Before reading this post, watch this movie:



In science, there are thousands of these (my favorite is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle) types of things and in technology too, though they tend to be described as “laws” – i.e., Moore’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law, etc. I felt that I had at least one minor contribution to make in this area, and here it is.

Harding’s Water Principle:
Common sense and good judgment are water soluble.

Corollary:
The rate of decline of common sense and good judgment accelerates as the temperature drops.

Kind of boring, I know. But if you think about the principle and simply observe one trait of our society when water is added in vapor, liquid, or solid form, you’ll know it’s a true principle: driving. The data support this, accidents increase in the presence of precipitation. Intellectually, everyone knows to slow down when it’s foggy, wet, snowing, and/or icy, but somehow our common sense and good judgment are suspended or somehow degraded at this time. I don’t know why it happens, I can only observe that it happens.

Don’t believe it? See the entry on “Snow snorkeling” and tell me how that contradicts the principle….oh, you want DATA, ok, here it is:


Data Sources: California Highway Patrol and the National Weather Service.

There you have it, a new principle. Please feel free to use and abuse it.


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Tune: Drivin’ My Life Away by Eddie Rabbit
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