How many times does lightning strike the Empire State Building? How about the pyramids? Does anyone really know? I suggest that Ben Heck should make a device using a Raspberry Pi, or similar smart board that makes an online spreadsheet that can show how many times the Pi's lead wire has been struck by a large voltage. Say, for example, that the Empire State Building had a wire running down from its top which is connected to a step down circuit, then connected to a Raspberry Pi's GPIO. The Pi is running a program that senses any spike in voltage coming from the step down circuit, and puts it on an online spreadsheet that can be accessed by anyone, or privately. This could also be used in houses to count lightning strikes, or to tell if something is going haywire. Yay! More stuff for the Internet of things!
So, this would be a simple project for you, Mr. Heckendorn, to build, needing only some wire, a step down circuit, and a Raspberry Pi, and is so simple (in theory) that I (a twelve-year-old-at-heart) came up with it. Thank You for your time.
-3dprinterwannabe (a Raspberry Pi enthusiast)