When some future scholar tries to understand the spirit of our times, he or she might run across a collection of the many derivatives of Murphy’s Law and declare that they constitute our national spirit. We have become such a pessimistic people. Murphy’s Law, of course, goes like this: “If anything can go wrong it will. If nothing can go wrong, it will anyway.” But there were many derivatives of that Law . . .

Like “The other line always moves faster.”

• Or “When one wishes to unlock a door but has only has one hand free, the keys are in the opposite pocket.”
• Or “The probability of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich falling on the carpet face side up is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.”
• Or “After discarding something not used for years, you will need it one week later.”…