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(56,081 posts)

4. You didn't have a sort machine?

Reply to LuckyCharms (Original post)

Fri Feb 6, 2026, 07:35 PM

Friday

Columns 72-80 on punch cards were reserved for a sequence number. Basically, you stamped the cards 1,2,3, etc.

If you managed to jumble up your cards, a sort machine could save you if you knew how to use it -- not obvious as it only sorted one digit at a time. So you sort *last* digit first, stack the results, then sort next to last digit, etc.

By the time you're through all the digits, if you restocked them properly, your entire program is correctly sorted!

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LuckyCharms FakeNoose

34 replies

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Highlight:

I got in a really interesting phone conversation with a young woman last night. [View all] LuckyCharms Friday OP

Things have changed so much. markodochartaigh Friday #1

Check this out! You used to be able to buy cigarettes... LuckyCharms Friday #3

Sure, markodochartaigh Friday #9

I'm a few years older and I did all that stuff too FakeNoose Friday #2

I remember dropping mine in the snow! LuckyCharms Friday #5

You didn't have a sort machine? unblock Friday #4

I don't think so... LuckyCharms Friday #6

Wow, what a memory! FakeNoose Friday #13

That you are able to share that story; priceless. cachukis Friday #7

OMG, I remember typing out those punch cards Ocelot II Friday #8

LOL LuckyCharms Friday #12

Hahahahaha!! unblock Friday #15

so luckycharms is code for insert real name here? msongs Friday #10

Yes LuckyCharms Friday #11

SHE WAS A HUMAN RIGHT??? and she WILL remember all you said, ok, May-be half of what you told her... a kennedy Friday #14

I'll bet that young lady put LuckyCharms in the front of her Rolodex FakeNoose Friday #16

Yes! Definitely human! We had a long conversation... LuckyCharms Friday #18

"I got in a really interesting phone conversation with a young woman last night" True Dough Friday #17

What is a 1-900 number? LuckyCharms Friday #19

I've seen True Dough Friday #20

Do you have these numbers... LuckyCharms Friday #21

I could check, True Dough Friday #22

Things have changed so much and so fast Wicked Blue Friday #23

The safest jobs in America are the plumbers and electricians, they will never be laid off FakeNoose 20 hrs ago #24

I told my daughters many times to learn plumbing Wicked Blue 16 hrs ago #32

At TAM my husband could not use the mainframe until night when it was available. efhmc 19 hrs ago #25

That sounds familiar! LuckyCharms 18 hrs ago #31

I remember that from university. The Madcap 19 hrs ago #26

Did you ever ask her how she got your phone# and knew your DU Name? Fla Dem 18 hrs ago #27

I didn't ask, but I'm a regular contributor to the university LuckyCharms 18 hrs ago #28

OK, thanks. Just found it ominous that she was able to connect your DU name with your phone #. Fla Dem 18 hrs ago #29

I'm sorry, I don't think I worded my OP well... LuckyCharms 18 hrs ago #30

Attending ticker tape parades in NYC though several decades there was the time that.... electric_blue68 15 hrs ago #33

Former "batch station operator " here WestMichRad 11 hrs ago #34