By cross referencing databases? Following up trans-national leads? Referring issues to local police forces? oooh-scary!

I mean... it seems like an article posted by him. Inaccurate headline (they did not get a grant of full "diplomatic" immunity). Inaccurate summary (agents? INTERPOL is a coordinating entity - there ARE no agents!).

...which does not prevent precipitation from forming after the seeding process is finished. And has dubious effectiveness. Try Reading the Fucking Wikipedia Entry next time.

A - I read the summary. Cloud seeding will result in precipitation forming prematurely - but it will not denude a cloud of all possible precipitation. I have never heard of anywhere close to 100% precipitation being prevented by cloud seeding... Thus my question. 2 - Moscow is over a 1000 km squared - I'd call that a region. This ain't a little burg somewhere.

Cloud seeding is one thing - this is an attempt to stop precipitation for a region altogether.

Is this used successfully anywhere, regularly?

I remember China making mention of doing this for the 2008 games, but as far as I can see, the only policies that really did make a difference in the weather was closing factories, and banning cars from the road to reduce the choking air pollution...

I played TF2 - TF2 - you are no Duke Nukem 3D. Seriously. Its all variants of the tried and true here. Fiddling around the edges. The imagination is all on the part of the developer - where's the part where WE get to use our imagination?

Where;s the modern equivalent of hiding your laser trip wire in the bathroom stall with holoduke, and giggling when your opponent opens the stall door and gets blown to bits? Of rocketing into the air, jet pack ablaze, as you shower your opponent with pipe bombs? Of scurrying around the floor, scrambling to get under the pool table, as your now-giant attacker tries to step on you? Of trying to get the perfect bank off the wall, into the portal, to freeze your opponent on the other side?

I STILL remember those types of things - where _I_ got to exercise my imagination thanks to the tools provided by the developer to come up with cool and unique things in the gameplay maybe THEY didn't even think of. Seems to me thats the sort of mentality that gets squashed now adays. Where is it now? Deus Ex had a touch of it. Crysis did too - if you look past all the pretty.

Doh! You are right - I was thinking of the deathmap levels in the Plutonium Pak that really made them shine... thinking about it more, I realize I left out a bunch of cool features:
-stepping on people you hit with the shrink gun
-aqualung/diving gear
-steroid power-ups
-night vision goggles
-interactive environments ("working" fountains, phones, etc)

Probably still forgetting more...

Thats ironic - you're mocking him without realizing that you just made his point... There are NO games out there that have replicated the variety in DN3D - let alone improved on that. They've chosen to look pretty instead of introducing new concepts. And DN3D came out 15 years ago!

Can you do this in any other game - Setup a decoy in an elevator. Plant a pipe bomb. Go to a security terminal. Watch until your opponent triggers the elevator and opens it - set off pipe bomb remotely as they shoot at nothing.

And its not just what the original poster listed - don't forget about:
-unique sounds for walking on every surface (you could tell where your opponent was just by listening carefully)
-3D multilevel environments (even if "technically" bridges)
-Taunts
-Working Mirrors
-Jet Pack
-Semi-destructible environments
-Freeze Ray (expansion)
-Portals (expansion)
-Shrink Ray (expansion)
-Microwave gun (expansion)

I'm probably forgetting more stuff here - its been 10 years since I played last.

I meant to only include the last entry... frigging copy and paste in FF failed me... my fault - should have previewed.

Sigh... this is why I should ALWAYS hit preview. Should have just posted this. http://www.frisnit.com/cgi-bin/navtex/view.cgi?id=1159919&lan=en&type=24H&message_filter=&search=ROCKET&station_filter=&date=2009-12-09&source=a4f7a470329caf85e2488355c7e88328&offset=0

I got this from the BA forum:

Blogs / Bad Astronomy
  Terra spots a volcanic plume
Awesomely bizarre light show freaks out Norway
submit to reddit

[UPDATE: See bottom of post; I knew it!]

Earlier in the morning today (around 8:00 a.m. local time) this weird thing was seen over the skies of Norway:

norway_spiral

My first reaction when I saw that was, "What the FRAK is THAT?!" My second thought was, "Photoshop". But then I saw lots of pictures of this on a bunch of different Norwegian media, so I don't think it's a digital hoax. Then videos started surfacing, like this one, which clearly show the spiral spinning. It's not just a static picture, whatever this thing was; it was really in the sky.

However, after a moment, I realized this must be a rocket, most likely spiraling out of control. I don't understand all the details -- I don't have all the info yet -- but a rocket fits what we're seeing here. First, this was seen all over Norway, so it must have been at a high altitude to be so visible. Second, the blue spiral angling down to the right is clearly due to perspective. A rocket spiraling around, and coming up from the lower right, would appear to make tight spirals when it was far away and bigger ones as it got closer.

Third, you can actually see the bright white spiral spinning in the videos. That threw me for a second, to be honest, but after a moment I figured that it makes sense if the rocket is headed more or less straight toward the camera. Whatever it is being lit up (exhaust, or a leaking payload?) would appear to expand in a spiral like water from a spinning sprinklerhead. The spiral itself is not spinning any more than water from the sprinkler is; that's an illusion of motion.

norway_spiral2Fourth, after a few moments, a black disk appears to expand in the center of the white spiral, as seen in this picture (it's a little fuzzy; you can see the person taking it must have used a long exposure because foreground lights are jittery, but you get the idea). That's exactly what I would expect if whatever is being ejected by the rocket ran out; the arms of the spiral would expand away from the center, leaving black emptiness in the middle.

So that's my hypothesis. A rocket got out of control, perhaps losing a stabilizer, and started to spiral. The two spirals, different in shape, size, and color, indicate something happened in the middle of all this (the rocket second stage fired while still spinning, or something else started leaking out), changing the rocket's direction. Then, when the fuel or whatever ran out, the white spiral began to disappear from the inside out as the material expanded in space.

So who launched it? The Russians are a likely guess, but -shocker -- they're denying it. I'd love to know and find out what the details are, but whoever shot it up and whatever the purpose, I'm pretty sure what we're seeing here is a rocket launch that didn't go exactly according to plan.

Note: there are a lot of stories online about this with more very cool pictures: The Sun and The Daily Mail have it in English, while Norwegian media include VG Nett, Altaposten.no, NRK.no, Framtidinord.no, Nordlis.no, and amazing videos can be seen here and here.

UPDATE: From Doctor Atlantis I heard of this video which simulates particles being spewed out from a spinning rocket booster. Look familiar?

Photos: Jan Petter Jørgensen and Morten Kristiansen. Tip o' the payload bay to the many folks who alerted me to this story!

December 9th, 2009 10:47 AM Tags: Norway, rocket
by Phil Plait in Antiscience, Cool stuff, Pretty pictures, Skepticism | 58 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >
58 Responses to "Awesomely bizarre light show freaks out Norway"

      1. 1. Kevin Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am

            That reminds me of something we saw waaay back in the late 1980's during a public night at our observatory. All of a sudden there was a gasp from the crowd, and we looked out the dome to see this bright glowing ball traveling south to north (mostly). When we moved the telescope over to it, we could see in the eyepiece a small object from which the stuff was jetting out from. Later we found out it was a booster stage venting unused propellant.

            It was sure something we hadn't seen before.

            But these images are better. :)
      2. 2. Alan in Upstate NY Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 10:54 am

            A spinning rocket dumping fuel certainly seems like the most likely explanation.

            Clear skies, Alan
      3. 3. Thomas Siefert Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 10:56 am

            My first guess was a Laser, but since it's been reported seen over such a vast area, it's probably what BA describes.
      4. 4. loon Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 10:57 am

            actually i would think it's a very bright projector
      5. 5. Todd W. Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:01 am

            Bets on how long before alien UFO claims pop up in the comments here? Michael Horn? You there?
      6. 6. Daniel Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am

            Sorry...It just doesnt look real. Hoax.
      7. 7. BP Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:10 am

            There are now sources (TV2) in Norway reporting the Russians have confirmed a failed Bulava ICBM test (possibly the last ever Bulava).

            In addition there were mariner warnings to stay out of that area of the White Sea for a rocket launch.
      8. 8. ND Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:12 am

            A laser light show was my first impression as well. But I don't think that would be able to explain the blue spiral.
      9. 9. jaydeejapan Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:17 am

            It's a streetlight! (Any Farkers here?) My first impression was "WTF?" That is definitely something interesting to see. But I guess it was a rocket.
    10. 10. BF Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am

            Yea, Daniel? Can you seez teh pixals?
    11. 11. John Baxter Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am

            In the unlikely event that the Bulava becomes man-rated, I'm not going.
    12. 12. Joe Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:21 am

            Noctilucent rocket exhaust, probably an upper stage spiralling after 1st stage worked well.
    13. 13. Trond Helge Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am

            It is possible that it is some kind of experiment that involves launching rockets from Kiruna that releases 20 liters of water into the atmosphere, but then, I'm not an astronomer.
            More speculations here: http://www.finnmarken.no/lokale_nyheter/article4750214.ece (in Norwegian, run through google translate for a decent translation)
    14. 14. BmoreKarl Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am

            Sssooooooo! PRETTY!!
    15. 15. Billy Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:31 am

            Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia all denny having launched a rocket at that time. Also, for it to be a rocket the spiral is too symmetric. To me this looks like a vortex of a very strong energy force. Perhaps a temporary black hole because of some thing happening to the earth's magnetic field? I'm 99.9% sure this was not man made; at least not with anything that I know of.
    16. 16. Billy Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:33 am

            To the above: NO WAY is that a rocket.
    17. 17. danezia Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:34 am

            Personally... I think it is a hoax, a light /laser show...
    18. 18. jest Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:39 am

            My first thought was laser light show too, but... I dunno about that. I'd like to jump on the rocket bandwagon, but without prior pictures to back up the claim, I'm too skeptical to derive my own conclusion at this time. If more sources (sources including a message from those responsible) can come forward stating that it's in fact from a rocket, then, there ya go. Case closed.
    19. 19. Pieter Kok Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:40 am

            Insert TARDIS joke here...
    20. 20. Spectral Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:41 am

            It could have been a Norwegian rocket. A Norwegian research rocket failure in 1995 nearly caused WWIII:
            http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/missileers/falsealarms.html
    21. 21. Big Al Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:42 am

            Maybe it worked exactly as designed, spreading its deadly cargo of whatever over the largest possible area....
    22. 22. BP Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:47 am

            It is not a hoax, such things happen regularly especially at, for example, Vandenberg AFB, California, where missile tests and launches frequently happen at dawn or dusk (see example http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/45856097_83178413eb.jpg?v=0). The particles of rocket exhaust spread out and form unusual colors (ice crystals refracting sunlight). It is clear from the video this rocket lost guidance and began to spiral out of control like this...

            http://www.michaelmeacher.info/trident%20in%20a%20spiral.jpg ...but at a very high altitude. The exhaust then spread and quickly dissipated in the following minutes.
    23. 23. Akkargutt Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:47 am

            I belive the Russians now have confirmed that they had a failed rocket test-launch from either a submarine or a ship.
    24. 24. JerWah Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:48 am

            Obviously now that the LHC is up and running that was a test black hole.
    25. 25. Dr. Science Says:
            December 9th, 2009 at 11:53 am

            that was a test of a russian 'Buluva' ICBM:

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSM-56_Bulava

            the NAVTEX message warning you not to fly in that area was sent out on Dec-09:

            ZCZC FA79
            031230 UTC DEC 09
            COASTAL WARNING ARKHANGELSK 94
            SOUTHERN PART WHITE SEA
            1.ROCKET LAUNCHING 2300 07 DEC TO 0600 08 DEC
            09 DC 0200 TO 0900 10 DEC 0100 TO 0900
            NAVIGATION PROHIBITED IN AREA
            65-12.6N 036-37.0E 65-37.2N 036-26.0E
            66-12.3N 037-19.0E 66-04.0N 037-47.0E
            66-03.0N 038-38.0E 66-06.5N 038-55.0E
            65-11.0N 037-28.0E 65-12.1N 036-49.5E
            THEN COASTAL LINE 65-12.2N 036-47.6E
            2. CANCEL THIS MESSAGE 101000 DEC=
            NNNN

            link to NAVTEX message,

            http://www.frisnit.com/cgi-bin/navtex/view.cgi?id=1159919&lan=en&type=24H&message_filter=&search=ROCKET&station_filter=&date=2009-12-09&source=a4f7a470329caf85e2488355c7e88328&offset=0

Last downturn I was offered management positions in my corporation twice over a year, and I declined both times. I would have gotten a modest salary raise, a less than modest increase in workload, and lost many technical skills i had in the process. I'm still here (as is the person who ended up saying yes).

If you are valued, then they will value you no matter where you are. You can trade the fact that you are more expendable on the bottom of the pyramid, with the fact that you will may have more useful job skills (I suspect there are a lot more middle-management types out of work, then technically skilled individuals).

I'm sick and tired of "Experts" telling me how to do things. When you spend your whole life studying one thing, you end up knowing nothing. Common sense is all you need.

Now I'm off to read the horoscope to see if I should buy a lottery ticket.

What game are you playing? You get no VP for kills. 7 for a win, 3-7 for a loss.