lol.. looks like we got bumped a few years ago.
Irritating scientists have done it again, stripping Florida of what we thought was a God-given bragging right.
This time it's the eggheads at NASA, telling us that Florida is no longer the "lightning capital of the world."
Bummer.
Rwanda, a country in Central Africa, has been dubbed the most dangerous place on the planet to cavort outdoors. Scientists say space satellite sensors, spying on the globe below, don't lie.
Rwanda experiences a whopping 82.7 lightning flashes per square kilometer. We receive a puny 35.4. NASA scientists say Florida still boasts the most lightning-scorched landscape in North America. Big, stinkin' deal. Of course we do.
For years we felt mighty special. During summer, during the late afternoon when the clouds built up, we knew in our hearts and bones that our state was the world's most dangerous place to be caught in a boat or on the golf course.
Sure, dwellers in other countries worried about encounters with mamba snakes and salivating tigers. But we Floridians always could tell them: "Your chances of being hit by lightning in Florida are greater than getting nipped by a critter."
Now I guess we have to tell the truth. "Well, your chances are greater in Rwanda."
I hate it when the facts get in the way of a good story.
For years, I bragged that the Snake Bight Trail in Everglades National Park had to be the most mosquito-infested place on Earth. It's bad, a pompous entomologist admitted, real bad, certainly the worst place in Florida. But it ain't the worst place in the United States, he went on. Try a rice paddy in Arkansas on a humid night, buddy. I came close to giving up mosquito repellent.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/04/Flori … _boa.shtmlWell, we still have the shark-attack capital of the world title.