The Sky is Falling (again)

Warning! A girl was struck by lightning while talking on a mobile phone... The phone must be the cause:

LONDON (Reuters) - People should not use mobile phones outdoors during thunderstorms because of the risk of being struck by lightning, doctors said on Friday.

They reported the case of a 15-year-old girl who was using her phone in a park when she was hit during a storm. Although she was revived, she suffered persistent health problems and was using a wheelchair a year after the accident.

So if she was wearing glasses, were they also a factor?
Also, the American Red Cross estimates close to 500 people are struck by lightning each year -- doesn't it stand to reason that some of them are going to be talking on a cell phone? You can't swing a dead cat these days without knocking the cell phone from someone's ear.

Esprit and other doctors at the hospital added in a letter to the British Medical Journal that usually when someone is struck by lightning, the high resistance of the skin conducts the flash over the body in what is known as a flashover.

But if a metal object, such as a phone, is in contact with the skin it disrupts the flashover and increases the odds of internal injuries and death.

And apparently nobody told the doctor that there is no metal on the outside of cell phones. That's plastic, even if it's shiny silver, it's plastic.

The doctors added that three fatal cases of lightning striking people while using mobile phones have been reported in newspapers in China,
South Korea and Malaysia.

Oh well, that's proof then. Four.
And there was an industrial revolution... and the climate changed, ergo, (which is Latin for "we're scientists so don't question any stupid conclusion that follows") the industrial revolution changed the climate.

Here's the thing -- If you're standing out in a thunderstorm, you need to call someone. Preferably, someone who will tell you to come in from the stinkin storm.