Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"We need a digital camera that can be switched on and fire off that first shot fast. It's not a commonly tracked statistic on any review site, and nobody seems to have this information for every camera. We were hoping other readers could inform us as to what small digital cameras can fire off their first pics in under a second (ideally under half a second). It needs to be small, but mostly, just really quick in operation. Thanks!"
For the most part this thread is pretty entertaining, but a few comments are downright cruel.
A number of you got it right. Carson is NOT an uber-genius. He is simply infatuated with how things work---especially if it has buttons on it, and he has access to the information and tools needed to indulge himself. He got his own computer at 2 because I couldn't keep him off of mine! His PC even helped him learn to read by the time he was 4. Not because of some Reader Rabbit game, it was due to the fact that he "HAD" to know what his computer was trying to tell him when one those typical "Something Important Has To Be Done" windows would pop up with the option to press YES, NO, CANCEL, etc. After about the umpteen-thousandth trip to his room to "decode the message " for him, I finally told him to figure it out himself---and he did. How did he get good at computers so quickly? Well, I didn't slap his hand every time he wanted to change something on (experiment with) his computer. Instead, I simply told him that he would have to fix any problem he caused. Sure, I helped him reinstall '98 the first couple of times, but he would have to get REALLY stuck before I'd go help him. He didn't like waiting for my help anyway, so he figured out how to fix it himself. Sometimes we parents are so worried about our kids breaking something that we unknowingly place a barrier in front of them. I have to constantly remind myself that my binoculars are just a thing that can be replaced (with some moaning, of course).
I don't think there is a magic formula, but I do think a few basic things contribute to (or facilitate) his learning curve. For one, both of his parents are "stay at home parents", except that I practically live in my home office. I'm there now at near 3:00AM. Never the less, he has access to us when he has questions. He happens to be interested in an area that I know something about and most of my tools have buttons on them. You see where this is going?
Kind of like the computer thing, I (oops, Santa) had to set a bench up for him so my stuff wouldn't get lost, broken or otherwise. Although I will say that I really enjoy it when Carson helps me debug boards. When he's helping, I can stay at my computer, make FW changes, compile it, and say "do it". At the bench, Carson will load the new binary and program the board. We both love it. He's done this since he was 3.
Actel didn't "hire" him to do the "work" that he did. The FAE that visits me sees Carson on a fairly regular basis due to the fact that it is unlawful to tie kids up with duct tape when visitors are present. It was serendipity. Actel was about to introduce a new design-entry interface module to their development suite, and the FAE knew that Carson was already playing around with their FPGA development board. He figured that Carson might be the perfect tester as the new interface is designed to make the learning curve for FPGA design less steep.
He asked Carson if he would like to test it and give some feedback. So, I took my belt out, snapped it a few times..... Yeah, like I had to pressure him to do it! To Carson this was like being asked if he would drive a Formula-1 car as a favor!
All I asked of Carson is to do his best. If he couldn't, or wouldn't do his best then he should decline. I think I spent a total of 15 minutes helping Carson throughout the project. He did everything on his own, including the conference calls. It was an unexpected gift when Actel gave Carson a $250 Fry's gift card for his effort.
The writers/reporters only have so many words allocated to write their articles about Carson, so everyone only gets a sense of the sensational, instead of the full picture. Believe it or not, Carson's best asset is his social skills. I think an earlier poster had concerns about this. Carson likes to communicate with others, and he actually listens. He has many friends, although he still thinks girls are yucky. He doesn't walk into a room and say "look at me, I'm on the cover of EETimes". He is humble, and considers the feelings of others.
Is he one-dimensional? You decide. He takes karate lessons and is a Cub Scout. He knows he can quit those at anytime. Is he only interested in technical books? Well, he read the Cub Scouts "Bear" book (about 100 pages) from cover to cover the first night he got it. He reads various books ranging from kid-friendly novels like "The Hardy Boys" to EAA "Sport Aviation" magazines to encyclopedias every night in his bed for about an hour. Some of you may know of Doug Adams' work, like "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", Restaurant at the End of the Universe", etc. I picked up a book at a thrift store that contained five of Doug's novels thinking Carson might like it. He read two of them in one night. I know this because I heard laughter coming from his room at around 11PM on a school night. He was cracking up on something that the manic-depressed robot said to a vending machine (or something like that). I think his all-time favorite book is called something like "Henry the Farting Dog".
He used to want to be in the infantry, but then he decided that he'll be a fighter pilot instead, because he likes to fly. He likes basketball and has a goal in the backyard. He played soccer for three years, but got frustrated, because he can't run real fast, as he has flat feet (little or no arch).
Most of all Carson is a very happy kid. Carson deserves full credit for what he has accomplished. He made all of this happen. All we did as parents was to be there for him when he needed help or resources.
I personally believe that nearly any kid, if given the opportunity to pursue his/her interests and dreams will appear to be a "genius" to others. It's because they are high-performance learning machines that just need some fuel. I wish I had 1/5 the learning capacity of a typical 4-year-old.
In case my six-year-old daughter ever reads this, Kelly is amazing in her own right, she just isn't into technology. She simply wants to know what technology has done for her lately. Her thing is art, music, and writing. She has her own computer, an art table, and a Casio piano in her room. I am equally impressed with her accomplishments. But, it's not as sexy to the rest of the world, so no articles get written about her. I should mention that Kelly also takes karate lessons and she is a Brownie.
Thank you for your interest,
Ray Page
I feel warm and fuzzy inside.
i concur: warm and fuzzy for me too.
Ray, thank you for posting that, and good luck to you and all your family - altho you dont seem to need it ;)
Thank You