*Murphy's Law* > > **** > > *The correct, original Murphy's Law reads: “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.” This is a principle of defensive design, cited here > because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the > challenges of design for > luser<http://catb.org/%7Eesr/jargon/html/L/luser.html>s. > For example, 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 (see also the anecdote under magic > smoke<http://catb.org/%7Eesr/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html> > ).* > > *Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of McDonnell-Douglas's test 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 in a replacement set the wrong > way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which > the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) mis-quoted (apparently in the more > general form “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong)” 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 > more correctly referred to as Finagle's > Law<http://catb.org/%7Eesr/jargon/html/F/Finagles-Law.html>. > The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's > Law acting on itself!* > > * * > > * K.Raman* > >
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