Diary by Zac Unger, Firefighters' favorite diversion: wildly elaborate practical jokes.  by Zac Unger The worst thing about CPR is that it is almost never effective, yet we persist in this ritual flogging of the dead. By definition we only attempt the procedure on dead people—folks with no pulse or respiratory effort—so the rate of success is understandably low. CPR works best with people who are young and healthy to begin with and suffer some sudden offense to the heart like electrocution or drug overdose. The first time I worked somebody up was early on a Christmas morning, a 27-year-old man who had been shot point-blank in the head. I pumped on him vigorously all the way to the hospital, rode the gurney like they do on television so I could keep doing compressions right into the E.R. Out of breath, I gave my report to a bored-looking trauma surgeon who glanced at me, glanced at the clock on the wall, and said only, "Time of death: 7:23. Thank you, gentlemen." End of story.



Ok. This is the last link I post without some commentary. Because then it's not really a weblog, just glorified bookmarks.