Like a lot of others, I love Lord of the Rings.  The plot revolves around the incredible lure of the ring.  It is evil but almost irresistible.  Its offers temptation tailored to the particular individual’s desires.  Amazingly Tolkien came up with this notion without the inspiration of the internet. The web offers so many ways

With Caracalla dead, there was only one authority that could make an emperor, the army. Chance had it that most of the troops were gathered in Syria, so it was there and nowhere else that matters would be decided.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the image of Caracalla and Geta 1907 by  Lawrence Alma-Tadema) Mothers like their children to do well, and jobs don’t come much better than being emperor of Rome. Both Julia Damna’s sons became emperor.  It would have been perfect if only they hadn’t been emperor at the same time.   Or if

  Us humans pride ourselves on our intelligence. We certainly use our brains differently to all other animals, often in unusual and surprising ways. Does being clever make it likely that human beings as a species will survive for a long time? Far from it, Chomsky suggests.