Murphy's Laws R

R

Rule of Radio Reception
Your walkman radio won't pick up the station you want to hear most.

Rakove's Laws of Politics
1.The amount of effort put into a campaign by a worker expands in proportion to the personal benefits
that he will derive from his party's victory.
2.The citizen is influenced by principle in direct proportion to his distance from the political situation.

Ralph's Observation
It is a mistake to allow any mechanical object to realize that you are in a hurry.

Randolph's Cardinal Principle of Statecraft
Never needlessly disturb a thing at rest.

Rangnekar's Modified Rules Concerning Decisions
1.If you must make a decision, delay it.
2.If you can authorize someone else to avoid a decision, do so.
3.If you can form a committee, have them avoid the decision.
4.If you can otherwise avoid a decision, avoid it immediately.

Rapoport's Rule of the Roller-Skate Key
Certain items which are crucial to a given activity will show up with uncommon regularity until the day
when that activity is planned, at which point the item in question will disappear from the face of the
earth.

Raskin's Zero Law
The more zeros found in the price tag for a government program, the less Congressional scrutiny it
will receive.

Law of Raspberry Jam
The wider any culture is spread, the thinner it gets.

Rather's Rule
In dealing with the press do yourself a favor. Stick with one of three responses: (a) I know and I can
tell you, (b) I know and I can't tell you, or (c) I don't know.

Rayburn's Rule
If you want to get along, go along.

RB's Five- Thumbs Postulate
Experience varies directly with the equipment ruined.

Rule of Reason
If nobody uses it, there's a reason.

Law of Regressive Achievement
Last year's was always better.

Relativity For Children
Time moves slower in a fast moving vehicle.

Repairman's Laws
The probability of arriving at the job site without a needed tool or with the wrong hardware are
directly proportional with the square of the travel distance.
Corollary - You will always have what you need when the job is next to your shop.

Law of Reruns
If you have watched a TV series only once, and you watch it again, it will be a rerun of the same
episode.

Law of Research
Enough research will tend to support your theory.

Researchers Law
The closest library doesn't have the material you need.

Law of Restaurant Acoustics
In a restaurant with seats which are close to each other, one will always find the decibel level of the
nearest conversation to be inversely proportional to the quality of the thought going into it.

Law of Restitution
The time it takes to rectify a situation is inversely proportional to the time it took to do the damage.
Example: it takes longer to glue a vase together than to break one.

Rev. Mahaffy's Observation
There's no such thing as a large whiskey.

Law of Revelation
The hidden flaw never remains hidden.

(Fyfe's) First Law of Revision
Information necessitiating a change of design will be conveyed to the designer after - and only after
- the plans are complete. (Often called the Now They Tell Us' Law)
Corollary
In simple cases, presenting one obvious right way versus one obvious wrong way, it is often wiser to
choose the wrong way, so as to expedite subsequent revision.
(Fyfe's) Second Law of Revision
The more innocuous the modification appears to be, the further its influence will extend and the
more plans will have to be redrawn.
(Fyfe's) Third Law of Revision
If, when completion of a design is imminent, field dimensions are finally supplied as they actually
are, instead of as they were meant to be, it is always simpler to start over from scratch.
Corollary
It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about interferences -- if you have none, someone will
make one for you.
(Fyfe's) Fourth Law of Revision
After painstaking and careful analysis of a sample, you are always told that it is the wrong sample
and doesn't apply to the problem.

Revolutionary Law
The sloppier the rebel uniform, the more likely the successful overthrow of the existing government.

Richard's Complementary Rules of Ownership
1.If you keep anything long enough you can throw it away.
2.If you throw anything away, you will need it as soon as it is no longer accessible.

Richman's Inevitables of Parenthood
1.Enough is never enough.
2.The sun always rises in the baby's bedroom window.
3.Birthday parties always end in tears.
4.Whenever you decide to take the kids home, it is always five minutes earlier that they break into
fights, tears, or hysteria.

Riddle's Constant
There are coexisting elements in frustration phenomena which separate expected results from
achieved results.

Riesman's Law
An inexorable upward movement leads administrators to higher salaries and narrower spans of
control.

Rigg's Hypothesis
Incompetence tends to increase with the level of work performed. And, naturally, the individual's staff
needs will increase as his level of incompetence increases.

Law of Road Construction
After large expenditures of federal, state, and county funds; after much confusion generated by
detours and road blocks; after greatly annoying the surrounding population with noise, dust, and
fumes -- the previously existing traffic jam is relocated by one-half mile.

Robert Lee's Truce
Judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Robert's Law of Space Sharing
The odds are 6:5 that if one has late classes, one's roommate will have the earliest possible
classes.

Robertson's Law
Everything happens at the same time with nothing in between.

The Rockefeller Principle
Never do anything you wouldn't be caught be dead doing.

Rodovic's Rule
In any organization, the potential is much greater for the subordinate to manage his superior than for
the superior to manage his subordinate.

Rodriguez's Observation
A consultant is someone who, when hired to find out what time it is, borrows your watch to find out.
Corollary (Martin) - If you hire a consultant to read your own watch to you, you got your money's
worth.

Rodriguez's Observations On Consultants
1.A consultant is someone who, when hired to find out what time it is, borrows your watch to find out.
2.A consultant is a fool with a briefcase more than two miles from home.
3.Consultants are mystical people who ask a company for a number and sell it back to them.
Corollary - If you hire a consultant to read your own watch to you, you've gotten your money's worth.

Roemer's Law
The rate of hospital admissions responds to bed availability. If we insist on installing more beds,
they will tend to get filled.

Roger's Ratio
One-third of the people in the United States promote, while the other two-thirds provide.

Rooster's First Law on School Affairs
The exam will ask the only topic you didn't study.
First corollary - The Bonus Rescue question is harder than the regular ones.

Rosenbaum's Rule
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Rosenfield's Regret
The most delicate component will be dropped.

Rosenstock-Huessy's Law of Technology
All technology expands the space, contracts the time, and destroys the working group.

(Charles) Ross's Law
Never characterize the importance of a statement in advance.

(Al) Ross's Law
Bare feet magnetize sharp metal objects so they always point upward from the floor -- especially in
the dark.

Rudin's Law
In a crisis that forces a choice to be made among alternative courses of action, most people will
choose the worse one possible.

The Fifth Rule
You have taken yourself too seriously.

Rules of Pratt
1.If a severe problem manifests itself, no solution is acceptable unless it is involved, expensive, and
time consuming.
2.Sufficient moneys to do the job correctly the first time are not available, however, ample funds are
much easier obtained for repeated revisions.

Rules regarding Fools
1.It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
2.The only difference between the fool and the criminal who attacks a system is that the fool attacks
unpredictably and on a broader front.
3.A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.
4.Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool discovers something which
either abolishes the system or expands it beyond recognition.
5.Build a system that only a fool can use and only a fool will use it.
6.It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
7.Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference.
8.Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.
9.There are four kinds of people: those who sit quietly and do nothing, those who talk about sitting
quietly and doing nothing, those who do things, and those who talk about doing things.
10.Fools rush in where fools have been before.
11.The only difference between the fool and the criminal who attacks a system is that the fool attacks
unpredictably and on a broader front.
12.A fool in a high station is like a man on the top of a small mountain: everything appears small to him
and he appears small to everybody.

Runamok's Law
There are four kinds of people: those who sit quietly and do nothing, those who talk about sitting
quietly and doing nothing, those who do things, and those who talk about doing things.

Rune's Rule
If you don't care where you are, you ain't lost.

Runyon's Law
The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet.

First Rule of Rural Mechanics
If it works, don't fix it.

Ryan's Application of Parkinson's Law
Possessions increase to fill the space available for their storage.

Ryan's Law
Make three correct guesses consecutively and you will establish yourself as an expert.