In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors from Vancouver General Hospital detail the case of a 37-year-old jogger who was admitted for treatment of lightning-related burns on his neck, face, and chest -- and they say that the iPod the man was wearing conducted the current through his body. According to the letter, the man's eardrums were ruptured, his jawbone broken in four places, and both of his jaw joints were dislocated when lighting struck a tree near the runner during a storm. The doctors say that while the use of an iPod won't increase your chances of being stuck by lightning, the metal in the device's earbuds can direct current "to and through" ones head. This is strikingly similar to
this case that we saw in July of last year, though it can be assumed that any earphone-equipped music device could have this rare effect, so don't go dumping your Apple stock just yet.
[Thanks, psxp]
posted July 12th 2007 11:31AM
I didn't realize that 5 Zunes had even been sold.
Anyway, thank you for pointing out the extreme lightening hazard presented by Apple's iPod. I'll have to go looking for alternatives.
This was on the Toronto Star this morning with a picture. You could see where the headphones were and it burned away all of his skin. Gruesome pic for sure.
Also from what I read, he was not an idiot running in a rain storm, but rather there was a storm in the distance and the lightening had hit a tree next to him, which was then jumped to his ipod. So mythbusters was right but this wasn't what happened.
I am from Vancouver, and I know who this guy is. He is a friend of my grandfather and now he is permanently deaf. It's really terrible and now I only use my mp3 player if it is sunny or just a bit cloudy.
Tell 'em we all feel for him. My life would suck so much more if i couldn't listen to metal.
Doesn't he have any hearing left at all ? At least one side ?
I had to take another look at that picture in the newspaper. At first I thought he was wearing muttonchop sideburns but in fact it was the side of his face and cheek area that was burned. The burn covered a fairly wide area. I figured that only a thin line where the wire was would have been burned. Very unfortunate if he lost his hearing permanently. Just an unfortunate freak accident.