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<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/luzhkov-takes-snow-fight-to-the-sky/387446.html'>Via Foreign Policy Blog</a>
Quote:Moscow will blast clouds from the sky this winter to save money on snow removal, a city official said Wednesday, but the plan threatens to anger the surrounding region, which would have to cope with the extra powder.
Airborne snowfall prevention will save the city about 300 million rubles ($10.2 million) this winter, said Andrei Tsybin, head of City Hall?s department for public works and utilities. Moscow is ready to spend about 180 million rubles to disperse clouds ?in the event of very big and serious snowfall,? he said at a news conference.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov is a long-time proponent of fighting clouds by spraying liquid nitrogen, silver, or cement particles into the cloud mass, which forces precipitation to fall before it can reach the capital and spoil holidays like Victory Day and City Day.
Last month, Luzhkov proposed expanding the technology to fight the snow drifts that snarl traffic every winter.
?What if we force this snow to fall beyond Moscow? The Moscow region will have more water, bigger harvests, while we will have less snow,? he said at an award ceremony for Moscow?s best-kept yard.
He said that using the Air Force to prevent massive snowfall would be three times cheaper than using the regular system of trucks and snow-melting stations.
The city approved the proposal in record time.
i hate to think of the environmental impact...
Quote:5 hours ago Mavenu hm. I guess I shouldn't point out that Max Barry's not even from America, but is an Australian?
4 hours ago NationStates Moderators When did actual facts or logic have anything to do with idiot spammers?
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Is this a real article? I know this is kind of old, but this is one of the most insane things I have ever read.
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It's a real article. This guy is a kook
I am the milkman of human kindness
And I will bring an extra pint -- B. Bragg
Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters. -- Grover Cleveland
When the laws are used to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government -- Andrew Jackson
"Capitalism takes no prisoners and kills competition where it can." -- Vince Cable
I have heard this before. I think they also did similar things in Beijing during the summer olympics to prevent rain.As to environmental impact...I think liquid nitrogen would not be a big issue, cement particles can be tricky but will probably not be too damaging (depending on what they put in the cement), but silver particles shoud be a big nono. Also you mess up the local climate in the city area, but it's messed up already anyway...it could get interesting though: snow reflects what little sunlight they have, while a snow-free city absorbs the sunlight, making it more of a local hotspot than it already is, so that it possibly attracts more precipitation (rising air and all that)
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Perhaps if we put our heads together we can come up with a goofier and even cheaper solution to the problem.
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Kids shouldn't drink with monkeys.
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you could always move the city to a tropical climate. the initial airlift would probably be expensive, but think of all the money you'd save in the long run.or maybe just build a giant dome over the city.
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Or clone Stalin and just have him order it not to snow over Moscow. The weather would dare not comply.
Who, Me?
Veni, Vidi, Vamoose
I Came, I Saw, I Skedaddled
Kids shouldn't drink with monkeys.
Quote:Or clone Stalin and just have him order it not to snow over Moscow. The weather would dare not comply.
They already tried that, but ended up with Putin. The moustache didn't clone well...
They could move the city underground.
Russia is not particularly known for its consideration for the environment, anyway.
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Maybe we need this guy in NYC
Former Delegate of The South Pacific
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No, you already have Bloomberg. 
I am the milkman of human kindness
And I will bring an extra pint -- B. Bragg
Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters. -- Grover Cleveland
When the laws are used to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government -- Andrew Jackson
"Capitalism takes no prisoners and kills competition where it can." -- Vince Cable
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That's why I want the guy from Russia.
Former Delegate of The South Pacific
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