Re: (and further) Off topic: Nomen et omen (Was Any way to use XyWrite as an e-mail reader)

[George Scithers Owlswick@xxxxxxxx]

But Murphy is (or was) a real person! Graduate of West Point around 1943 or
so, made his famous statement (originally "If there's any way the
contractor's tech representative can make things go wrong, he will.") at a
proving ground in Southern California, and was later in the quality
assurance department of Hughes Aircraft. I corresponded with him briefly
when I was editing Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.

If by "Hanlon" you mean the author of the remark about the ubiquity of
hydrogen and stupidity, he's another real person, Harlan Ellison, a
science-fiction and screen writer of some prominence. I've known him since
1954. We really don't approve of each other.

George Scithers of owlswickpress@xxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patricia M Godfrey" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: (and further) Off topic: Nomen et omen (Was Any way to use
XyWrite as an e-mail reader)


> Brian: Was there a real Hanlon? Or is he just an eponym like Murphy? The
> idea has often crossed my mind, but I never heard such a lapidary
> statement of it. Lovely!
> Patricia
>