Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 16:23 GMT
They can't tell their Celciuses from proper Celsiuses, or Kelvins, even.
Or Hiltons, to be precise.
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 16:33 GMT
If I remember correctly the Russians did the same trick for the May day parades in Red Square. But the Russians were stuck for cash and couldn't afford the Silver iodide, so they used cement dust instead. Or does that story belong with NASAs million doller space pen vs the mighty Russian pencil.
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 16:45 GMT
I ask because I can't find a link to confirm it. But I seem to recall that they did use cloud seeding techniques, very effectively - for the games - but disastrously for the farmers upwind - whose crops were ruined by unseasonable rainfall...
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 17:01 GMT
The scale of the Chineese weather experiments is scary. They actually have "rain brigades" in many of the small villages throughout the country who go out with special devices in order to control the weather.
Fucking with the weather is a bad idea. Everybody knows that.
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
Why? It worked great in Back to the Future 2. And I, for one, welcome our new weather controlling overlords.
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
Listening to the news today - hundreds of thousands not able make their annual visits to wife & kids for New Year due to worst weather since records began - even had the Chinese PM at a railway station apologising through a megaphone.
Clearly a successful experiment then.
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
Maybe I missed something but how does everybody know that "Fucking with the weater is a bad idea"?
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
Silver? Lead? They are planning to use one of those metal things anyway ....
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
perhaps this explains the heavy snowfalls in Southern China that have brought the place to a standstill and killed dozens...
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
No you're right. I remember seeing it on Tomorrow's World and Pravda ran an article on it a few years ago:
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/15693_weather.html
Let's hope the environmentalists get sufficiently wound up about weather mod that there's no chance of preventing the driving drizzle that will inevitably blight the 2012 opening ceremony.
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
Apparently, not EVERYBODY.
This is peanuts compared to what they do to their environment.
Talk about dropping a grogan on your dinner-plate...
<coat type="yellow_hazmat_outfit"/>
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
As if the weather isn't screwed up enough thanks to Al Gore's global warming, now the Chinese are going to make matters worse by actively f*cking with it.
If weather control is this easy, why aren't we manipulating it to fix the current climate?
Still, it'll be funny in a few years when everyone dies from silver iodide poisoning...
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
Try: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/
It might work!
Posted Wednesday 30th January 2008 22:34 GMT
... a hundred miles away. Rain on parade etc.
"Fucking with weather" is OK for the duration of the Olympics so long as the cloud seeding is scattered enough so as to not swamp out one small region. Not enough time to do any real damage. Longer term efforts cause the real problems (eg. Aswan Dam which has impact throughout the Med and has detectable impacts even into the Atlantic).
[Penguins coz they won't get hurt by crazy Chinese weather]
Posted Thursday 31st January 2008 00:12 GMT
The only problem is the Chinese have been experimenting with weather manipulation for several years ahead of the Olympics - in order to ensure perfect weather for the event, validate methods, estimate costs, etc...
Posted Thursday 31st January 2008 00:12 GMT
If everyone in the UK decides to have a bbq on the day of the opening ceremony then they will dodge the rain.
It will fall here instead
Posted Thursday 31st January 2008 09:55 GMT
"If weather control is this easy, why aren't we manipulating it to fix the current climate?"
Because weather control != climate control.
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