Yesterday I was giving a talk about the Puerto Rican parrot in the town of Maricao, a town in the mountainous interior of Puerto Rico. It was 1 pm. As I started talking I noticed a distant thunderstorm. Slowly the thunderstorm got closer and closer, until it was directly over the place where I was giving the talk. As you would understand I developed a feeling of trepidation about the fact that I was holding a live electrical cable during a fierce thunderstorm (it was the cable of the microphone). I informed the audience that if I screamed and hid under the table, it would be highly adviceable to throw themselves to the floor. I said this in an utterly serious manner. As the storm raged around the building I did ponder on the wisdom of continuing my talk, I did conclude that the danger of electrocution by lightning was very small, and that, in the event that I was hit by lightning, among the audience there was a large number of my colleagues and my electrocution would become and epic and legendary event. When I was three quarters done on my talk, a lighting bolt hit so close that the electrical system of the building momentarily went on the blink. However by the time I finished, 1:40 pm, the storm was over. It was an interesting experience I am not eager to repeat.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:00:41 +0000