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Old 05-11-2015, 06:54 PM   #9
KSagal
Glides a lot, talks more...
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Pelham, NH, USA.
Posts: 10,356
5 yr Member HT/PT Owner SegwayFest Attendee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Civicsman View Post
True, but the cattle obviously didn't know that.

When one quotes statistics, it's important to understand the context on which the given statistic is based.

It is exceedingly rare to be struck by lightning, if one calculates it as a percentage of the number of individuals struck (worldwide) per year, over the entire world population.

However it is much LESS rare when one calculates the statistic based on the number of those struck per year, over the number of people per year who were in dangerous lightning-prone conditions. If one glides one's Seg through a lightning storm, while cresting a hill with nothing higher than yourself..... then "exceedingly rare" clearly doesn't apply. One might still get away with it, but one's chances of being clobbered go way up when one participates in risky behavior.

Take the documented case of Roy Williams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan

So, by trying to justify the impossible to calculate, you must conclude that those cows were riding segways over the crest of a hill in order to be hit by lightening.

Exceedingly rare does apply, because there are billions of people exposed in one form or another to lightening, and a few thousand die (by your numbers, which you said yourself cannot be accurately calculated)

Are you saying that you know for a fact, or can prove statistically, that keeping your feet together and squatting down is safer than some other position, or are you extrapolating other data and applying it here? I suspect you do not have direct evidence.

Also, are you saying that every person who rides a segway in the rain is more likely to be struck by lightening than someone else in some other situation?

I do not believe there is enough data to make a realistic conclusion based on fact, but instead you are applying what you believe to be reasonable assumptions. (I am not even arguing that they are not reasonable, I suspect they might be okay assumptions)

There are so many other factors not discussed, that I believe have a greater impact on someone's likelihood of being hurt by lightening than what has been discussed here so far.

Just because of the shear numbers, I suspect there are more people in wood framed houses each year that are hurt from lightening that those who ride on segways over ridges, with metal framed umbrellas over their heads.

I know you are just trying to say that I am wrong, and that may be so. I surely hope no one gets struck by lightening as a result of the comments I have made in this thread. I am confident that no one will avoid getting struck by lightening by the content in this thread either. I may be wrong, I have been wrong in the past, I will be wrong in the future, but I am still confident that this thread will have no measurable impact on any people getting struck by lightening.

Have a nice day...
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Karl Ian Sagal

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