[at-l] at-l Lightening Strikes

[bullard@northnet.org (James Bullard)]

At 01:39 PM 8/22/01 -0400, Jan Leitschuh wrote:
>...clip...
>At least it would be quick, right? Wouldn't we all like to go out in a
>blaze of light! (As opposed to a slow, cancerous death, say...) Go out
>with yer boots on, I say!

Gee, y'all are sooo reassuring.  Actually it's only quick if it kills 
you.  Not everyone struck by lightning dies from it.  As I understand it, 
it can mess up your nervous system or do other nasty stuff.  I read once 
about a ranger who held the 'most struck by lightning' record.  7-9 times 
depending on the source you check.

 From the <http://www.stats.org/spotlight/2200.html> web site:
"Lots of people who are struck by lightning - the majority - live 
(though,                    interestingly, very few actually remember being 
struck; the electrical event disrupts the brain s memory formation 
procedures). Roy Sullivan, a retired forest ranger from Virginia, is listed 
in the Guinness book of records for surviving seven lightning strikes. 
We'll never know whether Sullivan was ever struck twice in the same place, 
since he chose to kill himself in 1983, rather than continue serving as a 
human lightning rod. A bolt from the blue isn t always disastrous though; 
there are documented cases of blind people having their sight restored 
after unplanned encounters with lightning. There's even a lightning 
survivor support group: the Lightning Strike & Electric Shock Victim's 
International."

sAunTerer