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China Modifies Weather For 2008 Olympics
BRock97 writes: "An article in the August 5th issue of Newsweek describes the steps the Chinese are taking to ensure a perfect forecast for the 2008 Olympics. This includes shutting down factories that are pumping pollution into the atmosphere to increasing the number of trees planted to reduce dust and erosion (need to spread these kind of ideas world wide!). The interesting aspect, though, is all the research and development into using rockets and furnaces to modify the atmosphere and create the weather that would be optimal for the games. By heating the air or dumping cloud condensation nuclei into the atmosphere, various types of weather can be achieved. Seems that they have had success as far back as 1987, creating rain to help put out a raging forest fire. Cool stuff from a weather nerd standpoint."
what will happen to their economy between now and then.... if they shut down the factories how do they expect to remain a country till 2008? wont the peons rebell?
This is how you know you're a geek the power goes out and you are unemployed and unemployable. Yes I know I can't spell
That's it, tps12. I've been reading your overly dramatic posts for awhile now and you've finally made it on to my 'foe' list.
Weather is an inconvenience, not a threat.
The people who die in hurricanes, typhones, mudslides, droughts, tornadoes, and so forth may disagree with you.
We need to concentrate on using our biological and biotechnological knowledge and research to solve world hunger (by growing so-called "super food" and eliminating pests), stablize primitive nations (using factory-produced soldiers so none of our sons need die), and put an end to child labor (by creating affordable and reliable robotic labor in the world's developing regions).
There's more than enough food on the planet to feed the starving people. The problem is not technological, it's a problem of politics and distribution. Besides, if you're against fooling with Mother Nature regarding the weather, why are you so gung-ho about "eliminating pests"? As far as your other two examples, I don't even know where to begin...
Never mind the fact that the primitive cultures, and even Christianity (see, e.g., the Bible) often attribute the workings of weather to divinity.
So weren't supposed to be laisse-faire on the weather because primitive cultures believe the winds to be controlled by the gods?
The weather is quite literally a phenomenon that occurs in the domain of the Heavens.
Actually, the weather occurs in the domain of the atmosphere.
But when we start to presume that we can control the weather, then we are on the road to our own destruction.
Y'know, in spite of the fact that you're written a moderately lengthy post, you never once gave us any real reason why the weather is, as you put it, "not the kind of thing we should be messing with."
This post of yours is even worse than that one you made about the giant squid.
GMD
watch this
We can't not change the weather. Everything we do effects the weather. Globaly there is no such thing as doing nothing when it comes to the weather.
Your other ideas also neglect to consider closed environments. World hunger is related to population growth, food distribution and power (food is a weapon). You can't eliminate pests because lifeforms always adapt, bugs haven't existed for thousands of years for no reason. All our super food does currently is abuse certain current forms of pesticide in a monoculture crop. When that monoculture loses to the pests then bad things will happen.
There is no silver bullet in an ecosystem.