Jogging when Lightning Strikes

Today I'm editing my next "deep breathing" installment. After that I will be fact-checking a piece I plan to post soon about soy food products. So today, and occasionally in the future, I will be sharing with you a potpourri of interesting (hopefully), and sometimes funny, fitness-related stuff found in print magazines or on the Internet. This one was in the July 27th edition of "The Week," a weekly print magazine. Be well & Peace, LR

Health scare of the week

iPods and lightning don't mix

If you find yourself outside during a thunderstorm, beware: Your iPod may turn your head into a lightning rod. A Vancouver jogger was hit by lightning while wearing his iPod, and the electricity was conducted along the path of his earphones. He was badly burned on his face, his eardrums ruptured, and the muscles of his jaw contracted violently, shattering his jawbone into five pieces. The fact that he was wearing an iPod may not have made him any more susceptible to the lightning strike, but it did focus the jolt on his head, doctors at his hospital tell The Washington Post. Cell phones with earpieces could case the same kind of damage. If you "get caught in a thunderstorm," said radiologist Eric Hefferman, "make sure your iPod is not in contact with your skin, and remove the earphones from your ear."