One of the first things that I learned in computer school was the Hollerith code. This code was used on punch cards to encode letters, numbers, and a couple of special characters.

At the time, most folks knew about punch cards from their phone bill. Bell Canada would include a punch card with your bill and you’d mail back the card with your check.

After my introduction to punch cards, my roommate Ned and I took the card from our next phone bill, decoded it, and considered the possibilities.

I couldn’t “unpunch” anything on the card. I couldn’t change the amount from “12.34” to “00.34”. That was disappointing.

We had to settle for adding anatomically impossible suggestions in some of the unused portions of the card.

This wasn’t as financially rewarding as mail fraud, but we did giggle a lot.