Cloudbusting

Here's an interesting story. To alleviate a drought that threatened to ruin this winter's wheat harvest, it would seem that the Chinese have been seeding the clouds with chemicals in order to make it rain, something that I thought was still in the realm of science fiction rather than science fact. However, an incoming cold front somewhat scuppered the experiment for instead of the hoped for rain, tons and tons of snow were dumped on Beijing as the city was blessed with its earliest snowfall for over a decade.

Now, if only it were possible to take this technology and use it in reverse. We could then 'de-seed' the clouds we get here and buy ourselves some respite from winter.

That would be the ultimate Chinese takeaway.

The genie-us of the BBC

It's been a very wet summer in these parts thus far, and as I look out of my window it's raining once again. Hopefully some of our rain will eventually make it across the Atlantic to save England's cricket team, who are kicking off the Ashes series in traditional fashion by struggling alarmingly against the Australians. I've been invited over by my Aussie friends, Dave and Tarni, tonight, so that rain better get there quickly if I'm going to be able to enjoy a mockery-free evening.

Speaking of mockery, I read an interesting story on the BBC website today, but I wasn't originally going to comment on it for fear of appearing offensive or mocking. Apparently, a family in Saudi Arabia is trying to take a genie to court, accusing it of theft and harassment, amongst other things. Now, I was going to avoid remarking that, by the sounds of it, this family might have issues with different kinds of spirits in bottles, as this might be seen as being disrespectful to the Islamic religion. However, it would seem that the BBC have no such issues; this will probably only mean something to our British readership, but take a look at this screenshot of the BBC home page, and focus your eyes on the 'Weird and Wonderful' section in the bottom right:

(click on image to enlarge)

Sheer 'genie-us', eh? (see what I did there?). Oh, and have a read of the 'fact of the day' piece too; I knew Tim Hortons was good for you!

Grey day

It's rained all day, Manchester United have just lost the Champions League final and I have a hole in my sock.

I don't like Wednesdays any more.