RSS 2.0 FeedAdventures In Government
by Doug MataconisIf there was ever any better evidence of the fact that government bureaucrats have too much time on their hands, this is it. The Washington Post uncovers the government specs for paper towels at the Capitol:
“C-fold paper towels provided shall have a minimum unfolded width of 10.25 inches, with a permissible variance of plus .25 or minus .50 inches, and maximum length of 14 inches.
“Each towel shall have a minimum area of 130 square inches. The folded width of each towel shall be 3 inches, with a permissible variance of plus .25 or minus .50 inches.”
· “The rate of absorption of paper towel material provided shall not be greater than 20 seconds for the absorption of 0.1 milliliter of water on any representative sample of paper towel as submitted.”
· “The color of the paper towel shall be white, with a minimum brightness rating of 70 when measured in accordance with the requirements of test method T-452 of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industries.”
· “The minimum thickness of 12 single plies of the paper towel material provided shall be 0.070 inch when measured under an applied pressure of 0.5 psig.”
And we won’t even get into the “average bursting strength” requirement of the two-ply toilet paper.
One wonders how much paper was wasted writing the specs for paper towels……
H/T: Cato@Liberty
The government also had those type of specs for copy paper, but I thought some years ago congress passed a law to allow the government to purchase office items without using those specs.
Comment by VRB — April 6, 2007 @ 11:01 pmI needed a good laugh. This is absurd. It makes me wonder what other crazy specs they have.
Comment by uhm — April 6, 2007 @ 11:28 pmApparently government bureaucracy just can’t help itself. Take specs like these, combine with over compensated bureaucrats who cannot be fired, and you have our current dystopia. Firing 50% of all gov employees, the top half, and reducing the compensation of the remainder to the private sector median would be a good starting point.
Comment by Adam Selene — April 7, 2007 @ 3:07 pm