First of all, a little less code, but some sample output, if possible. It's a lot easier if we get sample output.

Anyway, split $stuff,// splits between every character. "" also matches / */, so you can see your problem there. The usual split delimiter is /\s+/, and I don't see that in your code anywhere. I get all the elements out of your do_split routine, although I can't imagine why they put a sleep *inside* the loop.