Certainly, most of use have heard those suggestions of not playing golf, climbing a tree, or standing next to metal objects during an electrical storm. Case in point; my father will quite often disconnect his amateur radio gear during lightning storm. The 8 meter wire antenna on our roof makes a pretty good electron magnet. The copper J-Pole antenna (copper pipe rigged up to look like the letter 'J') gets great electrical reception.

But add a new one to the list. Doctors are warning people of the risks involved with stereo equipment zapped by lightening. Published in this week's New England Journal of medicine (under the title of 'Thunderstorms and iPods — Not a Good iDea') are the medical accountings of a 37 year old Vancouver, B.C. man who was shocked senseless by a bolt from the blue whilst jogging. Eric Heffernan, Peter Munk, and Luck Louis from Vancouver General Hospital report in the journal that the jogger in question was a meer 2.4 meters from a tree during his jog when a bolt had hit the tree and arced over to him.

Though it did happen in the summer of 2005, both of the joggers eardrums were ruptured and his jaw fractured by the blow. Apparently, the massive electrical surge was enough to have the ear buds explode under the force of the electrical pressure. He also suffered first and second degree burns on his chest, right beneath where his iPod was located. And with electricities nasty habit of wanting to return to ground, he also suffered burns upon his legs and feet. His jogging shoes were blown to pieces. To detail somewhat further, perforated tympanic membranes (eardrums) was only part of the injury to his ears. The man suffered dislocation of the tiny bones in the middle ear known as the ossicles, which conduct sound to the cochlea of the inner ear.

"I knew it! Steve Jobs is God! Betcha Microsoft can't do that."

Subsequent surgical procedures were required to patch his eardrums with small tissue grafts. His jaw also needed to be reset as it was dislocated from both joints by the force of the blast and broken in four places. Unfortunately, due to the extent of damage to his jaw, it is quite likely the man will develop some form of arthritis in it at a earlier than normal age.

The man now has about 50 per cent hearing loss in both ears and wears two hearing aids to assist. Heffernan said. He no longer plays in the church orchestra because of his hearing loss. It's quite likely too that he either cranks up to volume one his iPod, doesn't have one any more, or caved in and bought a Zune.

"There are probably many notes he can't hear," Heffernan added.  

But not to blame the iPod fr this, as it in no way attracted the lightning strike. It did make hi injuries worse though. 

"Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient's head," the doctors wrote.

Heffernan, one of the doctors who attended, had said in an interview noted that this man's experience should provide a cautionary tale for anyone wearing earphones outdoors during a thunderstorm.

"Using things like this, a mobile phone or an iPod, there isn't actually an increased risk (of incurring a lightning injury)," he said from Vancouver. "But we just suggest that if you are unlucky enough to be hit by lightning while listening to anything with earphones, you may be more likely to do yourself some damage." 

And expert in the field lightning strikes and their effects upon people chimed in on the subject. "Metal doesn't attract lightning and there is very little metal in iPods anyway," said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, an emergency-room physician and medical professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. "But once electricity contacts the iPod, then the metal will conduct the electricity and can cause secondary burns, as this gentleman had to his chest underneath where the iPod was and up where the wires went up into his ears, and possibly even cause enough muscle contraction that either caused the jaw fracture or perhaps he fell forward onto his jaw."

What ever the case for this fellows injuries, he's one lucky guy, living to tell the tale. Perhaps Steve Jobs would read this and be moved to the point to give this fellow a brand new iPod, or maybe an iPhone. Just make sure it's one with a big surge protector built in.