Apparently if you put your personal checks in the microwave for a few seconds, it will demagnetize the I.D. strip — and subsequently force the bank cashing it to process it by hand. Thus, this is a way to hack the banks in case your cash flow is low for a few days and you need to appear to have paid someone, while secretly needing to delay payments by a couple of days.

I’d never heard of this! But it is the subject of a very cool thread I’m reading on the New York BBS Echo.