Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#41 Post by Pinky the pilot » Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:52 am

The final panel of a Gyro Gearloose comic I once had showed Gyro reflecting that

"No-one can make a machine so smart that some jerk won't be too dumb to run it!" :-?
You only live twice. Once when you're born. Once when you've looked death in the face.

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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#42 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Apr 19, 2021 5:56 pm

PtP, never underestimate the ingenuity of idiots or jerks come to that.

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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#43 Post by Rwy in Sight » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:34 pm

PN, I see them everyday on how they behave with limited attention to protecting oneself

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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#44 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon May 03, 2021 1:06 pm

I have just been listening to a BBC Radio 4 background on Murphy's Law. The story has an aviation flavour.
The universe has been finding ways to mess with people long before Edward A. Murphy uttered his famed statement in the aftermath of Dr. John Paul Stapp strapping himself onto a rocket powered sled. One of the earliest instances of this “law” being stated explicitly happened in 1877 where Alfred Holt, in an address to the Institution of Civil Engineers, said, “It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later…”

By 1908, it had become a well-loved maxim among magicians as well, as explained by Nevil Maskelyne in The Magic Circular: “It is an experience common to all men to find that, on any special occasion . . . everything that can go wrong will go wrong…”

This was reiterated by Adam Hull Shirk in The Sphinx in 1928, “It is an established fact that in nine cases out of ten whatever can go wrong in a magical performance will do so.”
Colonel J P Stapp

Edward A Murphy
Following the end of hostilities, in 1947 Murphy attended the United States Air Force Institute of Technology, becoming R&D Officer at the Wright Air Development Center of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It was while here that he became involved in the high-speed rocket sled experiments (USAF project MX981, 1949) which led to the coining of Murphy's law. Murphy himself was reportedly unhappy with the commonplace interpretation of his law, which is seen as capturing the essential "cussedness" of inanimate objects. Murphy regarded the law as crystallizing a key principle of defensive design, in which one should always assume worst-case scenarios. Murphy was said by his son to have regarded the many jocular versions of the law as "ridiculous, trivial and erroneous".
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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#45 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon May 03, 2021 1:08 pm

Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#46 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon May 03, 2021 1:20 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Mon May 03, 2021 1:08 pm
Murphy's Law

Stapp's Law - - (or Stapp's Ironic Paradox) during his work on the project. It states: "The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle."
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You must have somewhere
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Your destination remains
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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#47 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon May 03, 2021 1:40 pm

TGG, that article mentions Sod's Law, my favourite is screw fasteners. No matter how many screws that must be removed to gain access, it will be the last screw that cannot be removed in the time available or with the tools at hand. All the other screws must be refastened until that stuck screw can be removed.

If you have a socket set with A/F, BA, and metric up to size 10, the required socket will be 11.

If you do have the right size, the bolt will protrude sufficiently far that the socket cannot engage the nut.

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Re: Named principles, physical laws, constants etc. that should exist...

#48 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon May 03, 2021 1:55 pm

Pontius Navigator wrote:
Mon May 03, 2021 1:40 pm
TGG, that article mentions Sod's Law, my favourite is screw fasteners. No matter how many screws that must be removed to gain access, it will be the last screw that cannot be removed in the time available or with the tools at hand. All the other screws must be refastened until that stuck screw can be removed.

If you have a socket set with A/F, BA, and metric up to size 10, the required socket will be 11.

If you do have the right size, the bolt will protrude sufficiently far that the socket cannot engage the nut.
Or if you manage to get the last screw out, it will fall into the most inaccessible crevice or nook and cranny! ;)))
Though you remain
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"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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