Examples -



Finagle's 1st law, "If anything CAN go wrong, it WILL go wrong.":

1. The Big Blue Crane disaster (maximum lift, maximum winds, eventually the factors will fall in place just right, and the fucking thing goes over.)

2. The Titanic disaster (Shitty steel, ice cube tray compartmentalization, no life boat drills, one fucking iceberg in just the right spot, spotted and reacted to at exactly the WRONG moment.)



Finagle's 2d law, "Perversity tends to a maximum." (meaning people will MOST OFTEN act against their own interests):



1. Working class teabaggers demanding a 23% consumption tax to make things easier on the mega-rich.

2. Conservative women decrying abortion even in cases when the mother's life is in danger.



Murphy's Law, "If there are two ways to do something, and one way will lead to disaster, someone will do it that way.":



1. The Challenger disaster. If the booster was shipped by barge, no o-ring and inherent weakness in the booster. If shipped by rail, it has to be shipped in two pieces, requiring the o-ring/weakness. They shipped by rail.

2. The NRC's decision on Yucca Mountain. Let's see...Drop the shit down a borehole, or put it in barrels in an aquifer on a fault line? Guess which one they decided on?



Crazy Eddie:



1. Arizona is strapped for cash. The obvious thing to do is write a shitload of bad legislation that will lose in court, after a hundred million or so in court costs.

2. The PTL in the 80s. Every preacher involved was a pervert, but Jimmy Swaggart decided to try to take out his chief ratings-rivals by exposing their excesses (Gormann and Bakker), bringing media attention on all of them, while he continued visiting a prostitute, and trying to get her 12 year old daughter involved...Leading to HIS being outed on TV. This actually worked out for him (blubbering apology on TV ---> revenues up 300%), but that was due to an heroic effort by Swaggart's PR geek, not Swaggart's actions...And even then, the long run effect was the end of the PTL's political power.