"And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and large chulapas. And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'
I think the quote flouting the rule of 3, and the discussion in the article is analogous to a similar phenomenon with face attractiveness.
If you average across many faces, you get an attractive face. It's a safe bet for an attractive face.
Yet, many super models are not an average across features, but have extreme features. The challenge is that unlike an average, extremes can generate unattractive faces.
Rule of 3 is a recipe for a pursuasive message, but you can be pursuasive by flouting it (and extremely pursuasive writing often flouts rules).
The holy hand grenade of Antioch might be a powerful weapon but someone should tell those ancient patriarchs that feasting on fruit bats is a foolish thing to do.
