How to prove Murphy wrong

[Tim Wescott]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things
will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. "If there's
more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes
will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do
it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go
wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the
worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or, "Anything that can go
wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most
inopportune moment"). The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod's law or
Finagle's law which can also be rendered as "Anything that can go wrong,
will-at the worst possible moment".

One example of this is to start a cool newsgroup posting, then hit
"send" when you finish the introductory paragraph, yet haven't written
the rest of the post.



--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what it says.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

 

[Damon Hill]

One example of this is to start a cool newsgroup posting, then hit
"send" when you finish the introductory paragraph, yet haven't written
the rest of the post.

"I have met the Enemy, and he is me."

--Damon

 

[Jim Thompson]

My personal corollary to Murphy's law is that the only two
real infinities in the universe are stupidity and optimism.

My favorite is, "Murphy was an optimist"!

...Jim Thompson

 

[John Popelish]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things
will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. "If there's
more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes
will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do
it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go
wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the
worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or, "Anything that can go
wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most
inopportune moment"). The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod's law or
Finagle's law which can also be rendered as "Anything that can go wrong,
will-at the worst possible moment".

My personal corollary to Murphy's law is that the only two
real infinities in the universe are stupidity and optimism.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

My favorite is, "Murphy was an optimist"!

The most important is, "Don't touch Mrs. Murphy".

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things
will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. "If there's
more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes
will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do
it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go
wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the
worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or, "Anything that can go
wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most
inopportune moment"). The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod's law or
Finagle's law which can also be rendered as "Anything that can go wrong,
will-at the worst possible moment".

Like having your computer's clock off by a day?

 

[mpm]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture

I've often heard this as the "buttered-side-down bread law", which of
course refers to which side lands first when you're not quite awake
enough to make breakfast....

Then there's the one about re-canning worms.
(Hint: The only way is to use a larger can!)

But my all time favorite "law" is: (..and I believe there is a lot of
truth to this..)
Left unchecked, things tend to go from bad to worse. Then the cycle
repeats.

 

[Jon Slaughter]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that
things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance.
"If there's more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of
those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then
somebody will do it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go
wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go
wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or,
"Anything that can go wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will,
and usually at the most inopportune moment"). The saying is sometimes
referred to as Sod's law or Finagle's law which can also be rendered as
"Anything that can go wrong, will-at the worst possible moment".

Its very simple. Its wrong cause no one counts every time it fails. How many
times has things gone right when they could have gone wrong? Do people take
notice of that?

 

[Gert Baars]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things
will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. "If there's
more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes
will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do
it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go
wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the
worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or, "Anything that can go
wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most
inopportune moment"). The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod's law or
Finagle's law which can also be rendered as "Anything that can go wrong,
will-at the worst possible moment".

 

[Gert Baars]

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that
things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance.
"If there's more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of
those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then
somebody will do it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go
wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go
wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or,
"Anything that can go wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will,
and usually at the most inopportune moment"). The saying is sometimes
referred to as Sod's law or Finagle's law which can also be rendered as
"Anything that can go wrong, will-at the worst possible moment".

First attempt; If something is supposed to go wrong this law seems to
contradict
on this as well so succes is assured?! Then why not attempt nothing else
that
is doomed to fail on instance having great expectations insured

 

[John Devereux]

I've often heard this as the "buttered-side-down bread law", which of
course refers to which side lands first when you're not quite awake
enough to make breakfast....

Then there's the one about re-canning worms.
(Hint: The only way is to use a larger can!)

But my all time favorite "law" is: (..and I believe there is a lot of
truth to this..)
Left unchecked, things tend to go from bad to worse. Then the cycle
repeats.

Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is crap".

 

[John Popelish]

Its very simple. Its wrong cause no one counts every time it fails.

How can it possibly fail. How can you know that the worst
possible moment for failure has happened?

How many times has things gone right when they could have gone wrong?
Do people take notice of that?

Notice that? They positively rely on it.

Murphy's law does not say everything will always go wrong.
It says that if it is possible for something to go wrong, it
*eventually* will.

Past successes do not guarantee future success. Ask anyone
who has been investing in the stock market for a few years.

 

[Jon Slaughter]

How can it possibly fail. How can you know that the worst possible moment
for failure has happened?


Notice that? They positively rely on it.

Murphy's law does not say everything will always go wrong. It says that if
it is possible for something to go wrong, it *eventually* will.

Past successes do not guarantee future success. Ask anyone who has been
investing in the stock market for a few years.

You have no clue?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_law


If you have ever did any task where there was a posibility for things to go
wrong, did they?

If you think a little and read that page you'll see I'm right. There are
many occasions when things don't go wrong when they could have but no one
notices cause its not a big deal.

On that page it gives an example

"There is a possible reasoning behind Murphy's Law as well. For example, on
the hottest day of the year, the air conditioner breaks down. This is
because that moment is when the most strain is put on it, which is the
reason for it breaking down."

But how many times did the AC not break down? No one counts cause its not an
issue until it does... and when it does its a big deal.

 

[Paul Burke]

How can it possibly fail. How can you know that the worst possible
moment for failure has happened?

Or what constitutes failure- the steps taken to identify possible
failure modes, thus preventing total foul up due to Murphy's law, make
the project years late/ massively over budget/ elephantinely clunky and
hence unmarketable- thus proving Murphy's law.

 

[JosephKK]

Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is crap".

But do you know who Sturgeon is?

 

[John Devereux]

But do you know who Sturgeon is?

Sure - science fiction writer. I have read a bit of his stuff.

Here is the wiki page about him:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon>

An interesting factoid (which I had heard of but forgotten), is that
he was in the room when L Ron Hubbard essentially made up scientology.

 

[JosephKK]

Sure - science fiction writer. I have read a bit of his stuff.

Here is the wiki page about him:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon>

An interesting factoid (which I had heard of but forgotten), is that
he was in the room when L Ron Hubbard essentially made up scientology.

So which parts of his writing do you like best?