Whitney Tilson Wanks Again

Here we go again, back to the subject of Whitney Tilson. For those who don't know Whitney he is one of those white hedge fund managers consumed with all powerful knowledge of what is good for little boys and girls of color. He lives on 5th Ave, he sends his daughters to exclusive private schooling and he thinks he knows what goes on in the inner city. He also has a blog, and an email newsletter that seems as if it is written by someone high on caffeine, crack, coke, sugar, Kool-Aid.

Whitney is now in the corner rubbing one out by comparing the book, Outliers, with a child's education. Basically the theory in a nuthsell is if you do something for 10,000 you become great. I guess that theory holds up. I am sure Whitney by now is great at his own auto-eroticism. But again, I have digressed. I haven't read the book, and don't think I can comment fairly (see Whitney, I won't speak of what I don't know). But I will comment on a discussion I had with someone in regards to the book.

My cousin, who I think is infinitely smarter, and more knowledgeable than Whitney read The Outliers and explained to be the part in the book about The Beatles. What made The Beatles so great? Hamburg, Germany. They played and played and played in Hamburg. Several shows a night, seven nights a week for two years. Did they log 10,000 hours in Hamburg? Probably not. But along with their gigs in The Cavern Club in Liverpool, I guess the got close, or exceeded it.

But how much of luck played into it? They were big in England in 1962. That's when they got their first recording contract. But what would have happened in Brian Epstein never owned a record store? Or if Epstein never walked into The Cavern Club? Or If Epstein didn't have all these contacts in the recording industry? Same could be said about JFK. If he wasn't assassinated, would we have had the "British Invasion?" Who knows?

So Whitney in his blog had this to say about the Outliers, 10,000 hours, and Education; “This is exactly what KIPP and other high-performing schools do.” They do? The crack team here at SBSB did some rudimentary math and came to the conclusion that for a child to do 10,000 hours in I guess one of Whitney's KIPP schools that child will need to be in school for 14.88 years. Now this is assuming that child will be in school eight hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. But we know a school year can;t be like that.

But Whitney, just as you have probably spent 10,000 hours becoming an expert at pleasuring yourself, or spent that amount of time cruising rest stop restrooms, think. Ten thousand hours? If we use The Beatles and Hamburg theory, The Beatles did one thing, and did it great. The Beatles were also using every drug known to man in Hamburg just to stay lucid all that time. But how many people turned out great without that 10,000 hours. Surely you haven't.

Whitney, stop letting the little head do the thinking for the big head.