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Author Topic:   IRS Computers
Tanypteryx
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Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 1 of 16 (893741)
04-19-2022 12:54 PM


Yesterday on the morning news there were stories about U.S. taxpayers having to file their tax returns on that day, April 18. They talked about a huge backlog of returns so refunds for people filing paper returns might take 6 months.
Then they said that a big part of the problem was the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) computers were from the 1960s. Can that possibly be true?
I worked in the 60s using mainframes and my $4000 desktop computer that I assembled myself a couple years ago is hundreds (maybe thousands) of times more powerful and efficient than any of the mainframes that I worked on.
We used paper tape fed through a teletype machine to load the operating system and I remember how excited we were when we added a 5 megabyte hard drive that was the size of a washing machine.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by ringo, posted 04-19-2022 1:00 PM Tanypteryx has not replied
 Message 3 by jar, posted 04-19-2022 1:04 PM Tanypteryx has not replied
 Message 4 by dwise1, posted 04-19-2022 1:47 PM Tanypteryx has replied
 Message 10 by dwise1, posted 04-19-2022 4:39 PM Tanypteryx has replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 6 of 16 (893756)
04-19-2022 3:12 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by dwise1
04-19-2022 1:47 PM


The first computer I worked on was a Varian around 1974-75. No idea of a model number. Most of the programing was with assembler language. It was in a spectrographic analysis lab at a rare metal refinery. Mostly worked on building an interface to hook a direct reading spectrograph up to the computer. Direct reading in that, instead of recording the spectrums on glass film plates of light generated by burning a sample in an electric spark or arc, the light was collected by a bank of photomultiplier tubes positioned precisely at the wavelength positions of the elements we were interested in. We analyzed for 32 elements and the out put was arrays of numbers, printed by a teletype, that then had to be hand entered into programable desk calculators to actually calculate concentrations in parts per million and then hand written on analysis report sheets.
It was a fun project. We even designed and etched our own circuit boards and then soldered the components on, for each output channel of the interface. They continued to use that system for 10-15 years, but eventually ICP (inductively couple plasma) spectrometers took over that segment of analytical chemistry. The light source was a plasma and the sample was a liquid solution that was injected into the plasma rather than a solid sample burned in an electric arc or spark.
By the time ICP instruments came along, dedicated PC computers were included in the package. They came with the instrument manufacturer's proprietary software and interface.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by dwise1, posted 04-19-2022 1:47 PM dwise1 has not replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 7 of 16 (893760)
04-19-2022 3:36 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by jar
04-19-2022 2:38 PM


Sorry, I don't know what that means.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


This message is a reply to:
 Message 5 by jar, posted 04-19-2022 2:38 PM jar has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 8 by AZPaul3, posted 04-19-2022 3:38 PM Tanypteryx has replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 9 of 16 (893765)
04-19-2022 4:25 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by AZPaul3
04-19-2022 3:38 PM


Oh OK, but they still represent something to the people sending them and the people reading them, right?

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


This message is a reply to:
 Message 8 by AZPaul3, posted 04-19-2022 3:38 PM AZPaul3 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 11 by AZPaul3, posted 04-19-2022 5:26 PM Tanypteryx has replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 12 of 16 (893775)
04-19-2022 6:39 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by AZPaul3
04-19-2022 5:26 PM


My wife does our taxes quarterly and it's mostly so straight forward that there's no wiggle room. She has a stock trading account that she has to pay capitol gains on and we get quarterly payments from our deferred comp accounts. She has some really nice spreadsheets and tax programs that she keeps track of everything with and she hates having unpaid taxes. And I hate doing that crap, so yay!

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


This message is a reply to:
 Message 11 by AZPaul3, posted 04-19-2022 5:26 PM AZPaul3 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 13 by Theodoric, posted 04-19-2022 8:46 PM Tanypteryx has not replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


(2)
Message 14 of 16 (893799)
04-20-2022 1:58 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by dwise1
04-19-2022 4:39 PM


The computers is only part of the story. The other part is reduced staffing.
Yeah, this is the old triple, triple whammy,
cut budgets and staffing,
don't hire new young employees to learn to do the jobs,
do whatever possible to get rid of the older workers who know the jobs so they are not there to train new workers,
make big loud public spectacles of attacking the agency for not fulfilling their role,
appoint your antigovernment anarchist flunkies in charge and then start privatizing it,
at least one oligarch should be able to milk this for decades.
It isn't just the IRS, it's also the department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service and every other science or fact based agency. The scientists and project leaders were forced out by headquarters moves and creating toxic work environments and sidelining them and forbidding attendance at scientific conferences, and forbidding speaking out or be smeared publicly.
Remember Trump's imaginary steel mills that were coming on line every day? Of course we know they are imaginary, but notice that The Turd never said who was going to train all those workers how to run a steel mill, or even build the furnaces and forges.
The expertise we have lost is staggering and will prove fatal for the United States of America.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


This message is a reply to:
 Message 10 by dwise1, posted 04-19-2022 4:39 PM dwise1 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 15 by jar, posted 04-20-2022 4:29 PM Tanypteryx has replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 16 of 16 (893821)
04-20-2022 4:33 PM
Reply to: Message 15 by jar
04-20-2022 4:29 PM


All it takes is an Executive Order and the President can just tell businesses to do it.
And a month later just claim it is already done.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python

One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie

If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy

The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq


This message is a reply to:
 Message 15 by jar, posted 04-20-2022 4:29 PM jar has not replied

  
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