Goldilocks Effect

Do you know anything about the Goldilocks Effect? asked Pliny the Elder.

Why are you asking? I said.

I was watching a television program about the planet Jupiter last night, he replied, and they said the regions most likely to support any sort of life were the cloud regions, due to the Goldilocks Effect.

Oh I saw that program too, I said. Wasn't it tedious!

Not at all, said Pliny. It was most interesting. But you haven't answered my question.

Well, I suppose the Goldilocks Effect must be the way they describe the most habitable regions of a planet, as being neither too hot nor too cold, but just right, like Baby Bear's porridge.

I beg your pardon! Did you say Baby Bear's porridge?

Yes, I gather you don't know the story of Goldilocks, Pliny.

No, I don't, said Pliny. Enlighten me.

Goldilocks was a little girl and she went to the house of the Three Bears. She was hungry so she tried their bowls of porridge. Father Bear's big bowl was too hot, Mother Bear's medium sized bowl was too cold and Baby Bear's tiny bowl was just right. So she ate it all up.

Oh, I see, said Pliny. But wait a minute. That doesn't make any sense. Why was Baby Bear's porridge warmer than Mother Bear's? Shouldn't it have been the coldest porridge of all?

You're right! I said. I always thought there was something wrong with that story.