A farmer owned seventeen horses. He willed the horses to his three children.
The first born was willed 1/2 of the horses, the youngest 1/9th, and the middle child 1/3rd of the horses.
When the father died the children were unable to divide up the herd according to the will and so called an old family friend to help them.
The friend arrived the next day with his own horse and added it to the total. He then divided up the 18 horses as decreed in his old friend’s will: 9 to the first born, 2 to the youngest, and 6 to the middle child. The children thanked their friend and he departed with his horse.
From a lecture delivered by Mark Steyn “It’s about a possibly terminal manifestation of an old civilizational temptation: Indolence”
Robert Heinlein:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.â€
I’m so glad someone in Texas is being reasonable. Today the Texas supreme court ordered CPS (Child Protective Services) to give back the more than 400 children it took from a religious sect.
Scott and I have been watching this story and from the beginning I’ve been shocked that more people all over the U.S. are not up in arms over how easily CPS waltzed in to this community and all but stole their children. As the court sessions started coming out, more and more detail leaked about how the instigating phone call was a fake, the pregnant minors were really not minors (some as old as 26) and there was *no* proof of any child abuse happening to these children.
I’m not super religious, and I don’t agree with the principles behind the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ religion, but I do think parents have the right to raise their children without interference from the government. Just imagine how much damage being yanked away from the only culture and family these 400 kids have ever known has done. I’d say it’s far worse than anything the church could have ever come up with.
-Meg
This one is free (the anti-virus part) and gets superior reviews
AVG Free Advisor – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition