How to keep pesky thunderbolts at bay

(Credit: Hammacher Schlemmer)

Maybe we're missing something, but we can't quite figure out why gadget makers seem obsessed with lightning these days. In recent weeks, we've seen everything from a "Personal Lightning Detector" to a planned Nokia phone that warns of approaching electrical storms.

And now we have yet another lightning finder, the "75-Mile Range Thunderstorm Detector." How does it work? Here's just one excerpt from Hammacher Schlemmer's description: "Its built-in microprocessor and software analyzes the waveform and voltage the antenna detects to tell you how far away a lightning strike was, which indicates the presence of approaching storm cells and squall lines, and provides you with storm approach speed, estimated time of arrival, distance, and more." There'll be a pop quiz in the morning.

If all this sounds long-winded (unintentional bad pun), consider the price--$430. For that kind of money, you deserve as much meteorological jargon as they can dish out.

[merso90]

Lightning.

I no longer laugh about products such as this, since my golfing partner recently was hit by lightning from a storm some 7 miles away. At the time we were playing under a clear sunny sky.
This was a scary experience.

[hutch_85]

pesky thunderbolts?

Hmm, I had an "Elvis Detector" application years ago that worked quite similar to this.. go figure :)

(it's still around, too - http://www.ibiblio.org/elvis/download.html)