What an Appropriate Story for The Bowl.

I took a long weekend off to deal with all the Switch-a-Room drama that is playing out over at The Zoo. But let me tell you about the doozie I found for my great return.

Man forgets thousands of euros in toilet

Fri Feb 20, 9:14 am ET
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German businessman lost more than 10,000 euros ($13,000) in a plastic bag after forgetting the cash in a public toilet, authorities said on Thursday.

Hesse state police said the man took the "five-figure" sum with him as he stopped to relieve himself in a motorway service station near Haiger in western Germany. He then drove off.

A police spokesman said it was not clear why the man took half an hour to notice his loss -- by which time the money had gone.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Phakamisa Ndzamela)

We really have to sit down and digest this together. Are you ready?

Man forgets euros in toilet.

Now this is just a study in North American English and European English. We say "toilet" and we are all picturing a bag floating on the water right? They say "toilet" and they are seeing the room as a whole.

It was unclear as to why it took half an hour to notice the money was missing.

Now I'm a mom. It's really not hard for me to forget that my pants are missing for way more than half an hour. And again you are talking to the woman who took $60 out of the ATM machine and promptly took it home and threw it in the big garage garbage can. Some of us are just scattered sometimes. Granted I'm pretty sure even feather brained, scatter shot I would have noticed a missing $13,000. This dude was on something!

And my favorite part..."by which time the money had gone."

Maybe I should have this fellow come handle my potty training issue. If he can get his money to go, he really is a fellow I want to have on my side.

Seriously! Who studies this stuff?!

But more importantly....WHY?!?! (I'm excerpting this article because of space and obnoxious writing style. You can read the whole thing for yourself here.)

Finger length may predict financial success

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer – Mon Jan 12, 9:30 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London financial district.

Indeed, the impact of biology on success was about equal to years of experience at the job, the team led by physiologist John M. Coates reports in Monday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The same ring-to-index finger ratio has previously been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball, the researchers noted.
The length ratio between those two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus and the relatively longer ring finger indicates greater exposure to the male hormone androgen, the researchers noted.

***
In a separate study last year, Coates and colleagues reported that the hormone that drives male aggression and sexual interest also seemed able to boost short term success at finance.

They studied male financial traders in London, taking saliva samples in the morning and evening. They found that those with higher levels of testosterone in the morning were more likely to make an unusually big profit that day. Testosterone, best known as the male sex hormone, affects aggression, confidence and risk-taking.

In the new study, the researchers measured the right hands of 44 male stock traders who were engaged in a type of trade that involved rapid decision-making and quick physical reactions.

Over 20 months those with longer ring fingers compared to their index fingers made 11 times more money than those with the shortest ring fingers. Over the same time the most experienced traders made about 9 times more than the least experienced ones.

Looking only at experienced traders, the long-ring-finger folks earned 5 times more than those with short ring fingers.
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On the Net:
PNAS: http://www.pnas.org

Please tell me that you saw that^! You saw the web address right? Is anyone else mildly amused by this? What blows me away is that someone got PAID to measure fingers and collect spit for this study. Because when one is searching for a career the first thing on their resume is "My ring finger is exceptionally long!"

For the love of Pete Cambridge! Cure cancer! Find more effective treatments for AIDS and cholera! Use your money to get clean water to Africa. Who gives a rip about the finger lengths of Brit traders?

For all of our technological advances we sure are a stupid bunch aren't we?