Japanese call on deities to discipline wayward PCs Anti-virus software usually does the job, but if malicious code gets through then it can bring your PC to its knees. So a Japanese shrine’s resorted to a rather more unorthodox way of keeping laptops safe. Japanese_laptop_blessing "Bless this laptop..." According to a report by website IOL, the Kanda-Myojin Shinto shrine …
Hm...
perl -pae s/by/buy/
No, that would not work either, it would break many right ones in the process...
But perl -pae s/dont/don't/ would, probably. :-)
Anyway, the best the Japs will do is proving yet again that prayer does not work. Unless all those laptops are running Linux or OSX? (flames! flames! is that hell or fanboys coming for me?)
C'mon. Who the hell in IT HASN'T thought, at one time or another, that computers are possessed of malicious spirits who want only to destroy your will and send you gibbering out of the computer room?
Of course, then you find that the fault is only because a hapless IT Manager came in and pressed the wrong button, requiring a cattleprod correction, but until that moment, you sincerely believe that the damned thing HATES you and WANTS you to fail.
I have been using Vista for a while and I am now totaly convinced that the networking stack is remote controlled by an evil pixie who loves to f**K with me.
It works as long as it is on my docking station, move it anywhere else in the building and kaboom, it can see a different switch so it must be a new network. Suddenly the DHCP server cannot be found. Dare I put in a static IP ect the GUI accepts it and will tell you it has applied it but do ipconfig /all from the command line and it will tell you that it has a defacto no hope IP (the 169 one)
The only explanation is the Pixie in Vista has decided it is happy where it is and does not want to be moved...
Bill? Why you have to ask?
I can understand having supernatural beliefs about things humanity doesn't fully understand. The health of our bodies, for example. Maybe there's some kind of soul thing in there, who knows. But superstition in computing? We built these machines, for fuck's sake. We understand every bit (pun!) about what's going on inside the world's boxen.
This story is nothing but depressing.
"C'mon. Who the hell in IT HASN'T thought, at one time or another, that computers are possessed of malicious spirits who want only to destroy your will and send you gibbering out of the computer room?"
I used to have that problem, then I got rid of Windows! The curse was lifted that very day.
The Ghost In The Machine...
Now becomes
The Holy Ghost In The Machine.
I'll accept my £5 for the Worst Pun prize.
Steven R
PS: Just to add to Rons observation:
I know the japanese are generally found to be short through genes/race/ancestry etc, but suggesting they are hobbits living in the 'shire' is a bit much, eh? ;-)
You might want to consider the religion in question.
Shinto has a central tenet that ALL objects, whether animate or inanimate have a soul known as a kami. (If you travel in Japan you will see shrines to kami almost everywhere - at rocks, ancient trees, hot springs and so on). If you build an object, it possesses a kami, and depending on how you build it, the kami will either be good or bad; which has actually influenced Japanese product design.
Because objects are thought to have a spirit, there is a long history of building things with the highest quality components and a perfect finish; also, how they look is thought to influence the mood of the kami - so the arrangement of the front radiator and lights on a Japanese cars often form a smily 'face', and so on...
So this ceremony might not protect a PC, but it does fit in seamlessly with the idea of appeasing and protecting a computer's kami.
I visited this shrine back in May, and yes it is under 5 minutes walk away from Akiba. The reason Kanda Myoujin may have started offering this service is it's traditionally been a place to pray for success in business. I watched as suits would wonder up to the shrine, pray, then head off to their business meetings.
Hm I wonder if next time I'm there I'll be able to get a wireless signal (and also find the shop that sells the ginger flavored sake).
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