Social Security Administration Leaders Identified

For the hundreds of you (well, maybe not that many  for the scores of you (well, maybe a lot less.) OK..  for the three of you who have asked.. here are the leaders I showed in my last blog entry.. with their names attached:

                                                               IDA MERRIAM

These folks were very active in the 1960's and were responsible for making Social Security work.

I had put the following 1963 picture into my last blog to see if anyone recognised Millie Tyssowski and someone named Ron Bowers.. I'm not sure if that is the same NARFE Ron Bowers or not.. but probably.  Anyway, nobody noticed.

If you have read this far, I will reward (or punish) you with an SSA story from my vaaaast repetoire:

One of the computer programs that I helped write was run on the first day of each month at the stroke of midnight.  We wrote the program early in the 1960's and we never thought that the program would still be running in 1970.  However, just in case it was still running on January 1st 1970, we added a "hidden" computer routine to take care of any problems that would arise with the change of the decade.  However, we just left the routine in without activating it, because we did not really believe the program would still be running then. 

As with all of the programs I was involved in or wrote, I had printed copies of each on a shelf underneath my telephone, to refer to if I got a call that there was some problem.

At midnight on January 1, 1970, my wife and I celebrated the New Year by watching the "Times Square" show and imbibing a little champagne.  At precisely 12:05 A.M., the phone rang.  Arden, the computer operator was all upset and said: "Mr. Vaughan, the XXXXXX program just "blew up" and isn't running. Can you come in and fix it."

Suddenly, I remembered the hidden routine, and as I spoke to Arden, I reached down under the telephone and retrieved the printed copy of the XXXXXX computer program and searched until I found a location to send her to, in order to get the program started and running again.

I quickly found the information and said to Arden: "No problem.  I don't need to come in.  Just "key in" KKKK and press "START" and it 'll begin working again. 

Arden, not knowing that I was looking at my printed program,  was not convinced and said: "Mr. Vaughan, have you been drinking?"

I replied that I had, but I told her to take a chance and do what I told her to do.

Reluctantly,  she "keyed in" KKKK and pressed "START".. the "hidden" routine was activated and I could hear the tapes begin to twirl again as the program resumed its function.

Arden said, breathlessly, "Mr. Vaughan, you are a genius!"

I said: "I know."  And hung up.

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I believe that an updated copy of that XXXXXX program is still running on the first day of every month.


So long for now, and as God told Moses: "Keep taking those tablets."

Joe

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