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Actually, NOAA has been having a "war on lightning" for some time now. And they can filter money into their buddies' pockets - do you think that S.A.M.E radios are free? Does it cost nothing to build a storm shelter?

Deaths due to lightning, annually: 24,000.

(As NOAA will tell you - if you can hear thunder, you could get zapped - get your ass inside and stay in until 30 minutes past the last thunderclap. Thank you.)

Deaths due to terrorism: varies wildly. Pick an arbitrary year, like 2010, and your "more" is a factor of 3, approximately. Some years, it's only a factor of 2. Given all the deaths this year in Iraq, I suspect that the figures will be large.

www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf

apparently there is a better chance of this happening than getting struck by lightning. http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/probability.html what happens when a slider tries to visit that world?

Meanwhile, every public pool has a policy of emptying everyone if thunder is heard. ... It's like people take all these precautions against the least likely dangers, while the more likely risks are ignored.

Being in or on the water in a thunder storm increases your chance of being injured or killed by lightning. When it strikes water, the current spreads out in all directions and dissipates within about 20 feet. And as the highest object on the water, you increase your risk. 13 percent of all lightning fatalities nationwide involve boats and water.

Still, the chance of injury or death is tiny. So why do people take all these precautions? The answer lies in just who these people are. If someone does get injured by lightning while swimming and the people who own or protect the beach or pool hadn't taken any precautions, they could be sued. So these people aren't taking precautions for your safety, they're taking precautions for their own good.

Sources: http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/indoor_pools.html http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/sd/annsum2005.pdf

I watched the preview and it shows a woman arguing that there is an equal chance of being struck by lightning as being kidnapped (non-family). A little research shows that:

* You have a 1 in 560 chance of being kidnapped by a non-family member and of those 1/5 will be murdered.
* You have a 1 in 280,000 chance of being struck by lightning.
* You have a 1 in 100 chance of dying in a car accident.

While the lady in the video was grossly overestimating the chances of being struck by lightning, there may not be much cause to freak your kids out about "stranger danger". They need to know the information and how to protect themselves, but they definitely shouldn't be made to be hermits and more than they shouldn't be prevented from riding in cars.

One thing is for sure, though. Don't get your statistics from Penn and Teller videos.

The only places in the world that doesn't have it is in the arctic and antarctic. Here is a map.

I thought about comparing that statistic with the chance of getting struck by lightning.. off I go to google, and look what I found:

Two Koreans with cellphones struck by lightning

Forget dodgy batteries - you're going to die no matter what you do!

(FYI: for an American, you have a 1 in 280,000 chance of being zapped.)

...out-of-state visitors are more stupid. Visitors to the Alpine Visitors Center (elevation 11,796 ft) in Rocky Mountain National Park are frequently cautioned about lightning and park rangers tell visitors what the warning signs of an impending strike are and what to do to avoid being killed in that event. Yet visitors are injured and killed by lightning there every year.

Actually according to this web page Florida had the most lightning related deaths (126) from 1990-2003, Texas (52) was second, and Colorado (39) was third.