corrente

This is from, like, a week ago, but I really assumed at the time that it would soon be all over the place without any help from me. As this has inexplicably not happened, I bring it to your attention here. [Heavily snipped and some lines rearranged for brevity]:

(via Jackson MS Clarion-Ledger)

A community petition has amassed 75 names in hopes of silencing two hail cannons at Nissan Motor Co.'s Canton [MS] plant.

The automaker installed the machinery in early 2004 to prevent possible hail damage to thousands of new vehicles placed daily on its shipping yard at the factory.

The hail cannon shoots sonic waves into the atmosphere, releasing a bang that can repeat every five seconds until weather conditions change...Nissan reports it is the first automaker to use the device that prevents hail within a one-mile radius.

"Just turn it off," said Germantown resident Marci See. "It is very loud. Sometimes it shakes my walls, and I keep thinking, 'Is it tearing up my foundation?'"

Jim Pigott of the Germantown subdivision said "it's like having a boom box in your driveway all night long."

This would seem to fall under some Federal regulations requiring permits for operations intended to influence the weather, although I can find no indications that Nissan has applied for any such. And out in Middle of Nowhere County, Mississippi, does anybody really think that minor interests like "the people who live there" are going to override the clout of a car manufacturer?

Naw, I didn't think so either. But you know how we keep being reminded that "local government is closer to the people, so it's more responsive."