Squibs

Four from Alain de Botton, interpreting Proust...

1. The mind is a squeamish organ that refuses to entertain difficult truths unless encouraged to do so by difficult events.

2. Happiness is good for the body, but grief develops and strengthens the mind.

3. The pursuit of happiness <<  the pursuit of ways to be properly and productively unhappy.

4. 'The stubborn recurrence of misery means that the development of a workable approach to it must surely outstrip the value of any utopian quest for happiness.'

Four from Henry Ford...

1. Power and machinery, money and goods, are useful only as they set us free to live.

2. Reformers either want to smash things or go back to the old way. It is possible to prevent the world from going forward but not from decaying. And it is possible to smash the world but not to build a new one.

3. Law never does anything constructive; it can never be more than a policeman.

4. The US -- its land, its people, government, and business -- are but methods by which the life of the people is made worthwhile.

And now, for something a little different, bird factoids...

1. Pigeons can be trained to tell the difference between a previously unseen Van Gogh painting and a Chagall painting about as well as psychology students.

2. 9,000 species of birds have a song, but about half have to learn it. Birds practice singing in their dreams.

And finally, a law that, since I've heard it, I see everywhere...

The perceived complexity of a task will expand to fill the time you allot it.