Oh, dear, I thought tantalus was a metallic rare earth, and sysiphus was the venerial disese.

As for the problem of which you speak, Max, I spent twenty-four years as an automobile mechanic. I came to refer to this situation as the coyote syndrome, from the Road Runner cartoons, wherein the coyote never caught the road runner, but never quit trying, thereby combining the qualities of both Greek legends.