Mens Sana Foundation

was 8:05 AM at the law offices of Flibberty, Gibbet & Molly — one of the leading law firms of Gotham City.

A meeting had just started in the large conference room. In attendance were all the partners of the firm. There was only one item on the agenda — J. B. Gibbet, one of the senior partners of the firm, was going to make a recommendation on how the firm could improve its dismal record on appeals. It seems that Flibberty, Gibbet, & Molly had wound up on the losing end more than 90% of the time.

The meeting begins. Old business is dispensed with and J. B. Gibbet is given the floor. He speaks.

"I’ll be brief. In trying to find a solution to our problem, I researched all the appeals filed over the last 5 years. Here’s what I found. Of those filed on Mondays, 31% were successful; Tuesdays, 19%; Wednesdays, 22%; Thursdays, 37%; but a whopping 63% success rate for appeals filed on Fridays. Good stuff, I thought. So I went further.

"It turns out that 72% of the appeals filed on Fridays before 12:00 noon were successful, whereas only 28% of those filed after 12:00 noon were victorious.

"I was so heartened by these findings that I took a look at one more variable — the difference between appeals filed by male law clerks and those filed by female law clerks. Bingo! I hit the jackpot. It turns out that only 11% of the appeals filed by male law clerks were successful while the ladies were triumphant an amazing 89% of the time.

"With all these data, the solution to our problem is obvious — have only female law clerks file our appeals. And even then, only on Fridays and only before noon. If we do that, I don’t see how we can miss."

The meeting ended with applause and cries of "J.B., you've done it again."

Think about it.