queenofthe1ring's Journal: Hogwash

It is frustrating to find stories like these: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/02/1339206 on the front page.

Come on slashdot, aren't we beyond pseudo-science yet? I can only hope that the story, and it's linked article, are some kind of joke.

To prove your story wrong, I give myself as an example: I have a shorter ring finger than index finger, I am a girl, and I excel at math, and have sucktacular verbal skills.

Humor, I think

[johndiii]

It had the foot icon on the story page. Or at least it does now. Slashdot being what it is, I am sure that you can imagine the direction that the discussion took (if you didn't actually read it). :-)

On the scientific level, though, people do tend to have an affinity for simple explanations and formulations. Something like this will strike a chord every time, even though it is deeply silly (and not in a good way).

What with exceling at math...

[Otter]

To prove your story wrong, I give myself as an example: I have a shorter ring finger than index finger, I am a girl, and I excel at math, and have sucktacular verbal skills.

Presumably, what with your math skills, you understand that the claim being made is a statistically significant trend, not a blanket assertion?