#rocket sled

I’m sure you’re familiar with Murphy’s Law, which boils down to “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” But who was this Murphy guy, anyway, and what gave him the right to lay down the law? “Murphy’s Law” is the Word of the Day.

The general concept had been around for hundreds of years, but it’s generally agreed that Murphy was Captain Edward Aloysius Murphy, Jr., an aerospace engineer at what is now Edwards Air Force base in California. In the late 1940’s, Capt. Murphy was part of a team working on Project MX981, which was designed to figure out how much force a human body could withstand in a crash. The test subject – originally a crash-test dummy, but later Air Force flight surgeon John Paul Stapp – was strapped into a rocket sled which sped down a set of rails and then rapidly decelerated. Special sensors were attached to Dr. Stapp’s harness to measure the G-forces. Capt. Murphy was apparently not what you’d call a good team player. When the test failed because the measuring devices were wired incorrectly, rather than taking any responsibility for the screw-up, Murphy blamed it on one of his subordinates. He is reputed to have said, “If that guy has any way of making a mistake, he will.”

That might have been the end of the story, but Dr. Stapp – you remember, the guy strapped to the sled - held a news conference about the failed test. He’s credited with coining the term “Murphy’s Law.” He said the reason no one got hurt in the failed experiment was because they always took into account Murphy’s Law, and took all necessary precautions. Others picked up the reference, and Murphy’s Law quickly became part of the lexicon.

There’s a UK version of Murphy, called “Sod’s Law” (as in either “sod this!” or “what an unlucky sod he is”) which goes a bit further than Murphy and says not only whatever can go wrong will go wrong, but that it will go wrong at the worst possible time with the worst possible outcome. My friend Brian, a British bloke, says "If you book an outdoor wedding party in summer, it's Sod's Law you will book it for the only day it is going to rain that week."

There’s also “Finagle’s Law,” which is either stated as “Inanimate objects are out to get us” or “The perversion of the universe tends toward a maximum.” That appears to be an American invention of some sci-fi writers, and it hasn’t caught on in the same way Murphy’s Law and Sod’s Law have.

Thanks to the miracle that is the internet, I have now found it. I present to you: TOUGH SLEDDING!

https://youtu.be/2f-hVmhidiM

Rocket Sled Set 6801

Classic Space

Year Released: 1981

Complete / Good condition

The speed limit is up to mom standards. Ride on, @taylorswift