prov. If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.
Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a news conference a few days later.
Within months `Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on "Anything that can go wrong, will"; this is correctly referred to as Finagle's Law. The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Law acting on itself!
Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a news conference a few days later.
Within months `Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on "Anything that can go wrong, will"; this is correctly referred to as Finagle's Law. The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Law acting on itself!
This is a principle of defensive design, and usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design.
You don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it `THIS WAY UP'; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical.
You don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it `THIS WAY UP'; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical.
by Belatu July 26, 2004
Get the Murphy's Law mug.by Etan September 5, 2003
Get the murphy's law mug.bread will always fall jelly side down. Example 2: Just when you thought it was safe to wear a white skirt to school, because your period isnt for another week---you end up with a japanese flag on your ass.
by K. A. S. I. E. June 24, 2004
Get the Murphy's Law mug.I always fail to capture that damn roadrunner thanks to Murphy's Law, and all those defective, shitty ACME products.
by Wily E. Coyote September 24, 2003
Get the murphy's law mug.I have seen it quoted in this manner: "If there are two or more ways to do something and one of those results in a catastrophe, then someone will do it that way." It is more a psychological law than a superstition then.
by Thermaland October 31, 2003
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If you take the phone with you outside, say to garden, it will never ring, but if you leave it inside there will be several messages on your voicemail.
If you take the phone with you outside, say to garden, it will never ring, but if you leave it inside there will be several messages on your voicemail.
by andy1 August 10, 2005
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1: "the one day you forget to brush your teeth, it's picture day at school!!"
2: "the one time that you make me a pom-pom bow to put in my shoe, i have to dance! darn that murphy, he never takes a day off..."
1: "the one day you forget to brush your teeth, it's picture day at school!!"
2: "the one time that you make me a pom-pom bow to put in my shoe, i have to dance! darn that murphy, he never takes a day off..."
by ashley!!!!!!!!! November 2, 2008
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