China Makes Artificial Rain for Beijing!!!
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Einsman Schlegel
Disenchanted Fool
Join date: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 1,461
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05-05-2006 17:48
Apparently the news isn't a new thing, however I find it quite disturbing when someone is enabling the powers of nature, even so on one hand it can be a very very dangerous tool to beable to control how the weather reacts, on the other, it can be a very good deal in regulating rainfall to areas of the world as we need it. Discuss. From: Associated Press BEIJING - Chinese weather specialists used chemicals to engineer Beijing's heaviest rainfall of the year, helping to relieve drought and rinse dust from China's capital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Technicians with the Beijing Weather Modification Office fired seven rocket shells containing 163 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide over the city's skies on Thursday, Xinhua said.
The reaction that occurred brought as much as four-tenths of an inch of rain, the heaviest rainfall this year, helping to "alleviate drought, add soil moisture and remove dust from the air for better air quality," Xinhua said.
Though unusual in many parts of the world, China has been tinkering with artificial rainmaking for decades, using it frequently in the drought-plagued north. Last month, another artificial rainfall was generated to clear Beijing after the city suffered some of the fiercest dust storms this decade.
Whether cloud-seeding actually works has been the subject of debate in the scientific community. In 2003, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences questioned the science behind it as "too weak." |
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Sansarya Caligari
BLEH!
Join date: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 1,206
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05-05-2006 17:56
This is a really exciting development. I live in an area that has drought conditions, so I'm hoping cloud seeding is in our future. Thanks for heads up on this  |
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elgrego Shaftoe
Registered Chicken
Join date: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 101
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05-05-2006 17:57
let's do this on Mars, hehe ;p
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Eggy Lippmann
Wiktator
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 7,939
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05-05-2006 18:42
Uhh, hasn't this rainmaking shit been around for like fifty years or so?
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Einsman Schlegel
Disenchanted Fool
Join date: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 1,461
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05-05-2006 18:47
From: Eggy Lippmann Uhh, hasn't this rainmaking shit been around for like fifty years or so? Was it done in beta?  |
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Eggy Lippmann
Wiktator
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 7,939
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05-05-2006 18:51
From: Einsman Schlegel Was it done in beta? Your FACE was done in beta. fire *plays civ2 sound* |
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Ghoti Nyak
καλλιστι
Join date: 7 Aug 2004
Posts: 2,078
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05-05-2006 19:12
Hey, if the Yakuza can create hurricanes, then I s'pose China making it rain isn't so bad. -Ghoti |
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Andy Grant
Registered User
Join date: 20 May 2005
Posts: 140
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05-07-2006 15:43
Weather control is old... Nikolai Tesla wanted to both use weather to control it into the favour of humans, aswell as to create free energy. I guess he pissed off both the oil/gas industry and "human-aid"-businesses.
The official story's said something in the standarized direction of "it was possessing a threat to the national security".
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Edward Mathys
Shapeshifter
Join date: 5 Dec 2005
Posts: 157
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05-07-2006 15:59
O_O that's pretty scary... if it were true. hey maybe the Yakuza is working with the terrorist! |
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Eep Quirk
Absolutely Relative
Join date: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 1,211
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05-07-2006 16:06
The problem with tinkering with nature is that it can easily backfire on you. Instead of going after the EFFECT of a drought by making it rain via cloud-seeding (or whatever), the CAUSE of the drought should be investigated and fixed. Obviously, the problem goes outside of China and will require multi-national support (and it most likely leads back to the global dimming/warming issue).
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Teeny Leviathan
Never started World War 3
Join date: 20 May 2003
Posts: 2,716
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05-07-2006 16:26
I call shenanigans on this one. If that technology was around back in 1976, the Soviets would have hit us hard with it during the 80's. Reagan did more than his share of sabre rattling. Brezhnev would have most likely used this technology to shut Reagan up. Also, they could have used this technology to put down the Mujahideen resistance in Afghanistan. Since neither happened, one can assume that such a machine does not exist.
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Cottonteil Muromachi
Abominable
Join date: 2 Mar 2005
Posts: 1,071
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05-07-2006 16:38
From: Teeny Leviathan Also, they could have used this technology to put down the Mujahideen resistance in Afghanistan. Yeah. I heard the mujahideen melt when they come in contact with water. |
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Teeny Leviathan
Never started World War 3
Join date: 20 May 2003
Posts: 2,716
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05-07-2006 17:05
From: Cottonteil Muromachi Yeah. I heard the mujahideen melt when they come in contact with water. (This one is strong in the ways of smart-assedness. I have to be more careful with this one.)  Ok, what I actually meant was that they could have slowed them down or maybe gave them a really nasty winter. |
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Starax Statosky
Unregistered User
Join date: 23 Dec 2003
Posts: 1,099
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05-07-2006 17:09
From: Teeny Leviathan (This one is strong in the ways of smart-assedness. I have to be more careful with this one.) Ok, what I actually meant was that they could have slowed them down or maybe gave them a really nasty winter. Oliver North might've been in trouble for smuggling umbrellas then. |
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Eep Quirk
Absolutely Relative
Join date: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 1,211
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05-07-2006 18:01
From: Teeny Leviathan I call shenanigans on this one. If that technology was around back in 1976, the Soviets would have hit us hard with it during the 80's. Reagan did more than his share of sabre rattling. Brezhnev would have most likely used this technology to shut Reagan up. Also, they could have used this technology to put down the Mujahideen resistance in Afghanistan. Since neither happened, one can assume that such a machine does not exist. Oh, cloud-seeding "machines" (airplanes and rockets, usually) exist alright and have been around since the mid-20th century. Just because cloud-seeding wasn't abused in one instance doesn't mean it hasn't been (ab)used in others... |
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Teeny Leviathan
Never started World War 3
Join date: 20 May 2003
Posts: 2,716
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05-07-2006 18:25
From: Eep Quirk Oh, cloud-seeding "machines" (airplanes and rockets, usually) exist alright and have been around since the mid-20th century. Just because cloud-seeding wasn't abused in one instance doesn't mean it hasn't been (ab)used in others... After re-reading the other posts, I guess I wasn't clear in my earlier posts. Cloud seeding is very plausible. I meant to say that I wasn't buying the Yakuza story. That was total bullshit. |
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Eep Quirk
Absolutely Relative
Join date: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 1,211
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05-07-2006 18:28
Yakuza story? Even in your "correction" reply you're STILL unclear, Teeny. "Say what you mean and mean what you say." An English-writing composition class couldn't hurt either...
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Starax Statosky
Unregistered User
Join date: 23 Dec 2003
Posts: 1,099
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05-07-2006 18:50
From: Teeny Leviathan After re-reading the other posts, I guess I wasn't clear in my earlier posts. Cloud seeding is very plausible. I meant to say that I wasn't buying the Yakuza story. That was total bullshit. Your writing is lovely and your post was just fine. Don't you listen to Eep. He's just a grumpy old swine, and he knows it. |
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Eep Quirk
Absolutely Relative
Join date: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 1,211
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05-07-2006 19:21
From: Starax Statosky Your writing is lovely and your post was just fine. Don't you listen to Eep. He's just a grumpy old swine, and he knows it. Bah, humbug! Gimme a hug, Starry. *sniffle* Seriously, tho, "Yakuza"? Come on...it wasn't even mentioned at all in this thread before Teeny wrote it in her "correction" reply. *buh-link* Edit: OK, my mistake...seems Firefox's "find" starts from where the current page is, instead of at the TOP of the page--at least inconsistently anyway. Ah well. Anyway, "Yakuza" WAS mentioned previously before Teeny. However, that still doesn't mean she needs to learn to convey her thoughts better initially... |
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Cottonteil Muromachi
Abominable
Join date: 2 Mar 2005
Posts: 1,071
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05-07-2006 19:40
Actually, while the chinese are just trying to make some rice to eat, the americans playing with their HAARP array is more of a cause for concern than cloud seeding or some yakuza nut.
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Zuzu Fassbinder
Little Miss No Tomorrow
Join date: 17 Sep 2004
Posts: 2,048
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05-07-2006 20:10
American Heritage Invention & Technology magazine had a good article about cloud seeding last year. (Yeah, I'm a geek who likes reading technology history ) http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2005/2/2005_2_48.shtmlEDIT: hehe, its a very long article that goes through the early history of cloud seeding and ends with some remarks about current theories of rain formation. The basic conclusion is that there might be something there sometimes depending on the type of cloud and how its seeded.
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From: Bud I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either.
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Richie Waves
Predictable
Join date: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1,424
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05-08-2006 01:20
I think this is meddling in nature a step to far... it could unbalance the eco system in ways we havent forseen..
but probably a great invention in the short term....
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no u!
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PetGirl Bergman
Fellow Creature:-)
Join date: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 2,414
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05-08-2006 01:38
We humans will destroy our IRL world.. manipulating the natural parts of it...
We are the most dangeorus art on AL planet...
I get of course impressed what we do (invent) but cant we also use our brain(s) and ustand that AL things are not for the best??
/Tina - My EXAKT products are only made on natural freesh prims - no genetic manipulation are allowed..
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Selador Cellardoor
Registered User
Join date: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 3,082
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05-08-2006 02:13
If the only damage we did to the environment was pissing about seeding clouds and trying to make hurricane machines, the world would be in a lot better state than it is now, with the United States currently producing 25% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions while refusing to control its output.
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TacoTacoBurrito11ONE Queso
Registered User
Join date: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 45
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05-08-2006 09:35
From: Eep Quirk Bah, humbug! Gimme a hug, Starry. *sniffle*
Seriously, tho, "Yakuza"? Come on...it wasn't even mentioned at all in this thread before Teeny wrote it in her "correction" reply. *buh-link*
Edit: OK, my mistake...seems Firefox's "find" starts from where the current page is, instead of at the TOP of the page--at least inconsistently anyway. Ah well. Anyway, "Yakuza" WAS mentioned previously before Teeny. However, that still doesn't mean she needs to learn to convey her thoughts better initially... what?! |
