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PeAcE WiTh GuNs

Friday, May 26, 2006

Murphy's Law Examples

"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool"

- Silvermoon's law

Now, we go on to the really nice examples. Mind you, all these are plagiarized DIRECTLY from here

  • A slice of buttered bread, when dropped, will always land butter-side down.
  • When you need an item that is in a heap, it will always be the one at the bottom.
  • Buses take ages to arrive, but when they do they always arrive in sets of three (in Britain "you wait ages for a bus, then two come along at once!"). There actually is a logical explanation for this: the first bus is slowed down because of the time needed to let passengers get on and off. The subsequent busses are (typically) not allowed to pass the first bus, so you tend to end up with a full bus followed by a line of empty ones.
  • The day you forget your umbrella, it pours with rain.
  • When graphing, the graph paper is always one square too small for the perfect scale.
  • When caught in a traffic jam, the lane that you are in will always be the slowest to move. (This joke was played out in the opening sequence of the film Office Space, where one of the main characters changed lanes multiple times, all in vain as the traffic around him moved - to really drive home the concept, an elderly man with a walker was shown dramatically outpacing our protagonist.)
  • Nothing is as easy as it looks.
  • Everything takes longer than you think. Or, everything takes twice as long as it should; excepting that which appears easy, taking three times as long.
  • Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.
  • If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
  • If something simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
  • If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
  • Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
  • Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
  • Every solution breeds new problems.
  • All small objects of value will disappear when set down.
  • Magellan's Allegory: If you stop and ask someone for directions, and they tell you "You can't miss it"... then be assured that you will.
  • If you make it idiot-proof, someone will make a better idiot.
  • When you put your pants on without looking — they will always be on backwards.
  • A series of events will go wrong in the most negative sequence.
  • Airline Travel Variation: The time you have to catch a flight is inversely proportional to the distance to the gate.
  • 50/50/90-If there is a 50/50 chance to get it right, there is a 90% chance that you will get it wrong.
  • The day you forget to bring your calculator to Math or Science class, there will be a quiz or test that requires one.
  • A train/bus/plane will be late, unless you are late and need the delay to make it on board.

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs

54 Comments:

  • lol!!! nice one dude! and I love "IF" by kipling showin as a scroll on your blog. one of my favs! thanx for dropping by my blog btw. do drop in again:)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:33 pm  

  • Soulitary Reaper : Thanks for the comment. Will defi check your blog often. I actually picked up that scroll thingie from Khushi's blog. She has something like that scrolling.

    Pooja : I've heard comments about a few of Kipling's poems being racists e.g. "Gangadin". I dont see any racist line in "IF". Do you? Hmmm...lemme read it again.

    Suyog : That happens when I am coding. Oh and even when I plan these trips. Somehow, someone cancels it due to some crappy reason or the other !!

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 3:56 pm  

  • hilarious and observant. nice blog.. and thanks for dropping by to mine. I agree about the music bit.. free bird's nice :-).

    Oh and i, like most others, love If too. Did u know kipling was born in bombay ?? yayy !

    By Blogger Michelangelo ;), at 7:11 pm  

  • PPP : Abso, Kipling is my favourite writer. I still remember reading KIM and I remember the graphic description of the Grand Trunk Road which he put up in that novel. The Jungle book was amazing too. I actually have a post where I've put up the entire poem alongwith an extract from Hamlet. Look for a post called "Two Pieces Of Advice".

    LOL, I've also written a review on Free Bird on Mouthshut.com. Check it out for some really interesting facts!

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 5:27 am  

  • i enjoyed this post!
    loaded with ironies it was!

    thanks for dropping by my blog.will drop by here again!

    ciao!

    By Blogger KM, at 2:15 pm  

  • nice post.....check out my comment on bergkamp post.....cheers

    By Blogger ~ Deeps ~, at 3:13 pm  

  • Khizzy : Ironies, yeah. So many of them are true though. It happens ALL the time !! Did you read more about how the laws were started and stuff? Theres a link in that post itself. Try that out.

    Deeps : Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed it. I dont take any credit for it though. Its just lifted from someplace else. But I've been a nice guy and acknowledged that right at the start [:-P]. Whats more, theres even a link to the source !!

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 6:21 pm  

  • Always nice to read about the everyday ironies of life LOL. Nice compilation Guns,

    And no I couldn't reply to your M2Ms coz the sick bastards at Mouthshut had disabled my account 2 years ago without even a notice.

    Oh well... now you know where to find me.

    Take care dude, and I'll keep tabs on this blog.

    Cheers!

    Karan.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:06 pm  

  • Karan : Hey man ! So good to 'find' you. LOL, I was browsing Suyog's blog and I saw your comment so I just navigated to your blog just to see if your blog profile says Karan 'A' which it did. So I just mailed you as a fluke.

    Good to get in touch with you and I'm always glad to read stuff from people like you/Suyog etc., old timers at MS. Why did they disable your account anyway?

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 5:24 am  

  • good one...:)

    By Blogger alice, at 8:33 am  

  • what part of india are u in...????wd u mind giving me some gyaan on cameras....suggest somthing which is not very expensive...maybe...not more than 15-16 k?????

    ur gyan wd be appreciated... :)

    By Blogger alice, at 2:44 pm  

  • Alice :

    For 15-16K, you can go for canon, I guess. Nikon is exremely popular with SLRs and the Nikon D70 is one of the hottest DSlRs in the market today alongwith Canon EOS. As for compact cameras, I dont see Nikon hitting into too much of the market.

    Sony is most 'popular' in the compact range but Sony is the worst buy because they are expensive as compared to their competitors, offer no real quality difference (whatever their guides might claim) and VERY IMPORTANTLY, they only use a sony memory stick which is about 2-3 times as costly as a SD card or a MMC card.

    LOL, not to burden you with useless jargon, the flash memory card that you use can be called SD (Secure Digital), MMC(MultiMedia Card) or a Sony memory stick. MMC is the least expensive but is slow. The best choice is to go for a high-speed SD card and a camera that supports SD cards. FYI, some cameras (like mine) can use both SD and MMC cards.

    Panasonic launched the Lumix range in the last 4-5 years with one aim. To offer great quality at unmatchable price. The LC series of cameras are all compact cameras like the S3 or S4 you mention but they are a lot cheaper. They'll be well within your budget too.

    Problem is that very few people in India use Panasonic coz its not very popular here. But if you ask any photography expert or just pop a random question in some photography forum or an egroup, you'll definitely get a near 100% positive feedback on Panasonic.

    Final verdict - go for one of the Canons if you cant find one in the Panasonic Lumix LC series. Make sure it supports SD cards and the best deal is to get a 3-5 MP camera with better features than a 6-7 MP camera with scarce features.

    Oh and buy a HUGE memory card - atleast 512 MB. You'll be able to take pics at max resolution all the time. You'll only appreciate them.

    Hope that helps.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    P.S. : (1)Me is from the queen of the deccan, Pune. (2)I'm originally a Kannadiga though coz we're from Karwar in North Karnataka.(3)Umm, I was brought up till age 10 in Gujrat and (4)speak Konkani at home and our ancestral temple is in Canacona Goa.

    [:-P] I'm just an Indian !

    By Blogger GuNs, at 7:04 pm  

  • thanks for all that gyaan...confuses me alot....
    all i understand is i have to look for canon or panasonic ...and is ur dad in Army...??????
    and when do u plan to come to delhi???? :)

    By Blogger alice, at 10:01 am  

  • dude i know abt that camera....saw it arnd 2 months back on dpreview and it rocks....but its good for amateur people....if u wanna learn photography then not cuz it doesnt offer u manual mode. also it can take pics in only jpeg format....but still someone who just takes pic for fun sake and needs high optical zoom...thats the best camera......

    By Blogger ~ Deeps ~, at 10:34 am  

  • hmmm panasonic cameras always had this problem of high noise at ISO level of 200 and above in dark places or without proper lighting......(thats proves no one can make perfect cameras :D )

    the problem is with the sensor and they r trying to improve it.....
    slow sync hmmm....u must be on party mode with it.....
    2 suggestions that u can use.....

    1) try some manual setting....low shutter speed but u need to keep camera stationary.....i took some moon pics using that.....it came out very well.....

    2) in closed envt ...u shud buy a external flash....i dont have one but i have seen some pics that people have taken using external flash and noise reduction is quite goood......u just need to find out a good flash.....i dont think it will cost u more than 1500 bucks or so........

    By Blogger ~ Deeps ~, at 10:38 am  

  • that was 1500 INR......

    By Blogger ~ Deeps ~, at 10:39 am  

  • Alice : Sorry for confusing you [:-(]. You are right. In layman's terms, look for a Panasonic or a Canon. Take a live demo and select your pick. One important thing though is that if you have anyone living in the US, cameras are A LOT cheaper there. Mine's around Rs. 26,000 but it was around 18-19K in the US. I had to buy it from Mumbai though [:-(].

    Dad ain't in the army. He just had to change a lot of companies and follow his fate.

    Delhi..not anytime soon [:-(] but if you come to Pune or anywhere close by, count on me for a sight-seeing tour.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 10:55 am  

  • Deeps : I wasnt using the party mode. I was on manual. I tried the aperture priority & the shutter priority both. Low shutter speeds were given a shot too but they were absolutely useless in the fast moving people. Best idea was to get flash and a high shutter speed. It did work, I did get the photos but the noise was just too much. In fact, it wasnt really noise, it was more like random specks on the photos. Maybe there was some crap on my lens. I can only decide the next time I try the same thing again.

    That camera, I suggested to Alice and I thought you'd like to know about it. I agree though. For a am-pro, its the best thing but for a wannabe pro, FZ-20 is the closest to a DSLR.

    I dont really think Panasonic is REALLY bad on the noise factor. There are a lot of others who fare a lot worse. BTW, I checked the Panasonic site and it seems that the SS flash is used with low shutter speeds so that the background is visible too. Will have to try that tonight. I got a 4 second shutter speed on the camera and got a SUPER photo of the moon and the hut alongside. No tripod !! 4 seconds is unbelievable sez my pro photographer colleague. Sheer luck, I say !! I'll put that up on the blog or give you a link to it soon.

    External flash = lot of mess. Will get it only if its inevitable !!

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 11:06 am  

  • came here from Alice's blog...

    Cool post :)


    **Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.

    so damn true!

    Keshi.

    By Blogger Keshi, at 7:57 am  

  • Keshi :Thanks. There really is no contribution of mine in those sentences. I just came across that bunch on the net and I realized how TRUE they are !!

    Monday, it rained like hell in Pune and I got drenched. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I carry an umbrella....no rain !!

    Murphy...where art thou !! We all should kiss thy hand and shower thee with money (jaali notes) and blessings.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 1:19 pm  

  • hey GuNs,

    nice blog. actually i have been visiting ur blog ever since Shradha introduced you in her blog. will try to post comments from now on!

    Balaji.

    By Blogger Balaji Chitra Ganesan, at 8:24 pm  

  • Balaji : Thanks man ! I've read your blog a lot of times earlier as well. Shradz again. I've read blogs by all the people she recommends and I must say that girl has a good taste [:-P].

    Yes, do post comments. Its always nice to read opinions of other people and points of view that support or oppose my opinions.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 5:36 am  

  • 'Nature always sides with the hidden flaw'. I didnt realize this one until i read your blog. Makes a lotta sense.

    By Blogger ScarS, at 12:03 pm  

  • Scars :Thanks for commenting.

    Nature is like this programmer who knows all the bugs in the code. It wont touch you until you start acting smart. So...respecting nature is my funda !

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    P.S. : How'd you come across my blog.

    By Blogger GuNs, at 12:56 pm  

  • good ones man!!

    By Blogger Apy, at 3:57 am  

  • Hahaha - nice compilation! Most of them hold true in real life! :D

    Am blogrolling you.. hope you don't mind! :D

    Nirwa

    By Blogger Nirwa Mehta, at 6:50 am  

  • Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. - how true, seems as if u r quite inspired my Murphy's law..

    Nice database!!

    By Blogger Garima, at 9:49 am  

  • Apy : [:-D]Yeah, they are REAL good. Couldn't help copy-pasting them here after I read those. Thanks for dropping in.

    Nirwa : Blogrolling, sure. Thanks for the honour. Everyday while doing my coding, I do something and I have this feeling that this is going to turn up wrong sometime later but I keep it like that and then later, it DOES turn up wrong. Sheesh...Murphy, thou art great !!

    Garima : Inspired [:-P]LOL, isn't everyone? We all say to ourselves sometimes, "God !! I KNEW this was gonna mess up". Padhaarne ke liye dhanyawaad.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 1:50 pm  

  • Keep writing dude! I check this once in a while; just don't comment regularly...

    Arunz

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:26 am  

  • Hi Guns,
    ummm...Nice Blog, Though not on the line of Murphy's law but i liked this one... "If the Problem 'can' be solved then no need to worry. If the Problem 'cannot' be solved then ...No need to Worry."

    _Prax

    By Blogger Prashanth CM, at 2:47 pm  

  • Im trying to remain anonymous! I can tell u that i am from the south of india though. I came across ure blog from one of the comments you left on someone elses. Glad you liked the post. It was one of the crazy weeks which seldom happens.

    By Blogger ScarS, at 5:27 am  

  • its raining heavily here too :(

    Keshi.

    By Blogger Keshi, at 7:01 am  

  • Arun : That works for me !! I do the same at your blog all the time. In fact, I routinely browse blogs many times before a new update. I only comment if something catches my eye or my attention. Thanks for visiting !!

    Prashanth : LOL, what is THAT? Did you make that up? But yeah, isn't that an ideal situation we'd all want to be in?

    Scars : Actually I couldnt really believe all that you wrote was real. I, for a while thought it was a fictitious story you made up. In any case, it definitely made interesting reading. BTW, how'd all those nicknames come about?

    Keshi : here = ?
    Where do you live? BTW, Murphy continues to reign. one more week, carried umbrella - no rain !!

    Thanks for commenting guys. I went to Janjira this Sunday and will be writing about it soon.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 8:16 am  

  • ya so true. You know when things are going wrong and you are about to bang your head on the table, one has to go through these and then suddenly you start laughing. Things don't seem so bad.
    Good post. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

    By Blogger Usha, at 11:35 am  

  • Usha : Thanks. I agree. I am about to do just the same.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 1:23 pm  

  • forget britain, if you have ever use ST buses in mumbai as your public transport mode, you would know the rule of 4 buses, of which....3 are absolutely packed and you dont get to climb in, the 4th will stop 200 m ahead of the stop!

    By Blogger Zii, at 2:41 pm  

  • Zii : LOL, you mean BEST buses in Mumbai, dont you? Dont even get me started on the PMT in Pune. You cant beat the PMT on inefficieny. BEST is way better !!

    Thanks for dropping in.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 4:21 pm  

  • I sooo agree with your post...brilliantly said!
    In fact a few days back I had written a similar post on Murphy's law...where just when u dont want anything to happen or go wrong..it surely will!:-)

    By Blogger Ekta, at 2:08 am  

  • Ekta : LOL, guess what - ever since I've written this post, good ole' Murphy seems to visit me everyday !

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 4:55 am  

  • lol!!!...toooo good!!!;-)

    By Blogger Dreamy Eyed Gal, at 7:40 pm  

  • Nice banner there! Is that you in the picture?

    Nirwa

    By Blogger Nirwa Mehta, at 9:39 am  

  • Dreamy Eyed Gal : Hai na? [:-P]I thought so. Everyone loved reading those mostly because they so eerily seem to prove themselves true all the time.

    Nirwa :Hey, thanks Nirwa. Thats me in the pic. Kangra fort in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. I had posted that pic under a post named "Looking Out" recently. Check out that pic. This one is a cropped version.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 12:39 pm  

  • Hey! I like your blog -- these things are so true! Especially the traffic jam one, that always happens to me. Then when i get the chance to change lanes, my lane goes slow again! It's a part of life i guess! Yep, i am now a fan of your blog, it's extremely interesting!

    By Blogger Lidia, at 11:21 pm  

  • Amy :Hey there !! Thanks a ton for the comment. I am really glad you like my blog. So do keep reading it. I do come up with meaningless/illogical/stupid posts once in a while ...but thats just to keep the variety !! [:-P] LOL!

    Whats your story? I'll have to read your blog from the very start, I guess. Will do that soon !!

    Cheerio !

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 5:25 am  

  • Hi Guns,

    Good Collection of Law's. "If there a solution to the problem, then No need to worry, If there is no solution to the problem then No need to worry".
    I like this line though not in context of these law's but some how its meaningful and Funny too

    P.S: Thanx for visiting my site pal.

    By Blogger Prashanth CM, at 9:49 am  

  • *chuckle* Interesting stuff this...shall drop by again for more...

    By Blogger G Shrivastava, at 2:43 am  

  • here = Sydney, Australia :)

    Keshi.

    By Blogger Keshi, at 6:20 am  

  • Prashanth : [:-P]

    Geetanjali :Thanks. Will post some other funny things soon. It helps to read something that makes light work of bad situations.

    Keshi :Oh, how I'd love to visit Australia. Its an amazing country with tons and tons of natural beauty. Stay clear of the snakes though...[:-P]

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 11:04 am  

  • Post coming soon.....

    By Blogger ScarS, at 11:50 am  

  • Hola amigo!

    Nice blog there. Must drop in here regularly.

    Murphy's laws. I guess the most ironic part is that Murphy himself knows nothing about them hehe

    jEDI

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:54 pm  

  • Scars :I am checking your blog everyday, man. Wheres the post?? [:-P]

    Jedi :Thanks, bro. Regardless of what Murphy knew, those laws seem to have some truth in them. I mean...those incidents happen SO often that you just cannot deny them.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTH
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 9:27 am  

  • A cat will always fall on its legs...

    Elise who can't prevent herself to be optimistic.

    Keep it up!

    PS: tks for the info on the King Cobra. Scary...

    By Blogger Indiafreak, at 12:50 am  

  • Elise :Found that info on the King Cobra while cross linking through Wikipedia. Its such an awesome site. You go there to find info on something and you cross link to other topics and you keep cross linking until you find yourself reading up on topics totally disjoint from what you had come there to read.

    Murphy Rox ! BTW, I picked these up from Wikipedia too.

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    By Blogger GuNs, at 8:16 am  

  • do u also know that u will never find a murphys law when u are looking for it?

    By Blogger kanags, at 1:31 pm  

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