[ale] Engineering Archaeology

[Jim Kinney]

My school had NOT gone into the computer world yet when I "gained access"
to the room where the <ominous voice> permanent records </voice> were
stored and created a new student with a past - not a great student but one
that would not be a standout for any reason. Ran that for nearly 2 years,
adding end of quarter grade, attendance records, etc. Almost got him an
absentee diploma but was not willing to cough up the mandatory $20 fee. One
of my teachers figured out the con and played along because it was fun.
William Gregory Smith IV, Bill Smith. B- student with no hobbies or
extra-curricular activities.

Pretty sure shenanigans like that would be good for a few felonies now.

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 12:05 PM Jeff Lightner via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> Slightly more on topic is this computer prank.
>
> My senior year of HS they consolidated 3 high schools into a new one.  That
> one was the first to offer computer classes.   I wasn't in one but a buddy
> was.
>
> They had gone "high tech" by giving all the students punch cards with their
> names on them.   For home room and each class we were told to give each
> teacher one of the cards.  To take attendance the teacher would simply send
> in the punch cards with missing students' names on them.
>
> My buddy who access to the keypunch machine typed up one (without labeling
> it) with a rude message on it.   In one of my classes when the teacher
> wasn't looking I inserted that card into the stack of absent students.
>
> When the absentee list was printed there was some consternation because the
> rude message appeared in the middle of it and got disseminated.   They were
> able to see which teacher and period in which it had apparently been
> inserted but there were no students in that class who had direct access to
> the keypunch machine.   They never did figure out he had typed it up and I
> had inserted it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ale <ale-bounces at ale.org> On Behalf Of Steve Litt via Ale
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2026 12:56 AM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
> Cc: Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com>
> Subject: Re: [ale] Engineering Archaeology
>
> Bob Toxen said on Sun, 25 Jan 2026 20:44:20 -0500
>
> >The day before Halloween when I was 13, I was making smoke bombs for
> >Halloween.  I mixed up amonium nitrate and zink dust with iodine to
> >give it a rich purple color.
> >
> >I folded up a piece of paper into a small container, added some of the
> >mixture, taped it shut, and tossed it into a large bottle with the rest
> >of them.  I discovered that the mixture should be triggered with a
> >match. I had forgotten that my father demonstrated the feature by
> >dribbling a few drops of water onto the mixture.
> >
> >Well, after the bottle was filled with about 50 cubic inches of this,
> >to my shock and horror, it sucked enough moisture out of the air to
> >start the reaction, bursting into flame.  The smoke screen was so dense
> >that it would do James Bond proud.
> >
> >I opened all of the windows of the house to air it out and then went
> >outside with my brother to avoid choking on the smoke.
> >
> >I saw dense smoke coming out of all of the windows. I was lucky that
> >none of the neighbors saw as they surely would have called the fire
> >department.  But wait, there's more.  My town was too small to have its
> >own police department so they contracted with the state police for
> >this. (They were a really nasty bunch.)  They had made their annual
> >patrol of the neighborhood only an hour before.  Phew.  My parents
> >never found out.
>
> I was an 18 typical teeny bopper ricer the summer of 1968, the proud owner
> of the South Side Special, a 59 Plymouth Savoy that burned a quart of oil
> every 50 miles. And like every stupid male, I used all sorts of "mechanic
> in
> a can" products, and made great show of opening the hood and taking off the
> air cleaner after parking.
>
> One day I and my two buddies parked at MacDonalds in Glenview, so I opened
> up the hood, took off the air cleaner, and poured an entire 16 ounce can of
> carburetor cleaner down the carb, when you're spozed to use only 3 ounces.
> We went inside, had our lunch, came back out, and after about three
> coughing
> tries, the engine barely started, coughing and spitting out voluminous
> smoke. I backed out, drove twice around the building, and turned right onto
> the street. My buddy started laughing his ass off, saying he couldn't see
> the golden arches. Looking in my rear view mirror confirmed it: The entire
> building, arches, and parking lot were enveloped in opaque gray smoke.
>
> Three weeks later we went back to the same Macdonalds. The store manager
> saw
> me, grabbed me by the lapels, pulled me half way over the counter, told me
> to leave and said he never wanted to see me or my "f__kin Plymouth" ever
> again.
>
> 86'ed from Macdonalds. How low can you go?
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
>
> http://444domains.com
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain


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