Does Murphy's Law interfere with our bingo cards?
Is it responsible for making the good numbers disappear and changing them to others that will never show up, just like the well-known phenomenon among old typographers who knew him as the “the printing workshop’s goblin” - who would change the order of the letters from “torromow” to “tomorrow”; “The beautiful Mary” to “The butterfly party”?
Well it could be - it all depends on our expectations. If a player is superstitious and on his way to bingo, or just before he starts his computer, loses the rabbit paw that he always carries — supposedly, the origin of his last two victories — he will sit down in front of his bingo cards with anxiety that may induce him to make several mistakes and not daub the numbers appropriately.
If, in another situation, he goes to bingo with the necessity of winning because he needs the jackpot's money to cover a debt the next day, very possibly he will end up losing his money. The answer is simple: not all of us can win. The law of probabilities is very strict with the alternatives a player has to reach his goal.
Nevertheless, if the player comes to the bingo room to relax, carrying an amount of money he is sure he won't need for other matters, he will enjoy the game, chatting with his bingo buddies all night. If one of his bingo mates wins a big jackpot he’ll be glad and if he is the winner the happiness will make him jump out of his seat. But, if none of this happens, he won't feel annoyed. He may say to himself that he could have spent a bigger amount of money in the cinema, including the popcorn and soda. Once at home, he’ll sleep like a baby.
We cannot guess the future, influence luck in our favor or fight against chance, but we can choose our preferences and assume positive attitudes to minimize the impact of the inconveniences of our daily life.
And so, taking all of this into account, next time we blame Murphy because the numbers that are called never seem to be on our bingo cards, we will think twice and say, “No, it's not Murphy or destiny playing with us”, because whether or not you win or lose, if you come to have fun, you will never leave with empty pockets!
And now for some cute and funny laws you may or may not have experienced, either in the game of bingo or the game of life:
Murphy's Law
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Law of Corollary
• If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
• As soon as you begin to do something, you’ll realize that there was another thing you should have done before.
• If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
Philosophy of Murphy
Smile . . . tomorrow could be worse.
Boling’s Postulate
If you are feeling all right, don't worry. It won’t be for long.
Murphy's Paradox
It's always easier to do things the hardest way.
Gatusso's extention of Murphy's Law
There is never something so bad, that can't get even worse.
Perrusel's Law
There is no simple task, that can't be done in a wrong way.
Murphy and gravity
• A falling object will always land where it can do the most damage
• You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the bread to butter.
Jenning's Corollary
• The chance of the buttered side of the bread falling face down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
Heid's law about lines
• No matter the time you arrive, there will always be more people in line.
• If you choose to change lines, the one that you just left will begin to move faster than the new one.
Flugg's rule
• The slowest cashier is always working at the “Express Check-out.”
Murphy and the workshop
• The monkey wrench and the hand drill that you need urgently are exactly the ones that will be missing from the toolbox.
• The longer you take to carefully plan a project, the more confusion will be produced when something goes wrong.
Baruch’s Observations
• If a hammer is all you have, everything you see will appear to look like a nail.
Miller's Law
You can't determine how deep a puddle is until you stick your foot in it.
