Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously said

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

These are the tools to troubleshoot that technology.

My tribal techno-fetish wands and staffs are the tools that would be used by the shamans of the post-Apocalyptic future. Rooting through the debris of our lost civilization, they'd find what's left of computers and other technology of our time. Their elders tell them that this material was powerful; from the amount of it left behind they'd know it was important to us. Unable to reproduce that power or fully understand it, they'd use what materials they found pleasing, combining it with what they see and know in their own lives- the power and beauty of stone and wood, crystal and leather- to fashion tools to channel that lost power, in an attempt to control the world around them and connect with the lost world of the past.

Several years ago I took some classes in personal computing troubleshooting and networking. The more I learned about what was going on inside the beige box, the more convinced I was that it was magic. That's when I started working on my series of technological wands and staffs. When I read Clarke's quote, I knew I was on the right track.

Another quote that has inspired me in the past year or so is from writer Francine Maroukian-

"It is not our sacred objects that reveal our faith;
it is our faith in objects that make them sacred."

Two pieces of wood nailed together are just two bits of wood nailed together. Call it a cross and it becomes Something. If you believe that some vacuum tubes and thorns attached to a stick will help channel the forces of the computer gods, well, who's to say it won't? It makes about as much sense as some of the other troubleshooting techniques I've seen.