it the right thoughts go to those most receptive to them. No-one's time is wasted reading material that is irrelevant and writers are actually enabled to find the few readers who will appreciate their own particular brand of thought.

If you have read this page, you have done so because, in some way, it fits your interests. Thank you, therefore, for stopping by and taking the time to read what I have written. It is possible that other posts, here, will prove of interest, too...so have a look around.

Cheers.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)