Similar situations occur all the time. When you're in a hurry to open the door and you try several keys on the key ring , the last remaining key is usually the one that works. When you get in a line at the supermarket, you find you've chosen the slowest one, and it just doesn't move. Is this bad luck or coincidence? According to British physicist Robert Mathews, it's neither one nor the other. He explains that our Selective memories tend to remember the bad episodes more readily than the things that usually work out. Also, the law of probability is more against us than in our favor in many situations. For example, in the supermarket with five cashiers, the chances of getting the fastest lane are 20 percent, and 80 percent for a slower lane.
Mathews became a popular scientist when he proved that
a piece of toast doesn't necessarily fall on the floor on the
buttered side. BBC Television gathered 300 people to throw
pieces of buttered toast up in the air and observe on which side
they fell. Half fell on the buttered side, and half didn't.
Now here's a tricky question for Mathews. It's known fact that cats
always fall on their four legs. What
happens if you tie a piece of buttered
toast on a cat's back and drop them
from a balcony? Will the cat land on
all fours, or will the toast land on the
buttered side? I sincerely hope the
BBC doesn't try this experiment.
Just remember that you cannot blame Murphy's Law for
everything that goes wrong. If the hot water runs out while
you're having a shower, it's probably because the hot water
heater needs to be fixed. If your car breaks down on the way
to a job interview, it's probably because you didn't have the
vehicle serviced or repaired. And if you lose all your files on
the computer, it's not bad luck-it's your fault for not doing a
backup of your files.
