Bill Gates, Weather Warrior?

This story was recently reported by USA Today:

Good news, folks. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has turned his attention to controlling the weather.

Five U.S. Patent and Trade Office patent applications, made public on July 9, propose slowing hurricanes by pumping cold, deep-ocean water in their paths from barges. If issued, the patents offer 18 years of legal rights to the idea for Gates and co-inventors, including climate scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Hurricanes, most famously demonstrated by the deadly intensification of Hurricane Katrina before its landfall in 2005, draw strength from warm waters on the ocean's surface. The patents describe a system for strategically placing turbine-equipped barges in the path of storms to chill sea surfaces with cold water pumped from the depths.

So, the man who brought Windows to the world, the guy who made computers almost as have-to-have as refrigerators and TV's, now wants to control the weather.

I guess this isn't the worst idea in the world. He certainly has a lot of resources to throw at the concept, in terms of both money and brain-power.

On the other hand, when we get the following, I'm not really sure what's gonna happen...

(Thanks to Sign Generator for their BSOD Generator.)