Lightning + iPod = press stupidity

That’s it. The press just sucks. I quit. Going out to find honest work now.

There’s just no other way to react to the hundreds upon hundreds of news stories online at the moment purporting to draw a connection between lightning injuries and the world’s most famous music player.

Geesh.

Here are just a few:

Burned jogger shows lightning, headphones don’t mix

Washington Post, United States – 4 hours ago

Shocking news about earbuds and lightning

Canada.com, Canada – 4 hours ago

Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than …

International Herald Tribune, France – 4 hours ago

Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with iPods

Eyewitness News, RI – 20 hours ago

iPods & Lightning: A Bad iDea

CBS 11, TX – 10 hours ago

iPods + lightning = injury

Toronto Star, Canada – 9 hours ago

Of course, not every version of this “story” was quite so ludicrous and many if not most made the blindingly obvious point that there is nothing special about an iPod that adds to the dangerous combination of lightning and metal. It’s just that the sheer number of headline writers who couldn’t resist the cheap – no, make that the dishonest – headline has sent me rummaging for the resume.

OK, neither my wife nor my mortgage company will allow me to take my fit of pique quite that far.

So allow me to finish this rant with perhaps my favorite of the “killer iPod” headlines:

Listening to MP3s during lightning can blow your brains out.

Yes it can, especially if you’re a journalist.