New! Murphy's Law Awards (like the Darwin Awards)

Murphy’s Law comes in various different texts
and expressions, but this is how I heard it:

If anything can go
wrong, it will.

Wikipedia
has a nice article on the history of Murphy’s Law.  It was
named after a scientist named Edward Murphy, but he did NOT coin the
law.  Apparently, the concept of “Murphy’s Law” has been
around for a long time, and it is almost impossible to trace the first
usage/coinage of the law.

It has been associated with the second law of
thermodynamics, which states the law of entropy, essentially that
systems tend to break down (i.e., energy dissipates) when left unattended. 
The problem with Murphy’s Law is that it’s not true (an
therefore, it’s not a law).  It’s actually a misnomer, and quite
often used as an excuse by people when something doesn’t quite go as
planned.  The actual truth of the matter is that there is an
infinite number things that could possibly go wrong at any given time,
and certainly all of those possibilities do not become reality.  If
ALL possibilities for something to go wrong were actually realized in
all scenarios, we wouldn’t be able to survive as a species (and probably
all life would be extinguished).  A more appropriate
“law” would go like this:

The more possibilities that exist
for something to go wrong, the more likely it is for something to go
wrong.

The fact of the matter is that humans beat the
odds every day, and we survive quite well despite all the possibilities
that exist for something to go wrong.  The tricks to countering the
law (as I have stated it) are:

(1)  Think positively, and…

(2)  Do proper and timely maintenance! (to
prevent entropy).

Even then, something can go wrong when dealing
with humans, because humans are prone to err.  Dennis the Menace is
a prime example of that.  And, occasionally,  there are humans
with bad intentions involved, who do bad things.

But, if you look at the statistics, more things
go right than go wrong, so be happy about that!

The Murphy’s Law Awards are a take-off
of the Darwin
Awards, which in an attempt at humor and/or entertainment give
nominal awards to those who’ve by their own stupidity have
removed themselves from the gene-pool, either by dying or making their
reproductive organs ineffectual.

Therefore, in like manner, The Murphy’s Law
Awards, attempt at humor and/or entertainment by giving nominal awards
to those who’ve by shear bad luck proven Murphy’s Law
“true” (to one extent or another).

Darwin Awards => for stupidity

Murphy’s Law Awards => for shear bad luck
(not stupidity)

When considering whether or not to submit an
account, please keep the following things in mind;  the account
must meet the following criteria:

(1)  Veracity

The account of the event must be a true event,
and recounted with as much accuracy as possible.  Video submissions
are of course the most veracious, but written accounts will also be
accepted, so long as they can be verified; i.e., first-hand accounts
will be accepted.  Second-hand accounts have to be verified by the
person to whom the bad luck occurred.  Etc.

(2)  Extremely Bad Luck

The candidate for the Murphy’s Law Award must
have incurred extreme  bad luck.  Unlike, the Darwin Awards,
which focus on stupidity, the Murphy’s Law Award focuses upon chance;
like…”What are the chances of that happening?”  The
chances must be quite slim, and the luck must be quite bad.  The
person may have been removed from the gene-pool, but not by stupidity,
rather by extremely bad luck.  So, that means that survivors of the
event may also qualify for the award; one’s does not have to die to get
the award, just be extremely unlucky.

(3)  Physical and Mental Maturity

As this is for entertainment purposes, the
deaths of children (under the age of 18) shall be disqualified, as that
is NOT funny in my book.  Please do not submit accounts of
children’s deaths.

Along similar lines, accounts of children being
seriously injured or maimed for life may be disqualified at any time by
the owner of this website.  That’s just not funny.

Now, accounts of children incurring extreme bad
luck, without dying AND without incurring serious injury will be judged
on a case-by-case basis, for their entertainment value.

(4) Judging

Leon’s Planet reserves the ultimate the right
to judge the accounts for fulfilling the criteria above, even if polls
may be used.

Video submissions will be accepted. 
Leon’s own submissions will be judged by viewers (not by himself).