It is not about a fortunate event. It takes ten thousand hours of trial and practice to master something, and that's for a known field. If you are cutting into the unknown and trying to reduce leading-edge theory to commercial success, I would guess twice that.

And if you misjudge the important things--like how the marketplace will react when you DO get there--you lose out. If you get your throat cut by sponges, moochers, criminal takers or fakers, it costs you heavily. You can starve to death on the trail and also lose your pay, as the song says.

But making things happen is a peculiarly human attribute, at least on our scale, and we have thousands of examples to choose from of people who did so. It takes confronting all kinds of williwaws, ne'er-do-wells and uncomfortable negotiations, but it can be made to happen.

Bitching and moaning about sky-sized generalities and conspiracies, however, is not part of the formula.

A