"The innate hostility of inanimate objects"

[Nick Armstrong]

PS Wish I'd met you tall guys when I was 18 but then, you weren't even born. I was 5feet 9inches but shorter now.

[Nick Armstrong]

I had a girlfriend like that once.

[salymap]

I had a girlfriend like that once.

I always iron sheets and shirts from the spin dryer in winter. In summer they dry on the line and I don't bother. Fresh ironed sheets feel so much nicer to crawl between than crumpled.

Too much information thanks

[mangerton]

According to Wiki this phenomenon has been given a name, Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives (also known as Finagle's corollary to Murphy's Law):

'Anything that can go wrong, will – at the worst possible moment.'

One variant (known as O'Toole's Corollary of Finagle's Law) favoured among hackers is a takeoff on the second law of thermodynamics:

'The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum.'

This is a most fascinating thread. JFLL's post prompted me to dig out Paul Dickson's two Great Works The Official Rules and The Official Explanations which were published more than thirty years ago. The first of these devotes almost ten pages to Murphy. It's probably worth remembering that Dickson wrote these books before computers took over our lives to the extent that they now have. It therefore follows, as the second law of thermodamnics (sic) points out, that things started badly and have since got worse. In addition, some people believe that Murphy was an optimist.

In this year of the Olympic Games, let us bear in mind the planner's saying:

On time.
On budget.
Works.

Choose any two from three.

[mangerton]

#28 aka Calum da Jazbo "any kind of folding frame to dry washing on"

I dont have the knowledge to scan in pictures, but does anyone out there who does have a copy of 'The Penguin Hoffnung'? If so, please please scan in the series of nine cartoons entitled POSTLUDE..........

I have the book, and could do this this afternoon/evening. The cartoons are, as you point out very apposite.

(ff, is this permissible for copyright reasons? If I posted a link to say dropbox would it be?)

[gamba]

That's a phrase coined by my dad (certainly used by him) for those moments when things start to get their own back... Frequent moments, in his case: how often the air rang at home with "Come on, you damn thing" or "Why the hangment won't this wretched object.... &c &c" (Incidentally, anyone else ever heard the word "hangment" used to replace a profanity?)

With me, it's coat hangers. I just found myself swearing at a series of wire triangles which would not separate, and those that did insisted on slithering to the floor, behind shelves... I banged my head, grazed my knuckles...

Anyone else got any inanimate objects that regularly wish them harm?

Should I drop a nail, nut, screw or other small item on the floor, it has gone for good. No good looking. There was a time when I would have done so, but no more. It has been taken by a poltergeist. I have experienced their activities in the past & know it to be so.

[doversoul1]

Doors (other than my own): if I pull, it’s Push. If I push, it’s Pull.
Train seats: no matter how carefully I think and choose, when the train starts, I always go backward.

gamba

Should I drop a nail, nut, screw or other small item on the floor, it has gone for good. No good looking. There was a time when I would have done so, but no more. It has been taken by a poltergeist. I have experienced their activities in the past & know it to be so.

You obviously have The Borrowers.

[cloughie]

Is the 18 year old in addition to your Aged Pa?
Surprised you have cheap wire coat hangars, surely everyone has those lovely wooden ones which cannot do you a mischief and keep the shape of the clothes better?

Ring pulls - they always get stuck halfway resulting in blood in the sardines
Childproof containers - I have to resort to the nutcrackers to open a bottle of bleach
Garden hoses - have a life of their own when you try to coil them up again

Sounds like an album title for 'The Fisherman's Friends'!

[cloughie]

...and the wrapping on cds, that's difficult without inflicting damage to the jewelcase

A fingernail down the edge of the hinged bit usually does the trick!

[cloughie]

Useful as undergarments (especially when cycling) and around the house.

Forgive the failure to live up to your ruffed cambric undershirts, hand-stitched by the artisan who has doubtless tailored for you since your days at Oxford...

I'm with you, Cal, nought wrong with T shirts, an extra layer in winter and the ideal garment for the two days of summer we get each year!

[cloughie]

I do.

Me too, even my T shirts!

[cloughie]

Labels on jars and bottles. Occasional instead of placing a jar or bottle in the recycling bin it is attractive enough for suitable reuse eg for jam, chutney or home-made liqueur. The guarantee is that chosen vessel will have a unremoveable label which after a couple of soakings and scrapings will still require 'non-sticky sticky stuff' to shift the glue, by this time the will to live is receding.

[french frank]

I have the book, and could do this this afternoon/evening. The cartoons are, as you point out very apposite.

(ff, is this permissible for copyright reasons? If I posted a link to say dropbox would it be?)

I suspect that scanning them from the book and posting [IMG] links would be a breach of copyright. If they are already posted on a site somewhere, there may still be a copyright issue but I wouldn't object to a link to that site. Ask Caliban!


I find most frequently it's a matter of timing. Some years ago, I shelled out for an answering machine intended for a few weeks' use during a general election campaign. It went wrong on the first day of the official campaign, the small local business I'd bought it from had closed down a couple of weeks before, the manufacturer wanted to take the machine back to repair (which would take several weeks), so I was faced with having to buy another one.

Last week I wanted to do some printing in a hurry and both my printers, simultaneously, went wrong.

Also last week, it was absolutely vital to have internet connectivity but I lost it completely for several hours. After finally resorting to a phone call to India, it turned out to be the usual solution: unplug the modem for a minute and then plug in again . I thought my new BT equipment had made that a thing of the past.

I have a hunch that being in a hurry at these times does not help.

[Serial_Apologist]

Train seats: no matter how carefully I think and choose, when the train starts, I always go backward.

Does anyone else think train seats have become narrower over the decades?

In the olden days (ie 1950s/60s) the seat edge used to come under the knees, and you could recline without legs becoming an obstruction. Do this nowadays and you risk slumping onto the compartment floor!

Maybe it's just me getting bigger , but I'm quite certain about this, and that it's a general sign of meanness on behalf of manufacturers and the specifications they're given by those who order their products: in this case the needs of train companies to cram in more standees.

[Serial_Apologist]

I have a hunch that being in a hurry at these times does not help.

I have a hunch that being in a hurry is the main cause of Murphy's (Sod's) law. This thread topic being a symptom of the times we live in.