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Clouds.

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Have you ever noticed how much
people moan about them?

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They get a bad rap.

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If you think about it,
the English language

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has written into it negative
associations towards the clouds.

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Someone who's down or depressed,

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they're under a cloud.

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And when there's bad news in store,

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there's a cloud on the horizon.

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I saw an article the other day.

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It was about problems
with computer processing

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over the Internet.

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"A cloud over the cloud,"
was the headline.

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It seems like they're everyone's default

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doom-and-gloom metaphor.

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But I think they're beautiful, don't you?

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It's just that their beauty is missed

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because they're so omnipresent,

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so, I don't know, commonplace,

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that people don't notice them.

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They don't notice the beauty,
but they don't even notice the clouds

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unless they get in the way of the sun.

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And so people think of clouds as

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things that get in the way.

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They think of them as the annoying,
frustrating obstructions,

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and then they rush off and do
some blue-sky thinking.

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(Laughter)

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But most people, when
you stop to ask them,

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will admit to harboring a strange
sort of fondness for clouds.

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It's like a nostalgic fondness,

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and they make them think of their youth.

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Who here can't remember thinking, well,

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looking and finding shapes in the clouds

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when they were kids?

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You know, when you were
masters of daydreaming?

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Aristophanes, the ancient
Greek playwright,

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he described the clouds
as the patron godesses

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of idle fellows

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two and a half thousand years ago,

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and you can see what he means.

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It's just that these days,
us adults seem reluctant

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to allow ourselves the indulgence

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of just allowing our imaginations

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to drift along in the breeze,
and I think that's a pity.

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I think we should perhaps
do a bit more of it.

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I think we should be a bit
more willing, perhaps,

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to look at the beautiful sight
of the sunlight bursting out

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from behind the clouds
and go, "Wait a minute,

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that's two cats dancing the salsa!"

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Or seeing the big, white,
puffy one up there

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over the shopping center looks like

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the Abominable Snowman
going to rob a bank.

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(Laughter)

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They're like nature's version
of those inkblot images,

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you know, that shrinks used
to show their patients

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in the '60s,

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and I think if you consider
the shapes you see in the clouds,

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you'll save money on psychoanalysis bills.

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Let's say you're in love. All right?

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And you look up and what do you see?

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Right? Or maybe the opposite.

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You've just been dumped by your partner,

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and everywhere you look,
it's kissing couples.

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(Laughter)

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Perhaps you're having a moment
of existential angst.

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You know, you're thinking
about your own mortality.

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And there, on the horizon,
it's the Grim Reaper.

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(Laughter)

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Or maybe you see a topless sunbather.

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(Laughter)

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What would that mean?

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What would that mean? I have no idea.

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But one thing I do know is this:

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The bad press that clouds
get is totally unfair.

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I think we should stand up for them,

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which is why, a few years ago,

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I started the Cloud Appreciation Society.

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Tens of thousands of members now

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in almost 100 countries around the world.

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And all these photographs
that I'm showing,

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they were sent in by members.

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And the society exists
to remind people of this:

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Clouds are not something to moan about.

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Far from it. They are, in fact,

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the most diverse, evocative,
poetic aspect of nature.

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I think, if you live
with your head in the clouds

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every now and then, it helps you
keep your feet on the ground.

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And I want to show you
why, with the help of

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some of my favorite types of clouds.

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Let's start with this one.
It's the cirrus cloud,

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named after the Latin for a lock of hair.

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It's composed entirely of ice crystals

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cascading from the upper
reaches of the troposphere,

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and as these ice crystals fall,

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they pass through different
layers with different winds

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and they speed up and slow down,

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giving the cloud these
brush-stroked appearances,

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these brush-stroke forms
known as fall streaks.

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And these winds up there
can be very, very fierce.

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They can be 200 miles
an hour, 300 miles an hour.

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These clouds are bombing along,

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but from all the way down here,

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they appear to be moving
gracefully, slowly,

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like most clouds.

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And so to tune into the clouds
is to slow down,

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to calm down.

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It's like a bit of everyday meditation.

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Those are common clouds.

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What about rarer ones,
like the lenticularis,

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the UFO-shaped lenticularis cloud?

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These clouds form
in the region of mountains.

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When the wind passes, rises
to pass over the mountain,

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it can take on a wave-like
path in the lee of the peak,

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with these clouds hovering at the crest

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of these invisible standing waves of air,

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these flying saucer-like forms,

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and some of the early
black-and-white UFO photos

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are in fact lenticularis clouds.
It's true.

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A little rarer are the fallstreak holes.
All right?

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This is when a layer is made
up of very, very cold

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water droplets, and in one region
they start to freeze,

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and this freezing sets off a chain
reaction which spreads outwards

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with the ice crystals cascading
and falling down below,

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giving the appearance
of jellyfish tendrils down below.

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Rarer still, the Kelvin–Helmholtz cloud.

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Not a very snappy name. Needs a rebrand.

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This looks like a series
of breaking waves,

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and it's caused by shearing
winds -- the wind

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above the cloud layer
and below the cloud layer

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differ significantly,
and in the middle, in between,

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you get this undulating of the air,

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and if the difference in those
speeds is just right,

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the tops of the undulations curl over

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in these beautiful breaking
wave-like vortices.

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All right. Those are rarer
clouds than the cirrus,

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but they're not that rare.

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If you look up, and you
pay attention to the sky,

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you'll see them sooner or later,

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maybe not quite as dramatic
as these, but you'll see them.

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And you'll see them around where you live.

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Clouds are the most egalitarian

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of nature's displays,
because we all have a good,

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fantastic view of the sky.

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And these clouds, these rarer clouds,

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remind us that the exotic can
be found in the everyday.

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Nothing is more nourishing,
more stimulating

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to an active, inquiring
mind than being surprised,

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being amazed. It's why we're
all here at TED, right?

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But you don't need to rush off

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away from the familiar, across the world

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to be surprised.

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You just need to step outside,

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pay attention to what's so
commonplace, so everyday,

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so mundane that everybody else misses it.

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One cloud that people
rarely miss is this one:

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the cumulonimbus storm cloud.

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It's what's produces thunder
and lightning and hail.

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These clouds spread
out at the top in this enormous

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anvil fashion stretching 10
miles up into the atmosphere.

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They are an expression
of the majestic architecture

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of our atmosphere.

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But from down below,
they are the embodiment

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of the powerful, elemental force and power

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that drives our atmosphere.

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To be there is to be connected
in the driving rain

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and the hail, to feel
connected to our atmosphere.

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It's to be reminded that we are creatures

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that inhabit this ocean of air.

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We don't live beneath the sky.
We live within it.

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And that connection, that visceral
connection to our atmosphere

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feels to me like an antidote.

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It's an antidote to the growing
tendency we have

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to feel that we can really
ever experience life

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by watching it on a computer
screen, you know,

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when we're in a wi-fi zone.

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But the one cloud that best expresses

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why cloudspotting is more
valuable today than ever

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is this one, the cumulus cloud.

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Right? It forms on a sunny day.

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If you close your eyes
and think of a cloud,

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it's probably one of these
that comes to mind.

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All those cloud shapes at the beginning,

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those were cumulus clouds.

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The sharp, crisp outlines
of this formation

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make it the best
one for finding shapes in.

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And it reminds us

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of the aimless nature of cloudspotting,

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what an aimless activity it is.

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You're not going to change the world

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by lying on your back and gazing
up at the sky, are you?

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It's pointless. It's a pointless activity,

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which is precisely why it's so important.

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The digital world
conspires to make us feel

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eternally busy, perpetually busy.

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You know, when you're not dealing with

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the traditional pressures
of earning a living

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and putting food on the table,
raising a family,

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writing thank you letters,

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you have to now contend with

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answering a mountain of unanswered emails,

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updating a Facebook page,

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feeding your Twitter feed.

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And cloudspotting
legitimizes doing nothing.

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(Laughter)

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And sometimes we need —

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(Applause)

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Sometimes we need excuses to do nothing.

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We need to be reminded by these

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patron goddesses of idle fellows

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that slowing down

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and being in the present,
not thinking about

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what you've got to do
and what you should have done,

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but just being here,
letting your imagination

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lift from the everyday concerns down here

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and just being in the present,
it's good for you,

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and it's good for the way you feel.

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It's good for your ideas.
It's good for your creativity.

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It's good for your soul.

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So keep looking up,

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marvel at the ephemeral beauty,

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and always remember to live life
with your head in the clouds.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)