A new art form in the future will be CLA. Cloud Laser Art. People can go to a place where there are laser units, sit out side in a small shielded area and draw on the clouds. It would be fun and a great form of self expression, which would make humans very happy. We know that mankind likes to use the natural environment for self expression from cave drawings to rock piles near road ways and graffiti on rock formations. The idea of drawing on clouds is much better, because the cloud eventually dissolves and like an etch-a-sketch is ready to start over. This will be similar to what happens after Ice Carvings, Ice Sculpting is alive and well in North America. We have all heard of Sand Castle building and contests, which go on around the world.
Often you will watch kids throw rocks into a glass clear pond or lake. They will throw one rock in and then another and say; ?Okay, those are the eyes.? Often people star up into the clouds and try to imagine a face, shape or resemblance to something in the 3D physical world. We have often seen pictures where the clouds appear in the shape of Jesus or a face and everyone calls it a miracle. Many people gaze up at the clouds and attempt to allow their minds to find a familiar shape or form. One might call this a frame burst from the brains memory and the mind fills in the rest and a seemingly regular cloud takes on the imagination and a new meaning. An interesting sub topic could be this article on visual stimulation and the brain:
http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php'showtopic=276
http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php'showforum=28
People are fascinated by these coincidences. Rock formations often look like people from certain angles. The fallen ?Old Man on The Mountain? was one such anomaly. Today we look to Mars and see faces in sediment and erosion features.
http://www.ascrocco.it/home/img/sf_desk/ar...o_marseface.jpg
You will have to admit this looks pretty real, so either we are not the only species which re-designs our natural surrounding or our mind automatically is filling in the blank, either way since kids, teens and adults do this and we find this interesting, it is an innate tendency and therefore a relevant idea to promote weather control research and manipulation, what better way to find research dollars than through entertainment? This is something man has done for thousands of years. Some obvious examples are the Sphinx in the Valley of the Kings, cave paintings. We have heard of some famous stone artists, who claim they can see the inner sculpture within a stone before they start, as were comments by Michael Angelo. Freeing the statue inside. Today we have the famous rock carvings of Crazy Horse, which is nearly completed.
Why not put it on a cloud also? It is possible you know? Weather control, cloud art, etc. Mother Nature often does it for us, but if we focus our energies on controlling heat and light within a cubic artificial grid of air, then we will be able to control the clouds completely.
Art is certainly interesting and our obsession with nature and art is interesting in that it seems to be an innate need of mankind to be able to control his environment and to provide some order to the complexity born out of simplicity, which we see everywhere, a concept that Steven Wolfram would most certainly agree. Los Alamos is doing just that and soon will be able to do it on a larger scale with super computers. This will entail lots of number crunching, but well worth the energy and time and money to develop. We maybe able to control not only the weather but stop Hurricanes too.
As we learn to control the weather for purposes of drought mitigation, famine and disease control, feeding peoples of the world thru abundant agriculture yields, flushing and controlling environmental pollutants or even giving us an edge on war planning, defensive barriers or safety during assaults, this technology to a lesser degree will be used as art.
Many things that come to be in the way of innovation are funded thru entertainment, war or the mother of invention (necessity). Certainly as we look at the innovations in TV (high definition), Digital Displays (plasma screens), Transportation (race cars), General Hobby Aviation (composites, ultra-lights, exploits of Dick Rutan), Virtual Reality (theme parks, animation, portable mini-simulators).
we see that entertainment can provide the money flows to increase the speed at which these things come to market and the speed at which they are adopted by the users and thus entertainment has always been a quick way or short cut to the future inventions of mankind. The list is so long in fact in the area of art and entertainment and the innovations brought forth that it might be considered the largest single factor towards the contributions to the forward progress of mankind. Necessity as previously mentioned and War and Defense being close seconds. Art should never be discounted as it is generally coupled with entertainment and imagination and let's not forget the words of Albert Einstein on imagination.
?Imagination is more important than knowledge...?
Is it possible that art can be the lead in to weather control? For instance drawing designs in the clouds instead of painting ?I Love you Charlene? on a Hwy over pass cutting thru rural Alabama, Mississippi or Georgia in John Dear Green, would be something of value as a way of self expression. A portable laser cloud drawing device could also be mounted in a semi truck if not a fixed location site for tourists or expressionists with a few extra bucks. A semi truck mounted unit could be hired to write a computerized message on the clouds for events, parties, etc. At a fixed site people would come for miles just to sit and watch what someone would write today. You can learn a lot from cloud watching.
You can learn about life, weather, flows of nature and you can unleash your imagination. Manipulating the clouds and localized weather can be done with modern and current technologies. This concept is simple really in terms of physics. The truck moves to the center of where the cloud will be and send up ELF waves and creates a small Terminal Gradient Cloud, then drives about 2 miles away and has a design already made on the computer and approved by the buyers of the message: ?Congratulations Graduating Class of West Point? or ?God Bless America and our Troops? when as they de-plane or get off a ship. Great for weddings, bar mitzvah, country fair or you be the judge. In areas of big events people could pay to write their own message on the computer and the laser cuts the cloud and shades in the design or words and letters.
This is simple and not much different than the cutting of vinyl lettering by computers used by modern day sign makers. Very simple, using a 3-D program which knows the power intensity levels, based on the distance which is measured by laser which senses the moisture content in the clouds based on the distance from the device. On one side of the semi truck is a chemical laser and the other side another, when combined at exactly the right distance at very low power settings they interact in various amounts, which have been designed into the computer program coinciding with the amounts of energy and chemical needed to dissolve the cloud. Since the Lasers are chemical based even though quite low, color could also be added and chemicals normally found in atmospheric make-up, thus no harm no foul with environmentalists. This form of art is not too dissimilar to the smoke signal communication of the Native American Indians, the only difference it is done with modern technology and therefore the versatility is so much greater.
Once the design is entered into the computer on a CadCam type program or graphic art program it is sent to the laser system and it starts pulsating the lasers under extreme accuracy using sophisticated algorithms and data sets. After the system is built and configured it is ready to go and during transportation the laser heads and chemicals are stored at proper temperatures in stable tanks. And remember art is not the only use for this, for instance see some ideas below. Now you must note at the WTT we like to have a little fun and the night we discussed this at a local coffee shop in Springfield, MO we definitely were in a comedy mood with a touch of sarcasm. However these ideas will make you think and isn't that the point of this exercise? Sure you will get a chuckle out of it also we did. The World Think Tank is a lot of fun.
A. ) For advertising things could be written in the clouds too. ?Drink Coke,? ?Fly Delta, but Hurry! We need the money,? ?Vote for Dog Catcher, NJ Former Governor,? ?CT former governor runs for Hartford County Auditor,? ?Gray Davis for Public Treatment Facility Director.? We all know aerial advertising is big business, look at the Blimps, Skywriters, etc.
B.) ?.For safety, things could be written in the clouds during rush hour. ?Mixing Bowl? four hour wait, use different route, ?HWY 1? three hour wait go back to work, you are better off there? ?Free Parking on 405 to La Cienega use alternate.? Bridge out ahead. New York Toll Way Fees raised today to $24.86 please have exact change ready to prevent delays, no refunds?? Just write it in the clouds, since you will be looking up praying to your god for break in traffic for this cluster muck you have to drive in everyday? Perfect solution, with an artistic flair? But in all seriousness you can see the benefits, ?Dense Fog Ahead, slow down, multi-car pile-up, freeway closed all traffic exit at mile 122.? In Montana during deer migration, ?Watch out for Deer, Do Not Eat Road Kill? Public Service announcements are often put on Blimps:
C.) For big events; ?Use Shuttle at Parkway for NASCAR event, Parking $5.00.? ?Olympic Check Point, have ID ready.? ?Democratic National Convention Ahead, Lots of parking available.? ?Cody WY Nightly Rodeo, 7 PM.? But these of course are merely words on clouds, for the RNC they might want a Giant American Flag? The DNC might want a big tree with a couple of guys hugging it? You see big events can stay in the spirit of things and get out the true message. NASCAR might want a holographic design of Dale Earnhardt at the Daytona Speedway before the event. Blue Angels might wish to have a message about ?Fly Navy? with a picture of an F-18 or JSF on the cloud for the crowd?
D.) For the People; Perhaps a Smog alert warning to warn people in Los Angeles due to a temperature inversion that day. In NY during Labor Day, perhaps a ?High Terror Alert? in red? During the election, ?Do Not Forget to Vote Today? in Florida with a reminder of how to press the right button in the computerized voting machines? On the beaches in San Diego, Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, Santa Monica, ?Solar Flair Today, Use Sun Screen.? After Hurricane Charley, ?USAA and State Farm go to MLK Jr. High School GYM,? ?Relief assistance: FEMA and Salvation Army at Civic Center Auditorium.? ?New Mobile Homes For Sale; Tornado Magnet IV Custom Deluxe on sale, financing available, OAC.? ?Asteroid to Hit Earth Tomorrow, Run.?
E.) For National Security; Border Patrol, ?You are being tracked by automated aircraft, turn back or you could be shot or killed? In Spanish of course. For USMC, ?Dear Iranian Insurgents, give up or you will be killed in 12 seconds.? For US Navy, ?This is a blockade, turn around now or you will be sunk.? For US Army Recruiting; ?Keep America Green, Join the Army.? DHS; ?Today's Threat Level is Green.? Psych Wars: ?This is Allah, you have been bad, go home and do not return.?
Cloud Laser art could do all these things much cheaper and safer from the ground and also such a new idea would gather much interest and the word of mouth of any message or image would travel quickly. CLA or Cloud Laser Art is possible and fairly easy to do, we currently have the technologies to do this, and it makes sense. This is the ultimate in self-expression and can be used for entertainment, safety, homeland security, big events and even advertising if used in good taste.
Cloud Sculpting is the next logical progression of this idea, where you could make a cloud in the shape of a dog, cat or a dolphin. Perhaps you might want to make a UFO out of the clouds to see how many people call in during the annual UFO conference in Las Vegas? Think of the PR for the city, such a publicity stunt would certainly draw a crowd.
Although they might rather have you inside the casinos spending your money than out on the street corner looking up in the sky just in time to get hit by a middle-eastern taxi cab, shuttle bus or limo driver? In this age of International Terrorism perhaps we ought to all pay attention to what's happening in front of us and leave the cloud watching for recreational times?