As reported in rmam-board@news.cirr.com.

Okay, it was January 1st, 96. I was visiting my parents in Rio, and recovering from a hang-over from the night before. I was also nearly recovered from a knee reconstruction, brought upon by a bicycle accident, but that's another story :)

As I was laying there on the sofa, the sight of an ugly ceiling fan fixture caught my eye. One of my parent's old tenants had installed a ceiling fan in the living room and, when they left the apartment, they took the fan, but left the fixture hanging by its wires. So I decided that the whole day would not be a complete waste, and went on to remove the bloody thing.

Being a good little Electrical Engineer, I went to the fuse box, and turned-off ALL the fuses for the appartment, including the central one. I grabbed a six-foot ladder and, since the ceiling is very high (3.5 meters), and being sorta short myself, I was standing on the very top step. You know, the one with the words "DO NOT STAND ON THIS STEP, YOU SCHMUCK" printed on it? That's the one.

I started to cut the wires. It didn't take me too long to find-out that the entire installation was illegal, and not wired to any fuses. After the 220 volt electric shock, and the shower of sparks on my face, I instinctively took a step back. That's when I realized that I was standing on top of a ladder, and there was nothing back there for me to step on. I fell the six feet down, with my full weight on my left leg, which happened to be completely straight.

The result: Two torn ligaments (including the fake plastic one from the previous surgery), one cracked kneecap, heavily damaged cartilage, and a longitudinal fracture of the femur (no, not the lemur. Femur I said).

Later,
--
Joao "Limpy" de Souza