God Smites 79 Percent Fewer Men Than He Did in the ‘60s

[ashling]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/07/19/cdc_lightning_strike_study_god_smites_79_percent_fewer_men_than_he_did_in.html

The numbers are in: God smites at least 70 percent fewer people now than He did 40 years ago. According to statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, lightning deaths have fallen 78.6 percent for men and 70.6 percent for women since 1968. From the report:

During this 43-year period [1968-2010], a total of 3,389 deaths from lightning were recorded, an average of 79 per year. The highest yearly total of deaths from lightning (131) was recorded in 1969, and the lowest total (29) was recorded in 2008 and again in 2010.

These figures exclude mortalities that result when lightning causes a fire or snaps a heavy object off a house or tree—in other words, they describe pure, Old Testament-style celestial smackdowns. Assuming God is just, our good behavior must be paying off! Perhaps Steven Pinker was right to argue, in The Better Angels of Our Nature, that our world has softened over the years, becoming ever more peaceful. (Or perhaps God has simply begun favoring global warming over lightning strikes as his meteorological attack method of choice. He does work in mysterious ways.)

Men incur more divine wrath than women. “During the period, 85.0 percent of lightning deaths were among males,” says the CDC. Are reckless guys more likely to go outside during a thunderstorm, thereby provoking God when He’s already in a bad mood? An alternative explanation for the decrease in lightning deaths is that we all spend more time indoors. In 2007, the National Academy of Sciences released a study demonstrating that participation in “nature-based recreation” had dropped 25 percent since 1981. Relatedly, the average American adult communes with some sort of screen for eight hours each day.

[kwolf68]

1. Should I consider this good or bad news?

EOM/

[NV Whino]

2. Depends upon whether or not you're in Texas.

[pscot]

3. People don't get out as much

as they used to. Nowadays god just fucks with your internet connection.

[Victor_c3]

4. Correlate that fact to this picture

Here is a map where they plotted, by state, the fatality rates based on lightning strikes.



So, the states with the highest fatality rates seem to be (generally) the most conservative states. Look at the liberal northeast and the west coast. The most liberal states appear to have the least (per capita) deaths caused by lightning. Maybe Christians have it all wrong? Maybe they should try a different religion or no religion at all?

[Motown_Johnny]

6. Ever been in a thunderstorm in The Rockies?

It can be terrifying. The clouds can be at the same elevation you are, or even lower. It isn't like in the flat lands where the storm is above you. The experience is all together different.

I can see why the western states that run along the Rockies rank at or near the top. I lived in the mountains of Colorado for ~12 years. Here in Michigan we used to go down to the lake to watch the thunder storms and the lightening over the water. In the mountains you can watch the storms from a distance but when they get close you go inside.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. On October 3, 1970 NOAA was established

Coincidence?

[Arugula Latte]

7. Thor is picking up Yahweh's slack.

Yahweh's a wimp.