Cloudy with a chance of joy
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0:00 - 0:02Clouds.
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0:02 - 0:05Have you noticed how much people moan about them?
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0:05 - 0:07They get a bad rap.
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0:07 - 0:10If you think about it, the English language
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0:10 - 0:14has written into it negative associations towards the clouds.
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0:14 - 0:16Someone who's down or depressed,
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0:16 - 0:18they're under a cloud.
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0:18 - 0:20And when there's bad news in store,
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0:20 - 0:23there's a cloud on the horizon.
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0:23 - 0:25I saw an article the other day.
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0:25 - 0:28It was about problems with computer processing
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0:28 - 0:30over the Internet.
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0:30 - 0:35"A cloud over the cloud," was the headline.
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0:35 - 0:37It seems like they're everyone's default
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0:37 - 0:39doom-and-gloom metaphor.
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0:39 - 0:41But I think they're beautiful, don't you?
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0:41 - 0:44It's just that their beauty is missed
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0:44 - 0:46because they're so omnipresent,
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0:46 - 0:50so, I don't know, commonplace,
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0:50 - 0:51that people don't notice them.
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0:51 - 0:54They don't notice the beauty, but they don't even notice the clouds
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0:54 - 0:56unless they get in the way of the sun.
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0:56 - 0:59And so people think of clouds as
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0:59 - 1:01the things that get in the way.
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1:01 - 1:06They think of them as the annoying, frustrating obstructions,
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1:06 - 1:09and then they rush off and do some blue-sky thinking.
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1:09 - 1:11(Laughter)
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1:11 - 1:13But most people, when you stop to ask them,
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1:13 - 1:18will admit to harboring a strange sort of fondness for clouds.
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1:18 - 1:21It's like a nostalgic fondness,
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1:21 - 1:24and they make them think of their youth.
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1:24 - 1:27Who here can't remember thinking, well,
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1:27 - 1:30looking and finding shapes in the clouds
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1:30 - 1:31when they were kids?
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1:31 - 1:38You know, when you were masters of daydreaming?
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1:38 - 1:41Aristophanes, the ancient Greek playwright,
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1:41 - 1:44he described the clouds as the patron godesses
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1:44 - 1:46of idle fellows
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1:46 - 1:47two and a half thousand years ago,
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1:47 - 1:48and you can see what he means.
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1:48 - 1:53It's just that these days, us adults seem reluctant
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1:53 - 1:57to allow ourselves the indulgence
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1:57 - 1:59of just allowing our imaginations
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1:59 - 2:03to drift along in the breeze, and I think that's a pity.
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2:03 - 2:06I think we should perhaps do a bit more of it.
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2:06 - 2:09I think we should be a bit more willing, perhaps,
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2:09 - 2:12to look at the beautiful sight of the sunlight bursting out
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2:12 - 2:16from behind the clouds and go, "Wait a minute,
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2:16 - 2:18that's two cats dancing the salsa!"
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2:18 - 2:20(Laughter) (Applause)
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2:20 - 2:25Or seeing the big, white, puffy one up there
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2:25 - 2:27over the shopping center looks like
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2:27 - 2:31the Abominable Snowman going to rob a bank.
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2:31 - 2:34(Laughter)
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2:34 - 2:38They're like nature's version of those inkblot images,
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2:38 - 2:40you know, that shrinks used to show their patients
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2:40 - 2:42in the '60s,
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2:42 - 2:45and I think if you consider the shapes you see in the clouds,
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2:45 - 2:49you'll save money on psychoanalysis bills.
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2:49 - 2:51Let's say you're in love. All right?
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2:51 - 2:53And you look up and what do you see?
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2:53 - 2:56Right? Or maybe the opposite.
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2:56 - 2:58You've just been dumped by your partner,
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2:58 - 3:01and everywhere you look, it's kissing couples.
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3:01 - 3:03(Laughter)
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3:03 - 3:07Perhaps you're having a moment of existential angst.
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3:07 - 3:09You know, you're thinking about your own mortality.
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3:09 - 3:12And there, on the horizon, it's the Grim Reaper.
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3:12 - 3:15(Laughter)
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3:15 - 3:19Or maybe you see a topless sunbather.
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3:19 - 3:20(Laughter)
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3:20 - 3:24What would that mean?
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3:24 - 3:29What would that mean? I have no idea.
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3:29 - 3:31But one thing I do know is this:
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3:31 - 3:35The bad press that clouds get is totally unfair.
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3:35 - 3:36I think we should stand up for them,
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3:36 - 3:37which is why, a few years ago,
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3:37 - 3:41I started the Cloud Appreciation Society.
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3:41 - 3:43Tens of thousands of members now
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3:43 - 3:45in almost 100 countries around the world.
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3:45 - 3:48And all these photographs that I'm showing,
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3:48 - 3:50they were sent in by members.
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3:50 - 3:54And the society exists to remind people of this:
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3:54 - 3:57Clouds are not something to moan about.
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3:57 - 3:59Far from it. They are, in fact,
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3:59 - 4:07the most diverse, evocative, poetic aspect of nature.
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4:07 - 4:10I think, if you live with your head in the clouds
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4:10 - 4:13every now and then, it helps you keep your feet on the ground.
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4:13 - 4:15And I want to show you why, with the help of
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4:15 - 4:17some of my favorite types of clouds.
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4:17 - 4:19Let's start with this one. It's the cirrus cloud,
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4:19 - 4:22named after the Latin for a lock of hair.
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4:22 - 4:24It's composed entirely of ice crystals
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4:24 - 4:26cascading from the upper reaches of the troposphere,
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4:26 - 4:28and as these ice crystals fall,
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4:28 - 4:30they pass through different layers with different winds
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4:30 - 4:32and they speed up and slow down,
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4:32 - 4:35giving the cloud these brush-stroked appearances,
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4:35 - 4:38these brush-stroke forms known as fall streaks.
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4:38 - 4:40And these winds up there can be very, very fierce.
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4:40 - 4:43They can be 200 miles an hour, 300 miles an hour.
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4:43 - 4:44These clouds are bombing along,
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4:44 - 4:46but from all the way down here,
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4:46 - 4:49they appear to be moving gracefully, slowly,
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4:49 - 4:51like most clouds.
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4:51 - 4:55And so to tune into the clouds is to slow down,
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4:55 - 4:57to calm down.
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4:57 - 4:59It's like a bit of everyday meditation.
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4:59 - 5:01Those are common clouds.
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5:01 - 5:03What about rarer ones, like the lenticularis,
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5:03 - 5:06the UFO-shaped lenticularis cloud?
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5:06 - 5:08These clouds form in the region of mountains.
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5:08 - 5:11When the wind passes, rises to pass over the mountain,
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5:11 - 5:14it can take on a wave-like path in the lee of the peak,
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5:14 - 5:17with these clouds hovering at the crest
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5:17 - 5:20of these invisible standing waves of air,
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5:20 - 5:22these flying saucer-like forms,
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5:22 - 5:25and some of the early black-and-white UFO photos
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5:25 - 5:28are in fact lenticularis clouds. It's true.
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5:28 - 5:32A little rarer are the fallstreak holes. All right?
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5:32 - 5:34This is when a layer is made up of very, very cold
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5:34 - 5:37water droplets, and in one region they start to freeze,
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5:37 - 5:40and this freezing sets off a chain reaction which spreads outwards
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5:40 - 5:43with the ice crystals cascading and falling down below,
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5:43 - 5:47giving the appearance of jellyfish tendrils down below.
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5:47 - 5:52Rarer still, the Kelvin–Helmholtz cloud.
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5:52 - 5:55Not a very snappy name. Needs a rebrand.
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5:55 - 5:59This looks like a series of breaking waves,
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5:59 - 6:01and it's caused by shearing winds -- the wind
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6:01 - 6:03above the cloud layer and below the cloud layer
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6:03 - 6:06differ significantly, and in the middle, in between,
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6:06 - 6:08you get this undulating of the air,
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6:08 - 6:10and if the difference in those speeds is just right,
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6:10 - 6:12the tops of the undulations curl over
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6:12 - 6:16in these beautiful breaking wave-like vortices.
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6:16 - 6:18All right. Those are rarer clouds than the cirrus,
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6:18 - 6:20but they're not that rare.
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6:20 - 6:23If you look up, and you pay attention to the sky,
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6:23 - 6:25you'll see them sooner or later,
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6:25 - 6:28maybe not quite as dramatic as these, but you'll see them.
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6:28 - 6:30And you'll see them around where you live.
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6:30 - 6:32Clouds are the most egalitarian
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6:32 - 6:35of nature's displays, because we all have a good,
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6:35 - 6:38fantastic view of the sky.
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6:38 - 6:40And these clouds, these rarer clouds,
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6:40 - 6:44remind us that the exotic can be found in the everyday.
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6:44 - 6:47Nothing is more nourishing, more stimulating
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6:47 - 6:50to an active, inquiring mind than being surprised,
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6:50 - 6:54being amazed. It's why we're all here at TED, right?
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6:54 - 6:57But you don't need to rush off
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6:57 - 6:59away from the familiar, across the world
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6:59 - 7:01to be surprised.
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7:01 - 7:04You just need to step outside,
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7:04 - 7:06pay attention to what's so commonplace, so everyday,
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7:06 - 7:10so mundane that everybody else misses it.
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7:10 - 7:13One cloud that people rarely miss is this one:
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7:13 - 7:16the cumulonimbus storm cloud.
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7:16 - 7:18It's what's produces thunder and lightning and hail.
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7:18 - 7:21These clouds spread out at the top in this enormous
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7:21 - 7:24anvil fashion stretching 10 miles up into the atmosphere.
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7:24 - 7:27They are an expression of the majestic architecture
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7:27 - 7:29of our atmosphere.
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7:29 - 7:33But from down below, they are the embodiment
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7:33 - 7:37of the powerful, elemental force and power
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7:37 - 7:39that drives our atmosphere.
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7:39 - 7:43To be there is to be connected in the driving rain
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7:43 - 7:46and the hail, to feel connected to our atmosphere.
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7:46 - 7:48It's to be reminded that we are creatures
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7:48 - 7:50that inhabit this ocean of air.
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7:50 - 7:54We don't live beneath the sky. We live within it.
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7:54 - 7:58And that connection, that visceral connection to our atmosphere
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7:58 - 8:00feels to me like an antidote.
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8:00 - 8:03It's an antidote to the growing tendency we have
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8:03 - 8:07to feel that we can really ever experience life
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8:07 - 8:09by watching it on a computer screen, you know,
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8:09 - 8:12when we're in a wi-fi zone.
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8:12 - 8:14But the one cloud that best expresses
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8:14 - 8:17why cloudspotting is more valuable today than ever
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8:17 - 8:20is this one, the cumulus cloud.
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8:20 - 8:22Right? It forms on a sunny day.
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8:22 - 8:24If you close your eyes and think of a cloud,
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8:24 - 8:27it's probably one of these that comes to mind.
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8:27 - 8:29All those cloud shapes at the beginning,
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8:29 - 8:31those were cumulus clouds.
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8:31 - 8:35The sharp, crisp outlines of this formation
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8:35 - 8:38make it the best one for finding shapes in.
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8:38 - 8:40And it reminds us
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8:40 - 8:44of the aimless nature of cloudspotting,
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8:44 - 8:46what an aimless activity it is.
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8:46 - 8:48You're not going to change the world
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8:48 - 8:52by lying on your back and gazing up at the sky, are you?
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8:52 - 8:54It's pointless. It's a pointless activity,
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8:54 - 8:59which is precisely why it's so important.
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8:59 - 9:03The digital world conspires to make us feel
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9:03 - 9:06eternally busy, perpetually busy.
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9:06 - 9:08You know, when you're not dealing with
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9:08 - 9:11the traditional pressures of earning a living
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9:11 - 9:13and putting food on the table, raising a family,
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9:13 - 9:15writing thank-you letters,
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9:15 - 9:18you have to now contend with
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9:18 - 9:22answering a mountain of unanswered emails,
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9:22 - 9:23updating a Facebook page,
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9:23 - 9:26feeding your Twitter feed.
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9:26 - 9:30And cloudspotting legitimizes doing nothing.
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9:30 - 9:32(Laughter)
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9:32 - 9:34And sometimes we need —
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9:34 - 9:40(Applause)
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9:40 - 9:44Sometimes we need excuses to do nothing.
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9:44 - 9:47We need to be reminded by these
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9:47 - 9:50patron goddesses of idle fellows
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9:50 - 9:53that slowing down
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9:53 - 9:57and being in the present, not thinking about
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9:57 - 10:00what you've got to do and what you should have done,
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10:00 - 10:03but just being here, letting your imagination
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10:03 - 10:05lift from the everyday concerns down here
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10:05 - 10:08and just being in the present, it's good for you,
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10:08 - 10:10and it's good for the way you feel.
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10:10 - 10:14It's good for your ideas. It's good for your creativity.
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10:14 - 10:17It's good for your soul.
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10:17 - 10:20So keep looking up,
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10:20 - 10:23marvel at the ephemeral beauty,
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10:23 - 10:26and always remember to live life with your head in the clouds.
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10:26 - 10:27Thank you very much.
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10:27 - 10:33(Applause)
- Title:
- Cloudy with a chance of joy
- Speaker:
- Gavin Pretor-Pinney
- Description:
-
You don't need to plan an exotic trip to find creative inspiration. Just look up, says Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. As he shares charming photos of nature's finest aerial architecture, Pretor-Pinney calls for us all to take a step off the digital treadmill, lie back and admire the beauty in the sky above.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 10:54
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for Cloudy with a chance of joy |