May 10, 2004

• From the third link: Diary Entry: 04-19-00 I have come to the frustrating conclusion that the trepanation has had no lasting effect. I mean, the effects were subtle the whole time anyway and they appear to have worn off. Anyone wanting to poke a hole in their head must have a hole in their head! Besides, I thought this technique was for releasing demons and foul humours and such.
• There's a joke about a hole in my head that I want to deploy but I can't because I've drilled a hole in my head and I'm feeling a tad woozy.
• I thought this technique was for releasing demons and foul humours and such. No, no -- silly person! That's why they did it back in the dark ages! Now of course we know that the real reason trepanation works is because it increases blood flow to the brain. (I swear this is the medical reason given by ITAG.) See, when we're babies, we're much more lucid and imaginative because our skulls haven't sealed up yet (and therefore it receives lots of blood). As we age, our skulls fuse, and our brains get less blood -- so obviously, the answer is to re-separate our skull plates to increase the blood flow. Pass the Craftsman! (The image of self-trepanation in the ITAG intro video is from a movie that lady took of her trepaning herself.) Thank you for posting this, RXR! I've been absolutely fascinated with these nutjobs for years -- I even have a shirt from ITAG (alas, it got rust stains from the dryer once, so I don't wear it much anymore). Every time my students start talking about their new piercings or tattoos, I tell them how last year it all is -- and how trepanation is the new in thing. I'm just afraid one of these days one of them will take me seriously.
• *Righteous INdigNAtion* If GAAWD had meant for us to have holes in our HEAD, he would have given us - ... Um. Carry on.
• jesus. oh wait.
• Dr. Peter Venkman: Egon, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head. Remember that? Dr. Egon Spengler: That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me.
• No matter how nitwitted a thing is, if the human mind can imagine it, sooner or later some damn fool will try it.
• There seems to be a deliberate intent amongst them not to see, maybe even a conspiracy, that there is a benefit to making a hole in the skull bone. On planet Earth we call this conspiracy "common sense".
• I also posted the BME link in a previous thread on trepanation.
• Hah, shotsy you beat me to it. Great movie.
• i say, drill away. the shallow end of the gene pool needs the cleaning. pretty much safe to say that if millions of years of evolution resulted in an organ inside of a really thick bone case with a liquid suspension/dampening device built in to cushion it, odds are that the organ in question is pretty darn important and ought not be exposed to the open air. but hey, you go right ahead and laugh in the face of biology if you want. i'll just sit here smirking when you walk outside, forget to duck, and an errant twig on that low-hanging branch just happens to slip in your gaping head-hole and provides you with a lobotomy, free of charge. because, see, the loose bones in your skull at birth have nothing at all to do with allowing our oversized, round crania to deform enough to pass through the birth canal... no, not at all. can't possibly be that, could it? and how can opening your bean allow more blood to get there, anyway? a full 1/4 of the blood in your body already goes to your noggin - it's a freakin' resource hog as it is. and anyone with a CSF shunt due to spina bifida knows full well how important it is to have a closed system, allowing your brain & spinal cord to regulate the level of cerebrospinal fluid... once you dump a hole there, you've gone and screwed up the system, folks. kind of like poking holes in a hydraulic line - you start having to add more liquid, all the time, or it all leaks out. it constantly amazes me what people will do to themselves based on nothing more than their limited (and often mistaken) knowledge of basic biology. i can say for damn sure that if i was contemplating anything as major and potentially deadly as drilling a hole in my melon, i'd start by making a phone call to ask someone who knew what they were talking about to ask whether it was really a good idea in the first place.
• jesus. another link about a hole.
• HoleFilter
• I need this link like i need . . bah /Capt._Obvious_and_Awaaaaayyy
• Interesting. In the His Dark Materials series, Pullman talks about about people who drill holes in their skulls to let in more "Dust"; but I had no idea that was based on a real-life practice.
• This practice goes back a long time, kwyjibo. Even the Cro-Magnons did it. (First link I grabbed off Google, please don't kill me!) The practice went out of style for a while, I believe, because it was thought that the brain was just and organ for cooling the body, and thought was actually generated from the heart. Found a lovely edition of His Dark Materials, but volume 2 and 3 were sold out. Now I'm trying very hard not to capitulate and buy the different edition because I would like to have a nice consistent set. *grit teeth*
• [banana for rustcellar]
• I met a guy once in DC who thought he had a hole drilled in his skull. Surprisingly, there was no microchip implanted, but nonetheless he could feel alien radio waves, and he could almost, but not quite, pick out what they were saying, which he said was maddening, and I believe him.
• Heh - Ive had my skull fractured twice - and although it aint quite trepanation, I can honestly say it hasnt aided to my consciousness one bit. In fact, for the longest time I was a complete basket case. Just a slight brain bleed has taken me a year and a half to get over - and I stillsuffer from incredible fatigue. These people are frigginidiots - I'm with caution live frogs on this one. Here we have an opportunity to watch Darwinism in realtime. Pass the popcorn!
• OUCH Klepton! I'm beaming healing thought waves at you. Can you feel them entering the cracks and caressing your mind? If it tickles, I'll stop. MonkeyFilter: Lobotomies, free of charge. When Frogs speaks, I listen. And I hear, Oh Frogbashi!