The Ministry of Sunshine?

It seems government controlled weather is no longer a myth. According to this article, China is planning on ensuring that the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing will be rain free by shooting rockets into the sky to make it rain ahead of time. Apparently this is not a procedure limited to high-profile events, as I've heard that they do the same thing prior to big test days (everyone tests better with sunny skies outside, right!?) The Olympic thing seems innocuous enough, but coupled with the test day thing it all seems rather Orwellian (Beijing even has a "Weather Modification Office"!). I suppose there is no harm in nice weather, but a government taking measures to subliminally influence the actions of its citizens seems a mighty slippery slope down which to travel.

Shout out from NYC

So I'm here in New York visiting my sister, and as always I'm struck by how completely different New York (well at least Manhattan) is from most everywhere else. As a "city" it puts even Chicago to shame, not to mention places like little old Whitney Point where I grew up. Living somewhere like NY is a completely different experience from living in a town of about 1,000 people, and its amazing to me that such a range of experiences can be found on the same planet, let alone in the same state (of course if one were to look internationally you could find far greater gaps in size/prosperity that would lead to even more different experiences). And even though we are all biologically the same human species, we are in many ways completely different beings because of our surroundings and experiences. Maybe this gives credence to the cliche that you can take the person out of the city/small town, but you can't take the city/small town out of the person.

lol@TSA

Oh TSA how you make me laugh. So I was perusing their website today to get the latest on what I can and cannot put in my carry-on for an upcoming flight...take a look at the list.
WTF! Note that this falls under the heading of "Makeup, Medication, Personal Items & Special Needs Devices." They really need to add "robots" to that in order to prevent confusion, or perhaps create a separate section of "Sentient Beings." Just to be explicitly clear, they have indicated that the robots must be toys and not actually full fledged transformers (sorry Optimus Prime, looks like you'll need to ship yourself next time you want to take a Hawaiian getaway). My concern is that there may be robots simply posing as toys, only to reveal their deadly nature once on board. The last thing we need are laserbeams and buzzsaws flying through the cabin as full-fledged robot warfare breaks out 35,000 ft over the Atlantic.

(Those wishing to verify whether their My Little Pony doll is airworthy can click here to check out the list for themselves).