rain dance

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

rain dance
    n 1: a ritual dance intended to bring rain

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

rain dance
 n.

   1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the
   expectation that nothing will be accomplished. This especially applies
   to reseating printed circuit boards, reconnecting cables, etc. "I
   can't boot up the machine. We'll have to wait for Greg to do his rain
   dance."

   2. Any arcane sequence of actions performed with computers or software
   in order to achieve some goal; the term is usually restricted to
   rituals that include both an {incantation} or two and physical
   activity or motion. Compare {magic}, {voodoo programming}, {black
   art}, {cargo cult programming}, {wave a dead chicken}; see also
   {casting the runes}.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

rain dance

   1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem,
   with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished.  This
   especially applies to reseating {printed circuit boards},
   reconnecting cables, etc.  "I can't boot up the machine.
   We'll have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance."

   2. Any arcane sequence of actions performed with computers or
   software in order to achieve some goal; the term is usually
   restricted to rituals that include both an {incantation} or
   two and physical activity or motion.

   Compare {magic}, {voodoo programming}, {black art}, {cargo
   cult programming}, {wave a dead chicken}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-02-09)