"Experts reckon an enterprise has to start with around 3,000 bright ideas if it is to come up with 100 worthwhile projects, which, in turn, will be winnowed down to four developmental programs for new products. And four such development projects are the minimum needed to stand any chance of getting one winner." The Economist, June 21, 2003.

Well. If business and commerce are any guide to our personal lives, this may explain why it seems almost impossible to "connect": it's statistical, like quantum theory: given enough time and repetition, anything can and will probably happen. "If we had but world enough and time...": was Andrew Marvell (I think this is Marvell) the first quantum poet-artist?