Mike the Headless Chicken

September 10th, 1945 finds a strapping (but tender) five and a half month old Wyandotte rooster pecking through the dust of Fruita, Colorado. The unsuspecting bird had never looked so delicious as he did that, now famous, day. Clara Olsen was planning on featuring the plump chicken in the evening meal. Husband Lloyd Olsen was sent out, on a very routine mission, to prepare the designated fryer for the pan. Nothing about this task turned out to be routine. Lloyd knew his Mother in Law would be dining with them and would savor the neck. He positioned his ax precisely, estimating just the right tolerances, to leave a generous neck bone. "It was as important to Suck-Up to your Mother in Law in the 40's as it is today." A skillful blow was executed and the chicken staggered around like most freshly terminated poultry.

Then the determined bird shook off the traumatic event and never looked back. Mike (it is unclear when the famous rooster took on the name) returned to his job of being a chicken. He pecked for food and preened his feathers just like the rest of his barnyard buddies.

When Olsen found Mike the next morning, sleeping with his "head" under his wing, he decided that if Mike had that much will to live, he would figure out a way to feed and water him. With an eyedropper Mike was given grain and water. It was becoming obvious that Mike was special. A week into Mike's new life Olsen packed him up and took him 250 miles to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City . The skeptical scientists were eager to answer all the questions regarding Mike's amazing ability to survive with no head. It was determined that ax blade had missed the jugular vein and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was in a jar, most of his brain stem and one ear was left on his body. Since most of a chicken's reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem Mike was able to remain quite healthy.

In the 18 MONTHS that Mike lived as "The Headless Wonder Chicken" he grew from a mere 2 1/2 lbs. to nearly 8 lbs. In a Gayle Meyer interview Olsen said Mike was a "robust chicken - a fine specimen of a chicken except for not having a head." Some longtime Fruita residents, gathered at the Monument Cafe for coffee, also remember Mike - "he was a big fat chicken who didn't know he didn't have a head" - "he seemed as happy as any other chicken." Mike's excellent state of health made it difficult for animal-rights activists to garner much of a following. Even now the town of Fruita celebrates Mike's impressive will to live, not the nature of his handicap. Miracle Mike took on a manager, and with the Olsens in tow, set out on a national tour. Curious sideshow patrons in New York , Atlantic City , Los Angeles , and San Diego lined up to pay 25 cents to see Mike. The "Wonder Chicken" was valued at $10,000.00 and insured for the same. His fame and fortune would earn him recognition in Life and Time Magazines. It goes without saying there was a Guinness World Record in all this. While returning from one of these road trips the Olsens stopped at a motel in the Arizona desert. In the middle of the night Mike began to choke. Unable to find the eyedropper used to clear Mike's open esophagus Miracle Mike passed on

ARTIFICIAL SILICON RETINA (ASR)

Creating Artificial Sight

The dot above the date on this penny is the full size of the artificial silicon retina.

The current path that scientists are taking to create artificial vision received a jolt in 1988, when Dr. Mark Humayun demonstrated that a blind person could be made to see light by stimulating the nerve ganglia behind the retina with an electrical current. This test proved that the nerves behind the retina still functioned even when the retina had degenerated. Based on this information, scientists set out to create a device that could translate images and electrical pulses that could restore vision.
Today, such a device is very close to becoming available to the millions of people who have lost their vision to retinal disease. The artificial silicon retina (ASR), developed by Optobionics, which was in FDA clinical trials as of late 2007, improved vision in 10 subjects over a period of two years [source: Groves]. As of late 2007, however, Optobionics was in bankruptcy and awaiting a buyer, which would allow the trials to continue.
As you can see in the picture at the top of this page, the ASR is an extremely tiny device, smaller than the surface of a pencil eraser. It has a diameter of just 2 mm (.078 inch) and is thinner than a human hair. There is good reason for its microscopic size. In order for an artificial retina to work it has to be small enough so that doctors can transplant it in the eye without damaging the other structures within the eye.
The most significant development in artifical retina research has been the Department of Energy's creation of the Artificial Retina Project, which is led by Mark Humayun. The ARP is a group of public and private companies, universities and research labs that has pooled their efforts to perfect a nano-size device. Since 2002, six blind volunteers have been fitted with the device, which has been successful in helping them perceive light and dark and large objects.

coke

WASH THEM FIRST Please Don't Erase this message before forwarding on! Same applies to Beer.

This is Serious!
This incident happened recently in North Texas ..
A woman went boating one Sunday taking with her some cans of coke
which she put into the refrigerator of the boat.
On Monday she was taken to the hospital and placed in the Intensive Care Unit.
She died on Wednesday.

The autopsy concluded she died of Leptospirosis.
This was traced to the can of coke she drank from, not using a glass.
Tests showed that the can was infected by dried rat urine and
hence the disease Leptospirosis.

Rat urine contains toxic and deadly substances.
It is highly recommended to thoroughly wash the upper part
of all soda cans before drinking out of them.
The cans are typically stocked in warehouses and transported straight to the shops without being cleaned..

A study at NYCU showed that the tops of all soda cans are more contaminated than public toilets (i.e.). full of germs and bacteria. So wash them with water before putting them to the mouth to avoid any kind of fatal accident. 


Please forward this message to all the people you care about. 
I JUST DID

Cracked Pot

Love this - I hope you do too.  Have a great day
 
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. 
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
 
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. 
'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.'
The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?' 'That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. 

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.  You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

And send this to any or all of your Cracked Pot friends ! 
Don't forget the Cracked Pot that sent it to you!!    

Don't let the cups drive you

Good one……………
 
 
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. 
Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.   
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain,
plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.  

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,
leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
 What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each others cups.   
Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change.
Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." 
Don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead