Know what you sell.

I recently bought a computer backup device, called Maxtor, at Low Yat, Malaysia's answer to Sim Lim Square. I was looking forward to having a simple way to backup my computer data. At first, all looked well. The box was impressively packaged - solid and secure. The Maxtor device itself is sturdily constructed. It looks built to last and to survive knocks that might take down the computer itself. So, I was impressed. However, it didn't last. Then, you see, I looked at the cables that came with the Maxtor device. One of them, unfortunately, was the strangest looking cable I had ever seen. Sadly, it was the power cable. Attached to the end of it, was a plug, the like of which I have never heard rumoured, never mind seen: it had DIAGONAL pins. That is, each of the flat pins (two of them) was set at a diagonal tilt. Not only that but they were pretty close together. I looked at them, somewhat disheartened. How, on Earth, were they going to fit into a power socket?

I tried. I really tried. I even attempted to squeeze the pins in the socket, with a little bit of additional force. However, they would not budge, not even with a special two pin socket adaptor. This power supply cable had been built for no country I had ever been to. Somewhere, in all the packaging I read the words: "Made in China". Ah, I see. Perhaps this plug fits Chinese wall sockets. However, the rest of the world had a different opinion about how to make a socket. My brand new Maxtor backup device was, as it was, completely unusable. I had been sold something which could never work, without me buying a new cable. Now, it strikes me, this is no way to do business. That rather well known Low Yat store, on the floor below the top of Low Yat really should CHECK what they are selling. They have no business selling devices with accessories that are incompatible with the power supplies in Malaysia. That is doing a disservice to their customers. It also means that next time I come to buy some electronic equipment, that I will look elsewhere, lest I find myself in the same situation.

I hope to be able to use the Maxtor device - which looks a great idea - someday soon. But first I shall have to go shopping, again. The real cost of this is much more than a single cable, of course - for I have to travel there and back again. So, it might add another 20 % to the cost of the device, just to get it working. That is unfair on every customer they sell to.

So, this is a message to every computer store in Malaysia: please get to KNOW what you are selling to your customers before you sell it. Why not actually open the box and look into it? It wouldn't take a minute, but would save your customers much wasted time and money.

The same message applies, of course, to computer stores in other countries. It is just that I have only experienced this, personally, in Malaysia. I would rather not be so inconvenienced again. So, stores, get checking!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A creative future

It is interesting to contrast Singapore and Malaysia. These two nations, once one, have taken a different path - and whilst many would think that Singapore is the more "successful" of the two, I am not at all sure that this will always be so. After all, it is not so great a secret that many of the "talents" that make Singapore a success actually come from Malaysia. The contribution of Singapore's homegrown talents is not as great, in many ways, as it should be. If the contribution of all foreigners, of all kinds, is added up, that makes up a great deal of Singapore's "success".

Anyway, the way things are now, is not, necessarily, the way it will always be. I read, today, something that suggests that Malaysia may have a brighter future than its neighbour, in decades to come. It is all a matter of what the education systems want to achieve. Singapore is presently focussed on glistening A grade students: only those with straight As are approved of. Yet, it doesn't take much observation of these youngsters (whom I have had much time to observe in my time as a teacher), to note something very much lacking in them: creativity. The way they are taught leads them to shine in exams, but to be utterly unable to think of anything new. In creative terms, almost all of Singapore's star students are "dead wood"...blockheads if you like. The one thing they never learned how to do was to think for themselves.

Malaysia has recently expressed the wish to do something different. Not for them the focus on "straight As" or rigid educational atmospheres where conformity is sought as a prime objective. No. Malaysia is going to adopt a mellower kind of education, one that encourages individuality, allows for creativity and doesn't demand perfect grades from all, as a basic requirement. What they are seeking is an education system which will allow creativity to grow and genius to be born. The whole PUBLIC education system is going to move away from being focussed on exams - as Singapore's is - and focus instead on nurturing creative young minds. (This announcement was made by the Deputy Prime Minister/Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in the nation's newspapers including the New Straits Times - see below).

Now, if this change can be achieved - and I do wonder at how teachers who were themselves brought up with rigidity and conformity can be expected to give something different to their students - then Malaysia will soon become a very interesting place indeed. If the promise of this idea is kept, Malaysia will become a very special place indeed: it will produce generations of creative young minds, able to change the world, with their ideas. I hope they succeed. It would be refreshing, indeed, to be in a country focussed on creativity and not "grades". It is good to see that Malaysia realizes which, of the two ideals, is the more important.

Note: Source for the above news: New Straits Times, page 1 and page 6, several articles, 24th February 2010.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

On being determined.

Tiarnan is small, but mighty - not in strength, but in heart. (Though he is pretty strong, too.)

Yesterday, Tiarnan's mother, Syahidah, wanted to get him to do something, so she asked him to come to her.

He stiffened a little at her words and looked up at her, his little brow furrowed: "I am on a MISSION!", he said, emphatically, making it clear that he wasn't going to join her.

"Oh.", she replied, somewhat taken aback. "Carry on, then."

"Thank you.", he said, relaxing and turning back to his "mission" - making a painting.

It was an instructive moment in the life of Tiarnan. He is a little boy who sets his mind to something, then doggedly pursues it, until it is done. I think this is a very helpful quality and I hope to see it endure through his life. Should he retain this gift of personality, I can see him overcoming any number of challenges, to meet his goals. Today, he overcame the will of his mother, so as to create what was in his mind's eye. She was pleased to see his strength of will and not in the least put out, that he had refused her. It is a good sign that he should be so determined. Long may he continue to be.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)