I know that when I'm attempting to repair something, if I get a cut or a ding that gets blood on whatever I'm working on, the damn repair works. Repairs generally work, so maybe I'm just clumsy.
We had two fresh water stills on my submarine. The backup unit would only work for 2 guys. Period. Nobody else could get the thing balanced out and making water.
The primary 10k gallon per day unit was a champ and could produce 20% more than rated output if you took care of it. It worked for everyone except Steve. If he got within 5 feet it would start getting salt in the distilled water output, which required hours of flushing to get things back to normal operation. When Steve had the watch that normally ran the 10K still we sent another operator back to just run it.
Anything complex has a personality, and sometimes it hates you.
I recently saw a similar story about a power plant and the "load toad". This was toad statue in the control room that received occasional offerings until a new boss stopped the practice. As expected stuff stopped working so the toad was reinstated. On a related note there was a British nuclear weapon proposal from the 50s that kept the control unit warm by surrounding it with live chickens.
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I know that when I'm attempting to repair something, if I get a cut or a ding that gets blood on whatever I'm working on, the damn repair works. Repairs generally work, so maybe I'm just clumsy.
We had two fresh water stills on my submarine. The backup unit would only work for 2 guys. Period. Nobody else could get the thing balanced out and making water.
The primary 10k gallon per day unit was a champ and could produce 20% more than rated output if you took care of it. It worked for everyone except Steve. If he got within 5 feet it would start getting salt in the distilled water output, which required hours of flushing to get things back to normal operation. When Steve had the watch that normally ran the 10K still we sent another operator back to just run it.
Anything complex has a personality, and sometimes it hates you.
Line from a friend: "I DO talk to the equipment, but sometimes it doesn't like what I say."
I recently saw a similar story about a power plant and the "load toad". This was toad statue in the control room that received occasional offerings until a new boss stopped the practice. As expected stuff stopped working so the toad was reinstated.
On a related note there was a British nuclear weapon proposal from the 50s that kept the control unit warm by surrounding it with live chickens.
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