Hoax? Viral Video Claims Dude Survives Lightning Strike — Twice!

At London's Daily Mail, "How unlucky can you get! Man survives being hit by lightning TWICE in remarkable CCTV footage":

Looks pretty real, but check MSNBC, "Lightning striking twice? Maybe not even once":

The first sign that the video might be fake, according to Vladimir Rakov, electrical engineer and co-director of the University of Florida Lightning Research Group, is that people almost never survive direct lightning strikes like the one shown in the video. "The chance of survival in the case of a direct strike is essentially zero," Rakov told Life's Little Mysteries. That's because lightning bolts emanating from storm clouds convey a gigajoule of energy, he explained — which is about enough to melt a ton of steel.

The vast majority of the 240,000 people who survive lightning strikes worldwide each year do not actually get hit directly. "They are struck by 'side flashes,'" Rakov said. "Lightning might strike a building near them, for example, and there's a side flash that jumps to them carrying a small fraction of the original lightning bolt's energy. In that case, they can survive and even walk away."

Morning Glory Pool

Morning Glory Pool is a hot spring in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park in the United States.

The distinct color of the pool is due to bacteria which inhabit the water. On a few rare occasions the Morning Glory Pool has erupted as a geyser, usually following an earthquake or other nearby seismic activity.

Wave Rock at Hyden, Australia

This interesting natural rock is called Wave Rock and located to the east of the town of Hyden in Western Australia. It got its name from the fact that it is shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. The rock formation is composed of granite and the total outcrop covers several hectares. The rock is about 15 meters high and approximately 110 meters long.

Russia's Fish Fight For Oxygen In St. Petersburg Ponds

Fish cluster at an ice hole, covered with thin pieces of ice, struggling for air in a pond in a park in St. Petersburg, Russia. As the long Russian winter drags on, fish in the ponds of St. Petersburg become increasingly desperate for oxygen, clustering in vast, thrashing masses at shrinking holes in the ice. Not only does ice block oxygen that could be diffused into the water from the air, but it also impedes sunlight from reaching oxygen-generating plants and algae in the water.

Icebergs That Will Take Your Breathe Away

These are some incredible icebergs. They are super colorful, beautiful, and above all else, huge. IT is amazing how Mother Nature makes such beautiful objects. Just don’t tell the people who were on the Titanic that.