demagnetized cards

Someone sent me this YAHOO ANSWERS page about demagnetized cards.

In the meantime, I think I have solved the problem… It’s not eerie Cairo magnetic fields, but more likely the protective pouch I originally used for my Blackberry and now for my new iPhone. I noticed the other day that the pouch was picking up nearby coins from the desk, and that’s when I remembered that it slams shut and stays shut thanks to powerful magnets in the two sides of the pouch.

No coincidence, then, that I had no ATM card demagnetization problems during my 9 months of not using the broken Blackberry, and no coincidence that I immediately had the problem again within a few days after buying the iPhone– the pouch came out of storage and was back in my pocket again, probably sometimes not far from the cards.

It’s always satisfying to figure out these long-running petty mysteries in one’s life.