Everyone hates red tape. Sometimes, in order to have total control, a group (most likely government insitutions) have thousands of processes and check-and-balance systems in place that if often becomes annoying or illogical. I myself experienced this when I went to retrieve some documents at a local government “munisipyo”.

Almost all organizations have red tape in one form or another. I myself am in favor of “law and order” but logic dictates that there must be some limit one way or the other. Red tape, if it means documenting accountability, is okay with me. But having processes just for THE SAKE of having them borders on lunacy.

Let’s change this frustration to something educational. Let’s take a break from the normal Girls, Games and Gadgets. The historical origins of the phrase “red tape” after the jump…

THE ORIGINS OF RED TAPE

Old-faithful Wikipedia tells us this:

“In the 16th century, when Henry VIII besieged Pope Clement VII with around eighty or so petitions for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. A photo of the petitions from Cardinal Wolsey and others, now stored in the Vatican archives, can be seen on page 106 of “Saints and Sinners, a History of The Popes”, by Eamon Duffy (published by Yale University Press in 1997). The pile of documents can be viewed in all their glory, rolled and stacked in original condition, each one sealed and bound with the obligatory red tape, as was the custom.”

Alrighty! Unhappy marriage is the cause of all this shiat! I knew it…

Persistent bastard.

Anyways, what’s your “red tape” encounter? I’d love to hear ‘em….