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How Murphy's Law Works

by Josh Clark 314
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Other Universal Truths

Although Murphy's Law captures the jaded, pessimistic view of the world very well, it doesn't stand alone. Since its popularization following the rocket sled tests at Edwards Air Force Base, shrewd observers have come up with some of their own laws. Some have become famous in their own right, like the Peter Principle, which states that all people will
Luis Enrique Ascui/Getty Im ages The science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke cam e up w ith his ow n unnatural law ," Clarke's Third Law .

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eventually be promoted to their level of incompetence, or O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law,

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which argues that Murphy was an optimist. There are literally thousands of rules, laws, principles and observations that have been created since Murphy's Law. Some are funny, some are wise and some are just plain cool. Others are old, triedand-true observations: Etorre's Observation - The other line moves faster. Barth's Distinction - There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into types and those who don't. Acton's Law - Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely Boob's Law - You always find something in the last place you look. Clarke's Third Law - Any sufficiently advanced society is indistinguishable from magic. Franklin's Rule - Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he will not be disappointed. Issawi's Law of the Path of Progress - A shortcut is the longest distance between two points. Mencken's Law - Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. Patton's Law - A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Each of these sayings explains some aspect of the universe and puts it into an easily understood (and often funny) form. Even so, Murphy's Law remains the granddaddy of all maxims. What is it about this law that we find so perfectly captures life? In the next section, we'll look at why Murphy's Law is such a universal concept.

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Winston Wu Ohlone College, Cal State Hayw ard This article doesn't explain w hy there is an invisible universal force that seems to go against our w ill and creates bad luck consistently in certain areas. It merely assumes that the unknow n and mysteries don't exist and that everything can be explained w ith classical conventional materialistic science. Very narrow and left brained. Reply 1 Like October 8, 2013 at 7:20am

John Aw ad About "a piece of buttered bread w ill alw ays land butter-side dow n" due to the butter making its side heavier, it's not actually true. Mythbusters have made a test and concluded that the bread w ill not alw ays land butter-side dow n. How ever, on a table, the reason for this is that the basic design and height of tables makes the bread flip once and land top-side dow n w hich gives a higher probability for butter-side dow ns. Reply 2 Like July 11, 2011 at 1:49am

Gola Godfred Moore Blackw ater High School I recon there is trillions of law s, some of my ow ns are, Gola 's law s;.

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''nothing is truely made out of nothing, therefore every thing has a common beginning, therefore everything are related, only time seperates each one of everything''. ''you are not w hat you are w hen you be w hat you are''. ''you are only w hat you are w hen you use everything to serve the demand''. ''there is no beginning or end, only w hat is know n changes''. Reply Like June 19, 2011 at 3:27am Rvb Babu Works at Indian Railway | That's w hy Murphy's Law is summarized as " If something can go w rong it w ill go w rong (some day)." Reply Like May 26, 2011 at 6:48am
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