Asterix - The Twelve Tasks of Asterix - #8: Find Permit A 38 in "The Place That Sends You Mad"
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters reference it as the famous satire of bureaucracy, including as the name for an SSH key management tool.
What it is
A segment from the animated film The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, in which Asterix must get Permit A 38 from a maze-like building run by unhelpful bureaucrats. He wins by asking for a nonexistent permit.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2017 to 2020.
What Hacker News said
Cites yosamino · 2017-02 · on “Australian welfare recipient’s data released to counter public criticism”
Original claim: > Ms Fox complained that her problem arose from the fact that she was chased by Centrelink for a debt actually owed by her former de facto partner. Centrelink rebuttal: > The agency says Ms Fox's debt [...] arose after she received more FTB than she was entitled to because she under-estimated her family income for that year. Counter-rebuttal: > As I outlined in my article, when your ex does not lodge his tax return for a year in which you received the Family Tax Benefit it seems your family income will be classified ‘under-estimated’. This is easily one of many possible scenarios that is not covered by standard procedures, of which I am sure there exist many every year, but w
Cites AdrianoKF · 2018-03 · on “Show HN: SSH Permit A38 – Central Managment and Deployment for SSH Keys”
Not sure if the ship was named after it as well, but Permit A38 references a scene from an Asterix and Obelix animated film ( [LINK] [this video] ). The comic series by René Goscinni and animated films were very popular in Europe, probably not so much in the US. Permit A38 refers to a scene where the protagonists are referred multiple times within a overly beaurocratic Roman administrative office, so it has become sort of synonymous with a Sysiphean task in German language (at least in limited circles).