Daily Kos and me.

The Daily Kos, is one of the world's most successful blogs. It has, according to Wikipedia, about 600,000 unique visitors, per day. That is about 2,000 times more than I get, here. The question is: why?

Well, when I look at Daily Kos - as I have now just glanced at it, for a few minutes - I am struck by what Daily Kos is not. It is not particularly well-written, for instance. No sentences leap out at me, as being fashioned with great craft. No. The well-written phrase is not something its readers appreciate. They are there for other things. The Daily Kos is not a speciality blog, like mine: the Daily Kos is an American political blog for liberal "progressive" thinking. They have many writers, not just one (it is not all written by the eponymous "Kos" Markos Moulitsas). They attract writers of some political renown, to contribute. Thus, part of their secret is that each of their writers has a built in audience, of followers and appreciators. Thus, the Daily Kos is a collaborative effort, with a cumulative audience built up of all of its contributing writers, often political types.

The Daily Kos is also rather mainstream in what it pays attention to. Its subject matter seems to be whatever is very much in the news at the time. In this way, Daily Kos is less unique than my blog. My own blog has its own concerns and its own take on the world. The Daily Kos is concerned about whatever everyone else is concerned about - with a liberal spin on it. That, basically is about it, for subject matter.

Then again, there is the presentational style of the Daily Kos. Boxes are used to bring things to reader's attention - and bullet points for easy reading. I get the impression that it is written for people who lack the ability to read text, in the manner of their forefathers. It is for an impatient generation, not given to attending to extended thought. Everything is broken down into bite size pieces. It is, therefore, somewhat of a "liberal light" in terms of presentation. Nothing is too difficult to read, or think about.

Perhaps, therefore, the incredible success of Daily Kos, reflects the ordinariness of the typical reader, these days. The modern reader, is not a deep thinker, doesn't like difficult text, is not taken by well written words, but is more interested in easily digestible snippets, that confirm their world view.

The simple reason, therefore, that the Daily Kos has 2,000 times as many readers as I have, is that my aims are higher, in some ways. I seek to write better. I seek to look at things, that others may not. I seek to bring an individual, rather than a generic perspective to things. I also have a very specialized primary topic.

It should, therefore, be no surprise that I have so many fewer readers than Daily Kos. This is so, because there are so many fewer readers who want to read anything not written in bullet points, and penned for the masses, as Daily Kos, is.

Whilst it would be good to have a Daily Kos sized audience, it would only be so, if what I wrote were meaningful for them. By this I mean, that I am happy with the size of the audience I have if it accurately reflects the proportion of people who are naturally drawn to what I write about. Only if my audience is significantly smaller than its natural niche, would I be unhappy about it. The question is: how big is the natural niche of my blog?

I have no idea...and in some way, there is no way of telling. Only if the blog audience grew for a long time, then plateaued, would I have, perhaps, a clue as to the size of that natural niche. Perhaps, in fact, that niche is already what I fully occupy. Yet, I suspect not. I think if you enjoy this blog and told others about it, its "niche" would seem to grow larger. It is all a question of word-of-mouth.

There is a lesson in the success of the Daily Kos, however. The less unique, the less original, the less well-defined a blog is - that is, the more mainstream it is in its subject, style and thinking - the larger the audience will be. This is quite simply because if you aim to be average, in any way, you will find a lot more people who like it - because they can identify with it. The lesson from my blog, is that if you go the other way, towards being different, your natural niche will shrink, because fewer people find it a good fit to them.

Yet, the truth be known, I would rather be me, in a small niche, than to be generic, with a Daily Kos sized audience. Perhaps, over time, more people can get to hear about my blog and come to enjoy reading it - but I am not going to change and do a "Daily Kos" just to get a large audience.

If you have to change yourself, to find a readership, then those readers are not worth finding - because you will have lost yourself in the process. So, I will write on, as I have been...and let Daily Kos, be Daily Kos, without ever worrying that their audience is somewhat larger than my own!

Anyway, Time magazine in 2009, listed the Daily Kos as one of the world's most over-rated blogs. I note that they didn't list me, as being one of them. So, perhaps, I am not the only one to have noticed the essential shallowness of the Daily Kos proposition...

I will never be the Daily Kos...but I shall ever be the Daily Cawley - and that is good enough for me - and a niche audience of "yous".

I am happy with that. I hope you are, too.

(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.)

Quotations of Valentine Cawley.

At various times and places, my words have been quoted, by other people. Sometimes, it is in a newspaper, sometimes in a forum, or elsewhere on the internet. It was a surprise to me, when people began to quote me,(the first time I ever noticed was the quote on examinations, below, in a forum). Then, however, I understood that something I had written or said, had made an impression on people, and so they wished to relay that quote to others.

Sometimes, I know I have been quoted because a searcher arrives on my blog, with an exact quote from me as their search term. In such cases, I assume that I have been quoted by a student writing an essay, or some other such context. Sometimes these quotes are surprisingly long - several lines - which can only be from reading it elsewhere, perhaps lifted and placed in an essay.

The quotation incidents that I have seen, have credited my words to me. However, the ones involving searchers off the net with quotes in their search are most probably uncredited quotes, since they never use my name in the quote search.

So, I have mixed feelings about the quoting. The credited ones are OK and I am happy to see that - but the uncredited ones are, basically, plagiarism. Luckily, the internet is my friend in this respect, since any Professor who checks one of my lifted quotes on the net, will find the original source material - and the true author.

I have listed below some of the quotes that I have come across replicated elsewhere, of my own work. I will add to this list as I note others. If you see any quotes, elsewhere, please let me know in the comment section below, since I am interested tracking the usage of quotations of my writing. It is interesting to see when and where they are used.

Apologies for the title for this blog post. I know it sounds egoistic but actually it is just a title for the search engines, to make this post easy to find. Were it unnecessary to flag it for search engines, I would have chosen something much more modest and discrete to label it. I hope you can understand.

"Being a graduate doesn't mean you are smart, it means that someone else is stupid enough to give you a degree." October 31 2008

“Whenever a teacher takes a stand against plagiarism, the entire school should stand behind him or her.” I wrote this in two newspapers in Malaysia, on the subject of plagiarism, recently.

"Education" might as well be spelt "e-r-a-d-i-c-a-t-i-o-n", where creativity is concerned."

“The role of a family, is to make a world that has never been and never will be again, to sustain people who have never been and never will be again. A family is a pocket universe, and no less important than the universe itself, for being smaller.”

“An examination is all about testing you on someone else's thoughts. Many children become expert on other people's thoughts - but have none of their own. In some way, focusing too much on what other people have thought and written in books seems to inhibit the development of the ability to have your own.”

“Jade Goody is worthy because she is known, but she is not known because she is worthy.” (March 12, 2009) This remark made it to a leading Danish daily newspaper, which translated it into Danish, for its readers and referred to me as "The commentator, Valentine Cawley said...". Their journalist had been reading my blog, in research for his article.

“Giftedness is not a measure of wealth - it is a measure of mind - and great minds may emerge in the most unpromising of circumstances.” (August 7, 2007)

“I have thought of a good quote about modesty, but I think I will keep it to myself.” Quoted in an interview with Time Out magazine, in London, in November 1994.

“A good gentleman never reveals his tailor.” Quoted in The Observer newspaper, UK, November 1994, in reply to a journalist asking who had made Valentine’s 18th century clothes. (This may have been: "A true gentleman never reveals his tailor" - it is a long time now since I first said it.)

At the time of writing, I do not know whether the tendency to quote me will remain sporadic - as it now is - or whether it will gather momentum. I suppose that all depends on whether a subset of people find the remarks of interest enough to let others know about them.

Regarding the "good gentleman" quote above. That was plagiarized by an advertising director in London by the name of Edmundo Arigita. His girlfriend expressed surprise, when she overheard me reflecting on the fact that my quote had been published in the newspaper. She said to her boyfriend, Edmundo: "So THAT is where that came from." Clearly, he had been using the remark - and since he makes adverts for a living, I do wonder whether he stole it for one of them. He tried to shrug it off by saying: "Lots of people say that." Err...no. They didn't say it before I did...which is why the journalist felt it worthy of quoting me, in the Observer newspaper.

So, sometimes, the quoting is unattributed - as in, theft.

If you come across any quotes of my writing, or spoken word, attributed or unattributed, please let me know.

Thanks.

Simon Hughes at Cambridge University.

Simon Hughes has been appointed Deputy to Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrat party, at party level. I find this interesting because it awoke my sole personal memory of Simon Hughes, from long ago, at Cambridge University.

I had attended a talk at which the then leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown was speaking. Along with him, was Simon Hughes.

Now, a friend of mine had been unable to attend the talk, but, hearing that I was going, he asked me to ask a question for him.

"Mr. Ashdown," I began, after the talk, "I have a question by proxy for you."
At that point, Simon Hughes burst out with a mocking laugh, perhaps even a scornful one. "A question by PROXY," he echoed.

The laugh was clearly intended to be at my expense.

Paddy Ashdown immediately cast a dark, cutting glance that clearly told him to shut up.

Paddy Ashdown, now Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, duly answered my friend's question.

From that moment forth, however, I never really had a high opinion of Simon Hughes, of his personality (rude), his intelligence (not evident), his wisdom (lacking), his self-awareness (incomplete). Any politician who can actually laugh AT a potential voter, who is asking a serious question, can only be described as a bit of a self-destructive idiot. Now, he is Deputy to Nick Clegg. I only hope that, since then, he has grown up and acquired some respect for others. If not, then he is a very poor and unwise choice for Deputy, in my view. Perhaps Nick Clegg does not know this man's limitations as much as he should. It will be interesting to see if he turns out to have been a good choice, or not.

(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

How to make a Superhero.

Not infrequently, we make Superheroes, in our household. They are usually made out of Tiarnan and Fintan.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, four, came to me with a pumpkin costume partially on: it was open at the back. He turned his back towards me and waited. I duly took the costume off him, as I thought he required, since I had seen him wearing it earlier.

He turned around, then, and looked up at me, very patiently and said: "Dad: I want to wear it." He wasn't annoyed. He was, however, trying to explain what he wanted very carefully to me.

So, I put the costume on him. There: one fat pumpkin.

"I am VERY strong in this.", he declared to me, confidently, his little body already swelling with this phantom strength.

Then he rushed off.

I found myself smiling in his wake, looking at where he had been and thinking of the empowered expression he had had on his face, as he had spoken of his new found strength. He actually felt that strength it seemed.

In another room, in the house, I soon heard the sounds of play fighting. I call it play fighting, because they don't really hit each other properly...they hold back. Or at least Fintan does. (He is six and very strong - and knows it.)

I walked quietly to a vantage from which I could see them, at play.

Tiarnan was in his own world, possessed by the character of this "Pumpkin man". He was swinging his arms wildly and, each time they struck Fintan, they seemed to have great impact, for Fintan was knocked all over the place by them.

"I am SO strong!", called out little Tiarnan, who, if the truth be known, was too small to be strong, at all.

Tiarnan knocked Fintan to the floor. This is a bit like you, or I, knocking Mike Tyson to the floor: not likely.

Fintan looked up at me then, some five metres away, and gave me a conspiratorial wink.

No wonder Tiarnan thought he was so strong in that costume. Fintan was duly playing along, to make it seem so.

How sweet of Fintan, to care so much about his little brother, that he confirmed his imaginative world for him, entered it, and became what Tiarnan needed to complete his inner vision.

Fintan is like that. He typically understands others and knows just how to make them happy, therefore. In that moment, he was making Tiarnan happy - and, I thought, quite enjoying the charade that was required.

I left them to it.

So, you see, in our household, we regularly make Superheroes...very small ones, but no less potent for that.

Anyway, be careful when you see "Pumpkin man". He may be small, but he is VERY strong, indeed.

(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.)

IMDB starmeter popularity changes.

IMDB Starmeter measures the degree of interest, in any person on its database, by the number of visitors each entry receives. By this measure, something strange has happened in the last week.

Today, my IMDB meter says it is "down 4%" on last week. Ainan's IMDB starmeter, is "up 7%" and my wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley's IMDB starmeter is "up 88%". Now, I must confess I don't understand how such a strange set of popularity changes could have occurred: what event, unknown to us, in the world, has caused Syahidah's popularity to rocket...but that of her husband and son to remain essentially unchanged? The thing is, I know of nothing, in which only Syahidah would have been mentioned, that has happened in the last week.

So, even though IMDB reveals changes in popularity, it doesn't, necessarily identify the reasons for those changes. In the last week, something has happened, to make large numbers of people - almost twice the previous week's tally - to check Syahidah's IMDB page. What could it be? What has focussed attention on her, but not on her son, or her husband?

I have no idea. If you do, please let me know in the comments below, what unknown event has caused this change. It must be something that acts differently on each of us.

I ask, for one reason: usually I can guess the causes of changes of IMDB starmeter rankings - for I am usually aware of some corresponding event, be it news article or tv show. This week, however, I have no idea: so do let me know, if you do.

Thanks.

(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.)

Helen Thomas, Israel, and freedom of speech.

Helen Thomas has recently shown us the limits of free speech in the United States. Indeed, it seems that there is no real freedom of speech in the modern United States.

Helen Thomas is a well-known journalist in the US. She has had, I understand, a stellar career over the last five decades, starting out at UPI, leading to the position of President of the White House Correspondents' Association and ultimately working with Hearst newspapers. Oddly, however, the political class of America think her entire career, her skill and her experience are worth less than a few remarks about Israel.

Helen Thomas recently called for Israel to "get the hell out of Palestine"...and to go back to their former homes in Germany and Poland. Apparently, this was regarded as "offensive" enough by America's, oops I mean Israel's American politicians (by which I mean that Israel seems to own the heart of many American politicians), for calls decrying Thomas to be heard on the left and right, in US politics.

The result? Helen Thomas resigned, after five faithful decades of coverage.

Think about what this situation means for the United States. A journalist has exercised her supposedly constitutional right to freedom of speech and spoken out against Israel. The consequence has been that politicians from both left and right, have denounced her and she has been forced to resign from her job, after fifty years, of dedicated service.

What does this mean? It means that, in truth, there is no freedom of speech in the United States. In the USA you are only notionally free to speak, because if you do, there will be consequences. Thus, the idea of freedom of speech in the US, is a lie. It is a fraud on the public. To test the truth of this, just pick a favoured group – for instance, the Jews, who have long been favoured in the USA – and speak out against them, even in a mildly critical manner. You will soon be out of a job, out of a life and out of a nation. You will become a pariah…for what? For exercising your “right” to “freedom of speech”.

Israel is, at times, bad. I mean this is in the pure sense of good and evil. It was evil of them to board the aid ship to Gaza and kill 9 human rights activists, five of whom were shot in the head, and some had multiple other gunshot wounds. There is just no construing this as a “good” act. Morality was definitely not on the side of Israel in that particular encounter. The question is: was this an uncharacteristic error, a slip that doesn’t truly describe the nation’s core? Unfortunately, no. A quick look at the history of Israel shows that bombing, shooting and crushing by tanks, is the habitual mode of Israel with respect to its neighbours. Israel, that nation founded by a terrorized people, has a long history of terrorizing people. Israel doesn’t make a good, friendly neighbour. It makes an angry, aggressive, absurdly and unpredictably violent neighbour. Israel is a nation that prefers the well-aimed bomb, to a well phrased word. It is a nation, that has chosen to subdue its neighbours in a kind of slow-motion, preemptive war, so that those neighbours will never think of going to war with it.

Yet, there are other ways. A nation, just like an individual, can choose to make friends or make enemies. Israel believes that it is safer to make enemies – and kill enough of them, to get the message across. This is, however, no way to build, maintain or secure a nation. Israel has chosen a shortcut to extinction, as history will, one day, tell.

For now, however, Israel exists, but chooses not to co-exist, with its neighbours. It is constantly attacking them and murdering thousands of people. Yet, the world, in particular, the US, stands by and says nothing. It says nothing because, after all, the people murdered are Muslims and, in the eyes of those who watch in unprotesting silence, Muslims are not truly people, are they? So, it doesn’t matter if Israel kills them by the thousand, does it?

The only way to peace in this world, is if the death of any person, of any religion, of any race, of any nation, is held to be of equal value. The only way to peace in this world is if this universal life, is held to be infinitely precious. All men are infinitely important and no man should be killed by another, for any reason – and especially not for a political end. For, if this is done, it is the end of politics and the beginning of darkness.

I puzzle, greatly, that Israel, founded by a people who experienced mass murder, should become a people who murder the masses, of their neighbours, by the thousand, when they need to send a message that cannot fail to be understood. How is it that a people with such a history of persecution, should become the persecutors? It seems clear that the much vaunted Jewish intellect is a mirage, for it has not been turned to reflect, upon itself, by the Jewish people, as a whole. They have not come to see, that they are becoming, what they once feared. Is there not a single mirror in Tel Aviv, to show its leaders, just what they have become?

The truth of a man, and of a nation, is shown, not by its words, not by its friends, but by its deeds. The truth of Israel, has recently been declared to the world. In murdering the human rights activists on the Mavi Marmara, they have shown themselves to be indistinguishable from pirates. So, why aren’t they treated like pirates, by the US? Why do American politicians speak out in their defense, despite their murderous crimes?

Let us look at what Helen Thomas was saying. “Get the hell out of Palestine”, she said. Well, who in the world, who is not a Jew, or influenced by them, could possibly argue with that? The Palestinian people are besieged, impoverished, bombed, shot, crushed, starved. They are a people under prolonged torture. Who could do otherwise than feel sympathetic towards their plight? Yes, Israel and Palestine may have their differences, but there are other answers than the one they have chosen. Peace can always be sought, even in the midst of total war – so why not seek it, then, in the midst of their much lesser enmity?

She also urged the Jews to return to Germany and Poland. Well, think about what she is saying, here. She is making it clear that she does not think the Jews should have a state in the Middle East. The question is: is she right to think so? Ask yourself this: has the presence of the Jews in the Middle East brought peace or war? Has anyone suffered because of it? Have people died? Have they been bombed, shot, crushed?

What Helen Thomas seems to have been saying is that were the Jews to leave the Middle East, there would be peace there – and she is, of course, right. Were there no Israeli state, there would be peace in the Middle East. The existence of Israel is the direct cause of all the troubles in the Middle East. Were the Jews to leave, therefore, there would be peace, at last.

She isn’t wrong. She might have expressed herself in a way which upset people – because it seems intolerant – but she is right in her underlying reasoning.

Helen Thomas has lost her job because she spoke the truth, as she saw it, of the Jewish situation. She spoke the truth in a land that, in reality, does not want people to speak the truth. “Freedom of speech” is a trap for the unwary. You see, if you use your “freedom” you will be ensnared by your own words and find them used against you. In America, nobody is truly free, anymore, for once free speech, now has a price: the freedom to live as you once did, before you spoke. So, it is with Helen Thomas. She is no longer free to pursue her career, in the way she had hoped, simply because she expressed her views.

It is ironic, actually. You see, Israel and America are not so different from each other. In Israel, or at least, near it, you might be murdered for a difference of belief; in America, you might be persecuted for a difference of opinion. In both, a difference in inner life, once expressed, is enough to bring punishment upon you.

Perhaps that is why the American politicians spoke out so fervently against Helen Thomas: because they feel akin to Israel. They both love to persecute those who dare assert a different view. They both, in fact, enforce a mental conformism, in different ways, but much to the same end: to ensure that their view, their beliefs and their way of life, should prevail, no matter what the cost to any alternatives.

Personally, I wish that all parties would seek peaceful means to resolve their differences. Let the deaths on the Mavi Marmara be the last that Israel inflicts on its neighbours. So, too, let those neighbours leave Israel in peace. Were both sides to choose this way forward, the world, as a whole, would be much safer for it.

However, the sad truth is that Israel's recent murder of human rights activists, will inspire much hate and probable retaliation against Israel, for many years to come. So, the cycle will go on - fueled by Israel's casual disregard for non-Jewish life. If only both sides could come to value each human life as infinitely precious, then this war, in all but name, would come to an end, in lasting peace.

(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.)

The lifecycle of Transformers robots.

Tiarnan, four, is very much enamoured of the Transformers. He sees in them, an exciting world of super"human" heroes and is more than a little impressed, in his boyish way. Today, he said something which reminded me how important it is to just let children see the world, as a child naturally does: there is so much more charm in it, that way.

At the dinner table, Tiarnan explained to me about the Transformers robots.

"Bumblebee is this big.", he showed, spacing the fingers of his left hand, a few inches apart - the few inches he could manage with one hand.

"...and Devastator is THIS big." He reached up high with his left arm, though Tiarnan is fond of using both, when it pleases him.

Then he said to me as if he were revealing either a great secret, or something very important: "...and Devastator's baby, would be this big.", he said holding the fingers of his right hand, just an inch or so apart, next to his still left hand (representing Bumblebee).

The idea of a robot having a baby, was just so sweet, that a feeling of tenderness, for Tiarnan and his world view, swept over me.

"The Devastator baby can still suck things.", he confided.

For those who have not seen the adult Devastator at work, it sucks everything into itself like a black hole, destroying them. So, Tiarnan's baby Devastator is not quite the cute little suckling baby, one might imagine, but a rather dangerous little beastie.

A few minutes later, Tiarnan got down onto the floor to crawl around, in a rather mechanical way, his lips open to suck in the world.

Now, I know just what a "Devastator baby", should look like, and how it should behave!

I could, of course, have told Tiarnan how robots are made. I could have told him that, whilst modern robots are generally made in factories, I suppose it is possible that a robot could make a copy of itself - indeed, a Von Neumann machine is just that - a self-replicating robot. So, whilst not presently practical, it was possible that future robots could do as Tiarnan had imagined: reproduce themselves. I could have told him, as some parents might, that "That's impossible! Robots don't have babies!" - but, do you know what? That would have been cruel and counter-productive and would have punctured his wonderful imaginative world. It is much better to sit back, enjoy and admire whatever he imagines is the case. There is time enough for dull reality to seep into his brain - probably shortly after he goes to school. Right now, however, there is nothing better for him than a bit of imaginative play.

Besides, I probably enjoy it more than he does!

Thank you, Tiarnan, for making me smile, without even knowing how you are doing so.

(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/

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