Capt. Edward A. Murphy is the man after whom Murphy's Law
is named.
He was an engineer in the air force, working on a project
to see how much deceleration a pilot could withstand in a
crash. One day, he lost his temper with a technician.
The guy had wired a switchboard incorrectly, says the
legend, and when Murphy discovered the mistake, he cursed
the technician saying, "If there is any way to do it wrong,
he'll find it."
There's an interesting approach to market forecasting that
starts with Murphy's Law as its premise. Those who follow
this approach take the line that, if it can go wrong, it
will go wrong, and when it does go wrong, it'll take down
the greatest number of people with it.
