What do you want to be when you grow up?

A few days ago, Tiarnan, four, looked seriously at his mother. There was a question in his eyes.

"What do you want to be when you grow up, Mummy?"

She could have laughed, but she didn't. The surprise of the question, silenced her, for a moment. Tiarnan leapt into that moment.

"Will you be my mummy?"

"Yes, Tiarnan.", she smiled, the kind of smile that one is generally unaware of - one made whilst focussed on something else: in this case, Tiarnan himself.

"What do you want to be Tiarnan, when you grow up?" she said, not answering his question, but posing her own.

"Carnage!", he said, immediately imagining himself as this powerful superhero - supervillain, actually.

She laughed, because little Tiarnan is about as far as one could imagine from the fearsome Carnage, character. He is Spiderman's most powerful adversary, and has greater strength and reflexes than Spiderman, though without his enhanced senses.

Syahidah didn't know how to take Tiarnan's question, which is why she didn't really answer it, for him. Was it because Tiarnan thinks she looks very young? Is it because she is much smaller than his Daddy, so he might think that she has some "growing up" to do? She didn't know - and has yet to find out. Perhaps that will be the tale of another post.

(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.)

Yahoo Search downgrades service.

Yahoo Search has downgraded its service. Oddly, for a tech company, it has, instead of forever advancing its offering, to entice new customers, and keep old ones, decided to reduce its standard search offering, to all.

Until a few days ago, Yahoo Search offered a very useful service, to anyone who used its search box: any search term would evoke an offering to "explore related concepts". This was, I thought, a marvellous tool. Entering anyone's name, for instance, would instantly suggest to you, other matters that this person is somehow related to, through being mentioned in those contexts on the internet. It was very useful for getting an overall picture of anyone or anything. Now, however, Yahoo Search has decided that there are two types of people: the famous ones, and the "little people" who must be sidelined and ignored, like the uninteresting, pointless people they are - or at least Yahoo Search thinks they are.

You are free to check your name, in Yahoo Search, if you wish. However, unless you are a globally famous person, you will, at most, just receive the list on the left hand side of common searches related to you. There will be no suggestion, any longer, of "related concepts" to explore.

I find this a puzzling decision by Yahoo Search. You see, the internet is eminently suited to compiling interesting information on everything - and that means even relatively obscure matters - and not just the "blockbuster" topics. In redefining what its computers will now look for related concepts, to, Yahoo Search, is making it clear that it considers anyone or anything less than a "blockbuster" topic, as unimportant, and inconsequential. This is a key strategic error and shows that Yahoo Search fails to understand the realities of the modern world. You see the number of non-blockbuster topics and not so famous people is SO inordinately greater than the blockbuster topics and the globally famous people, that the total interest and search volume in the more "minor" topics will, in aggregate, be much greater than that of the blockbuster topics. Thus, Yahoo Search is closing access to its searchers, to the information that many of them actually want. It is making the mistake of thinking in an old paradigm.

Perhaps it is costly to devote the necessary computer resources to defining related concepts for everything...but I think that the true cost is neglibible compared to the additional traffic I am fairly sure this service has been drawing to Yahoo Search. Yahoo must weigh against that computing cost, the loss of regular searchers that will develop as people come to realize that they have downgraded their service.

So, Yahoo, if you ever read this blog: why not put back your "explore related concepts" search service, for ALL searches, and not just very famous people. Frankly, very famous people are not as interesting, anyway, as somewhat less famous people, for the simple reason that information is more accessible for the most famous anyway. It is the somewhat less famous, but interesting, people, that we need search engines to find out more about for us. So, too, for the more obscure topics in life and learning.

Then again, there is another angle. Yahoo Search has unwittingly insulted the hundreds of millions of surfers, whose names used to summon related concepts, but who now do not. Yahoo Search has made it clear that it considers these hundreds of millions of people, unimportant - and beneath acknowledgement. Perhaps, in response, some of these people - which may number in millions - may decide that other search engines, serve their needs better and show more respect, by being less divisive and exclusive.

So, come on, Yahoo Search: be fair to all people and concepts, not just the famous. The best search service would be the one that offered the most "related concepts" type responses...because that makes search easiest. You used to offer such a service...so why not offer it again? I think you will find that people actually liked the service - and valued it.

(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.)

Tiarnan's on Father's Day.

This morning, my youngest son, Tiarnan, four, and his mother were having a little chat about what to do for Father's Day.

Syahidah looked into Tiarnan's engaging eyes and asked: "Would you like to go and see a film with Daddy? What film would you like to see?"

"That's lame, mummy.", Tiarnan began, disappointed somewhat in her suggestion.

Syahidah was rather surprised at this.

"It's Daddy's day. Daddy should see a film for Daddy, not for me."

Her surprise changed into something even more surprising: she was impressed. Tiarnan had actually stepped out of his own world, into Daddy's and seen that, to Daddy, a film Tiarnan might choose, might not be ideal. He was trying to view the world from his father's perspective, and deciding that his mummy's proposal just wouldn't be what Daddy really wanted.

I was touched, too, when I heard this tale retold. You see, in a way, Tiarnan gave me a special gift, when he turned down his mother's idea. He showed me that he understood Daddy's world. He told me that he was able to put aside his own needs and desires and try to work out what mine might be. I thought his response curiously mature for such a little boy.

Thank you, Tiarnan, for your insight - and for caring about what Daddy might really want. That made my Father's Day, in an unexpected way. Thanks, too, to Ainan, Fintan and Syahidah, for a heartwarming day.

Happy Father's Day, all.

(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.)

Terry Pratchett on how to help someone, in life.

Lao Tzu, the supposed founder of Taoism, was, I hear, the coiner of the proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Whether it is truly an ancient Chinese proverb, I do not know, since, sometimes, the origins of such things are difficult to discern, so long after the events, however, that doesn't change the fact that there is a certain wisdom in these words, one which, being familiar, we all take for granted. Of relevance here, is that some doubt that Lao Tzu was even a real person, which, too, makes his possibility of authorship rather uncertain!(see http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Lao_Tzu.aspx)

Terry Pratchett, the fantasy author, whose existence is not in question, had his own take on this ancient understanding. He wrote, once:

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."

That made me laugh. Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld books, is a man of some wit, at his best. It is sad that he now has Alzheimer's disease, though he is still relatively young, at just 62. I wish him well on the years, ahead, and I hope that the progress of his illness is slow enough to permit him to write a few more books yet.

(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.)