Use an iPod and DIE!!!!!!!!

Well, that’s the thrust of this article at CNN.com from July 12, 2007 (from the AP, uncredited):

Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with iPods

No telling how long the link will be good for, so here's a summary:

Two people have been outside during storms and had nearby lightning strikes jump to their iPods.  Doctors say beepers, Walkmans, and laptops can result in the same thing, and a guy who was struck by lightning while playing golf tracks such strikes on his website, recording 13 strikes on cell phones in the past three years.  Even coins in the pocket can be lightning targets.  Damage from these strikes can include burns and ruptured eardrums, and the damage can even be passed to someone standing next to you.

And most important, but buried in the middle of the story:

Contrary to some urban legends and media reports, electronic devices don’t attract lightning the way a tall tree or a lightning rod does.

In other words, two — count them, two! — people have had lightning strikes jump to their iPods, and many times that many have been struck doing other activities and with other devices, but we’re going to spread fear and panic by invoking “iPod” in the headline.

Someone’s an Apple hater.  The parallel would be a headline saying "Windows systems vulnerable when lighting strikes a building"… which they are, but no more than any other computer.  But hey, there are more of them, so it’s fine, right?

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Updated on December 17, 2009

Yup, the CNN link is dead.  But here’s the same story from ABC News:

Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with iPods, similar devices during storms