Archive for October 8th, 2009

  • World’s Smartest Man Dreams of Teaching at Syracuse University

    The most successful people are not the ones with the 4.0 GPAs. If that were the case, George Bush, a lifelong “C” student, would’ve never become President.

    Albert Einstein’s IQ was around 150. Christopher Langan’s is well past that – so high the tests cannot even give him an accurate score.

    Yet you’ve probably never heard of Chris Langan. After working as a bouncer in Long Island for more than 20 years, the world’s smartest man is a farmer who spends his free time writing about his “Theory of Everything,” proving the existence of God, the soul and afterlife through mathematical algorithms.

    “Coming from the inheritance business counts more than most people think it does,” Langan said from his rural Missouri horse ranch. “Credentials and connections are important to the achievements of material success.”

    To protect his younger brothers from his abusive father, Langan worked out and literally punched his dad out of the house when he was 16. His life was filled with poverty and sheer bad luck. No matter how brilliant he may be, Langan is the antithesis of the rags-to-riches American Dream.

    “I’m a product of my lower-class upbringing,” Langan said. “I got disgusted with immoral materialism and tendencies to let self interest run away with truth and injustice.”

    Nevertheless, the man is beyond genius. His research and theories are logically idealistic, but nobody will publish them because he has no record of accomplishment or professional affiliation.

    Langan wants to work at Syracuse University and now the university should take this opportunity to work with him to bring his studies and ideals to benefit the students. Let SU be the first to give Chris Langan the break he’s been waiting for his entire life.

    “I would love a position incorporating philosophy and math at Syracuse University,” Langan said. “I would accept if I could teach exactly what I want and if it didn’t involve me living in Syracuse the entire year. I’d love to explain my work to the administration.”

    Langan was not privileged enough to receive a proper education yet he still aced all his tests, proving the definition of success extends beyond the transcripts. His story is chronicled in Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling work OUTLIERS: The Story of Success. In the book, Gladwell stresses that opportunities and hours of practice at a specific craft (10,000 to be precise) make people flourish. Gladwell says Bill Gates would have never revolutionized the world if he didn’t have the chance to sneak out of his house every night to program computers at the University of Washington as a high school student.

    By attending SU, you are much closer to Bill Gates than you are to Chris Langan on the potential success pendulum. You are part of a community that will train you for your future. Take advantage of your time here. Find your passions and get good at them. In my next post, I’ll discuss the story of two alumni who used their Syracuse education to help them rise to the top of their fields.

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    2009.10.08 / no responses / Category: Naresh Vissa

  • Things Heating Up!

    Well the market is beginning to heat up. There is plenty of debt on the market for sale. As we discussed on the October 1st show, credit card volume was up to more than $100 billion in losses. We mentioned other consumer products doubled that amount.

    There have been some very large debt sales of consumer services in recent months that include wireless telecommunication,utilities (gas, electricity and water) and others. The good news is prices are the lowest they have been since the early 1990’s.

    Yes, the economy is slow and unemployment is up, but remember the pricing is based on the expected returns in today’s economic conditions. When the economy starts to recover, the returns that are projected over a 3 year time line will begin to climb, exceeding the expected return.

    I believe there is a window of opportunity. How long that window remains open is still in question, however I do not believe it will remain open beyond the first quarter of 2009.

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    2009.10.08 / no responses / Category: Author, Dennis Hammond, The Stock Market