An obsession with cars, in young children.

My boys are obsessed with cars. At least, if not obsessed, then they are highly knowledgeable about them. Sometimes, I think they are speaking a shared secret language filled with abstruse names, and fine discriminations.

On November 3rd, 2009, I was walking Tiarnan and Fintan to the local shop. As we walked together side by side, Tiarnan, three, casually remarked of a passing car: "That's a Toyota Crown."

Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't know a Toyota Crown from a biscuit. So, I looked down at Tiarnan, somewhat stunned, at his assertion.

"Is he right?", I asked of Fintan, six.

"Yes.", Fintan, nodded.

I absorbed his confirmation quietly.

Then Fintan, spoke, again, only to make me feel even more ignorant. "There's a Mitsubishi Lancer GLX.", he pointed, at a parked car.

I looked. I saw a car...to me it was nothing more defined than that.

Then, Fintan did it again.

"There's a Mini Cooper S.", he pointed, at a cute white car.

I felt that I should try to play this game, so, when I saw a familiar symbol, on two cars parked in a driveway I said, "There are two BMW Z3s!" I said this because I could read "Z3" on the back of one of them and they both looked rather similar to me.

Fintan looked at me, appraisingly, as if, perhaps, wondering whether to take pity on me and keep silent.

"That is a Z5, Daddy.", he said, at last, indicating one of the cars - the one I hadn't read the symbol on.

Ah. Oh well, at least one of us knows.

I didn't say anything, however: I just looked more closely and saw that he was right, and I was wrong.

This is not an unusual occurrence. Every day, when we are out with the boys, they will remark on passing cars: on their brand, their model name and number, their engine size, their engine design, their horsepower, their acceleration, the presence or absence of turbo chargers and superchargers, whether they are four wheel drive or rear wheel drive - indeed, they speak of anything and everything to do with cars. It is a shared pastime between the brothers, even though they are of very different ages: 3, 6 and 9 - they all speak of these things. It is funny really, because this line of conversation has only emerged in recent months and I just don't know how they have all learnt so much about cars in so short a time.

What gets me, in particular, though, is that Tiarnan is only 3, but is able to make fine distinctions between car models - and Fintan, too. They are funny boys.

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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

CNN, Ris Low and Scientific Child Prodigy.

Bizarrely, CNN has quoted my blog, on its website. They have excerpted an article I wrote, a while back, on Ris Low's atrocious behaviour, in her nascent career - or should I say, career of atrocious behaviour.

The link is here: http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/none/miss-singapore-world-2009-aftermath-811798

If you scroll down the article, you will see "Scientific child prodigy" quoted, in the latter half of the article. That is me.

Now this is the second instance, in the past month or so, of a major news organization linking to my blog - the other was the leading Danish newspaper Berlingske. So, I am both surprised and unsurprised - if it is possible to be both at once. Surprised, because there once was a time when I never could have thought of CNN linking to my writing; unsurprised, because they are most certainly not the first media organization to do so. (Even Bild, the German daily, and one of the biggest circulation newspapers in the world, has linked to my blog, in the past).

What seems to be beginning to happen, is that I am writing on many subjects, some of which are of general interest to mass media. In searching for background, journalists are stumbling on my articles and, if they have integrity and journalistic honour, they link to them and credit me with my thoughts, if they use or quote any. (I have seen instances in which this has not been done - and thoughts have just been lifted, without credit...but I will post of that another time...soon.)

It is strange being a blogger. If done well, a blogger is as good as any journalist - but freer. So, in a way, being a blogger is better than being a journalist, since I can genuinely write whatever I please (excepting that which would constitute libel...but then that would be discourteous in most cases, too, so common decency prevents that, anyway.) The only difference is that a blogger is, usually, not paid for their work. So, some might see the journalist as a superior position. However, it is not - for the very reason that the blogger is not paid. Being unpaid and being free to say the truth, without editorial or political interference, a blogger is more likely to be able to say - and to actually say - what needs to be said, on matters of importance. Furthermore, a blogger's opinion has not been "bought" in any way - it is a free opinion, freely given (in those parts of the world, in which a blogger feels free to speak, of course.)

Thus, but for the matter of making a living - which, in most cases has to come from somewhere else - the blogger is, in fact, the ideal media source. The blogger may not have access to the huge resources of a media organization - but they have the only tool that is really essential: a mind and a view to speak. Thoughts are free to those who are able to have them. Now, with blogging, those thoughts may be freely shared with the world. It is, in my opinion, a great step forward, in human culture that blogging should be available to all. The thoughts of so many more people, will now be on record, to speak of our times - and that will, one day, be seen to have incalculable value.

Yet, perhaps that day is already here - for the Bilds, the CNNs and the Berlingskes, of the world are already linking to my blog, quoting from it and acknowledging it. That can mean only one thing: the mass media is well aware of the value of the new media - and, instead of attacking it, they are incorporating it, into their discourse, using the minds of millions of bloggers, as a resource for their own articles. As long as they continue to properly credit the bloggers so referenced, this is a good development. I am left to wonder just how common this referencing of bloggers is going to become.

Anyway, thank you, CNN, for quoting my writing. It is much appreciated.

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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

The Moonwalking Computer Game.

The other day, I saw something very odd. My son, Ainan, was playing an online computer game in which the "soldiers" were acting rather bizarrely. They were walking backwards into the field of fire, then moonwalking on the spot (still backwards). Now, not being completely unfamiliar with computer games, I knew that this was not normal.

"How did you do that?", I asked Ainan, somewhat stupefied.

"Oh, it's easy, I just hacked the game...", he trailed off, not explaining exactly what "hacking the game" involved.

Ainan is just nine years old. I remember being nine years old - and at that age, I don't think anyone around me was equipped to be hacking online computer games and making them do bizarre things. (Not that there were such things...but you know what I mean.) Yet, here Ainan was, playing with the computer code of online games, like a typical child might play with a football.

The mystery of this is two-fold: firstly, how does he do it? Secondly, and more to the point - how did he LEARN to do it? You see, Ainan has not been taught programming in class - this is something he has taught himself, something he has worked out, on his own, through experimentation. Somehow, it is something he instinctively understands. He looks at a computer and sees a playground, that he can make do pretty much what he wants. He is not following the instructions of another, or techniques learnt formally - he is just guided by his own intuitions and insights into how computers work.

Though I have chosen to comment on his Moonwalking computer game, it is not an infrequent occurrence that a computer should behave bizarrely in his presence. Indeed, I have almost come to expect unusual behaviour from computers, once he has been near them. What amazes me, though, is the ease with which he accomplishes these things; the speed with which he does so, and the sureness with which he does so. Yet, he does so, on his own instruction.

He is yet at the beginning of his mental growth, for he is but nine. Yet, I do wonder where and how far he will go in his development and what he will become. He has acquired some degree of skill in quite a few intellectual disciplines, from physics, chemistry, computing, indeed, in anything scientific and mathematical. It is difficult, therefore, to see where this will end up, since there are so many directions he could choose to take.

In the meantime, I shall just enjoy his playfulness in all that he does - and watch that he doesn't play too much havoc on my computer!

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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

A Singaporean Chinese person on Malaysia.

Yesterday, I had an encounter that is fairly typical of the talk one hears about Malaysia, from Singaporeans. I was struck, however, by the certainty of her views, which made me think them fit for remark, here.

I was in KL airport, waiting for a delayed Jetstar Asia flight to Singapore. It had been supposedly delayed by an hour and a half, but in fact, the delay turned out to be even longer (almost two hours).

Sitting next to us, in the boarding lounge, at KLIA airport, was a Singaporean Chinese woman. Her manner, accent, appearance and expressed views all identified her, immediately, in this manner. She was in a talkative mood, one largely provoked by her irritation at being delayed.

"I will never take a budget airline, again...", she began, her lips curling dismissively.

Before we could comment, she continued: "Jetstar is my first time...but never again will I fly budget."

"We have found AirAsia to be quite good, so far.", I interjected.

She looked at me blankly, as if she did not know what to say to something that countered her world view.

"You know, Jetstar is Malaysian.", she said, her stress on the final word, as if she spoke of something truly disgusting. Her tongue could barely bring itself to say the word, and her face was an image of revulsion. I was, actually, rather offended by her tone, by her expression and by her clearly evident beliefs. I was offended, on behalf of Malaysians, as anyone of humanity, would be on behalf of any people, so disregarded.

Now, I didn't know if Jetstar was Malaysian or not, so I couldn't comment and so remained silent. She, however, did not.

"I have travelled on Malaysian Airlines several times...and they were ALWAYS late." She shook her head, her lips curling downwards, a vision of one unimpressed.

I thought it odd, that she should think so, since I, too, had travelled on Malaysia Airlines, several times and never had any problems at all. I said, nothing, however, because, in fact, I was curious as to how far she would go, in her rant.

She leant forward then, as if to confide something of the utmost significance: "The Malaysians have NO system." She sat back, then, as if I should be shocked at the idea that a nation might not be as systematic (read "robotic") as Singapore is.

Now, my wife is Malay - and so, of course, could easily be Malaysian. This Singaporean Chinese woman's friend looked across at my wife, sitting silently beside me - and nudged her friend, with a glance to my wife. The thought was clear: "She might be Malaysian....shut up!"

The nudge brought the rant to an end, but I was glad to have heard it. It was most instructive as to what goes through the mind of quite a few Singaporeans. The reflexive thought is that all that is Malaysian is "bad" and all that is Singaporean is "good". There is also a tendency to blame Malaysia for things it is not responsible for. You see, there is one big problem with the core of this woman's rant against Malaysia: Jetstar Asia is not Malaysian, at all - it is Vietnamese. The Malaysians are not responsible at all, for this woman's flight delay. However, I will say one thing: she was right in thinking that Jetstar Asia are rubbish...it is undoubtedly the worst airline I have personally travelled on. The problem is, she is blaming the wrong nation.

Jetstar Asia is based in Ho Chi Minh city and is 42.5% owned by Quantas, the Australian Airline. However, that is where the resemblance to Quantas ends: Jetstar is a truly awful airline...but more of that in another post. What interested me, more, about this encounter, was that this Singaporean Chinese woman should have been so certain of her anti-Malaysian views. She truly believed that Malaysia was a terrible place and that Singapore was inherently superior. I found this odd, since my experience of both places does not place Singapore above Malaysia in the overall picture. Yes, Singapore is more glossy, but I don't think that, as a whole, it offers anywhere near as much as Malaysia does in terms of variety, potential ways of life or experiences. It is, in fact, a much bigger, more diverse nation than Singapore. It interests me, therefore, that so many Singaporeans have this reflexive superiority concerning their neighbour...it would, in fact, be funny, were it not, in fact, racist, at its core.

Two pieces of advice: don't fly Jetstar...and don't believe Singaporeans who badmouth Malaysia, without checking the place out, yourself, first. Start with Kuala Lumpur.

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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

Lunar water and the future of man in Space.

NASA has discovered lunar water...and lots of it. This is both good news and potentially bad news. I shall explain.

On October 9th 2009, a mission involving the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, LCROSS discovered 25 gallons of water in a plume of dust kicked up, one mile into space, by an empty rocket hull smashing into the Cabeus crater. The crater had been chosen because it is permanently shadowed, at its position near the South Pole: the sun never gets the chance to heat it up and evaporate its contents.

Now, the good part of this news is clear. It seems certain, now, that there is plenty of water on the moon, in such permanently shadowed places. Therefore, a moon base could be established much more cheaply than otherwise would be possible. The water for drinking would not have to be lifted into space - and so too, could rocket fuel be manufactured in situ. The moon is a much more viable location for a permanent base than ever had been thought, before. Yet, there is a danger here. The new attractiveness and relative cheapness of the moon might distract Mankind from a much better prospect: Mars.

Should a permanent base be established on the moon, it may be that Man might delay, for a time too long to contemplate, the establishment of a colony on Mars. The red planet offers a lot more to humans than the Moon ever could. Mars could be terraformed, over centuries, into a new home for Man. The moon could never be that, however much easier it might be to establish a base, now. The moon is not, and could never be, a second Earth. Mars, however, is a few clever technologies from being a second Earth. We need a second Earth, much more than we need a permanent moon base - and if the latter were to prevent the former from happening, then we really should consider whether a moon base should ever happen at all.

NASA's resources are finite. They are, in fact, very modest (about 18 billion dollars per year). Thus, space exploration has not been prioritized by the Americans for some decades. Were its resources greater, then a moon base and a mars base would both be within reach, in the next couple of decades. However, it lacks the money presently for either. The economic danger this new discovery presents is that it might persuade NASA's paymasters to support a moon base...which is now going to be much cheaper than expected...but NOT a Mars mission, which remains as expensive as ever.

Ideally, we should have both a moon base and a Martian presence. However, if we are only to have one: it should be Mars that we open up, not the moon.

The answer to this, of course, is not to force NASA to make difficult choices - but to give it the money it needs. As I have noted before, the long-term survival of Mankind depends on us getting "offworld". Man needs to establish offworld colonies if it is to ensure its own survival to the far reaches of time. That, in fact, should be the true mission of NASA: the survival of Mankind. Were NASA to define itself in those terms - and were its paymasters to take that mission seriously - then Mankind could breathe a little more easily that it has a future to look forward to.

If the discovery of water on the Moon is used wisely, as a means to facilitate new missions, then that is good. However, it must not become a long-term distraction from what should be NASA's real aim: establishing an ongoing human presence on Mars.

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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

The superiority of young children.

In speaking to my children, I am often struck by the thought that children are superior to adults. Today, for instance, Tiarnan and Fintan were discussing Transformers. Now, we had all seen the show...once...together, several months ago. Yet, it seemed to me that my young sons saw far more in it, than I did...and I am not an unobservant adult.

Tiarnan and Fintan discussed the minor details of each character: they knew their names, their weapons, their strategies, their relative power, who would most likely beat whom, who was a goodie, who was a baddie...they knew the most minor of matters about these fictional characters - yet, somehow, they had picked this up, within the time of one viewing of the film.

This thought came to me when Tiarnan noted that "Demolisher" had no "laser weapons"...and could only physically strike objects. He then showed me, with his hands, how Demolisher would attack something. He was so alive to the most minor of details that I understood, then, that he saw so much more than any adult would - and remembered it, too. Both Fintan and Tiarnan possess a detailed visual memory of the film and its characters and can seem to revisit each character and its actions quite readily. That, to me, seems something an adult would not, normally, be able to do.

This is not the first time I have had this feeling that my young sons see more than adults do. I have had that feeling with great regularity with Ainan, as he grew up...and now I get the same feeling with both Fintan and Tiarnan. I rather feel that the world they see is of much finer grain than the world adults see. I hope, however, it is not that they are children and the others to whom I compare them, are adults, that makes the real difference. I hope that it is an innate difference in observation skill and that they will always retain this advantage. It would be sad to think that, when they grow up, they might lose this present ability to see the world in fine detail and remember its every nuance.

Fintan, Tiarnan and Ainan's world is richer than that of others - not because their world is different, but because they see it in greater detail. They see what others don't and remember what others can't.

Keep on observing, Fintan, Tiarnan and Ainan...and don't let your vision fade to that of a typical adult, when you grow up!

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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