I still would go with a shot glass and some 151...

Smells good, too, I bet..

People have mentioned that when the cork is removed, it should be replaced. Why is this so? Is it bad to remove your cork for cleaning or swabbing purposes occasionally? ( I refer to the cork attached to the flute "cap, as the cork comes out with the "cap" when the "cap" is unscrewed and removed)

The cork should be removed from the tenon end, not the end with the crown. If the cork comes out with the crown when you pull, it sounds like it is much too loose and needs to be replaced.

In terms of removing the cork for cleaning the headjoint, if you remove it the proper way, it should be fine. That said, I have never cleaned my headjoint that thoroughly.

You say "it should be fine if you remove it the proper way"...
What is "the proper way"? Every person I ask has a different answer...

If you did remove the cork the "proper way" what would the harm be in using listerine? (I still wouldn't do it....but its good to know.)

Remove it from the tenon end and not the crown that the last poster just explained.

To understand why: the head joint is not a perfect cylinder but it has "taper", that is, the crown end has a smaller internal diameter than the tenon end.

So, if you try to extract the cork from the crown size, you are forcing the cork into a smaller diameter than its normal size and it will, most probably, get damaged and will have to be replaced. Otherwise it will no longer seal correctly when re-installed at its correct position.

That is why the cork assembly should always be extracted through the tenon (the open) end of the headjoint.

If you already can extract the cork assembly through the crown end without very considerable effort, it means the cork is already in bad condition, it does not seal properly and should be replaced. This is a quick and cheap operation for a qualified technician.

<Added>

OOPS!
from the crown size = from the crown side

And in respect of Wikipedia being an unreliable source:

It is true that it can be written or lately edited -wrongly. And practically by anybody. But in a way, it works like a worldwide extension of the peer review that powers the true scientific magazines. I someone finds something wrong, he/she can comment or edit the wrong article or paragraph.

So, true is that there is no warranty that everything written in Wikipedia is 100% correct.

But I am afraid, right now, nobody and nothing gives such a thorough warranty.

Books can have mistakes, omissions and in general they reflect the personal opinion and position of their authors. Same with teachers, parents and counsellors of any type.

Also at the highest scientific level and although quite rare, there have been false articles presented, approved by peers and published by first rang scientific magazines like Nature and Science.

There is no complete objectivity anywhere.

The only way to approach a truth (IMO) is to compare different opinions, read a lot and finally make our own choices. Internet helps in this process, as it provides easy access to many different sources.

Commenting in a Forum like this one is also part of the process. And also it is usually much fun to post and read other people opinions.

Jose Luis makes some very valid points.
I've been teaching and learning flute for years and generally I know most of the mistakes in the printed editions of music that I use. Once in a while I do find a good one.
So, if you think that because it's been sent to the printers, it's always 100% correct...or that if there is an error, it ever going to be fixed in subsequent editions.
http://homepage.mac.com/johnwion/errata.html

That list is almost depressing. So many error everywhere!.

In some cases it is understandable as the original printed editions of older pieces were copied from hand writing. But there are mistakes there to suit all tastes, styles and periods.

In my univ. band we would annually play the state High School band "contest" music. This was a performance for the local band directors who were interested in having their own bands perform on a better level and generally the music was recently composed pieces. One of the jobs that we had was to make a list of any issues in the sheet music that we discovered while learning the pieces (About two weeks of time was given to this before the mini concert). Often the music had two separate flute parts or the flute I & II was combined for one part. It was rare that we didn't find any mistakes in our flute parts to any given piece of music.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio