Are you one of those people who says that music moves you?
Well, this bloke in Vancouver was moved all right!
Two metres to the right, to be exact!
You can try it for yourself. What you need to do is listen to your iPod with in-ear headphones, while jogging in a thunderstorm.
And as long as you’re in the right place at the right time, you just might get a lightning strike. Or rather what they call a ‘side flash’, a powerful force which sends you flying when the electric discharge jumps from the object that was hit by lightning. In this case a tree.
Of course, under normal circumstances the skin has high resistance to electricity, unless you happen to…
Be covered in a layer of sweat and
Have metal objects in your ear ‘oles!
OK, you might decide that the accompanying burn marks up your chest and across your face aren’t worth the effort of reproducing the experiment!
Not to mention not being to listen to music ever again. Or anything else for that matter!
But with a little plastic surgery and some redistributing of your cartilage, some hearing aids and a reminder of where you were, where you are going, and why… and maybe your name and where you live… you’ll be good as new.
Not so your iPod!
It’s a shocker!
And apparently, while earphones, portable music devices and mobile phones don’t actually make it more likely that you’ll get that lightning bolt, you’ll certainly know all about it if you do!
Which just goes to show that all this ‘communing with nature and exercising’ malarky is just not good for us!
You might prefer the healthy option, and stay indoors instead?
Just saying!