About Luck, Lightning Strikes, and Family Names

"Lightning CAN strike twice; how people got their last names; more"
Jewish World Review (February 5, 2004) (or, 13 Shevat, 5764)

"Q: What are the odds of being struck by lightning twice in a lifetime? - Eric Fordley

"A: Eric, any discussion of multiple lightning strikes surely must begin with poor Roy Sullivan.

"Sullivan, a Virginia park ranger, survived seven lightning strikes, making him the world record holder. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Sullivan was first hit by lightning in 1942, and was struck six more times over the next 35 years. He was struck in the great outdoors. But he was also zapped in an office, and walking across his front yard to get the mail...."

Most of the column is about lightning strikes, luck, and statistics; and where family names came from. It's the sort of moderately in-depth trivia that I like to read. 'Your experience may vary.'

About that cryptic reference to Shevat: The column is dated in the western-conventional and the Hebrew calendar. There's a pretty good introduction to the Hebrew calendar at "Jewish Calendar" (Judaism 101).