Experts Doubt Bill Gates can Stop Hurricanes

[sephir]

Can Bill Gates stop hurricanes? Scientists doubt it - CNN.com


Hurricane experts are throwing cold water on an idea backed by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates aimed at controlling the weather.

Gates and a dozen other scientists have raised eyebrows by submitting patent applications for a technology to reduce the danger of approaching hurricanes by cooling ocean temperatures.

It's a noble idea, given the horrible memories from Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast four years ago this week.

The storm, which rated a frightening Category 3 when it made landfall in Louisiana, was blamed for $81 billion in damaged and destroyed property and the deaths of more than 1,800 men, women and children.

Skeptics applaud the motive of the concept but question its feasibility.

"The enormity of it, in order to do something effective, we'd have to do something at a scale that humans have never really done before," said Gabriel Vecchi, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

How exactly would this hurricane-zapping technology work?

Hurricanes are fueled by warm water, and cooling the waters surrounding a storm would slow a storm's momentum.

According to the patents, many tub-like barges would be placed directly in the path of an oncoming storm. Each barge would have two conduits, each 500 feet long.

One conduit would push the warm water from the ocean's surface down. The other would bring up cold water where it lies deep undersea.




Very interesting idea, but I seriously doubt it would ever work.

[Stilzkin]

Wouldn't something like this, if were possible, mess up the climate patterns world wide?
It wouldn't be long before someone would want to start changing the weather for pleasure.

[The Stig]

Damn some guy/villan can control weather in the marvel world, the name escapes me at the moment >_<

[Jer]

Storm? <.<

[Atreides]

this reminds me of the plot of the awful movie adaptation of The Avengers with Uma Thurmann

edit: I mean, someone like Bill Gates has got to realize how fucking ridiculous it sounds that a rich man wants to control the weather. What's next? An antarctic base? Tigers that sleep next to his office chair, behind his desk made of solid gold?

[Jotaru]

Also something I'm skeptical of, not just due to its feasibility, but what it may mean for the future. Considering the world is a relatively delicate balance of weather patterns (self-correcting, at that) I can't imagine drastically altering the weather for one purpose or another is a good idea.

Maybe I'm turning into an old person, naysaying current technology. Is this how it happens? Oh well. Still sounds like a bad idear.

[Dimmauk]

this reminds me of the plot of the awful movie adaptation of The Avengers with Uma Thurmann

edit: I mean, someone like Bill Gates has got to realize how fucking ridiculous it sounds that a rich man wants to control the weather. What's next? An antarctic base? Tigers that sleep next to his office chair, behind his desk made of solid gold?

If I was Bill Gates, I would have all of those things.

[guartz]

fuck,

comic book flashbacks.


Linux boy versus Doctor Gates and the weather machine!

special guest appearance by Mac girl.

[Jodwahh]

Mac Girl : She looks nice but has no game. Zing!

[BadKarma]

Dont fuck with nature more then we have already, with our luck, the machine breaks and causes a new Ice Age.

[braaaanch]

Dont fuck with nature more then we have already, with our luck, the machine breaks and causes a new Ice Age.

Windows Blue Screen INC

[Lebzile]

this reminds me of the plot of the awful movie adaptation of The Avengers with Uma Thurmann

edit: I mean, someone like Bill Gates has got to realize how fucking ridiculous it sounds that a rich man wants to control the weather. What's next? An antarctic base? Tigers that sleep next to his office chair, behind his desk made of solid gold?

You say it like he doesn't already have those things.

[Zhais]

Windows Blue Screen INC

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../EarthBSOD.gif

[kuronosan]

Calling it now. Bill Gates is Lex Luthor in disguise.

[Mizango]

I know first hand that he can stop hurricanes.

[Mizango]

Calling it now. Bill Gates is Lex Luthor in disguise.

Funny you should say that, but when I got my 5 year plaque for working for Microsoft he hand signs your "Congratulatory certificate of service" and a guy I started with made the comment that he was going to see if his was signed by Lex Luthor as well.

Coincidence? I think not.

[Azkarin2]

Sounds like a ploy to me. He'll flip the switch and make it work in reverse and hold the US hostage for ........ ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!

[BRP]

Bill Gates is much more Dr Sivana than Lex Luthor.

[aru]

Calling it now. Bill Gates is Lex Luthor in disguise.

Cobra Commander w/o the mask on

[Vajra]

No one can stop hurricanes, they are God's creation, and you can't stop God, period!