SOD’S LAW, ALSO KNOWN AS MURPHY’S LAW. If anything can go wrong, it
will.
O’TOOLE’S COMMENTARY ON MURPHY’S LAW. Murphy was an optimist.
THE FIRST COROLLARY TO SOD’S LAW. Anything that is to go wrong will do
so at the worst possible moment.
THE UNSPEAKABLE LAW. As soon as you mention something, if it’s good, it
goes away; if it’s bad, it happens.
NON-RECIPROCAL LAWS OF EXPECTATIONS. Negative expectations yield
negative results. Positive expectations yield negative results.
HOWE’S LAW. Every man has a scheme which will not work.
ZYMURGY’S FIRST LAW OF EVOLVING SYSTEM DYNAMICS. Once you open a can of
worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a larger can.
SKINNER’S CONSTANT. The quantity which must be multiplied by, divided
by, added to or subtracted from the answer you get to give the answer you
should have got.
LAW OF SELECTIVE GRAVITY. An object will fall so as to do the most
damage.
JENNING’S COROLLARY. The chance of the bread falling with the buttered
side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
BARTH’S DISTINCTION. There are two types of people: those who divide
people into two types and those who do not.
NINETY-NINETY RULE OF PROJECT SCHEDULES. The first 90% of the job takes
90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.
FARBER’S RULE. Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows.
