Computer Snafus

I was having a little problem with my computer figuring out how I could attach a book file to an e-mail and feeling dumb that the answer didn’t just pop into this head of mine when I looked online at some of the news.  The different government agencies in Washington seem to be having problems with their computers too. The V. A. records seem to be in chaos. The IRS claims problems with computers holding vital information have been crashing. The State Department’s global database for issuing travel documents is experiencing problems, resulting in major delays for potentially millions of people around the world waiting for U.S. passports and visas, officials said Wednesday.  The folks running Social Security Disability programshave spent many millions of dollars and apparently are now admitting that it hasn’t accomplished much if anything and I don’t want to talk about computers and Obamacare. I wouldn’t know where to start.

So, all in all I figure I am in pretty good shape.  I can recall when computers were first introduced at the railroad where I was employed. At first, none of the department heads wanted to have anything to do with them. About a decade later they had found some acceptance but nobody trusted them. The problem was they had a tendency to crash when you needed the information they contained. Decades later they have become reasonably dependable.

Now here we are well into the 21st Century and billions of dollars later and Washington still hasn’t figured out how to handle information and hang onto it competently.  Sure makes my little problems seem insignificant.