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China rolls out the big guns, aiming for a dry Olympics
usatoday.com — When he's not tending cherry orchards outside Beijing, Yu Yonggang can be found behind the twin barrels of a 37mm anti-aircraft gun, blasting shells at passing clouds.Now Yu and the other rainmakers face their toughest challenge: making sure it stays dry for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
zepequeno- 148 diggs
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- Submerge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now that would be a sweet hobby. Firing anti-aircraft guns into the sky. Any other governments use this method?
- AeonTorpor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Must be a "unique to communism" thing...
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2So, do you know of any other countries on this list that seed clouds?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_state - AeonTorpor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It was a joke moron. And actually since I have never heard of any other country do this, it's not like i was being unreasonable even if I wasn't joking.
- NeoPlatonist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Must be cool to have a 37mm anti-aircraft gun in your back yard.... Life got you down? Blow the **** out of some clouds instead of taking out your frustration on the family.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now if only they'd use this tech on hurricanes and tornados.
- ke5crz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They tried this, but failed miserably.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Stormfury - fullerton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0We actually seed clouds too...
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4626968,00.html
- ke5crz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They tried this, but failed miserably.
- Pebcak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2After looking at the title, I thought they were going for an "alcohol free" Olympics! Phew, they're only talking about rain.
- rezophonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Seriously... What would the Olympics be without a drunken pole vault mishap or two?
- cal01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0China has been seeding clouds with conventional artillery for a long time now, especially in the interior regions. Swords to plowshares, anyone?
- Tirorenn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yea, I thought it meant "alcohol free," too...that'd be an extreme stroke of business stupidity, though.
The real interesting thing is: what are the actual pollution levels? The article glances off the issue, giving a softball pitch to the Chinese government by putting down one quotation and leaving it. I've never heard of silver iodide before--what are its environmental effects? Are we going to see disfigured Chinese people in the near future b/c of this polluted rain? I wish they'd publish some figures to back up the claims that the pollution is negligible, because after SARs, we know that the Chinese government has a penchant for hiding internal disaster.- rezophonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2According to the NFPA 704 of this chemical, it rates 2 out of 4 for a health hazard, but 0 out of 4 for both fire and reactivity hazards. The 2 health hazard is described as: "Intense or continued but not chronic exposure could cause temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_iodide for the NFPA 704 rating of NaI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFPA_704 for the explanation of that rating.
- rezophonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2According to the NFPA 704 of this chemical, it rates 2 out of 4 for a health hazard, but 0 out of 4 for both fire and reactivity hazards. The 2 health hazard is described as: "Intense or continued but not chronic exposure could cause temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury."
- Zadkiel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0they can stop the rain but they can't do anything about air-pollution...interesting.
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