To help protect the rights of the elderly, particularly in rural areas, some localities have begun requiring contracts of support between elderly parents and their children. A case in point is the village of Tiezu, or Iron Mouth in English, located in Qindu county on the outskirts of Xianyang, a former ancient capital of China in central Shaanxi province. Starting this year, newlyweds in Qindu district have been required to sign contracts pledging to support their parents after age 60.

`Now are you both ready?' I said, as people do when they are going to fire a mine.

It is obvious that statistical deductions such as I have described above must not be derived from selected cases, neither must they rest on the frail foundation of præ-mortem diagnosis.

An undemonstrable legend is no legend at all. One must postulate that every fabulate is based on a memorate.