Several people have been struck by lightning around the world, while talking on their cell phone. A few countries are now recommending that people do not talk on their phones outside during a lightning storm.

This is a bit of an obvious warning, but many people do not appreciate that if lightning strikes them when them while they are holding a metalic object such as a cell phone, that it disrupts the effect known as a flashover. This is a phenomena where the electricity passes around the body and does less damage. However, holding a metalic object or cell phone disrupts the flash over effect and allows all that magnificent energy to target your internal organs.

Not to mention, its unwise to increase your odds of getting struck in the first place by talking on a live radio with an antenna in a lightning storm.

Therefore, unless you want to qualify for this years Darwin Award, be practical and don’t use your phone in a lightning storm . . . Unless you’ve just been struck and are dialing 911, then use some common sense, set the phone down and put it on speaker phone.

Mobile phone users warned of lightning strike risk - Yahoo! News

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Digg.com announced officially yesterday that they will be expanding their services such that users can beging to comment on other news stories besides just technology news.

The service bypasses the middle man known as the ‘editor’ and users step in to submit articles and the rate and comment on the articles. This social network inspired editorial system has made Digg one of the third most popular sources for technology news. The move had been anticipated for sometime now.

Digg to allow users to vote for many types of news - Yahoo! News

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