MEAD'S LAW AND BRAKEY'S ADDENDUM

Mead’s Law: “Never doubt that a few committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”-  Margaret Mead

Brakey’s Addendum to Mead’s Law: “A few committed citizens can change the world.  But if you turn them into a committee, we’re screwed.”- John Brakey

BUCKLEY'S COROLLARY TO HINCHCLIFFE'S RULE AND MURPHY'S LAW

"...attempts to weaponize Hinchliffe's Rule (by writing titles where "no" would be the fun answer) are doomed to fail, just like you can't take advantage of Murphy's Law by relying on something not working. If you try such shenanigans, it will fail to fail."
- Rutgers University theoretical physicist Matthew Buckley, in the Tweet:
https://twitter.com/physicsmatt/status/1185624901467754496?s=20

HINCHCLIFFE'S RULE (and PEON'S PURPORTED PARADOX), and BETTERIDGE'S LAW

"If a physics paper has a question mark in the title, the answer is no."
(From a Tweet by theoretical physicist Matthew Buckley, in response to a story titled, "Can scientists reverse time with a quantum computer?)
https://twitter.com/physicsmatt/status/1185621012706222083?s=20

This is derived from Betteridge's Law of Headlines, which stipulates that "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." Cook and Plourde (2016) explain that "When applied to the titles of academic publication, the assertion is referred to as Hinchcliffe's Rule." According to Holderness (2014), this was attributed to British physicist Ian Hinchcliffe. However, Peon (1995) asked, "Is Hinchliffe's rule true?," which allegedly demonstrates that Hinchcliffe's rule is false- but only if it is true, as discussed by Boswell (2017). The entire topic is discussed and Peon's purported paradox is deconstructed by Shieber (2015).

Boswell, D.W., 2017. The owl of Minerva: Governing technology in the quest for sustainability.  Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tasmania.
Cook, J.M., and Plourde, D., 2016. Do scholars follow Betteridge's Law? The use of questions in journal article titles. Scientometrics 108(3):1119-1128.
Holderness, M., 2014. Feedback.  New Scientist 223 (2982):48.
Peon, B., 1995. Is Hinchcliffe's Rule True?  New Scientist, 16 August 2014.
Shieber, S.M., 2015.  Is This Article Consistent with Hinchcliffe's Rule? Annals of Improbable Research 21(3):18-19.

LEGGETT'S LAW

90% of the Internet is people who don't know anything having their questions answered by (other) people who don't know anything.

-From a Tweet by Mark Leggett:
https://twitter.com/markleggett/status/448222076151681024?s=20

HOWE'S ADMONITION

"You have two ears and one mouth.  Keep the two open and the one shut."- The late hockey legend Gordie Howe, quoted on NPR's Morning Edition on 6/15/2016.