50,000 blog visitors and counting

Today, this blog passed a bit of a milestone: it broke the 50,000 visitor mark. As of 7.55 pm, December 29th 2007, I have had 50,030 visitors to this blog since September 19th 2006 (Day 1).

I don't know how that compares to other blogs, but for me it is a satisfactory outcome. To have had 50,000 readers in every country of the world, is a fair introduction to the internet. Of course, though appreciable, it is a small number compared to the number of people in the world. By that measure about one person in 120,000 has read at least one article from this blog.

Thank you all for taking an interest. Happy reading!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The Author's Purpose in Writing

One of my readers has observed that not all of my posts are on giftedness. This is how I intend it to be. Yet, their comment led me to think I should explain why I write what I do.

My first purpose in writing is to communicate my understanding of giftedness and what I learn and observe from my children (and from my own life), as examples of this phenomenon. I think this helps young parents faced with their first gifted child get to grips with some of the issues they will face. So, in that sense, my writing fulfils a social objective of supporting others in a similar or somehow analogous situation. All giftedness leads to varying degrees of the issues discussed on my blog pages and so any parent of a gifted child can better prepare themselves for what lies ahead by coming to know what one parent of gifted children has had to go through.

That is clear and probably understood without stating it - but I thought it better to make it explicit. There are, however, other purposes in writing. I wish to record my children as they grow up, so that I might enjoy their childhood many years from now, when, perhaps the details would otherwise have been lost to my, then, aging mind. It is, therefore, an investment in my future contentment at the parenting life I have led.

A further purpose is to explore and record the personality of my children - so not just looking at their giftedness, but recording anecdotes which show them as they are, which reveal something of their personality aside and apart from their giftedness. This was not understood by the reader who mailed me. He expected all posts to illustrate giftedness - but this is not so - and why should it be? There are more aspects to a gifted child than simple giftedness: there is their developing personality, funny moments, sweet acts, thoughtful deeds, developmental milestones, their interests and hobbies, their outlook and viewpoints, their friends, their loves and their lives (all later on, one would think).

A gifted child is so much more than a gift - and so a blog about gifted children - as mine is, should also be so much more than just about giftedness - and so it is. In some posts, a broader view of my children is evident. Glimpses of their personality and individuality are to be seen. It is these, in some ways, which are more important to capture. It is these aspects of them which make them unique.

I also wish to write in a more scholarly fashion, at times, looking at the literature on giftedness, genius, prodigy, intelligence, creativity, left-handedness, child development and the like. My purpose is to distill the essence of this work to make it readily digestible to all, so that my readers might be better informed of the scientific understanding of all things gifted.

On other occasions, I write of issues that seem to have some social importance, not just to gifted people, but to society in general. This is an important function which allows me to express my views on wider matters in the world. Elements of myself are to be found in such posts.

I also write of countries that I know personally - these include Singapore, the UK, Ireland, and the USA - the four countries with which I am most familiar. My view on all such matters, is that I would always like to see improvements in each society - so if I discuss one, it would usually be to address something which could be done better.

I take no political views, in this blog, but that doesn't mean I can't comment on something a politician does or says. There is no intent to take a political stand in doing so.

I hope that goes some way to explaining what I write and why.

Happy reading all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Jealousy at NUS High School

As you may know, Ainan attended NUS High School for a time. As you probably won't know, we took him out after three weeks because it was clear that he wasn't going to be learning much there. The class offered was not of a level to teach him anything new. They also weren't willing to give him practical chemistry classes, they said: "All our classes are full: we have twenty-five students a class and can't take one more." That is what the Vice-Principal Suresh said to us. So, we didn't send him again.

Anyway, today someone from NUS High School, of about eighteen, wrote a very jealous blog about Ainan and my children. He attacked Ainan, 7, Fintan, 4, and Tiarnan, 1. He said we weren't "decent people". Is this a racist attack, I wonder, given that my children are half-Malay? (The boy in question is Chinese and so this is a potential factor, since "racial harmony" isn't perfect here. His comments were also rather strong.)

I am not going to refer you to the blog. If you have come from it, you should know which I mean. It is clear that he has no idea what a prodigious child is - or how it is defined. A prodigy is a child of adult capability, in an adult area, by the age of 11. By that criteria, Ainan, 7, should be considered a prodigy - for his studies are equivalent to an American Bachelor's degree (A level equivalent - for that is the academic standard of an American Bachelor's degree).

The funny thing is, Ainan is doing a subject at a level of someone the boy's age - yet he argues that Ainan is not "prodigious" for doing so. Ainan is ELEVEN years younger than this boy appears to be. I have not yet read a more jealous piece of writing on the internet.

I am glad, given this boy's attitude, that we took Ainan out of NUS High School: for one boy like that one, is one too many, in a whole nation.

He argues that education is not about allowing children to reach their peak capabilities. He says it is about teaching them to be "decent people" - so stating that my son, and all of us, are not. That is a libel, in itself, and no doubt actionable.

Ask yourself, is this boy an example of a decent person, when he attacks 7, 4 and 1 year olds - and their parents - on the internet? If that is what a decent person is considered to be, what an horrendous society he must come from.

(Note inserted: January 2008. I felt this post was necessary because I had been receiving a lot of traffic redirected from his libellous and offensive post. A defense of the situation was therefore necessary.)

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Freedom of Speech and the United States

Is there true freedom of speech in the United States? Is there freedom of speech on the internet? Does it endanger international relations and stray into politics, to speak freely on the internet?

I ask these questions for a reason. You see, I keep an eye on the locations of those who visit my website and on who comments on my pages. It is helpful to keep track of such things, since then I know something of the perspective of those who comment. I have, therefore, noticed something with regards to one of my posts. I wrote of George Bush's difficulty with the English language, picking up on a Reuters report that had made his mangling of English centre stage. It seems that simply speaking of such things is not permissible, at least in the eyes of at least one American. You see, there used to be regular visitor to my blog from Bothell, Washington - or Washington, Bothell. Every day, they would visit my blog. Until, one day, I wrote about George Bush's linguistic limitations, not in censure, but with a sense of worry about the wherewithal of a nation's Commander-in-Chief. Apparently, one is not really free to speak of anything one wishes in America - at least, Americans on the ground don't really respect freedom of speech, with their hearts and minds. You see, if you speak freely, without wish to offend, they can get offended and take umbrage: so where does that leave freedom of speech? It is, in effect, only a theoretical entity, in America. That visitor from Bothell, Washington had been a steadfast regular on my blog - but after I alluded to the Reuters report on George Bush, she or he, wrote a somewhat miffed remark on the post, and then never visited my blog again.

To me, his or her action is very significant. It means that, in practice, there may not actually be true freedom of speech in the United States (or perhaps anywhere else - but most other places don't actually boast of having it in the first place). True freedom of speech, in my eyes, implies that no-one will take any kind of action against you, for voicing an opinion. Not visiting a blog, again, comes under the category of a retributive action. It indicates, therefore, that the high principle of freedom of speech is not actually respected by that individual. That action led me to wonder how many, or how few, other Americans really understand what a world where speech was truly free should be like. In such a world, no opinion would ever attract censure and all would be listened to with equal open-ness. That is the ideal that America speaks of, when it boasts of its freedom of speech. Yet, in truth, the reality falls short of that, at least if this example is anything to go by.

It is perilous, it seems, to speak of anyone in politics. People are polarized and any opinion, about anyone political, whether it be local or international, is likely to differ from the opinions of many of one's readers. In a free world, where speech was truly free, it would not matter. One's opinion would not lead to problems. I have learnt, however, from observing that event, that although one may write as one wishes, on the internet, that certain opinions - perhaps any opinion, in fact - will lead to some people taking exception to it.

We have, therefore, the freedom to write as we wish - but not the freedom to be welcomed universally.

Freedom of speech is an admirable ideal - and it is heartening that the United States says it upholds such a thing. Indeed, as I understand it, it is a First Amendment right, in the Constitution. Yet, its citizens - at least some of them - have not yet fully internalized what freedom of speech really means. I look forward to a day when all the world is free, in every way - being free in speech, is probably the easiest freedom of all - if only people would be tolerant of each other, in all our infinite variety.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

First Anniversary of Prodigy Blog

A year ago, today, on September 19th 2006, I made my first posting on The Boy Who Knew Too Much: A Child Prodigy.

I had chosen a simple self-explanatory title for the blog - and the same for the domain http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com.html/

I began knowing nothing of the medium but came, in time, to appreciate its flexibility and the facility it gives anyone, with something to say, the means to communicate it to others. The Blog is changing the way people relate to others all over the world. It has dissolved the barrier that separated the common man, from playing any role in the media. Blogs are a new media that are truly accessible to all who are likely to be able to use them ie. those who can write, think or comment on the work of others, if they are not able to create their own.


It is difficult to believe that it is a year since I began - but that is what the date on the first posting says, so a year it is.

Since then I have posted 523 times, my blog has been visited by 33,095 visitors, reading 105,687 pages (which can include a whole week's postings per page), as of 8.45 pm on the first anniversary of first posting.

My peak readers hit over 3,000 in one frenzied day - when the story of Ainan hit the world's newspapers - and after the first few months in which I began to build both an audience and posts, visitorship has rarely dropped beneath a hundred readers in a day.

I have regular readers from various parts of the world, particularly in countries where English is a first language, like the USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Singapore and the UK. I also have what I call "deep readers". These are people who chance upon my blog and then spend several hours reading it. Typically these readers spend two or three hours doing so - but some are much longer - up to over five or six hours at one reading, if memory serves me right. This is, to me, an indication that I am writing in a way which a certain kind of reader, at least, finds rewarding - otherwise why would they spend a large chunk of their day reading?

I have noticed that there are cycles in readership with some periods attracting more than others. It is clear, too, that I have had readers from everywhere on Earth - even, believe it or not, in parts of Africa, where one would expect few internet connections.

Even the people of small islands in the middle of nowhere have popped in to look around.

I haven't counted the number of comments on the postings exactly but it must be well into four figures, when all are added up. Most comments have been kindly, supportive, interesting, or informative. A few comments didn't make it to posting since they appeared to have been written by people with "issues" over giftedness (mainly spiteful, sometimes mad). All in all, though, if a typical reader is represented by the typical comment, then the typical reader is well-informed, thoughtful and not infrequently insightful. It has been a pleasure to relate to you all, through this medium, this past year.

I have surprised myself by how much and how often I have written. I did not know what I would say before I began...just that it would be good to say some of the things I think about. I hope it has been of some use and interest to you all.

I am pleased at the readership that I have garnered, to date, for there are over 70 million blogs in this world and it is difficult to see how they can all get readers when the number of people connected to the internet is, as I read some while back, only about 10 times that number. That indicates a ratio of ten possible readers for every blog, if they are spread out evenly. So, set against that kind of statistic, I have quite a healthy readership. Yet, it would be good if, in the year ahead, the readership could expand. Thus, I have a suggestion. If you like any of the articles here, or appreciate the blog in general, then why not link your site (if you have one) to mine, or the posting in question. Then others could get a chance to enjoy it too.

Looking ahead to the second year of my blog, I have, at the beginning of that time, the intention of continuing to blog regularly. I will continue to cover giftedness in all its manifestations and child prodigy in particular. I may choose to expand into other areas - but at the core will be the issue of human excellence and giftedness of all shapes and sizes. It is a subject I know well, and is one I feel important enough to give some time to, regularly. The gifted are a minority - and like all minorities they need people willing to speak up and speak out, lest people forget that they have needs, too. Perhaps, to some degree, my blog helps to that end.

So, if you have enjoyed any of my postings, why not spread the word - and see if, at the end of my second year of blogging, my total readership can exceed the 100,000 mark. I just have to do twice as well in my second year as in my first. That is my goal. I would appreciate your help in achieving it. Thanks all. Happy reading.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Super blog readers

As a sequel to my comment about the Finnish reader of my blog, I thought I should add that, contrary to what I had supposed, he or she had not finished reading, at that time. Ultimately, their single visit to the blog amounted to 3 hours, 8 minutes and 8 seconds. They read through 125 pages. Without a doubt, that is the longest anyone has spent on a single visit, to my blog since it began.

Yet, the Finnish reader is not alone. Someone today, from Singapore, spent two hours, eight minutes and 56 seconds on a visit, reading 65 pages.

Thank you all for taking such an interest.

Fintan's reaction to the blog

Yesterday Fintan, three, looked over his mummy's shoulder and saw the blog, on the screen. He stared more intently at what he saw - and then he exclaimed: "Fintan!?", his face alive with warmth as he realized that his name was mentioned on the screen.

Some people have wondered about how my children react to the blog. Well, yesterday Fintan showed, most clearly, how he felt. He was touched that his Daddy was writing about him. I think he understood it in terms of one caring enough to make the consistent effort to record his actions and thoughts - and that warmed him.

I need no more encouragement than that.