Talk:List of adages named after people

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I am moving this to List of adages named after people. It is a list after all. Gkhan 10:03, May 25, 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Exceeding obscurity

Perhaps there are better places to search than Google, but the only place I seem to find "Shukla's law" is on copies of this Wikipedia article. Any references to a "Hemant Shukla" as a coiner of the law is equally nonexistent. I suspect a few other adages in the list are similarly spotty/arbitrary, such as "Hockin's law". I accept that there are obscure but valid laws (in an "actually used by people" sense), but I would also say that some sort of reference is called for to avoid spurious entries. Eric's penguin 05:39, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Similarly, I can't find any references to Berlin's Laws... And this "noted" Dean Berlin doesn't even have his own Wiki article. I'm going to delete them. -- ToastyKen 00:41, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleaning up

I am removing the following entries from this list (below each entry is the reason for removing):

  • Ashby's Law - The variety of a regulator must be at least as large as that of the system it regulates. Formulated by W. Ross Ashby in An Introduction to Cybernetics.
  • Bernd's Corollary on Murphy's Law - The object of any search invariably appears in the spot you look at last.
  • Bernd's Observation - The universe itself ensures this because you stop searching - right here, right now.
    • I found no references; only hit in Google is this article.
  • Brewster's Law - There's an exception to every rule, except for the one about there being an exception to every rule. Coined by science fiction writer Kent Brewster, in response to many questions about manuscript formatting.
  • Colvard's Logical Premise - All probabilities are 50%. Either a thing will happen or it won't.
    • Only 50 hits in Google, also searched for "Colvard's law" to no avail.
  • Edward's Law - You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem.
    • No reference.
  • Gilmore's Law - The chances of making a fool out of yourself while trying to degrade someone else approaches 1 (certainty) with every disparaging remark. Coined by programmer Ben Gilmore.
    • No reference, hits in Google seem to refer to something else, related to internet censorhip.
  • Harshaw's Law - Daughters can use up to ten percent more [money] than a man can make in any normal occupation, regardless of the amount. Stated by Jubal Harshaw in Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961).
    • Only 44 Google hits, doesn't seem like it is widely used.
  • Hofstadter's Law - It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. A recursive law from Douglas Hofstadter's 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach.
    • Ditto, 916 hits.
  • Holmes' Law - After eliminating the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the truth. From Sherlock Holmes.
    • Ditto, also 916 hits.
  • Hutber's Law - Improvement means deterioration.
    • Ditto, 140 hits.
  • McLaughlin's Law - In a meeting, the amount of time spent on any topic is inversely proportional to its importance.
    • Ditto, 113 hits.
  • Okrent's Law - The pursuit of balance can create imbalance because sometimes something is true.
    • Ditto, 516 hits.
  • Ralph's Observation - It is a mistake to allow any mechanical object to realize that you are in a hurry.
    • Ditto, 1090 hits.
  • Wu's Mantra - You have to get over this sometime. Why not now? From Ringworld.
    • Ditto, 12 hits, some unrelated.

JoaoRicardotalk 02:15, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be a category, rather than a list?

[edit] Cole's Law

We should add Cole's Law to the article.

Think of the article as the meal, with Cole's Law on the side.

72.82.171.49 23:51, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] On Merging

I think these lists should be separate. One list ("Observations") should be a list of general system observations (part of systems theory), and the other a list of observations of people. I'd also separate out the less formal from the more formal on each page. Some retitling might be in order.

This page was AFAIK started as a cut & paste from List of eponymous laws, and I'd vote that it become a simple redirect to that page. Lord knows why it was started. --Tagishsimon (talk)

[edit] Law

I noticed how so many are refered to as "x's law". In science these days, rarely is anything refered to as a law. Even old laws, Newtons laws etc., have been proven wrong. Its strange how such things, which do not even come close to scientific standards, are refered to as laws (versus, say, Einstein's "theory" of relativity). - Matthew238 07:48, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

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