By The Survivors Club Staff
July 28, 2009

If you text while driving, you're 23 times more likely  to crash or get into a near-wreck, according to the first-ever study of distracted drivers. That means texting is three times more dangerous than driving at the legal drunk driving limit, which increases your risk of an accident by about 7 times.

Texting is especially risky because drivers take their eyes off the road for five seconds or more - more than the amount of time it takes to drive the length of a football field.

Meanwhile, researchers found that the simple act of dialing a cell phone increases the risk of collisions about six times.

What can you do to protect yourself?

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 27, 2009

Michelle St. Val and her son Mikyal and two passengers were driving to the airport on I-595 near Fort Lauderdale on Friday when their Chevy Impala was surrounded by a flash of light.  "My car lit up like Christmas," Michelle tells the Sun-Sentinel.  "It was a huge boom, and then lightning completely took over the car," she continues.  Glass shattered everywhere and her car drifted across three lanes of highway.

When the Chevy came to stop, everyone was terrified but unhurt.  According to the Sun-Sentinel, the highway patrol concluded that the lightning bolt hit the upper-left corner of the rear window - near Mikyal's head - and and exited on the other side blowing a hole in the back tire.

How often does this happen?

Already this month across the United States, eight people have died from lightning strikes.  On average, these lightning storms  kill around 70 people every year and injure more than 500. So far this year, 24 people have died from different types of lightning.  June, July and August are the most active and deadly months.  And Florida is the lightning capital of the United States.

Your chances are around one in 700,000 in any given year of being struck by a lightning bolt.  But don't be lulled into complacency by that statistic.  There are some 25 million cloud-to-ground strikes every year in the US.  Each is charged with around 300 million volts and a current of up to 200,000 amps.  That's enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for around two months.

Roughly 10 percent of lightning victims actually die while 90 percent suffer injuries that can range from mild shocks to permanent problems including chronic pain, hypersensitivity, memory lapses and impaired thinking and concentration skills, according to Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, the world's leading authority on lightning injuries and a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

TSC recommends this excellent article featuring lightning-strike survivors written by JoNel Allecia at MSNBC.com.

# # #

Top 10 Lightning Myths

1. MYTH: Lightning Never Strikes The Same Place Twice.

TRUTH: Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially if it’s a tall pointy isolated object. The EmpireState Building used to be used as a lightning laboratory, since it is hit nearly 25 times a year. Places prone to lightning are places to avoid when thunderstorms are nearby!

2. MYTH: If It’s Not Raining, Or If Clouds Aren’t Overhead, I’m Safe From Lightning.

TRUTH: Lightning often strikes more than three miles from the thunderstorm, far outside the rain or even thunderstorm cloud. ‘Bolts From The Blue’, though infrequent, can strike 10-15 Miles from the thunderstorm. Anvil lightning can strike the ground over 50 Miles from the thunderstorm, under extreme conditions. Lightning in clouds has traveled over 100 miles from the thunderstorm.

3. MYTH: Rubber Tires Protect You From Lightning In A Car By Insulating You From The Ground.

TRUTH: Lightning laughs at two inches of rubber! Most cars are reasonably safe from lightning. But it’s the metal roof and metal sides that protect you, not the rubber tires. Thus convertibles, motorcycles, bicycles, open helled outdoor recreational vehicles, and cars with plastic or fiberglass shells offer no lightning protection. Likewise, farm and construction vehicles with open cockpits offer no lightning protection. But closed cockpits ith metal roof and sides are safer than going outside. And don’t even ask about sneakers!

4. MYTH: A Lightning Victim Is Electrified. If You Touch Them, You’ll Be Electrocuted.

TRUTH: The human body doesn’t store electricity. It is perfectly safe to touch a lightning victim to give them first aid. This is the most chilling of lightning myths. Imagine someone dying needlessly, for want of simple CPR or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, when their chances of survival was ~90%!

5. MYTH: If Outside In A Thunderstorm, Go Under A Tree To Stay Dry.

TRUTH: Being underneath trees is the second leading activity for lightning casualties – enough said?!

6. MYTH: I’m In A House, I’m Safe From Lightning.

TRUTH: While a house is a good place for lightning safety, just going inside isn’t enough. You must avoid any conducting path leading outside, such as corded telephones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, plumbing (including plastic pipes with water in them), metal doors or window frames, etc. Don’t stand near a window to watch the lightning. An inside room is generally best.

7. MYTH: When Playing Sports And Thunderstorms Threaten, It’s Okay To Finish The Game Before Seeking Shelter.

TRUTH: Sports is the activity with the fastest rising rate of lightning casualties. No game is worth death or life-long severe injury. All people associated with sports should have a lightning safety plan and stick to it strictly. Seek proper shelter immediately when lightning threatens. Adults are responsible for the safety of children!

8. MYTH: Structures With Metal, Or Metal On The Body (Jewelry, Watches, Glasses, Backpacks, Etc.), Attract Lightning.

TRUTH: Height, pointy shape, and isolation are the dominant factors controlling where a lightning bolt will strike. The presence of metal makes virtually no difference on where lightning strikes. Mountains are made of stone, but receive many strikes each year. When lightning threatens, take proper protective action immediately. Don’t waste time shedding metal off your body, or seeking shelter under inadequate structures. But while metal doesn’t attract lightning, touching or being near long metal objects (fences, railings, bleachers, vehicles, etc.) is still unsafe when thunderstorms are nearby. If lightning does happen to hit it, the metal can conduct the electricity a long distance (even over 100 yards) and still electrocute you.

9. MYTH: If Trapped Outside And Lightning Is About To Strike, Lie Flat On The Ground.

TRUTH: This advice is decades out of date. Better advice is to use the ‘Lightning Crouch’: put your feet together, squat low, tuck your head, and cover your ears. Lightning induces electric currents along the top of the ground that can be deadly over 100 Feet away. While lying flat on the ground gets you as low as possible, which is good, it increases your chance of being hit by a ground current, which is bad. The best combination of being low and touching the ground as little as possible is the ‘Lightning Crouch’. But the ‘Lightning Crouch’ should be used only as a last resort. Much better would be to plan outdoor activities around the weather to avoid thunderstorm exposure and to have proper shelter available.

10. MYTH: Go near a tall pointy isolated object when thunderstorms threaten, to be within the 45° “cone of protection.”

TRUTH: The “cone of protection” is a myth! While tall pointy isolated objects are statistically more likely to be struck
by lightning, it’s not nearly reliable enough to rely on for safety. Lightning can still strike you near the tall
object. Besides, the lightning electricity will likely spread out along the surface of the ground and can still kill
you over 100 Ft from the “protecting” object. Also, if you are close to or touching the tall object, you can be
electrocuted via side flash or contact voltage. NO PLACE OUTSIDE IS SAFE NEAR A THUNDERSTORM!
In lightning safety, a “myth” is not as good as a mile. Distance and proper shelter is your best protection from lightning.

Source: NOAA

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 24, 2009

Sorry to say this, but get ready to get sick...

US health officials say up to 40 percent of us will become ill with swine flu over the next two years and several hundred thousand could die as a result.  That's double the number who typically get sick in a normal flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 23, 2009

Taylor Zimmerman, 14, was playing in the rain outside her Minnesota home on Tuesday when she was hit by lightning and killed. A lightning bolt struck a tree and jumped to Taylor, according to The Star Tribune.  The teenager was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived. 

Already this month across the United States, eight people have died from lightning strikes.  On average, these lightning storms  kill around 70 people every year and injure more than 500. So far this year, 24 people have died from different types of lightning.  June, July and August are the most active and deadly months.

Your chances are around one in 700,000 in any given year of being struck by a lightning bolt.  But don't be lulled into complacency by that statistic.  There are some 25 million cloud-to-ground strikes every year in the US.  Each is charged with around 300 million volts and a current of up to 200,000 amps.  That's enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for around two months.

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 23, 2009

Imagine never spending a penny on anything.  No phone bill.  No credit card to pay off.  No mortgage.  That's right, no wallet. No bank account.  No check book. 

Sometimes The Survivors Club comes upon stories that boggle the mind.  Here's one of them.  It's the story of Daniel Suelo, a 48-year-old former Peace Corps volunteer who lives in Utah and says he has survived for nearly a decade on zero dollars a day.

In 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money entirely.  "I've been totally without cents since Autumn of 2000 (except for 1 month in 2001)," he writes on his blog called Zerocurrency (created mainly on the free computer at the public library in Moab).  "I don't use or accept money or conscious barter - don't take food stamps or other government dole."

So how does he survive? 

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 22, 2009

In an astonishing fireball watched by millions of television viewers, United Flight 232 crashed in Sioux City, Iowa 20 years ago this week.

To this day, air safety experts can't believe anyone survived when the DC-10 cartwheeled down the runway, burst into flames and disintegrated. At 37,000 feet, one of the plane's engines experienced a catastrophic failure, which in turn destroyed the planes three hydraulic systems.  

For more than 40 harrowing minutes, the pilot and crew struggled to control the aircraft, finally bringing it down in Sioux City.  In the end, 111 people perished that day while 185 somehow survived.

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 21, 2009

Swept away by a Canadian river, a toddler managed to float eight miles by clinging to his beloved red toy truck.

Demetrius Jones, three years old, was playing with a battery-powered truck near the Peace River when he was carried off by a current.  A frantic search ensued and the boy was found two hours later floating atop his overturned toy Chevy Silverado. 

Demetrius had traveled eight miles downstream, somehow navigating whirlpools and waters that run more than 10-feet deep.

His grandmother, Anita Neudorf, said that Demetrius wasn't fazed by the adventure and wanted to go back on the river on what he called his "boat."

"His trucks mean the world to him and I think that's what saved him," Neudorf told the Edmonton Sun.  "He wasn't letting go of the truck for love or for money."

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 20, 2009

A special branch of The Survivors Club is made up of people who live to the age of 100 and beyond.  Once almost non-existent, The so-called Centenarians Club will reach six million worldwide by the year 2050, according to a new study from the US Census Bureau. Membership in The Centenarians Club will grow at more than 20 times the rate of the total population in mid-century, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Indeed, the fastest growing segment of the population in many countries around the world may surprise you.  It turns out that the number of people aged 80 and over is projected to increase by 233 percent in the next 30 years.  This so-called "oldest old" population is expanding rapidly in many places, placing a strain on their children and grandchildren.

In the year 2040, 14 percent of the world's population will be senior citizens.  That's 1.3 billion older people over age 65 according to the US Census Bureau.

"People aged 65 and over will soon outnumber children under age 5 for the first time in history," says a report by Kevin Kinsella and Wan He of the Census Bureau.

"Aging is affecting every country in every part of the world," said Richard Suzman of the National Institute of Aging, which commissioned the report.

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 20, 2009

You're lost in the Amazon.  Would you eat centipedes and spiders to survive?  Would you even know which critters were safe to swallow and which were poisonous?

What follows is TSC's Editor's Choice for the most interesting article on survivorship in recent days. 

It's a terrific summary of some of the most amazing wilderness survival stories in recent memory, including two Frenchmen who got lost in the Amazon and survived for seven weeks eating spiders, frogs and centipedes.  When he was rescued, one of the men was partially paralyzed after swallowing venom from a poorly cooked giant spider.

By The Survivors Club Staff
July 16, 2009

Saved by a pizza! Or maybe two pizzas!

That's the eye-catching headline in The Times of London.

Jamie Neale, a British backpacker, spent 12 days lost in the rugged Australian bush and managed to survive in part because of his last supper.

Jamie, 19, gorged on several pizzas the night before he went missing on July 3rd in the Blue Mountains, 50 miles west of Sydney in New South Wales.  “You can’t say he survived because of the pizza but it would have helped him a bit,” says Australian survival expert Paul Luckin.  Jamie set off on his outdoor adventure with only a bottle of water and two bread rolls.

For more on outdoor survival, take a look at this article by Luke Leitch in The Times of London.  The story features Survivors Club founder Ben Sherwood's thoughts on surviving and thriving in the wilderness.

Survivors Club trivia question of the day:

What's the best survival food in terms of cost per calorie?  Peanut butter, according to US air force survival specialists.  If you've got enough water, peanut butter is an affordable and rich source of energy.