How to make Americans safe.

They should ban people in the USA. People are dangerous to people.

Murders in the US will stop when there is only one person left in the country. Then all we have to worry about is suicide.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

A cat called Cow.

Until sometime last night, we had a cat called Cow. It was a black and white cat, with patches of each colour, like a cow. Hence, my kids chose that name for it. It was a young cat, perhaps 9 months old. She had an adorably sweet personality and was very warm and seemingly loving, nudging adults and children alike, as it to say hello. Of all her mother’s kittens, she was the one who liked to stay closest to her mother. This morning, my son, Fintan, 8, found her dead.

It was a bit of a shock to be told this news. You see, we have four young cats, who were dumped on our doorstep by their mother. Of all the four, Cow was by far the most charming. In fact, she was the only one that seemed to have its own true personality. The others were mainly just hungry and out for food the whole time. We had planned to give the other three away, and keep Cow. So it was unwelcome news to see Cow stretched out stiffly on the ground, upside down, with her chest exposed, as if arching in pain, her mouth open in a grimace of surprised agony.

Upon her chest, there was an oval wound, about an inch across. Something had put a hole in her chest, on the underside. Had she been bitten by an animal? Had she fallen on something sharp? It was all the more surprising to see her dead like this, since we had seen her alive only hours before.

The children stared at her unmoving body in silence, as we prepared to bury her. My wife’s father was here. He had dug a rectangular hole in the garden for Cow – a little grave. All the children stood around eyes fixed on Cow. They were unusually quiet. Cow didn’t look quite real anymore. She was completely stiff and looked like a stuffed toy – not an ex-cat, at all. The absence of life, made her look as if she had never been animate. She simply looked like an artist’s impression of a cat – and not a very convincing one at that. It is funny what death can do. It makes even the most living animal, look rather unreal. I was struck, then, by what had made Cow such an interesting cat. It was her personality – the way she moved, what she did, her seeming intentions and the general impression of warmth in her actions. All that was gone. Without her animating personality, Cow did not even look like Cow anymore. She looked like a cat shaped black and white object, with a pink hole in her chest.

We buried Cow, in silence and replaced the turf on top of her. The boys didn’t say anything. I don’t think they knew what to make of it all. This was their first direct acquaintance with death. I don’t think they have ever seen a dead mammal, or human, before. Cow had been their favourite cat. In all, I think they took it very well, though I could tell they were a bit shocked, since there had been no forewarning.

Last night, I had heard dogs barking, rather aggressively at about 3 am. Perhaps that was when Cow was attacked and died. Had the dogs come onto our property or had Cow wandered onto theirs? We shall never know. It was clear though that she had dragged herself back to her favourite spot in the garden and died near where we used to feed her. She had come home, for her final moments.

I was going to write about Cow a long time ago, because I thought her funny and endearing. I never expected the first time to write of her, would be of her early death. Reflecting on why she died, rather than any of her siblings, I think it may very well have been her colouration. The others were shades of brown and would be difficult to see at night. She was black and white and would have been easy to spot, at night. I think that which made her beautiful to look at, may also have cost her, her life.

My wife Syahidah reassured Fintan. “Cow has gone to Cow heaven to meet all the other “cows”.”

He smiled at that, finding it either a comforting or a funny thought. It wasn’t clear which.

Thank you, Cow, for being so sweet and making us all smile, at your warmth. My sons, in particular, will miss her, though my wife and I will too.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(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, 5, 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

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

A death that says so much about a country.

Recently, a man died in Malaysia.

Now, I wrote that sentence deliberately in that way, so that you would have the thought: "What is so unusual about that?". Well, in this case it was a most unusual death.

Koay Chin Cai was a 64 year old taxi driver, in George Town, Penang. At about 5.30 pm on Saturday, he was waiting outside a block of low cost flats, for a passenger. However, it was not a passenger who found him, but a stone, of about 14 cm by 10 cm, flung from the nearby block of flats. It struck him on the head, causing fatal head injuries.

Now, that is shocking enough. It is shocking that someone should care so little about human life that they would throw a stone from a flat, perhaps to dispose of some rubbish, instead of carefully placing it in a bin. Such carelessness, or lack of effort, had cost the life of a father and husband. However, what was even more shocking to me, is what happened next. I would like you to guess what happened as this man lay dying in the street on a Saturday afternoon, besides his taxi.

Have you genuinely imagined what happened? Please do so.

I shuddered to learn, what happened to this man as he lay dying. Somebody, some passerby, on seeing him dying in the street, did not, as you might expect, hurry to his aid. No. That unknown someone actually went through his pockets and stole his wallet and his handphone. They actually robbed a fatally injured man, rather than trying to do something to help him.

So, who was worse: the one who threw the stone - or the one who robbed the man? I think, ethically speaking, the one who robbed the dying man, is by far the worse of the two. You see, that person did what they did, knowing that he was defenceless and in need of assistance to save his life. The other person, who threw the stone, probably just did not consider the consequences of throwing the stone. If so, they are less ethically unsound than the robber...just stupid and careless.

However, we don't know what actually happened here. Perhaps the stone thrower and the robber are the same person. Perhaps it was a deliberate mugging. Perhaps the stone thrower intended to hit the taxi driver and derives some kind of kick out of hurting/killing/maiming strangers. We know this, however: Penang harbours at least one reckless individual and at least one heartless individual. In fact, that two such misfortunes should befall this man in quick succession, does suggest that there are many criminally inclined individuals in Penang, which is, reputedly, one of the safer areas of Malaysia.

Malaysia really needs to do something serious, about its crime problem. It is a lovely country, but that loveliness is marred by the ugliness of its criminal minority. The acts they are capable of are quite shocking and bring a worrisome edge, to life in this engaging nation.

I have noted that, on the two occasions, we have had to call police to our house, for break in attempts in the ten months we have been here (yes, you read right: two break in attempts, in ten months...a disturbingly high frequency of event), the police made no effort to gather any forensic evidence that would allow them to catch the criminals concerned. On one occasion, for instance, a policeman noted a footprint on the roof. No photograph of it was taken. On the other occasion, fence panels had been removed - but they were not finger printed. To my mind, this means that the police really do not have much intention of catching criminals - or, at least, are not sufficiently motivated to do what is necessary to do so.

On the second occasion, the police even refused to allow us to make a police report. Why? Because they said: "No damage was done". The real reason may have something to do with the importance of the neighbour over whose property the intruder had to have come. That, and the need, perhaps, to keep the crime statistics down.

We are grateful, however, that the police came out in force, on both occasions. Had the culprits still been around, they would have been caught. However, it would be good to see forensics being used to gather data that could identify criminals and take them off the streets.

As for the case in Penang. I hope that both the stone thrower and the robber are caught - and that both receive the maximum penalty. I understand that there is the death penalty for murder - and murder may be argued for the stone thrower. However, emotionally, I feel that the robber is more heinous in their actions...so perhaps, they should share in whatever penalty the thrower receives. No nation needs to keep on the streets - and alive - anyone who can rob a dying man. They should suffer the same penalty as the killer.

(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.htmlI 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.)

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.)

David Carradine's posthumous fame.

It is bizarre. David Carradine is already more famous for dying, than for living. His death, in mysterious circumstances, has ensured that, far from being largely unnoticed, at death (as I suspect he would have been, had he not died in the way he did), more attention is being paid to him now, than he ever received in life.

It is notable that, after David Carradine's Kwai Chang Caine role in "Kung Fu", that he led a rather quiet career, for the most part, from the viewpoint of the public. Yes, it is true that he appeared in around 200 shows...but it is also true that most of these roles went largely unnoted. David Carradine was very much an "under the radar", actor, until he was cast as Bill, in Kill Bill, by Quentin Tarantino. Then, again, for a brief time, David Carradine was noticed by the global public - or at least that part of it which likes Quentin Tarantino films (by no means a majority of people, but certainly a fair proportion).

David Carradine's last scene will be forever remembered. Unfortunately, it is a scene of peculiar death: a still shot, imagined in the minds of most readers, of a naked man, bound and suspended from a closet railing. However, this situation has one effect that, as an actor, David Carradine might have appreciated: his career and work may now gain much more notice than they would have done had he quietly slipped away, from natural causes, as most actors (and most people) do. David Carradine's misfortune has the one redeeming feature that he will now never be forgotten - at least, in the lifetime of anyone now living in the developed world, with access to the media.

Yet, there is a tragedy in this situation, too. For is it not sad that a man can be more noticed for dying bizarrely, than for making a creative effort in 200 televisual and filmic productions, throughout five decades? This speaks for the modern world's appetite for strange news, over their appetite for film. It seems that people are more interested in the oddities of the real world, than in anything film has to offer.

Perhaps it all comes down to the power of gossip. David Carradine has died in an eminently gossip worthy fashion. Now, even if the truth turns out to be a rather simple, if odd, case of auto-erotic asphyxiation, that truth will never be allowed to live alone. Alongside it will be spoken any number of theories of why and how he died. Forevermore, there will be tales of murder, of another, or others, present in the room at his death and discussion of whether it was all accidental or suicidal. No matter what the results of the autopsy are, no matter what the police decide, the conspiracy theorists will yabber on, gossip will continue to circulate and the tale of David Carradine's death will just grow bigger and bigger. Not until everyone on Earth has heard of it and discussed it to, excuse me, death, will the gossiping cease. By then, of course, everyone will know of David Carradine, even if they had never before seen any of his work (which is quite possible, particularly if the people concerned are too young to have seen the first run of Kung Fu from 1972 to 1975).

David Carradine is dead. However, in another sense, David Carradine is immortal. By dying as he has, he has, most probably inadvertently, ensured that he will never be forgotten. David Carradine's posthumous fame, is far greater than David Carradine's fame in life ever was. That, perhaps, is the strangest thing of all - even stranger than to end up hung naked from a closet in a Bangkok hotel two days into filming the appropriately named French film production, "Stretch".

(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.

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