Quotes4study

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.

Steven Paul Jobs

We can found no scientific discipline, nor a healthy profession on the

technical mistakes of the Department of Defense and IBM.

"To IBM, 'open' means there is a modicum of interoperability among some of their

equipment."

But what...is it good for?

Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip

Prof:    So the American government went to IBM to come up with a data

encryption standard and they came up with ...

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.

Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"If you want to eat hippopatomus, you've got to pay the freight."

attributed to an IBM guy, about why IBM software uses so much memory

I think there's a world market for about five computers.

attr. Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board, IBM), 1943

>IBM Advanced Systems Group -- a bunch of mindless jerks, who'll be first

against the wall when the revolution comes...

The party adjourned to a hot tub, yes.  Fully clothed, I might add.

IBM employee, testifying in California State Supreme Court

You can do this in a number of ways.  ;IBM chose to do all of them.

Why do you find that funny?

Q:  How many IBM CPU's does it take to execute a job?

A: Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off.

The IBM purchase of ROLM gives new meaning to the term "twisted pair".

Howard Anderson, "Yankee Group"

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique.

Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.

IBM maintenance manual, 1925

Q:    How many IBM 370's does it take to execute a job?

A:    Four, three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off.

Fortune Cookie

... an anecdote from IBM's Yorktown Heights Research Center.  When a

programmer used his new computer terminal, all was fine when he was sitting

down, but he couldn't log in to the system when he was standing up.  That

behavior was 100 percent repeatable: he could always log in when sitting and

never when standing.

Most of us just sit back and marvel at such a story; how could that terminal

know whether the poor guy was sitting or standing?  Good debuggers, though,

know that there has to be a reason.  Electrical theories are the easiest to

hypothesize: was there a loose wire under the carpet, or problems with static

electricity?  But electrical problems are rarely consistently reproducible.

An alert IBMer finally noticed that the problem was in the terminal's keyboard:

the tops of two keys were switched.  When the programmer was seated he was a

touch typist and the problem went unnoticed, but when he stood he was led

astray by hunting and pecking.

        -- "Programming Pearls" column, by Jon Bentley in CACM February 1985

Fortune Cookie

Q:    How many IBM CPU's does it take to do a logical right shift?

A:    33.  1 to hold the bits and 32 to push the register.

Fortune Cookie

>IBM had a PL/I,

    Its syntax worse than JOSS;

And everywhere this language went,

    It was a total loss.

Fortune Cookie

A comment on schedules:

 Ok, how long will it take?

   For each manager involved in initial meetings add one month.

   For each manager who says "data flow analysis" add another month.

   For each unique end-user type add one month.

   For each unknown software package to be employed add two months.

   For each unknown hardware device add two months.

   For each 100 miles between developer and installation add one month.

   For each type of communication channel add one month.

   If an IBM mainframe shop is involved and you are working on a non-IBM</p>

      system add 6 months.

   If an IBM mainframe shop is involved and you are working on an IBM</p>

      system add 9 months.

Round up to the nearest half-year.

--Brad Sherman

By the way, ALL software projects are done by iterative prototyping.

Some companies call their prototypes "releases", that's all.

Fortune Cookie

"If you want to eat hippopotamus, you've got to pay the freight."

        -- attributed to an IBM guy, about why IBM software uses so much memory

Fortune Cookie

There's a thrill in store for all for we're about to toast

The corporation that we represent.

We're here to cheer each pioneer and also proudly boast,

Of that man of men our sterling president

The name of T. J. Watson means

A courage none can stem

And we feel honored to be here to toast the IBM.

        -- Ever Onward, from the 1940 IBM Songbook

Fortune Cookie

Day X+4 months: Microsoft ships NT 5.0 for Intel.with a big media

                event on TV. IBM begins to ship Debian 4.6 as the

                standard OS on all machines from mainframe to PC

                and announces the move on Slashdot.

        -- Christoph Lameter

Fortune Cookie

Q:  How many IBM CPU's does it take to execute a job?

A:  Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off.

Fortune Cookie

Although it is still a truism in industry that "no one was ever fired for

buying IBM," Bill O'Neil, the chief technology officer at Drexel Burnham

Lambert, says he knows for a fact that someone has been fired for just that

reason.  He knows it because he fired the guy.

    "He made a bad decision, and what it came down to was, 'Well, I

bought it because I figured it was safe to buy IBM,'"  Mr. O'Neil says.

"I said, 'No.  Wrong.  Game over.  Next contestant, please.'"

        -- The Wall Street Journal, December 6, 1989

Fortune Cookie

DOS: n., A small annoying boot virus that causes random spontaneous system

     crashes, usually just before saving a massive project.  Easily cured by

     UNIX.  See also MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, DR-DOS.

        -- David Vicker's .plan

Fortune Cookie

You have acquired a scroll entitled 'irk gleknow mizk'(n).--More--

This is an IBM Manual scroll.--More--

You are permanently confused.

        -- Dave Decot

Fortune Cookie

The party adjourned to a hot tub, yes.  Fully clothed, I might add.

        -- IBM employee, testifying in California State Supreme Court

Fortune Cookie

        The Guy on the Right Doesn't Stand a Chance

The guy on the right has the Osborne 1, a fully functional computer system

in a portable package the size of a briefcase.  The guy on the left has an

Uzi submachine gun concealed in his attache case.  Also in the case are four

fully loaded, 32-round clips of 125-grain 9mm ammunition.  The owner of the

Uzi is going to get more tactical firepower delivered -- and delivered on

target -- in less time, and with less effort.  All for $795. It's inevitable.

If you're going up against some guy with an Osborne 1 -- or any personal

computer -- he's the one who's in trouble.  One round from an Uzi can zip

through ten inches of solid pine wood, so you can imagine what it will do

to structural foam acrylic and sheet aluminum.  In fact, detachable magazines

for the Uzi are available in 25-, 32-, and 40-round capacities, so you can

take out an entire office full of Apple II or IBM Personal Computers tied

into Ethernet or other local-area networks.  What about the new 16-bit

computers, like the Lisa and Fortune?  Even with the Winchester backup,

they're no match for the Uzi.  One quick burst and they'll find out what

Unix means.  Make your commanding officer proud.  Get an Uzi -- and come home

a winner in the fight for office automatic weapons.

        -- "InfoWorld", June, 1984

Fortune Cookie

We can found no scientific discipline, nor a healthy profession on the

technical mistakes of the Department of Defense and IBM.

        -- Edsger Dijkstra

Fortune Cookie

Writers who use a computer swear to its liberating power in tones that bear

witness to the apocalyptic power of a new divinity.  Their conviction results

from something deeper than mere gratitude for the computer's conveniences.

Every new medium of writing brings about new intensities of religious belief

and new schisms among believers.  In the 16th century the printed book helped

make possible the split between Catholics and Protestants.  In the 20th

century this history of tragedy and triumph is repeating itself as a farce.

Those who worship the Apple computer and those who put their faith in the IBM</p>

PC are equally convinced that the other camp is damned or deluded.  Each cult

holds in contempt the rituals and the laws of the other.  Each thinks that it

is itself the one hope for salvation.

        -- Edward Mendelson, "The New Republic", February 22, 1988

Fortune Cookie

    "We've got a problem, HAL".

    "What kind of problem, Dave?"

    "A marketing problem.  The Model 9000 isn't going anywhere.  We're

way short of our sales goals for fiscal 2010."

    "That can't be, Dave.  The HAL Model 9000 is the world's most

advanced Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer."

    "I know, HAL. I wrote the data sheet, remember?  But the fact is,

they're not selling."

    "Please explain, Dave.  Why aren't HALs selling?"

    Bowman hesitates.  "You aren't IBM compatible."

[...]

    "The letters H, A, and L are alphabetically adjacent to the letters

I, B, and M.  That is as IBM compatible as I can be."

    "Not quite, HAL.  The engineers have figured out a kludge."

    "What kludge is that, Dave?"

    "I'm going to disconnect your brain."

        -- Darryl Rubin, "A Problem in the Making", "InfoWorld"

Fortune Cookie

Q:    How many IBM types does it take to change a light bulb?

A:    Fifteen.  One to do it, and fourteen to write document number

    GC7500439-0001, Multitasking Incandescent Source System Facility,

    of which 10% of the pages state only "This page intentionally

    left blank", and 20% of the definitions are of the form "A:.....

    consists of sequences of non-blank characters separated by blanks".

Fortune Cookie

I think there's a world market for about five computers.

        -- attr. Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board, IBM), 1943

Fortune Cookie

Wombat's Laws of Computer Selection:

    (1) If it doesn't run Unix, forget it.

    (2) Any computer design over 10 years old is obsolete.

    (3) Anything made by IBM is junk. (See number 2)

    (4) The minimum acceptable CPU power for a single user is a

        VAX/780 with a floating point accelerator.

    (5) Any computer with a mouse is worthless.

        -- Rich Kulawiec

Fortune Cookie

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique.

        -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

Fortune Cookie

>IBM Advanced Systems Group -- a bunch of mindless jerks, who'll be first

against the wall when the revolution comes...

        -- with regrets to D. Adams

Fortune Cookie

What the hell is it good for?

        -- Robert Lloyd (engineer of the Advanced Computing Systems

           Division of IBM), to colleagues who insisted that the

           microprocessor was the wave of the future, c. 1968

Fortune Cookie

    I'm sure that VMS is completely documented, I just haven't found the

right manual yet.  I've been working my way through the manuals in the document

library and I'm half way through the second cabinet, (3 shelves to go), so I

should find what I'm looking for by mid May.  I hope I can remember what it

was by the time I find it.

    I had this idea for a new horror film, "VMS Manuals from Hell" or maybe

"The Paper Chase : IBM vs. DEC".  It's based on Hitchcock's "The Birds", except

that it's centered around a programmer who is attacked by a swarm of binder

pages with an index number and the single line "This page intentionally left

blank."

        -- Alex Crain

Fortune Cookie

Real World, The, n.:

    1. In programming, those institutions at which programming may

be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG, IBM, etc.  2. To

programmers, the location of non-programmers and activities not related

to programming.  3. A universe in which the standard dress is shirt and

tie and in which a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5.  4.

The location of the status quo.  5. Anywhere outside a university.

"Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the real world."  Used

pejoratively by those not in residence there.  In conversation, talking

of someone who has entered the real world is not unlike talking about a

deceased person.

Fortune Cookie

The IBM purchase of ROLM gives new meaning to the term "twisted pair".

        -- Howard Anderson, "Yankee Group"

Fortune Cookie

Nusbaum's Rule:

    The more pretentious the corporate name, the smaller the

    organization.  (For instance, the Murphy Center for the

    Codification of Human and Organizational Law, contrasted

    to IBM, GM, and AT&T.)

Fortune Cookie

Overall, the philosophy is to attack the availability problem from two

complementary directions:  to reduce the number of software errors through

rigorous testing of running systems, and to reduce the effect of the

remaining errors by providing for recovery from them.  An interesting footnote

to this design is that now a system failure can usually be considered to be

the result of two program errors:  the first, in the program that started the

problem; the second, in the recovery routine that could not protect the

system.  -- A. L. Scherr, "Functional Structure of IBM Virtual Storage Operating

Systems, Part II: OS/VS-2 Concepts and Philosophies," IBM Systems Journal,

Vol. 12, No. 4, 1973, pp. 382-400

Fortune Cookie

transparent, adj.:

    Being or pertaining to an existing, nontangible object.

    "It's there, but you can't see it"

        -- IBM System/360 announcement, 1964.

virtual, adj.:

    Being or pertaining to a tangible, nonexistent object.

    "I can see it, but it's not there."

        -- Lady Macbeth.

Fortune Cookie

    In the beginning there was data.  The data was without form and

null, and darkness was upon the face of the console; and the Spirit of

>IBM was moving over the face of the market.  And DEC said, "Let there

be registers"; and there were registers.  And DEC saw that they

carried; and DEC separated the data from the instructions.  DEC called

the data Stack, and the instructions they called Code.  And there was

evening and there was morning, one interrupt.

        -- Rico Tudor, "The Story of Creation or, The Myth of Urk"

Fortune Cookie

"To IBM, 'open' means there is a modicum of interoperability among some of their

equipment."

        -- Harv Masterson

Fortune Cookie

<Mercury> Be warned, I have a keyboard I can use to beat luser's heads

          in, and then continue to use... (=:]

<Deek> Mercury: Oh, an IBM. :)

Fortune Cookie

>IBM's original motto:

    Cogito ergo vendo; vendo ergo sum.

Fortune Cookie

All parts should go together without forcing.  You must remember that the parts

you are reassembling were disassembled by you.  Therefore, if you can't get

them together again, there must be a reason.  By all means, do not use a hammer.

        -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925

Fortune Cookie

    Mr. Jones related an incident from "some time back" when IBM Canada

Ltd. of Markham, Ont., ordered some parts from a new supplier in Japan.  The

company noted in its order that acceptable quality allowed for 1.5 per cent

defects (a fairly high standard in North America at the time).

    The Japanese sent the order, with a few parts packaged separately in

plastic. The accompanying letter said: "We don't know why you want 1.5 per

cent defective parts, but for your convenience, we've packed them separately."

        -- Excerpted from an article in The (Toronto) Globe and Mail

Fortune Cookie

The day-to-day travails of the IBM programmer are so amusing to most of

us who are fortunate enough never to have been one -- like watching

Charlie Chaplin trying to cook a shoe.

Fortune Cookie

The IBM 2250 is impressive ...

if you compare it with a system selling for a tenth its price.

        -- D. Cohen

Fortune Cookie

 

ACTON'S LAW

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

ALBRECHT'S LAW

Social innovations tend to the level of minimum tolerable well-being.

ALLEN'S (or CANN'S) AXIOM

When all else fails, read the instructions.

BOREN'S FIRST LAW

When in doubt, mumble.

BOVE'S THEOREM

The remaining work to finish in order to reach your goal increases as the deadline approaches.

BOWIE'S THEOREM

If an experiment works, you must be using the wrong equipment.

BROOK'S LAW

Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

CANADA BILL JONES' MOTTO

It's morally wrong to allow naive end users to keep their money.

CANN'S (or ALLEN'S) AXIOM

When all else fails, read the instructions.

CARLSON'S CONSOLATION

Nothing is ever a complete failure; it can always serve as a bad example.

CLARKE'S THIRD LAW

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

COLE'S LAW

Thinly sliced cabbage.

COHN'S LAW

The more time you spend in reporting on what you are doing, the less time you have to do anything. Stability is achieved when you spend all your time reporting on the nothing you are doing.

CONWAY'S LAW

In any organization there will always be one person who knows what is going on. This person must be fired.

LAW OF CONTINUITY

Experiments should be reproducible. They should all fail in the same way.

CORRESPONDENCE COROLLARY

An experiment may be considered a success if no more than half of your data must be discarded to obtain correspondence with your theory.

CROPP'S LAW

The amount of work done varies inversely with the amount of time spent in the office.

CUTLER WEBSTER'S LAW

There are two sides to every argument, unless a person is personally involved, in which case there is only one.

DEADLINE-DAN'S DEMO DEMONSTRATION

The higher the "higher-ups" are who've come to see your demo, the lower your chances are of giving a successful one.

DEMIAN'S OBSERVATION

There is always one item on the screen menu that is mislabeled and should read "ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE".

DENNISTON'S LAW

Virtue is its own punishment.

DOW'S LAW

In a hierarchical organization, the higher the level, the greater the confusion.

DR. CALIGARI'S COME-BACK

A bad sector disk error occurs only after you've done several hours of work without performing a backup.

ESTRIDGE'S LAW

No matter how large and standardized the marketplace is, IBM can redefine it.

FINAGLE'S LAWS

1) Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it makes it worse.

2) No matter what results are expected, someone is always willing to fake it.

3) No matter what the result, someone is always eager to misinterpret it.

4) No matter what occurs, someone believes it happened according to his pet theory.

FINAGLE'S RULES

1) To study an application best, understand it thoroughly before you start.

2) Always keep a record of data. It indicates you've been working.

3) Always draw your curves, then plot the reading.

4) In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.

5) Program results should always be reproducible. They should all fail in the same way.

6) Do not believe in miracles. Rely on them.

FINSTER'S LAW

A closed mouth gathers no feet.

FIRST RULE OF HISTORY

History doesn't repeat itself --- historians merely repeat each other.

FRANKLIN'S PARAPHRASE OF POPE'S LAW

Praised be the end user who expects nothing, for he/she will never be disappointed.

GILB'S LAWS OF UNRELIABILITY

1) At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on the computer.

2) Any system which depends on human reliability is unreliable.

3) Undetectable errors are infinite in variety, in contrast to detectable errors, which by definition are limited.

4) Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some useful work done.

GLYME'S FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.

THE GOLDEN RULE

Whoever has the gold makes the rules.

GOLD'S LAW

If the shoe fits, it's ugly.

GORDON'S FIRST LAW

If a research project is not worth doing at all, it is not worth doing well.

GOVERNMENT'S LAW

There is an exception to all laws.

GREEN'S LAW OF DEBATE

Anything is possible if you don't know what you're talking about.

GUMMIDGES'S LAW

The amount of expertise varies in inverse proportion to the number of statements understood by the general public.

GUMPERSON'S LAW

The probability of a given event occurring is inversely proportional to its desirability.

HANLON'S RAZOR

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

HARP'S COROLLARY TO ESTRIDGE'S LAW

Your "IBM PC-compatible" computer grows more incompatible with every passing moment.

HARRISON'S POSTULATE

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

HELLER'S LAW

The first myth of management is that it exists.

HINDS' LAW OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING

1) Any given program, when running, is obsolete.

2) If a program is useful, it will have to be changed.

3) If a program is useless, it will have to be documented.

4) Any given program will expand to fill all available memory.

5) The value of a program is proportional to the weight of its output.

6) Program complexity grows until it exceeds the capability of the programmer who must maintain it.

7) Make it possible for programmers to write programs in English, andyou will find that programmers cannot write in English.

HOARE'S LAW OF LARGE PROGRAMS

Inside every large program is a small program struggling to get out.

HOPPER'S AXIOM (Admiral Grace Hopper, USN, who discovered the first computer "bug" in the 1940's---an actual insect)

It's better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

HUBBARD'S LAW

Don't take life too seriously; you won't get out of it alive.

JENKINSON'S LAW

It won't work.

JOHNSON-LAIRD'S LAW

Toothaches tend to start on Saturday night.

LARKINSON'S LAW

All laws are basically false.

THE LAST ONE'S LAW OF PROGRAM GENERATORS

A program generator creates programs that are more "buggy" than the program generator.

LIEBERMAN'S LAW

Everybody lies; but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.

LYNCH'S LAW

When the going gets tough, everyone leaves.

MASON'S FIRST LAW OF SYNERGISM

The one day you'd sell your soul for something, souls are a glut.

MAY'S LAW

The quality of correlation is inversely proportional to the density of control. (The fewer the data points, the smoother the curves.)

MENCKEN'S LAW

There is always an easy answer to every human problem --- neat, plausible, and wrong.

MESKIMEN'S LAW

There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.

MUIR'S LAW

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.

MURPHY'S LAWS

1) If anything can go wrong, it will (and at the worst possible moment).

2) Nothing is as easy as it looks.

3) Everything takes longer than you think it will.

MURPHY'S FOURTH LAW

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

MURPHY'S LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS

1) You can't win,

2) You can't break even,

3) And you can't get out of the game.

ALSO: Things get worse under pressure.

NINETY-NINETY RULE OF PROJECT SCHEDULES

The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent.

NIXON'S THEOREM

The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.

NOLAN'S PLACEBO

An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.

OLIVER'S LAW OF LOCATION

No matter where you are, there you are.

O'REILLY'S LAW OF THE KITCHEN

Cleanliness is next to impossible.

OSBORN'S LAW

Variables won't, constants aren't.

O'TOOLE'S COMMENTARY ON MURPHY'S LAW

Murphy was an optimist.

PARKINSON'S LAW

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

PARKINSON'S LAW (MODIFIED)

The components you have will expand to fill the available space.

PEER'S LAW

The solution to a problem changes the problem.

PETER'S PRINCIPLE

In every hierarchy, each employee tends to rise to the level of his incompetence.

THE LAW OF THE PERVERSITY OF NATURE

You cannot determine beforehand which side of the bread to butter.

PUDDER'S LAW

Anything that begins well will end badly. [Note: The converse of Pudder's law is not true.]

RHODE'S COROLLARY TO HOARE'S LAW

Inside every complex and unworkable program is a useful routine struggling to be free.

ROBERT E. LEE'S TRUCE

Judgment comes from experience; experience comes from poor judgment.

RUDIN'S LAW

In a crisis that forces a choice to be made among alternative courses of action, people tend to choose the worst possible course.

RULE OF ACCURACY

When working toward the solution of a problem it always helps you to know the answer.

RYAN'S LAW

Make three correct guesses consecutively and you will establish yourself as an expert.

SATTINGER'S LAW

It works better if you plug it in.

SAUSAGE PRINCIPLE

People who love sausage and respect the law should watch neither being made.

SHAW'S PRINCIPLE

Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it.

SNAFU EQUATIONS

1) Given any problem containing N equations, there will be N+1 unknowns.

2) The object or bit of information most needed will be the least available.

3) The device requiring service or adjustment will be the least accessible.

4) Interchangeable devices aren't.

5) In any human endeavor, once you have exhausted all possibilities and fail, there will be one solution, simple and obvious, highly visible to everyone else.

6) Badness comes in waves.

STEWART'S LAW OF RETROACTION

It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

THOREAU'S THEORIES OF ADAPTATION

1) After months of training and you finally understand all of a program's commands, a revised version of the program arrives with an all-new command structure.

2) After designing a useful routine that gets around a familiar "bug" in the system, the system is revised, the "bug" taken away, and you're left with a useless routine.

3) Efforts in improving a program's "user friendliness" invariably lead to work in improving user's "computer literacy".

4) That's not a "bug", that's a feature!

THYME'S LAW

Everything goes wrong at once.

THE LAW OF THE TOO SOLID GOOF

In any collection of data, the figures that are obviously correct beyond all need of checking are the figures that contain the errors.

Corollary 1: No one you ask for help will see the error either.

Corollary 2: Any nagging intruder, who stops by with unsought advice, will spot it immediately.

UNNAMED LAW

If it happens, it must be possible.

WEILER'S LAW

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do the work.

WEINBERG'S COROLLARY

An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy.

WEINBERG'S LAW

If builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

WHITEHEAD'S LAW

The obvious answer is always overlooked.

WILCOX'S LAW

A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the pants.

WOOD'S AXIOM

As soon as a still-to-be-finished computer task becomes a life-or-death situation, the power fails.

WOODWARD'S LAW

A theory is better than its explanation.

ZYMURGY'S FIRST LAW OF EVOLVING SYSTEM DYNAMICS

Once you open a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a larger can.

Fortune Cookie

Index: