Don't like the weather? Change it

The weird science of weather modification makes a comeback

Strange weather
GLOBAL COOLING: To counteract global warming, John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research has proposed a system of enormous eggbeater-like turbines that would stir up seawater, thickening the cloud cover to reflect more of the sun's energy back into space. (Photo / Stephen Salter)

By Drake Bennett

July 3, 2005

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In the summer of 1930, George Ambrosius Immanuel Morrison Sykes, a self-professed ''minister of Zoroastrianism" and flat-earther (his calculations put the sun's distance from Earth at 3,300 miles), was hired by the Westchester Racing Association to ensure good weather for the horse races at Belmont Park. As described by historian Clark C. Spence in ''The Rainmakers" (1980), the contract promised ... (Full article: 2071 words)