Reply #17: I've got a story like that. [View All]

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

Not me personally, but a guy my dad went to school with. This would be at Saskatchewan U, around 1970.

Our hero (if Dad ever told me his name, I don't remember it) had spent months of gruelling work on his senior project. For those who don't know what programs in punched-card form look like, I refer you to the Simpsons episode where Apu gets his citizenship. That entire gag is 100% accurate. There was also a lot of testing and re-writing involved, since a single mispunch could and would futz up your entire program. The whole process is more frustrating than writing hexadecimal processor instructions without a reference book.

Aaanyway, shortly before the submission date, this poor beleagured nerd had finally finished his project, and had the cards boxed up and ready to hand in. He then left campus to spend a few days with his parents or girlfriend or something. While he was gone, his landlady decided to do something for him on account of him being so burned out. So, for a nice surprise, she cleaned his room.

Now, keep in mind here, we're talking about a sweet little old lady who never had much of an education, and who certainly didn't know the first thing about computers. There was no way on Earth she could have been expected to know what the unmarked box full of little cardboard rectangles was. It certainly didn't *look* like anything important. And no reasonable jury could possibly find fault with her chucking box, cards and all into the incinerator.

The poor bastard ended up staying on an extra semester.