If Moscow’s mayor had gotten his way, he’d probably put a kink in the profits of some predictive modeling companies. Why predict the climate when you can control it?
I became aware of Yury Luzhkov this past October, when I read a few news stories of how he intended to use the Russian Air Force to spray a chemical over clouds (cloud seeding) before they floated over Moscow, keeping the blizzard of flakes outside the city. His motives were to save money on road clean-up and improve the quality of life of Muscovites. (Reportedly Luzhkov already has scientifically conjured the city to be sunny on major annual holiday celebrations, keeping the sky from, yes, raining on the local parades.)