Japanese earthquakes and nuclear disasters

Japan is a nuclear bomb that ticks away, unbeknownst to the world. I say this because of a peculiar and rather dumb circumstance. Japan, one of the most seismically active places in the world, is also home to one of the greatest densities of nuclear power stations. That situation strikes me as not particularly bright or foresighted. In fact, in my title I was going to say “nuclear accident”, but decided against it, because there is nothing accidental about nuclear “accidents” in a nation so prone to earthquakes that actually builds nuclear reactors. In a very real way, Japan is asking for nuclear meltdowns on its soil.

In the wake of the Japanese earthquake on Friday, 10 out of 54 of Japan’s nuclear power stations, have been shut down. One of them, Fukushima Daiichi Plant Unit 1 is showing radiation levels in its control room of 1,000 times normal. Some reactors are running hot, because of failures of their cooling systems, whose power generators have been knocked out by the tsunami. Should emergency cooling efforts fail, these reactors could heat up so much, that they meltdown, releasing vast amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding territory. Indeed, Japan could face multiple Chernobyls, at once, if things go badly.

Japan planned for earthquakes, by building its nuclear plants on solid bedrock. Clearly, however, this precaution is not enough and has given a false sense of security.

Now, 30 per cent of Japan’s electricity comes from nuclear power. That percentage should be zero. It is irresponsible of Japan to build nuclear power stations when their nation is so seismically active. Not only that, but Japan is endangering much of Asia, with its nuclear policy. Should any of its reactors actually meltdown, radiation could be spread far afield, just as it was with Chernobyl. The only thing between the world and disaster, will be the nuclear reactor’s containment vessel: will it hold? There is no knowing.

It seems to me that a nation like Japan, so endangered by earthquakes, should not be permitted to build nuclear reactors of the conventional fission variety. Only in some future time, when fusion reactors become possible (which cannot meltdown), should they be allowed to have nuclear reactors. Japan may consider the implementation of nuclear power a sovereign decision, but it is one with potential effects on many other countries. So, it would seem reasonable, and foresighted, for the international community to require Japan not to build nuclear reactors, and to decommission those it has. Japan will have to find other ways to make electricity – or safer designs of nuclear reactor, that cannot meltdown, should those be possible.

The Japanese earthquake and its consequent nuclear problems is a stark reminder that a nation has not only a responsibility to its citizens, but to the world outside its borders. Japan, in having nuclear reactors, in an earthquake zone, is not fulfilling those responsibilities. I think it is time to have a word with Japan about its nuclear power generation. If none of the reactors melts down this time, nothing might be done. Yet, a lucky escape is not something that can be expected every time an earthquake strikes. Japan should be put on notice that its nuclear power facilities are a danger to the world, and should be phased out, in favour of safer alternatives. If they do wish to have nuclear power, I understand that pebble bed reactors are a safer design – so that might be considered. Whatever is decided, it should be done, immediately, for one thing is sure: one day, Japan will have a nuclear meltdown, if it insists on maintaining conventional fissile reactors, in its earthquake prone borders.

After all the clearing up is done and the losses in people and infrastructure totaled, it will be time to prepare for the next earthquake – and that means making Japan’s nuclear power programme either a whole lot safer – with new designs of plant – or abandoning it altogether.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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.)

Why some never learn.

I saw something interesting at the ICSSH 2011 conference in Singapore.

It was at the end of the day, which had been filled with lectures of many academics. We had been having a spirited discussion of one lecturer’s work, in a rather informal way, since few of us were left. A fairly elderly man was sitting at the back, observing us. Suddenly, he piped up: “Hello...”, he began, a little unsure of himself.

“Yes.” We said, some with their tongues, others with their eyes.

“If you have time, do you think you can listen to my work?”

It was late and, to be frank, most of us wanted to go home, but we were polite with our fellow academic.

“I gave two presentations...but no-one said anything.”, he explained, a little mystified, “I just wondered if you could give me some feedback.”

The more outspoken of us, an academic from Brazil, nodded. “Five minutes...I am running late.”
So it was that we listened to his presentation.

It was a strange lecture. It had a lot of words, but seemed to have little meaning. What he was trying to do seemed elusive and not in any way clearly attained by what he presented. There was, perhaps, a decent idea in there somewhere, but he had not expressed it clearly enough.

What was interesting was the way he reacted to feedback. The Brazilian academic was direct, but polite enough. He pointed out that it wasn’t clear what was meant by “work habits”, because the type of work hadn’t been defined. (The lecture was aspiring to improve work habits).

Our academic friend fairly blew up. He defended his existing position and presentation vigorously. It was, in fact, quite funny...because he had invited feedback, but then refused to accept its validity when it came.

I found myself winking at a fellow colleague, as we watched the exchange with some amusement.
In about ten minutes of discussion, instead of listening to the feedback he was receiving, he defended everything about the way he had done things. Finally, he broke away from the Brazilian and turned to me and asked me what I thought. “I agree with him. You have written a lot of words, but it is not clear what you mean. It would be better to use short sentences, and perhaps some graphics to present your ideas.”

He went very quiet then and had nothing to say in return. He just didn’t know what to do when confronted not with one person pointing to problems in his presentation, but two. I think, in asking me, he had hoped for a different answer. He had been seeking confirmation of his own view, so that he might dismiss the first critic. I gave him no such ammunition. Perhaps, he was tired to argue in his own defence. He didn’t say anything more, so I don’t know if he finally accepted the feedback. I only know that he no longer had the spirit to defend himself further.

I found the whole exchange illuminating. Quite clearly, he was a man who hadn’t really been listening to the feedback he had received in his life, about his presentation style. Either that, or no-one had had the heart to tell him, that his work just didn’t work. I felt that he was stuck in a position of defending his work against all criticism, instead of really seeing it for what it was, and deciding to work on its flaws, to the betterment of all future work. He hadn’t yet reached a true understanding of his own output – largely, I think, because he refused to accept the validity of the viewpoints of others, if they were critical. He was being selective. I am sure that he would accept and believe any positive comment about his work. Indeed, something in him seemed to expect it. Yet, the outraged way in which he defended the way he had done things, was not promising. He was strongly emotionally attached to his erroneous approach. He just couldn’t let himself see that what he was doing was ineffective.

To my mind, he was a man who couldn’t learn to see himself truly. He had a self-image and an image of his work, that pleased him. However, they were not real. Everyone else looking at the same work, would disagree with him. In a way, I suppose it could be said that he was deluded about himself and his work. He saw effectiveness, where others saw emptiness and even folly. Yet, his own personal beliefs about himself and his work, were so essential to him, that he could not let them be corrected by any external voice – no matter how gentle (as mine was...I could have been much more blunt about work that was, basically, rubbish.)

In a way, the saddest thing about this was his age. He must have been in his late fifties at least – yet still he had not learnt to see himself or his work, truly. He had lived a life of personal delusion on the issue of quality of output, until the very day we had met him – or at least, it seemed so, from his behaviour.

I hope he reflected on what he had been told. I hope he went away, and sat down with his paper and began to draft it again. I hope he learnt something from our feedback. Yet, I can’t help but feel that he is likely not to have done so.

The question is: is it better to live with a personal delusion like his, about work that is really poor – or is it better to be able to see its flaws and then strive to improve them? I suppose it all depends on the strength of one’s ego. If one is strong enough, the truth is better to be confronted. However, if one is weak, perhaps mentally vulnerable, maybe the delusion is actually healthier and safer.

I don’t know the man in question well enough, but I feel, perhaps, that he might not be strong enough to face the truth of his work. Perhaps that is why he has done so for so long.

Even if he didn’t learn anything by our meeting, I did – and that is worthwhile in itself. To my mind, he provides a strong example of a man whose self-image is very different from his externally observed reality. So, funnily enough, in trying to teach him something, perhaps I taught myself something instead. At least, one of us was learning.

NOTE: It is possible that the man's presentation was a poor reflection of his actual paper. He may not have been good at summarizing his thoughts. It would have been his actual paper that had been submitted to and accepted by the conference. It could be that that work was adequate and interesting, but that the presentation of it was neither. I would have to do further checking to find out.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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.)

GetCited.org: an academic database.

Getcited.org is an academic database compiling a summary of the academic careers of, as of now, 391,270 academics. This is quite a significant number.

Yesterday, I opened an account on Getcited.org and uploaded my recent achievements at conferences, published journal articles and so on. The most interesting feature, for me, was a little ranking system. Everyone on Getcited.org is ranked according to their productivity: the more productive you are, as an academic, the higher your ranking (giving a lower number, of course). After uploading 9 achievements in academia, I am ranked at 17,786 out of 391,270 academics. I found that placing astonishing. You see what it means is that, although I have only been working at HELP University College for a year, as a researcher in Psychology, my achievements in that period place me in the top 4.5% of all academics on this database, FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT. That can mean only one thing: many academics do not publish much, in their careers. Perhaps their energies are consumed almost entirely by teaching, or perhaps they don’t have much to say. The fact that one year of output from me, is enough to put me in the top 4.5% of all academics, on this database, for lifetime achievement is quite something. That tells me that, though I think I have barely begun to do what I hope to do, I am actually quite productive, relatively speaking.

Now, the sample size of this database is rather large, at almost 400,000 academics. So, it seems fair to assume that it is a reasonable representation of what is happening out in academia, in general (though perhaps some of the much older academics, who might be avoiding the internet, won’t be on it). It is heartening, therefore, to realize that I am a relatively productive researcher…in fact, very much so, given that in one year, I have put myself in the top 4.5% of lifetime output.

It will be interesting to see how high I can climb in those rankings, in the months and years ahead. I will make a point of uploading my achievements and see how far I get. One point though that bothers me about Getcited.org: its internal search engine doesn’t appear to be very good. My Getcited.org listing appears on Google, but it cannot be found in relevant searches on Getcited.org itself. Quite simply, in all searches today, I couldn’t find myself at all, on it. Yet, if I go to Google, I can link to my page. So, in terms of technology, Getcited.org has a way to go, I think.
Anyway, if you are curious about what I am getting up to in my research, you can pop over to my page at Getcited.org, and have a read. I will try to keep it up to date. Thanks.

The link is here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

Happy reading!

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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.)

Peak Oil? What is Peak Oil?

I had a quite remarkable and sobering conversation a couple of months ago. I was speaking to an expat oilman, here in Kuala Lumpur. He worked for a major oil company. He had spent his whole career in oil. I did something, he did not expect. I asked him a question.

“What do you think about Peak Oil?”, I prompted, carefully, watching him very closely for clues as to what he did think.

“What,” he began, a little puzzledly, “is Peak Oil?”

Tactfully, I did not reveal my surprise.

“Peak Oil is the point of maximum oil production, after which production begins to decline year on year, thereafter.”

He absorbed this foreign concept as if I spoke science fiction.

“There is LOADS of oil.”, he countered, somewhat emotionally, “Only the other day, they found a huge amount of it…as much as all we have ever found, in Brazil (I think he said).”

I didn’t hide my doubts. “Really? I thought that finds had become smaller and smaller over the years, and ever more difficult to access.”

“They are always finding new stuff.”, he said, unwilling to acknowledge reality.

As a parting question, a rather teasing question, considering that he was no more than about 30 and had plenty of time left to the end of his career.

“What will you do when the oil runs out?”

He had clearly never considered it.

“I think it will last my career.” He had grown a little more sober, during our conversation, as if my message was beginning to sink in.

“What will the world do, when it runs out, though? There will be a lot less energy about.”

“I don’t know.”, he said, with a hint of a frown.

“Cars might only be for the rich…”

“Yes.”

“Few will be able to fly…”

“Yes.”

“Lives will be much more local, with much less travel…”

“Yes.”

“Food will have to be grown locally…”

“Yes.”

“The Internet might even go down…”

“Yes.”

He looked then, out at his son playing outside in the garden. I could tell that I had prompted him to cast his thoughts forward to what his son’s world might be like. He seemed uncomfortable at what he was beginning to understand might come to pass.

I didn’t push the point anymore. I had set him thinking. The oil man who had never heard of Peak Oil, now had a pretty good idea of what that meant.

I hope you do too.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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.)

Fashion sense in a child.

A couple of weeks ago, Tiarnan, five, was in his parents’ bathroom ,with his mummy, Syahidah. He was being awfully quiet and contemplative.

Standing by the sink, he studied something with his thoughtful, slightly perturbed gaze.

He reached out his little hand and picked up a razor.

Looking up at his mother, he observed, worriedly: “Daddy cuts his face with THIS.” He shook the razor, as he spoke, for emphasis. There was a sense of some horror in his expression.

Syadidah heard his worried tone, and was touched – such concern for Daddy, she thought.

“Don’t worry, Tiarnan. Daddy has been doing it for years – and when you are older, you will do it, too.”

Her soft hands held his face and her soft eyes held his gaze.

“No!”, he countered, forcefully and unexpectedly. “It’s not THAT.”, he paused, for a fraction of a second, to gather his disgust: “It’s PINK!”

Without the smile she no doubt felt, Syahidah agreed: “Yes, that is kind of scary”.

“WHY?”, he asked, with an almost infinite puzzlement. In his young world, such things just should not be.

Syahidah had no words in answer to him. She reached out, took the razor off him, and replaced it by the side of the sink.

I think, Daddy had become a little bit more mysterious and little bit less respectable, in Tiarnan’s young eyes. To him, there must be a reason for why Daddy had a pink razor. It never occurred to him, that I might be using one of Syahidah’s because I had run out of my own. Perhaps, on reflection, I should tell him.

It is funny to see how much significance Tiarnan is attaching to colour choice. No doubt this is part of his fashion sense – but it is also something more. Though but five years old, he has lived long enough to have learnt and come to believe in, the conventions of colour choice that should be made, by true boys and true girls. I was, in his view, breaking the rules of fashion and proper behaviour, in a most unappealing way. It is funny, though, that he should feel so strongly about it. He has very much made this gender based sense of fashion, part of what he thinks the world should be – and, like most things with Tiarnan, he is quite passionate about it.

Syahidah had a solution. She took the pink razor, some time later and threw it away: problem solved.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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.)