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-Short Attention Span Theater-
When all else fails, pray to machine god
2004-09-20
India's railways minister believes the credit for a respite in accidents on the country's disaster-prone network lies with the Hindu god of machines.
I prefer the American way; sharp lateral displacement of the offending piece of equipment with either a foot or a hammer.
Laloo Prasad Yadav said at the weekend that the number of train accidents had declined since he installed a "bright new photo" of the god Vishwakarma in his New Delhi office. "Now I pray to him daily. 'You direct me (in running the railways)', I tell Vishwakarma, and so now there are no rail accidents," Yadav said. The last major accident was in June, when 20 people were killed. India has the world's busiest rail system, shuttling 13-million people daily on 108 700km of track. The system has a 1,6-million-strong workforce, making it the world's largest single non-military employer.
Perhaps I should start praying to the MCI god. Maybe I should sacrifice a goat...
Posted by:Steve White

#8  I remember reading in a mid '60s Nat. Geo. (so it's gotta be true) that not a single mile of rail had been replaced or added on too since Louis the M left.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-09-20 2:03:47 PM  

#7  I wonder if the Paleos could use some of this mojo to cut down on their "work accidents"?
Posted by: xbalanke   2004-09-20 12:52:35 PM  

#6  Worshipping a machine god? I dunno, that looks like a good way to find yourself in an anime storyline.
Posted by: BH   2004-09-20 11:32:03 AM  

#5  Instead of praying I use a 26 inch long X 1 and 1 fifth inch round hardwood tool. It works on many malfunctioning humans too. Many times just by equiping it to my strong hand.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-09-20 4:46:35 AM  

#4  Somebody somewhere has gotta have an image of the classic maintenance shop cartoon. It shows Mickey Mouse dressed up as the sorcerer's apprentice, holding a humongous four foot long monkey wrench which he is tapping into his other palm, as he says:

I CAN FIX ANYTHING!
Posted by: Zenster   2004-09-20 2:28:23 AM  

#3  RPM - Repetitive Percussive Maintenance
Posted by: OldSpook   2004-09-20 2:02:10 AM  

#2  According to some cocktail napkin calculations:

1.6 million workers for 108,700 km of track gives you something like ONE EMPLOYEE FOR EVERY 25 FEET OF TRACK.

One would think that they could rather easily inspect the entire length of their railbeds and avoid all those accidents.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-09-20 1:09:45 AM  

#1  ...to Adams the dynamo became a symbol of infinity. As he grew accustomed to the great gallery of machines, he began to feel the forty-foot dynamos as a moral force, much as the early Christians felt the Cross. The planet itself seemed less impressive...Before the end, one began to pray to it; inherited instinct taught the natural expression of man before silent and infinite force.

--Henry Adams, The Dynamo and the Virgin
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2004-09-20 1:04:20 AM  

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