Comments on: Spacesuits Go Spandex, Harry Potter Goes Green and Checkers Gets Solved!

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:00:13 +0000

The opposite of the anti-rain rockets already exist in China. (so that would be rain rockets…) Where I live in China we get monsoon-like weather, it rains for 4-5 months straight, and then almost NO precipitation the rest of the year. (it tends to rain in the evening, or at night, but sometimes it just rains all the time during the rainy season- about April/May to September) Now, the fact that it doesn’t rain for a good chunk of the year doesn’t concern officials in the city where I live, b/c it’s not exactly a new phenomenon. What does concern them is if the rainy season isn’t rainy enough. See, we use hydro-electric power, and we sell said power to other cities in China. BEFORE the rainy season is over. SO, if we don’t get enough rain, there isn’t enough power to go around, so the local gov’t tries to get more rain by shooting “rain rockets” into the sky to force it to rain. Also, they cut our water/electricity during the winter (the dry season) if there isn’t enough for the other cities (we got a lot of rain this year, I might have heat during the winter, YAY!).
So, I don’t doubt that China can do the opposite and build anti-rain rockets. It is China after all. (They are still managing to keep Tianamen Sq. a secret from the Chinese people.) And, yes, I am serious about all of this, I really do live in China, and all of this is true. I can’t mention the name of the city where I live, because, well, it’s China, and they do monitor some internet activity.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:30:50 +0000

The anti-rain rockets – not new. The first time I heard about the “magic” anti-rain rockets was in Russia in 1996. While I believed it was the remnants of communist propaganda at the time, in 1998 Russian newspapers briefed that the government would use the rockets during the Childrens’ World Games. And sure enough – it didn’t rain. This is not a new thing – but seems to be related to either past or present communist countries.

By: John Brown

John Brown — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:44:46 +0000

I believe that its important to try to keep any species from going extinct. I do have 1 exception, the killer bee. They say its moving north and in the near future any human and or animal could be at risk. I was stung 278 times by the standard issue bee. On the back, chest, head, and both legs. It was very painful but I was to blame as I accidentally disturbed thier nest in the ground. I was 15 years old riding a red tractor at the time. My understanding is that bees can’t see the color red, unfortunately I was wearing a black tee-shirt and jeans. They found me very easily. After reading stories of killer bee attacts that resulted in death,mutilation, or extreme pain, I know what I indured, painful as it was, was at the lower end of the scale. Hope you understand. Peace!

By: natlynn

natlynn — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:18:30 +0000

Monday, when I walked by a deranged looking man holding a sign stating that “Bees are Going Extinct”, I laughed a little inside. Now I kinda feel bad that I doubted the guy.