Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eosp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!eosp1!robison From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) Newsgroups: net.games,net.books,net.nlang,net.lang.c,net.flame,net.jokes.d Subject: Murphy's Laws??? Message-ID: <1215@eosp1.UUCP> Date: Thu, 1-Nov-84 12:19:54 EST Article-I.D.: eosp1.1215 Posted: Thu Nov 1 12:19:54 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 2-Nov-84 06:14:18 EST Reply-To: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton Lines: 52 Xref: princeton net.games:157 net.books:212 net.nlang:186 net.lang.c:768 net.flame:1330 net.jokes.d:92 This is an APB of great general interest. It concerns that most mysterious figure of modern times -- Murphy. Here's the background: There have been several notes on the net recently about a book, "A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown", a collection of Science Humor edited by Robert A. Baker, and published in 1963 by Prentice-Hall. So I got it out of the library to reread. The very first piece presents a number of "laws" that I am sure you will recognize: If anything can go wrong, it will. If anything just can't go wrong, it will anyway. When things are going well, something will go wrong. When things just can't get any worse, they will. Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something. The author of this piece, Francis P. Chisolm, describes these as CHISOLM'S LAWS. His piece is republished from something entitled "Motive" (no date given), and the piece is called "The Chisolm Effect". The piece quotes from something published in 1958. The piece itself is referenced in another item in SAOASEG (Joel Cohen, "On the Nature of Matehmatical Proof") dated 1961. So apparently Chisolm's laws were published between 1958 and 1961. Today we know these (universally?) as Murphy's laws. When did Murphy become the author? Is Chisolm the real author? How did he come to be forgotten? Why isn't he (or why aren't his heirs) fighting to recover his authorship? Could it be (as my daughter Naomi suggested) that: SOMETHING WENT WRONG? Please provide information, if you have any. If I don't receive any hard info soon, I shall try to contact Chisolm, so I would appreciate any info from someone who knows (of) him. I will summarize data sent to me. I suggest that public discussion (if any) continue in net.books. (I rarely post a note to more than one newsgroup. I thought this note was worth a wider posting to solve the mystery. I hope you agree it was worth seeing more than once, if that's the way your news program works.) - Toby Robison allegra!eosp1!robison or: decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison alternate: princeton!eosp1!robison