h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There was a fascinating article in the April ('98 I think) issue of Scientific American, where someone actually researched Murphy's Law.

First, there was a real Murphy, & apparently his "law" said something rather different from "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong", which is the current version of the theory that's in vogue. IIRC, he was an engineer testing stuff for the Navy or something, & he said something like "when something goes wrong, it will always be the thing you least expected to go wrong". Or something.

Anyway, the more interesting part of the article is where the researcher actually examined whether the common examples of Murphy's law really apply.

Examples:

- Toast always lands buttered side down.

It turns out that if you drop a piece of toast from the height of the average kitchen counter, then it has a much higher probability of turning .5 or 1.5 times, so it *will* much more often land buttered side down. However, if you had higher counters, this wouldn't happen.

- You're always in the slowest lane in a traffic jam or at the supermarket.

This one is brilliant, it's so simple. The chances of your being the *fastest* line are only 1/n (n the number of lines). So *someone* will always be going faster than you. Even if you compare only with the lanes to either side of you, chances are 2 in three that they'll go faster!

-Amir

Regarding toast, it normally only turns 0.5 times or less, causing it to land butter side down. The only way to ensure that it lands butter side up is to use a table that's 9 feet high, or cut it into 2 inch squares. I am not responsible for these figures, some one else did the experiments!

Hell, you little Dragon ... Like your name ... and like, what oyu wrote .. but, how about not smearing any butter on the toast at all ... and, why should I want to drop it? .. And, why from the kitchen table .. it would probably fall out of my hand, would it not?
And .. well, that's it for now ... =o)
again ..like your name! =o)

Non-buttered toast is not subject to Murphy's Law, although you could try dropping a piece to find out which side you ought to butter.

Nobody WANTS to drop toast, it just happens. And sometimes it gets knocked off the table, or wherever it was left. And even if you do drop it, the rule of needing a 9 foot drop before it can turn 360 degrees still applies. You're not more than 9 feet tall, are you?

The sensible solution seems to be that you should butter the underside of the toast.
I can't imagine it would taste any different, although keeping the marmalade on may be a bit problematic!