wave a dead chicken

( v.)

   To  perform a ritual in the direction of crashed software or hardware
   that  one believes to be futile but is nevertheless necessary so that
   others  are  satisfied  that an appropriate degree of effort has been
   expended.  "I'll  wave  a  dead  chicken  over the source code, but I
   really think we've run into an OS bug." Compare {voodoo programming},
   {rain dance}; see also {casting the runes}.

[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {rain dance}{SCSI voodoo}{voodoo programming}{wizard}]