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<p>You do realize that Gladwell is also a Canuckguy? So his interest in hockey does not surprise me. It is true that children born in the beginning of the year is significantly more advanced physically and emotionally than those born late in the year. I would be curious to know if those enrolled in Caltech are not also born early in the year.</p>
<p>In a way, Gladwell just phrased what we know all along a little differently. Last year I learned, for example, that it is an open secret in China that parents understate their children’s age when they enroll them in sports schools, which may partly explain the lack of longevity in many of their sports heroes.</p>
<p>Where I find him really stretching it is when he tried to make a connection between math ability and rice cultivation. I know Terence Tao and Shing Tung Yau are Cantonese, but I can not believe the wheat eaters in China’s north do not produce fine mathematicians as well.</p>
<p>BTW, Ovechkin’s birthday is in September.;)</p>