Book review of X events the Collapse of Everything by John Casti

Today, one of my book reviews has appeared in the Star newspaper. This one is for X Events - the Collapse of Everything by John Casti. It is notable in that it is a negative review of a  book, and I did wonder whether it was going to be published at all. Well done to the Star for doing so.

A couple of things got changed in the editing. One sentence has been misunderstood. I was trying to say at one point that anyone who reads newspapers or online news would not need this book. Somehow that got changed to someone who "only reads newspapers or online news", would have a need for this book. That is not what I was saying at all. So, it seems that someone misunderstood my intention there.

One sentence got removed entirely. It was my most critical remark. Perhaps, as a family newspaper they want to preserve as upbeat a tone as possible. None of my truly critical remarks, in any article, have ever made it into print, in any section of the newspaper. (My excised sentence included the phrase: "a rather lame attempt to repackage something old as something new").

Please have a read. Let me know what you think, if you have a moment. Thank you.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2012/8/19/lifebookshelf/11767744&sec=lifebookshelf

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.) 

Echoes of Alexandria.

Once, there was a great library that held virtually all of the world’s knowledge. Barbarian thugs burnt it down.* That library was, of course, Alexandria.

Today, I learnt that, amongst all the buildings set afire by Britain’s own barbarian thugs, were two libraries – and a College. Gloucester Library and the former Salford library were both set ablaze by Britain’s rioters. So, too, the Gloucester College of Art and Technology, has been burnt to the ground.

Now, assuming the choice of these buildings was deliberate, it does say something telling about the psyche (such as they have them), of the rioters. They choose to destroy that which they are personally unable to appreciate, presumably through a combined lack of intelligence and interest in learning. These thugs are typically uneducated, largely by choice, since the opportunity of a free education was given to them all. That they should burn libraries shows that they resent the written word, as something that somehow offends their “sensibilities”. To them, perhaps, the written word and books represent a kind of oppression: it is something that caused them great difficulty in school and required effort (which is the last thing they want to make), so, when faced with an innocent, vulnerable library, their first response is to set light to it. Watching all those books burn, no doubt fills them with glee. If these rioters had their way, there would not be a single book left in the world – and then everyone would be equal in their ignorance. The rioters are unable, intellectually, to “level up” with everyone else, so they would rather level everyone else down to them, through depriving them of the books, the rioters always resented.

That Gloucester College of Art and Technology should have been set afire is also very revealing of their mentality. It seems as if they blame the education establishment, in some way, for their own predicament. Perhaps they think that the education “system”, prevented them from gaining qualifications, by some trickery, or deviousness. In truth, of course, they prevented themselves from gaining from education by making no effort within it.

The rioters’ choice of two libraries and a College to burn, is evidence that we are really dealing with barbarians here, in the truest sense of the world. Although they grew up within British culture, they are not part of it – they have their own subculture, a barbarian world with no place in our own. There are only three choices when dealing with these people: reform, exile, or containment. Of course, there is the fourth alternative: death – and perhaps it might even have to come to that, if this blight upon the British people persists in mayhem, violence, looting, arson and, I now understand, murder (three and counting).

The means must be found to reform the character, nature and outlook of these thugs. If the means cannot be found (and, in fact, it would be difficult to educate such bestial people) then we should look to long term containment of them, until such time as they are no longer a threat to society. As for exile: who would have them? Would it be fair to inflict them on anyone? If, however, a rioter should be an immigrant from another country, a fair punishment would be for any visa, or indeed citizenship of Britain, to be revoked, and for them to be sent back to their country of origin – with a permanent ban on any return. Anyone who strives to destroy society – as these thugs have – deserves to be exiled from society, forever. I intend to write a fuller approach to dealing with them, in another post.

Given that two libraries and a College have been set alight, it would seem wise if the police took particular care to set a guard at the leading libraries in the UK. I cannot, for instance, imagine the loss to the nation, were the British Library to be set on fire – or indeed, any of the major University libraries, containing, sometimes, millions of books each.

The rioters have anger. They are evil, in the sense of not seeming to know what good is, or not caring about it, at least. All that they lack, is intelligent guidance. Should there arise among them, an intelligent leader able to guide them, so as to do maximal damage, then Britain will be in a very grave situation, indeed. It is fortunate that, so far, they appear to be as stupid as they are thoughtless of others. Perhaps, in a way, we should be thankful for their lack of seeming effort in the education system. Had they learnt more about the world, they would be a greater danger to it.

Then again, it must be said, I never thought I would live through times, in which people set libraries alight. When I was a young boy, in school, the idea that anyone would actually burn down the greatest library in the world, Alexandria, destroying the heritage of humanity, appalled me. I couldn’t understand how anyone would so lack appreciation of knowledge, art, literature, culture, science and history, that they would be able to do that. Now, however, Britain has a bred a generation of thugs, able to do just that: burn libraries, destroy knowledge, wipe out culture (given a chance). The burning of libraries, often signals the fall of civilizations and the ending of Old Worlds. Let us halt the advance of these particular barbarians and not be fearful of dealing with them in the manner they deserve – before their violent creed becomes the new norm, for a fractured British society. Personally, I would rather see the rioters burn, than our libraries. The real danger, however, in the present British political and social system, is that the rioters will be treated too gently, too kindly and too respectfully ever to teach them to be civilized. These rioters are a threat to Britain as a civilization. They should, therefore, be approached as an existential threat and dealt with, with an appropriate and punitive level of harshness. They should come to learn that Britain will not tolerate barbarians on its soil – not now and not ever (again).

* There are four possible historical culprits for the partial or complete destruction of Alexandria's library. I am not going to disentangle them here - except to say that although not supposedly all barbarians, their attitude to knowledge was certainly barbaric (except for Caesar, who might have burnt it by accident!)

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.)

Peak Oil and the Future of Malaysia

I have been thinking and reading and coming to understand. That is why I have been quiet for so long. I have also become concerned by the sheer density of car usage I see, in Malaysia. It is not so much the present number of cars that worries me - but what will happen when there is no petrol to fuel them. Unless the entire way of life of this nation changes, dramatically, I foresee many intractable problems ahead.

"Peak Oil" is defined as the point when world oil production peaks and thereafter begins to decline. Peak oil is a problem, not just for Malaysia, but for the whole world. It is not commonly realized but our entire modern civilization, in its present form is founded on cheap oil. Our cars, ships and planes, our food, through petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides, oil powered tractors and the like, plastics, and pharmaceuticals are all derived from oil. However, that is just the beginning of our oil dependence: everything we make, in the modern world - all our goods, our machines, our computers, our telecommunications and so on, use energy derived from oil in their manufacture. Without oil, there is no modern world.

All the world's nations must wean themselves off oil, as soon as possible. There is no other choice. You see, oil is running out. Many observers think that we have already reached the peak of production - indeed, in spite of high prices, in recent years, production has been static at best. This seems to suggest that no more output is possible. Once oil production begins to decline, best estimates suggest that it will do so at between 4 and 8 % per year, every year, from then on. This means that we must replace that lost energy from another source, or else face a variety of economic catastrophe that we have never known before: the complete failure of energy transfer in our society.

Everyone lightly uses the term "renewable energy" as a ready replacement for this energy shortfall. However, what is little appreciated is how much effort needs to be made to put an alternative energy infrastructure into place. Then again, each renewable energy source, rather ironically, requires oil for its manufacture. Thus, we have a dilemma: do we spend our oil on present energy needs or invest it in future renewable energy production? Clearly, if our modern world is to have a future, energy and resources must be redirected towards the manufacture of renewable energy plant, as fast as possible.

Fortunately, there are some positive initiatives in Malaysia that should help. One is the Suria 1000 programme that allows houses and commercial buildings to produce renewable energy through solar power. So, too, the new proposed laws that would require the national electricity company, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to buy electricity from private producers, using renewable sources, at preset rates known as "Feed-in-tariffs". Interestingly, these tariffs pay a different amount, for a different source, depending on how much that electricity costs to generate. Thus, it is, that TNB are encouraging renewable energy production - whatever the source.

The government has estimated that renewable energy, under the new feed in tariff initiative would grow from the present 50 MW (shockingly inadequate) to around 2000 MW by 2020, representing 9% of national energy needs. Now that might seem like a lot - but is it? You see world oil production already appears to have peaked, and is now bumping along a plateau. Once it starts to decline it is expected to do so at 4 to 8 % PER YEAR. Thus, it can be seen that expansion of renewable energy could be far too slow to meet demand. If oil production begins its decline before 2020 (which is very likely by most scientific estimates), then that decline would very quickly outpace the expansion in renewable energy.

What is needed, therefore, in Malaysia (and the rest of the world, too) is a national effort on the part of all individuals and families to change the energy balance of their nation for the better. If every home, in the land, and througout the world, were to add solar panels to its roof or a wind turbine to its garden (not appropriate really in Malaysia), then a significant dent could be made in the coming shortfall between energy needs and energy availability. Of course, this means spending by families, now, to ensure greater flows of electricity later. The wisdom in this should be clear, because, in times to come, the world's electricity grids may become unreliable and may not have enough power in them, to maintain modern life as we have come to expect it. Indeed, ultimately, it is inevitable that there will be power shortages throughout the world unless we all, collectively and governmentally, move to ensure that the slack is taken up by renewable, diversified, energy sources.

So, don't sit passively at home saying: "Peak oil? But what can I do about it?" Well, you can do something about it. Two things in fact: you can make your house and life more energy efficient - by putting in insulation, if you are in a cold country, or using fans, instead of aircons, if you are in a hot country and buying an economical car, if you need a car and cannot do without one - otherwise take public transport. Secondly, you can build up your own electricity production base by implementing alternative renewable energy sources in your own home - for instance, wind, solar, geothermal (where possible) and biomass alternatives. ANY amount of energy you can generate in your own home, constitutes a contribution to world energy generation capacities which will, incrementally, reduce the burden on fossil fuels. Note that, in some countries, like Malaysia, your renewable energy source can become a profit centre if you elect to supply your output to the grid.

So, get on with it: become a net supplier of electricity, not a net consumer, by making your own electricity, in your homes. Then, when, the time comes, and others are suffering blackouts...you will have your own electricity, right to hand.

For Malaysians, solar power seems the simplest choice: everyone has an abundance of it - you just have to decide to capture it...so please do so, now. You see, oil won't wait for you to decide and one day there won't be any oil left to make your solar panels...so buy them now.

(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.)