An Example of Tragedy
Winston Peters is visiting a school.

In one class, he asks the students if anyone can give him an example of a "tragedy". One little boy stands up and offers that, "if my best friend who lives next door was playing in the street when a car came along and killed him, that would be a tragedy".

"No," Winston says, "That would be an ACCIDENT."

A girl raises her hand. "If a school bus carrying fifty children drove off a cliff, killing everyone involved... that would be a tragedy". "I'm afraid not, "explains Winston, "that is what we would call a GREAT LOSS."

The room is silent, none of the other children volunteer. "What?" asks Winston, "isn't there any one here who can give me an example of a tragedy?"

Finally, a boy in the back raises his hand. In a timid voice, he says: "If an airplane carrying Winston Peters was blown up by a bomb, THAT would be a tragedy".

"Wonderful!" Winston beams. "Marvelous! And can you tell me WHY that would be a tragedy?" "Well," says the boy, "because it wouldn't be an accident, and it certainly wouldn't be a great loss!"

Funny Words of Wisdom
Funny Words of Wisdom =========================  To spot the expert, pick the one who predicts the job will take the longest and cost the most.  The other line always moves faster.  Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.  If you're feeling good, don't worry, you'll get over it.  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.  A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost.  Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.  If you try to please everybody, nobody will like it.  A short cut is the longest distance between two points.  The chance of a piece of bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.  Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost more than you thought.  Murphy Was an Optimist........  When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly.  Everyone has a scheme for getting rich that will not work.  When in doubt, mumble. When in trouble, delegate.  Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.  If everything seems to be going well, you obviously don't know what the heck is going on.  You will always find something in the last place you look.  No matter how long or hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.  Leakproof seals - will.  There is always one more bug.  In order to get a loan, you must first prove you don't need it.  If you fool around with a thing for very long, you will screw it up.  If if jams - force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.  A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.  Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it.  You will remember that you forgot to take out the trash when the garbage truck is two doors away.  Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.  Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he'll have to touch it to be sure.  The first myth of management is that it exists.  New systems generate new problems.  Nothing motivates a man more than to see his boss putting in an honest day's work.  The primary function of the design engineer is to make things difficult for the fabricator and impossible for the serviceman.  After all is said and done, a heck of a lot more is said than done.  A bird in hand is safer than one overhead.  The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.  A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.  If more than one person is responsible for a miscalculation, no one will be at fault.  Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference.  Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track.  Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it beyond recognition.  A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works.  Computers are unreliable, but humans are even more unreliable. Any system which depends on human reliability is unreliable.  Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables the organism will do as it damn well pleases.  The only perfect science is hind-sight.  When all else fails, read the instructions.  Any simple theory will be worded in the most complicated way.  The degree of technical competence is inversely proportional to the level of management.  Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.  Technology is dominated by those who manage what they do not understand.  The opulence of the front office decor varies inversely with the fundamental solvency of the firm.  Nothing ever gets built on schedule.  A failure will not appear till a unit has passed final inspection.