Mahesh's Sixteenth Law - Benchmarks

Benchmarks lie all the time.

Corollary I
Benchmarking is to science what Creationism is to Evolution.

Corollary II 
Always be wary of benchmarks (except for ones that you have rigged yourself).  via Torben Hoffman 

Addendum
Do not trust the benchmark unless

• you really, really know what you are looking at, and 
• you really, really understand how the benchmark is being run, and 
• you really, really grok the external influences, and
• you really, really have figured out the impacting side-effects, and

oh forget it. Benchmarks lie all the time. That is all.

Update: More on this by Torben Hoffman, Brandon Savage, Greg Wilkins, Jeff Layton, and others.