Lifes Little Mysteries, Sods Law and Colt Seavers
Hello my little dumplings and welcome to this weeks edition of Deans Weekly Blog, that blog site that leaves you thinking what the hell was that all about. Have you ever stopped and wondered about some of life's great mysteries. I have. Whilst doing a little soul searching this week, I found myself pondering the what ifs and whys of life. Then I started thinking of all the little things that have puzzled me, and lets be honest probably most of you, and thought I'd share some of the more random thoughts with you all. What do I mean you ask, well have you ever stopped to wonder ?
Why it is that milk goes bad if it's not kept in a refrigerator, but you never see a cow in a fridge. ?
Is Weetabix the most absorbent material known to man. ?
Do crosses work on Jewish vampires. ?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box. ?
Why is there a light in the fridge, but not in the freezer. ?
Why do you have to click the start button to turn off your computer. ?
If practise makes perfect, but nobody's perfect then what is the point of practising. ?
Why is 11 - 19 not tenty one, tenty two, tenty three etc ... ?
What happens if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. ?
At some point in any city in the world there is a pair of trainers hanging from a phone line, who put them all there. ?
Why does sweetcorn not get digested like any other food and always comes out intact, And would this not make the ultimate diet plan as your body would never actually process the food. although I would imagine that going to the loo would sound rather like pouring Rice Crispies into a bowl. ?
And finally why everything goes wrong when you don't expect it to which leads me nicely into the next bit (almost like it was planned)
Sods law or Murphy's law as some people know it has been in full effect for me this week, I'm sure that I'm not the only person that this has ever happened too, but it's just been one of those weeks, where If there is a remote possibility of something going wrong, It has. Now this got me thinking is there anyway to avoid becoming a victim of sods law, can you cheat the system. Well after hours of research I've found that it can't be beaten but the probability of it happening can be calculated and factored into your decision making. Apparently some scientists were given the task of calculating a formula to explain sods law, and they came up with a solution. At this point I'd like to add that this isn't my work and I've added a link to the source for those of you who are interested. If your not interested skip to the next part. Like a famous advert once said, "Here comes the science bit"
The formula that proves that 'Sod's Law' really does strike at the worst possible time
BOFFINS have finally proven mathematically a rule that everyone knows is perfectly obvious each time their e-mail crashes on a deadline or the shower runs icily cold.
A panel of experts commissioned by British Gas - a psychologist, a mathematician and an economist - has discovered the statistical formula for predicting Sod's Law occurrences: ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)).
And they found the original Sod's Law - 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong' - is only half the story. They also found a new rule, after testing the formula on over 1,000 people's experiences - 'Things don't just go wrong, they do so at the most annoying moment'.
This explains why your e-mail will most likely crash as you try to send something important, chances are highest that you will spill a drink down your clothes before a date and it's a safe bet your heating will most often break down in a cold snap.
Previous studies have shown Sod's Law isn't a myth - toast will fall butter side down, odd socks do breed and string can tie itself into knots. Now the British Gas formula allows people to calculate the chances of Sod's Law striking - and try to beat it.
Five factors - urgency (U), complexity (C), importance (I), skill (S) and frequency (F) - have to be applied to a task or an event, and each scored between 0 and 9. A sixth, aggravation (A), was set at 0.7 by the boffins after their poll of 1,000 people.
Calculating ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)) enables you to score a Sod's Law probability on a scale of 0 to 8.6, with higher numbers making it more likely that bad luck is right around the corner.
Anne Morton, of British Gas said: "In our experts' tests, the mercilessness of Sod's Law emerged. Not only do things go wrong, they do so when they are most likely to drive their victims up the wall.
"For example, Sod's Law shows how cruel it can be when it comes to the shower turning cold just as you've shampooed. Men aren't bothered, and so the chances of it happening to them are low; women hate it and it happens far more to them."
Spilling something down yourself before a date and the boiler breaking down in a cold snap are both the most likely and most annoying events
The equation has seven steps to forecasting a potential Sod's Law moment, so you can work out which factors you need to change to avoid it:
1 - Rate the urgency, the importance and the complexity of the task on a scale of 1 to 9 and add these three figures together
2 - Rate from 1 to 9 how skilled you are at the task, then subtract this from 10
3 - Multiply your answers to step 1 and step 2 together and divide by 20
4 - Rate from 1 to 9 how frequently you perform the task and divide this by 10
5 - Take the sine of your answer to step 4 (you'll fine this as 'sin' on most calculators) and subtract this from 1
6 - Divide 1 by your answer to step 5
7 - Finally, multiply your answer to step 3 by 0.7, and then multiple this by your answer to step 6, and you have your Sods Law rating.
8 - The closer to 10 it is, the higher your risk of falling victim to Sods Law. Source
This week I indulged in a little football, which due to my inherent nature of sitting behind a desk all week, made me ache a little. Couple this with the fact that during the match I stumbled and fell and rolled across the pitch, I'm a little sore and am walking slightly funny. This prompted one of my work colleagues to call me Colt Seavers. Now this got me thinking (Here we go again, its dangerous I know) That the comment would go over the head of most younger people nowadays as they wouldn't have a clue who Colt Seavers or the Fall Guy is. And this makes me a little sad that an entire generation of people have missed such quality and entertaining programmes from the 80's. Maybe its because I'm from that generation that I hold a special fondness in my heart for them but in my mind the 80's produced some of the greatest TV shows the world has ever seen. And this brings up last weeks rant about reality TV. Instead of having nothing to show or commissioning new reality TV shows that no-one except the Jeremy Kyle generation cares about. How about the TV channels re-run the old classics like The Fall Guy, Hardcastle & MccCormick, BJ & the Bear, Streethawk, Manimal etc .. thereby introducing a whole younger generation to some quality shows. Besides then people would actually know what I'm talking about (well sometimes anyway)
Right time to go, I'll see you all again next week where I'll be discussing more random topics from across the world
Why it is that milk goes bad if it's not kept in a refrigerator, but you never see a cow in a fridge. ?
 |
| I really can't think of a caption |
Do crosses work on Jewish vampires. ?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box. ?
Why is there a light in the fridge, but not in the freezer. ?
Why do you have to click the start button to turn off your computer. ?
If practise makes perfect, but nobody's perfect then what is the point of practising. ?
Why is 11 - 19 not tenty one, tenty two, tenty three etc ... ?
What happens if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. ?
At some point in any city in the world there is a pair of trainers hanging from a phone line, who put them all there. ?
Why does sweetcorn not get digested like any other food and always comes out intact, And would this not make the ultimate diet plan as your body would never actually process the food. although I would imagine that going to the loo would sound rather like pouring Rice Crispies into a bowl. ?
And finally why everything goes wrong when you don't expect it to which leads me nicely into the next bit (almost like it was planned)
Sods law or Murphy's law as some people know it has been in full effect for me this week, I'm sure that I'm not the only person that this has ever happened too, but it's just been one of those weeks, where If there is a remote possibility of something going wrong, It has. Now this got me thinking is there anyway to avoid becoming a victim of sods law, can you cheat the system. Well after hours of research I've found that it can't be beaten but the probability of it happening can be calculated and factored into your decision making. Apparently some scientists were given the task of calculating a formula to explain sods law, and they came up with a solution. At this point I'd like to add that this isn't my work and I've added a link to the source for those of you who are interested. If your not interested skip to the next part. Like a famous advert once said, "Here comes the science bit"
 |
| Beat the system |
BOFFINS have finally proven mathematically a rule that everyone knows is perfectly obvious each time their e-mail crashes on a deadline or the shower runs icily cold.
A panel of experts commissioned by British Gas - a psychologist, a mathematician and an economist - has discovered the statistical formula for predicting Sod's Law occurrences: ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)).
And they found the original Sod's Law - 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong' - is only half the story. They also found a new rule, after testing the formula on over 1,000 people's experiences - 'Things don't just go wrong, they do so at the most annoying moment'.
This explains why your e-mail will most likely crash as you try to send something important, chances are highest that you will spill a drink down your clothes before a date and it's a safe bet your heating will most often break down in a cold snap.
Previous studies have shown Sod's Law isn't a myth - toast will fall butter side down, odd socks do breed and string can tie itself into knots. Now the British Gas formula allows people to calculate the chances of Sod's Law striking - and try to beat it.
Five factors - urgency (U), complexity (C), importance (I), skill (S) and frequency (F) - have to be applied to a task or an event, and each scored between 0 and 9. A sixth, aggravation (A), was set at 0.7 by the boffins after their poll of 1,000 people.
Calculating ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)) enables you to score a Sod's Law probability on a scale of 0 to 8.6, with higher numbers making it more likely that bad luck is right around the corner.
Anne Morton, of British Gas said: "In our experts' tests, the mercilessness of Sod's Law emerged. Not only do things go wrong, they do so when they are most likely to drive their victims up the wall.
"For example, Sod's Law shows how cruel it can be when it comes to the shower turning cold just as you've shampooed. Men aren't bothered, and so the chances of it happening to them are low; women hate it and it happens far more to them."
Spilling something down yourself before a date and the boiler breaking down in a cold snap are both the most likely and most annoying events
The equation has seven steps to forecasting a potential Sod's Law moment, so you can work out which factors you need to change to avoid it:
1 - Rate the urgency, the importance and the complexity of the task on a scale of 1 to 9 and add these three figures together
2 - Rate from 1 to 9 how skilled you are at the task, then subtract this from 10
3 - Multiply your answers to step 1 and step 2 together and divide by 20
4 - Rate from 1 to 9 how frequently you perform the task and divide this by 10
5 - Take the sine of your answer to step 4 (you'll fine this as 'sin' on most calculators) and subtract this from 1
6 - Divide 1 by your answer to step 5
7 - Finally, multiply your answer to step 3 by 0.7, and then multiple this by your answer to step 6, and you have your Sods Law rating.
8 - The closer to 10 it is, the higher your risk of falling victim to Sods Law. Source
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| Because I'm the unkown stunt man ..... |
Right time to go, I'll see you all again next week where I'll be discussing more random topics from across the world
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