Such places exist, and they exist just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, through the rainbow tunnel, where McMansions meet divination on Highway 1, Marin County, California.

Ah!—so frail are we— So like the brief ephemeron that wheels Its momentary round, we scarce can weep Our own bereavements, ere we haste to share The clay with those we mourn.

Second, the very act of maintenance, even when performed correctly often induces problems in previously functioning machinery (so-called iatropic maintenance problems) .

During Congressional hearings on the agency in the mid-1970's, it was revealed that some of the agency's programs to plant false information in the foreign press had resulted in items being published by American news organizations. This phenomenon, known as blowback, was sharply criticized by the committees at the time, and the C.I.A. has since been required to take precautions so that such false information does not affect political debate in this country.