The Cork Board gets reloaded about .. oh, never..

 NOW DON'T DO THIS AT HOMES KIDS – London - Heather Perry, 29 was suffering from chronic fatigue. Her solution? Do it yourself brain surgery. 

Heather was convinced that she had a swelling of her brain and spinal chord called myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, which leaves sufferers feeling permanently exhausted. She learned that an ancient technique called trepanning --cutting away a section of the scalp and drilling into the skull, had been used in the Middle Ages to treat sever headaches and madness. They apparently thought it released the evil spirits. British doctors refused to help
Perry with the ancient procedure, so she flew to the United States where she was given medical advice and then did it herself. She 
drilled a two-centimeter hole in her skull to allow blood to flow – it took her 20-minutes. The operation almost went wrong when she
drilled too far and penetrated a membrane protecting her brain tissue. "I have no regrets," said Perry, who performed  the operation under local anaesthetic in front of a mirror and a camera crew.  
--coming soon to the web I'm sure. . .

CAUGHT YOU RED, er uh, HANDED! - New York –
Michelle Macula, 46, a partner in the Tottenville Inn. Restaurant was trying to figure out who was stealing their expensive food and wine in the place after hours. Michelle decided to do
something about it and installed video cameras to catch the thief. What she saw was someone parading around in the nude, eating the food and pouring himself the fine wines. Turns out it
was her landlord, Albert Hohmann a local fireman. Hohmann has been suspended without pay after being arrested on charges including burglary,  petty larceny and criminal mischief. 
--probably didn't want his clothing to interfere with the  wines bouquet. . .
Inspired by an afternoon of playing at various anti-chain letter Web sites, I won't be hitting the delete key anymore. The next piece of chain mail landing in my in-box gets returned to sender with the following message attached, courtesy of the Web's chain-letter police: 

"This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of exclamation points! Lots!! NOT TO MENTION ALL-CAPS TOO!!!!!" 
Debra McKinney

(From American Police Beat, a magazine for cops)

1. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...

2. The names contained in this report have been changed to protect the innocent ...

3. The mayor then made an illegal left hand turn onto Mulraney at which point I opened fire ...

4. Before I get into the details, I've got a few "shout-outs" for my homeys in the command staff ...

5. It was so dark and wet that night you could almost eat the mist. The radio call penetrated the eerie silence with such piercing intensity that for a moment, I was sure I'd lost my mind ...

6. Got call. Responded. Arrested bad guy. The end.

7. Mye pertnar an eye wher on petrol wen we seen a man act suspishushly...

8. The suspect then tried to assault me by repeatedly slamming his face into my fist.

9. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ...

Paramedic: We need to get these people to a hospital! 
EMT: What is it? 
Paramedic: It's a big building with a lot of doctors, but that's not important now! 

Patient to optometrist: I'm very worried about the outcome of this operation, doctor. What are the chances? Optometrist to patient: Don't worry, you won't be able to see the difference. 

An elderly couple decide to have a baby, so they go to the doctor to get a physical examination of the wife. The wife is declared in perfect health, but the doctor says that he also would need to check the husband's semen in order to accurately advise the couple. The husband is a bit taken aback, and says, "Listen, I'm getting old. I can only "do that" about once a week." The doctor answers that he understands perfectly and gives the couple a vial, telling the husband to come back next week with a semen sample. The next week, the husband comes in with an empty vial. The perplexed doctor asks the husband what went wrong. The husband answers, "Well...I tried it with my right hand and I tried it with my left hand, I tried hot water, I tried cold water, I tried soap, my wife tried it with her hand, my wife even tried it with her
mouth, I even tried banging it against the sink...but we still couldn't get the top off the damn bottle!" 
Doctors Find Three-inch Nail In Man's Skull 
From the Press Association
Thursday April 13, 2000 4:32 pm

A man has told of how he had a three-inch nail embedded into his skull without realising it. 

Tony Smart was spiked with the nail when a workmate accidentally knocked his head with an industrial nail gun as he
stepped down a ladder. 

Mr Smart, 38, of Newport, Gwent, said: "I thought I had just been hit on the head by the gun itself. I had no idea the gun had
gone off when it hit me." 

He added: "I had no headache, just a small cut on the top of my head." 

Although he went to hospital to have the wound cleaned, he was later sent home. 

A week later, as he watched Manchester United at Old Trafford, he collapsed and was taken to hospital where doctors ordered an X-ray and discovered the nail. 

Mr Smart said: "I had no idea it was there. I wasn't in any pain. I didn't even know the nail had been there until after the operation to get it out." 

Andrew King, consultant neurosurgeon at Hope Hospital, in Manchester, said: "He is lucky it did not go into a vital part of the
brain because paralysis would be a distinct possibility and he may have even risked death. 

"All we had to do was make a hole and pull the nail out the way it came in, making sure we didn't cause too much bleeding, and controlling any infection." 

Mr Smart, who spent three weeks in hospital and five months off work after the operation, is taking legal action against Caerphilly Miners Hospital, where he was taken after the accident. 
Look what snowmobiles can do 

Support your local mortician. Buy junior a snowmachine! Of the 400 Alaskans due to be killed or hospitalized due to snowmachine or ATV related trauma this year,120 will be children or teenagers. 


Support your local nursing home. Buy junior a snowmachine! Of the lucky 108 youths that survive this trauma, 32 will be brain injured. 

Raise taxes. Buy junior a snowmachine! Forty percent of the injured have no insurance and the public pays the price of medical care and long-term care. This is in excess of $16 million annually statewide. 

Per-mile-traveled, junior is 10 time more likely to die or be hospitalized at the controls of a snowmachine than behind the wheel of the family car. 

-- Stephen S. Tower, M.D. 
Anchorage
Brain changes, not hormones, explain many adolescent behaviors 
By Matt Crenson
AP National Writer 

Every parent dreads it. 

Almost overnight a sweet, cheerful, obedient child mutates into a churlish monster prone to recklessness and unpredictable mood swings.

This is not "The Exorcist." This is adolescence.

Parents and experts have always blamed the same hormones that catapult young bodies into adulthood for the sleeping until noon, the reckless driving, the drug use and the other woes of adolescence. But recent research shows that what's going on above teen-agers' necks, not raging hormones, explains the changes.

Beginning around age 11, the brain undergoes major reorganization in an area associated with things like social behavior and impulse control. Neuroscientists figured this out only in the last few years, and the discovery has led them to see adolescence as a period when the developing brain is vulnerable to traumatic experiences, drug abuse and unhealthy influences.

"The adolescent brain is different. It's still growing," says Fulton Crews, a neuroscientist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Not long ago, neuroscientists thought that the brain stopped growing by the time a child entered nursery school. By then, it was thought, nearly all the brain's wiring had been connected and the only remaining task was to program that hardware.

But new brain imaging technologies have shattered that notion. Using techniques like MRI and positron emission tomography, or PET scanning, researchers have detected brain growth throughout childhood and well into adolescence.

Because their brains are not yet mature, adolescents do not handle social pressure, instinctual urges and other stresses the way adults do. That may explain in part why adolescents are so prone to unsavory or reckless behavior.

cont

How To Install Software:

1. Examine the software packaging until 
you find a little printed box that 
explains what kind of computer system 
you need to run the software. It
should look something like this:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
2386 PROCESSOR OR HIGHER
628.8 MEGAHERTZ MODEM
719.7 MB FREE DISK SPACE
3546 MB RAM
432323 MB ROM
2353700 MB RPM
ANTILOCK BRAKING SYSTEM
2 TURTLE DOVES

NOTE: This software will not work on 
your computer.

2. Open the software packaging and 
remove the manual. This will contain 
detailed instructions on installing, 
operating, and troubleshooting the
software. Throw it away.

3. Find the actual software, which 
should be in the form of either a 
3.5-inch floppy diskette or a CD-ROM, 
located inside a sealed envelope that
says:

LICENSING AGREEMENT:

By breaking this seal, the user 
hereinafter agrees to abide by all 
the terms and conditions of the 
following agreement that nobody ever 
reads, as well as the Geneva Convention 
and the UN Charter and the Secret 
Membership Oath of the Benevolent 
Protective Order of the Elks and such
other terms and conditions, real and 
imaginary, as the Software Company 
shall deem necessary and appropriate, 
including the right to come to the
user's home and examine the user's 
hard drive, as well as the user's 
underwear drawer if we feel like it, 
take it or leave it, until death do 
us part, one nation indivisible, by 
the dawn's early light, finders keepers, 
losers weepers, thanks you've been a great 
crowd, and don't forget to tip your servers.

4. Hand the software to a child aged 3 
through 12 and say, "(Name of child), 
please install this on my computer."

5. If you have no child age 3 through 12, 
insert the software in the appropriate 
drive, type "SETUP" and press the Enter key.

6. Turn the computer on, you idiot.

7. Once again type "SETUP" and press 
the Enter key.

8. You will hear grinding and whirring 
noises for a while, after which the 
following message should appear on 
your screen:

The Installation Program will now 
examine your system to see what would
be the best way to render it inoperable. 
Is it OK with you? Choose one, and 
be honest:

A. YES
B. SURE

9. After you make your selection, you 
will hear grinding and whirring for a 
very long time while the installation 
program does God knows what in there. 
Some installation programs can actually 
alter molecular structures, so that when 
they're done, your computer has been 
transformed into an entirely new device, 
such as a food processor. At the very 
least, the installation program will 
create many new directories, sub-directories,
sub-sub-directories, on your hard drive 
and fill them with thousands of mysterious 
files with names like "puree.exe," 
"fester.dat," and "doo.wha."

10. When the installation program is 
finished, your screen should display 
the following message:


CONGRATULATIONS

The installation program cannot think 
of anything else to do to your computer 
and has grown bored. You may now attempt 
to run your software. If you experience 
any problems, electrical shocks, insomnia, 
shortness of breath, nasal discharge, or 
intestinal parasites, you should immediately
*!@!$)$ %@&*^) $*!#$_$*^&

11. At this point your computer system 
should become less functional than the 
federal government, refusing to respond 
even when struck with furniture.

12. Call the toll-free Technical 
Support Hotline number listed on 
the package and wait on the line 
for a representative, who will 
explain to you, in a clear, 
step-by-step manner, how to adopt 
a child aged 3 through 12.