3. Diagnostic Usage:

RITA may be applied in two diagnostic fashions, however only one of these methods, described below in 3.1, has been refined to a state such that we feel comfortable publishing the methodology.

3.1 The first method provides a broad-spectrum evaluation of quality of the entity tested, and is thus known as the BS eval test. This method can be used with great success on both deterministic and non-deterministic problems. Testing is performed by placing the RITA unit on top of a suspect piece of hardware, or, in the case of software, placing the unit on a packaged copy of the program, or hard copy of the source code.

If the RITA does not get up and fly away, the hardware or software being tested is misconfigured, fubar, or broken as designed. While this method does identify all equipment and software as sub-optimal, Sturgeon's Law (see reference [5]) indicates that at least 90% of these results are accurate, and it is felt that a maximum 10% false positive result is within acceptable parameters.

3.2 The second method involves applications of traditional techniques of haruspication (see reference [3]) and to date has been practiced with much greater success using implements other than RITA. The absence of entrails in the RITA unit may contribute to this; future design enhancements may address this issue by the addition of artificial giblets.

An alternative approach that has been discarded involved cleromantic principles (see reference [3]), and was known as "flipping the bird".