If it’s metallic, lightning is attracted to it

There has been one of those warnings put out by medical researchers saying not to use iPods or cellphones during thunderstorms[guardian]. This makes complete and total sense, but is it really anything that we, as educated human beings, shouldn’t already know?

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A teenager who was hit by lightning over the weekend talked about his close brush with death Thursday.

Jason Bunch was mowing the lawn and listening to his iPod at his home in Castle Rock in the 3200 block of Cherry Plum Way on Sunday when he was struck. […]

“From where the iPod was, it damaged my hearing and it ruptured my eardrums. Where the cord was, it burned me all down my body,” said Bunch. “We need to shave my head because my hair is like dreadlocks. It’s all sticking together.” [thedenverchannel]

Now there are couple other details to this that strikes me, no pun intended.

He was mowing the lawn in weather conditions where lightning was possible. It seems to me that the mower would have been the main thing saying, “Hey, lightning! Here I am!” However, since his ear buds were the highest point of contact, that’s where the strike made its entrance. Any part of his body touching the mower probably didn’t help much, but with the iPod on him, the bolt did it best to fry those components first before moving on.

With that being said, why is the focus here on the iPod? He was probably trying to mow as much of the lawn before the storm came in. Lots of people do it. It just seems that the story here is saying that if you have an iPod on while you frolic in the rain, you will be struck by lightning. Officials will admit that occurances of this is rare, but worthy of educating the public.

Millions of golfers from around the world are saying, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

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