Typically, facility managers appreciate the classic Murphy’s Laws (which go back as far as 1841, according to Wikipedia, but were formalized in 1877 at a meeting of an engineering society). The most common example, “anything that can possibly go wrong, does” made its first modern appearance in 1952, although the origins have been claimed by two sources (Jack Sacks, a mountaineering author, and Anne Roe, an author quoting a physicist).
This week, we have Peter SJF Bance to thank (again) for these lesser known laws from Murphy.
1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
2. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
3. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.
4. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
5. The 50-50-90 rule: Any time you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% likelihood you’ll get it wrong.
6. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, at night, in the fog.
7. The things that come to those who wait will be the scraggly junk left by those who got there first.
8. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
9. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
10. When you go into court, you put yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.
Good Stuff!