A “cloud on the horizon” means that something bad is about to happen. Meanwhile, someone with their “head in the clouds” is thoroughly out to lunch. As Gavin Pretor-Pinney points out in today’s talk, clouds get a bad rep when it comes to language.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney: Cloudy with a chance of joy “But I think they’re beautiful, don’t you?” he says. “It’s just that their beauty is missed because they’re so omnipresent, so commonplace that people don’t notice them … unless they get in the way of the sun.”
Pretor-Pinney is the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society and, in this talk, he asks each of us to do something we excelled at when we were kids — looking up at the clouds and letting our imaginations run wild. He shows many evocative cloud formations — some created by specific, named types of clouds — and calls on us all to take part in this global Rorschach test. To that end, the Cloud Appreciation Society (which has 32,000+ members) last week released a CloudSpotter iPhone app that allows people to capture and share their own cloud images. Bonus: NASA will use anonymous data from the app to help calibrate its cloud-observing satellites.
Below, Pretor-Pinney (and a few guests) shares a few cloud images with the TED Blog.
Comments (81)
Pingback: MAGIC VIDEO HUB | Man watches 296 TED Talks in a week. We ask him why.
Pingback: MAGIC VIDEO HUB | The future of facial recognition: 7 fascinating facts
Pingback: MAGIC VIDEO HUB | My City: Khurram Siddiqi on how not to get lost in Lahore, Pakistan
Pingback: My City: Khurram Siddiqi on how not to get lost in Lahore, Pakistan | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: David Kelley on the need for creative confidence | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: TED News in Brief: The Nobel Prize gives a shoutout to TED-Ed, Diana Nyad swims for 48 hours straight | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: MAGIC VIDEO HUB | Better roads for bikes and walkers: What cities inspire Janette Sadik-Khan?
Pingback: MAGIC VIDEO HUB | My City: Gabriella Gomez-Mont on life in “that beast of a city,” Mexico City
Pingback: 11 fascinating funeral traditions from around the globe | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: Adam Davidson on the government shutdown, and why it’s economic “suicide” | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: El Boletin de nuestra Red Social: te invitamos | gentcreativa
Pingback: Remembering Ross Langdon: TEDx speaker and humanitarian architect killed in Nairobi attack | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: David, Goliath and the appeal of the underdog: A Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell on this often-misunderstood story | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: The Muslims Are Coming!: Fellows Friday with Negin Farsad | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: My quiet city: sound artist Jason Sweeney on life in Adelaide, Australia | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: Why are we getting smarter? Further reading on the “Flynn effect” | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: 5 more TED “geniuses” | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: How to trust intelligently | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions
Pingback: TED@NYC: TED’s talent search heads to Manhattan | TokNok Multi Social Blogging Solutions