DepartmentOfRed

Why are governments set up with Ministries of Telecommunications, Gas Production, and Machine Building? Why Departments of Transportation, Labor, and Commerce? Why Bureaus of Investigation, Economic Statistics, and Veteran Affairs?

These are such arbitrary ways to slice a pie! How about an Administration for Soft Fuzzy Things? A Minister of Objects Whose Names Begin With "T"? A Sourness Department? An Agency of the Afternoon?

TopicHumor - Datetag20020109

Why not, indeed? About as much/little would get done with the same level of official employment. Might give rise to some interesting interdepartmental scuffles, such as when ASFT usurps the Sourness Dept to make the Ministry of Sour Hairballs. Very Monty Pythonesque, don't you know. -- Bo Leuf

There is an Eric Frank Russell short story called "Study in Still Life", about bureaucracy. The main character, a former pilot, wants to get a irridiator to this 'bugologist', so he can kill this disease-spreading mosquito, and he plays the system very cleverly to get it. The story follows the request as it is filled out, ordered, etc. etc. It's very funny.

RadRob

(correlates: GiftForFiction, GeniusBarn, ComplexityFromSimplicity, ...)