Far From The Computer World, Bill Gates Is Killing Hurricanes

Ever wonder what Bill Gates was going to do after he resigned from Microsoft®?  Well, here's one thing he's doing -- inventing ways to stop hurricanes before they hit land.  Is he God or Don Quixote?

According to the Louisiana Times-Picayune, six patent applications connected to the hurricane killer idea were filed under Searate LLC, a private group of inventors of which Gates and other former Microsoft developers are involved, were made public by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last Friday, with Gates listed as one of the inventors on each.

The patent applications are each connected to some aspect of the hurricane killer concept: to cool the water at the top surface of the ocean in anticipation of a coming hurricane and, thereby, weaken its force.  Floating tubs would be set up in areas in front of the storms, each one containing two conduits.  As the water spashes into the tubs from the waves in the sea, one conduit pushes the warm water to the bottom of the sea and the second pulls the cold water from the bottom into the ocean.

Although the inventors are not proposing their water cooling methods as the first line of defense against a hurricane, they do see other uses for the water cooling system.  One proposal suggests that the "wave induced downwelling" could be used to stir up sediment on the bottom of the sea, thereby promoting more plant and animal growth in barren areas.  This would also promote the growth of algae, a carbon trapping plant, to help fight global warming.

It will most likely be several years before the hurricane killing system is ready for action.

Next up: Steve Jobs has invention to stop night from falling.