Beijing Engulfed In Smog, But New Photo Software Solves Problem By Turning Smoggy Skies Blue!

[hatrack]

The capital choked in the worst smog in months on Thursday with weather forecasters warning pollution would continue to plague the city into the weekend, the Beijing Morning Post reported. The “heavy pollution” was blamed on a trough of low pressure hanging over Beijing. The air quality index (AQI) improved slightly from nearly 300 on Thursday to 230 on Friday, according the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection.

EDIT

Camera 360, a photo-editing app launched by Chengdu-based Pinguo, uses a series of digital filters called “Magic Sky” to banish the smog on photos. “Magic Sky” offers seven filters to “help to turn the sky to blue”, Pinguo said on its website, noting the “severe concern caused by the increasingly serious smog”.

Users are able to choose seven different kinds of skies – “Nagrand” gives the photo a tint of blue known as cerulean, “Laputa” adds some light clouds while “Garden” adds heavy clouds. Another photo editing app, MeituPic, has also released a new “clear fog” feature designed to sharpen pictures.

“You never need to be worried about colourless photos even when smog in Beijing is severe,” its website said.

EDIT

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1546659/beijing-shrouded-worst-smog-months-photo-apps-which-mask-pollution-take

[eppur_se_muova]

1. All's well with the world.

http://www.shmoop.com/brave-new-world/allusions.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Well, then, everything is just fine and dandy.

I have read that our movie industry does something simiar when a clear blue sky is needed in a shot, and the weather is uncooperative.
Post production effects spring into play.
But that is a whole different ballgame.

[StevieM]

3. I can't imagine that they will get the 2022 Winter Olympics. The pollution is even worse in

the Winter time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_bid_for_the_2022_Winter_Olympics#Pollution_issue

[hatrack]

4. Beijing hosting the Winter Olympics? I thought you were kidding till I saw the link

Maybe they'll have developed video software that lets you see the buildings and street signs.

[StevieM]

5. I almost didn't bother to post the link...but then I thought a few people might be curious.

You had not heard that Beijing was bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics?

Amazingly, Almaty, Kazakhstan has become the favorite. Oslo is having some problems with public support and part of the ruling coalition won't vote for it, so the prime minister will have to decide whether to ask the opposition to vote for the funds.

Denver wanted to make a bid, and if they had they would have won this thing in a walk. But the USOC decided to wait for 2024, which is crazy because the competition for those games will be fierce, especially coming from Paris, which last hosted a hundred years earlier in 1924.

It may be just as well. 2026, our 250th birthday, would be a nice time to host the games. Denver or Boston might bid for those games instead. The Phillies were entitled to host an MLB all-star game for a long time now, by virtue of having built a new stadium, but they have always declined. They are holding out for 2026.