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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!harpo!eagle!jpl
From: jpl@eagle.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Another useless bit of info
Message-ID: <1038@eagle.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 15-Jul-83 08:56:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: eagle.1038
Posted: Fri Jul 15 08:56:04 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 15-Jul-83 18:38:20 EDT
References: ihuxw.421
Lines: 18

The mere mention of chad has triggered a release of nostalgia hormones.
(Perhaps there should be a net.nostalgia for those of us who programmed
our first machines using little jumper wires.)  The office where I
worked at school used to produce registration and enrollment cards for
the registrar.  A few thousand students enrolling in a few courses each
produces a non-negligible quantity of chad.  I remember noticing a
light on the card reader/punch that I had never seen before.  I think
it said ``chad hopper full'' but the years have dimmed my memory.
When I opened the front of the machine, I found an enormous pail of
multicolored chad resting on a scale arrangement that had triggered the
light.  It seems like there should be a good use for 25 pounds of chad,
but we discovered that it makes terrible confetti (the corners are
very sharp, so the effect is like throwing razor blades) and we gave
up on papier-mache after three days of soaking because the chad never
softened up.  Anyone ever put chad to good use?  (I have some stories
about patching object decks with it, but they'll have to wait.)

John P. Linderman  eagle!jpl  Department of Antiquities