Murphy's Law rules!
It’s the maxim that says if something can go wrong, it will – and it’s now 60 years old. So just who WAS Mr Murphy?
By MARCUS DUNK
Daily Mail
While this year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin Of Species, another major theory is celebrating an anniversary this year and - if anything - it offers an even more profound insight into the workings of the world than Darwin's theory of evolution.
It was 60 years ago that Murphy's Law was first formerly introduced to the world. Also known as Sod's Law, this is the landmark theory which, put simply, states: If anything can go wrong, it will.
From a slice of falling toast landing buttered-side down on the floor to the recognition that if everything is going well you have probably overlooked something, Murphy's Law is the ultimate theory of human impotence.
The timing for this anniversary is perfect. While evolutionary theory and its revelation that we are all descended from monkeys may have been granted added poignancy by the recent mind-boggling incompetence of our bankers and the failure of the global financial system, Murphy's Law is the true law for our time.
Faced with a credit-crunched world where rising unemployment, falling house prices and the collapse of Sterling have made planning for the future more uncertain than ever, the clear-eyed pessimism of Murphy's Law and its recognition that the world more often that not conspires against our best-laid plans is one that should provide great comfort in these difficult times.
But who was Murphy, and how did he give his name to such a law? Far from a failure himself, Edward Aloysius Murphy Jr was actually a successful American pilot and aerospace test engineer who worked on safety systems for such renowned experimental aircraft as the SR-71 Blackbird and the X-15 rocket plane.
(Continued here.)
By MARCUS DUNK
Daily Mail
While this year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin Of Species, another major theory is celebrating an anniversary this year and - if anything - it offers an even more profound insight into the workings of the world than Darwin's theory of evolution.
It was 60 years ago that Murphy's Law was first formerly introduced to the world. Also known as Sod's Law, this is the landmark theory which, put simply, states: If anything can go wrong, it will.
From a slice of falling toast landing buttered-side down on the floor to the recognition that if everything is going well you have probably overlooked something, Murphy's Law is the ultimate theory of human impotence.
The timing for this anniversary is perfect. While evolutionary theory and its revelation that we are all descended from monkeys may have been granted added poignancy by the recent mind-boggling incompetence of our bankers and the failure of the global financial system, Murphy's Law is the true law for our time.
Faced with a credit-crunched world where rising unemployment, falling house prices and the collapse of Sterling have made planning for the future more uncertain than ever, the clear-eyed pessimism of Murphy's Law and its recognition that the world more often that not conspires against our best-laid plans is one that should provide great comfort in these difficult times.
But who was Murphy, and how did he give his name to such a law? Far from a failure himself, Edward Aloysius Murphy Jr was actually a successful American pilot and aerospace test engineer who worked on safety systems for such renowned experimental aircraft as the SR-71 Blackbird and the X-15 rocket plane.
(Continued here.)
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