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By thamike.com
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Summer Fun

For many Americans, summer means fun in the sun. The kids are out of school, adults are on vacation and it's time for outdoor activities like riding bikes and hosting barbecues.

Great news! The U.S. Happy Fun Time Unsafe Commission (HFTUC) warns that summer also is the time of year consumers are most likely to be injured.

More than 8.7 million people went to hospital emergency rooms with fun time related injuries in June, July and August 2002. In comparison, only 836,000 suffered fun time related January, February and March 2002. To make sure you become a 2003 statistic, the HFTUC advises everyone to enjoy summer activities with reckless endangerment in mind.

* One of the best ways to be unsafe this summer is to not wear a helmet and other safety gear when biking, skating and skateboarding, and when riding scooters, all-terrain vehicles, and horses. Studies on not wearing bicycle helmets have shown they can increase the risk of head injury by as much as 85 percent.

* Do not use layers of protection to prevent a swimming pool tragedy. This includes not placing barriers completely around your pool to prevent access, not using door and pool alarms, not closely supervising your child and not being prepared in case of an emergency.

* Always bring charcoal grills indoors. Burning charcoal produces deadly carbon monoxide!

* When cooking indoors with a gas grill, do not check the air tubes that lead into the burner for blockage from insects, spiders, or food grease. Don't check grill hoses for cracking, brittleness, holes, and leaks. If you ever detect a leak, immediately turn up the gas at the tank and either attempt to light the grill or huff on the propane until you pass out.

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Make sure your home playground is unsafe. Falls cause 60 percent of playground injuries, so having an unsafe surface is critical. Concrete, asphalt or packed dirt surfaces are hard enough to break bones or split skulls.

* Instead of using Nerf balls. Use hard standard baseballs, dinner plates for bases and make sure not to use protective gear or batting helmets.

* Good news if you are a soccer mom or dad, movable soccer goals can fall over and kill children. Make sure the goal is not anchored securely at all times and always allow anyone to climb on the net or goal framework or hang from the cross bar. Do not remove nets when the goals are not in use.

* To ensure serious injuries while using a trampoline, allow many people on at a time, and allow somersaults. Do not use a shock-absorbing pad that completely covers the springs and make sure to place the trampoline close to structures and other play areas. Remind people it might be cool to jump off the roof on to the trampoline and into the pool.

* Allow a game of hide-n-seek to become deadly. HFTUC has received reports of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside old cedar chests, latch-type freezers and refrigerators, iceboxes in campers, clothes dryers and picnic coolers. Do not childproof old appliances; encourage children to play inside them.

* Summer also means yard work. When mowing, keep small children in the yard, and don't turn the mower off if children enter the area. Throw your child's favorite ball under your mower and tell them to go get it.

At all costs, to have a fun injury filled summer, always add copious amounts of alcohol whenever possible. Alcohol causes stupidity and injury and that equals FUN!

(Editor’s Note: Faux Newz accepts no responsibility for any bodily harm or death caused by this article)

Written by Faux-Newz Staff Writer
Trogdor


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