Castles in the air

Some passages from literature seem to suffer from being quoted too often. But this one from Thoreau towards the end of Walden keeps its power for me because it rings true with at least a few of my own experiments.

Here goes:

I learned this, at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty, poverty, nor weakness, weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.

SO MUCH FOR THE WISDOM OF CROWDS. A study suggests home team performance can influence voting behavior.

A DIRECT APPROACH. From the Northwest, here's a call for direct job creation along New Deal lines.

SO MUCH FOR "CLIMATEGATE." A British investigation has exonerated scientists from falsifying climate change data.

EARLY HUMANS may have traveled to Europe earlier than previously believed.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED