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Cloud Appreciation Society

cloudappreciationsociety.org

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I saw the title and immediately thought "please be related to the sky and not digital infrastructure". Good outcome!

Especially seeing it on this site, it's definitely one of those titles that makes you wonder what you're going to get. Rather clickbaity.

Yeah, I clicked on the link to this thread fully expecting to find a meaty argument to get in the middle of - and instead, to my horror, I was reminded that "clouds" are also real things that float in the sky.

The other kinds exists too: https://www.cncf.io/

:) why_not_both.gif

The first time I saw this Wiki page, I thought it was a joke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_(cloud)

And just before I posted this comment... at the bottom of the Wiki page, I spotted this reference: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/the-cloud-called-hector...

Welp, there you go. Full circle!

Why did you think it was a joke?

Fair question. It is unfair your post was downvoted. Honestly, when I saw it, I assumed it was a Wiki troll who created a fake page. It seemed possible. Then, I looked at the talk page and I could see some heated arguments. Reviewing a few of the sources convinced me that the page was unusual, but legitimate.

I highly recommend‘The Cloudspotter’s Guide’[0] from Gavin Pretor-Pinney (the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society). One of the most eclectic read I’ve had, covering history, science and adventure in always a funny a didactic way.

[0]: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/shop/the-cloudspotters-...

I second this.

Now that's the cloud provider with the worst customer support. I've never been able to reach anyone there.

"Old man yells at cloud"

Also comes with huge privacy/PII-law / GDPR issues: European clouds could end up in the US, China and Russia and back again, while also mixing with other clouds and it's practically impossible to track.

> it's practically impossible to track

so kind of like a web-traffic mixer/anonymizer, sounds interesting ;)

What? You say these clouds don't do KYC due dilligences?

> Now that's the cloud provider with the worst customer support. I've never been able to reach anyone there.

Another downside of open, federated systems.

I link to this site in a comment at the tail end of last year, when noctilucent clouds - the rarest cloud type in the world - were seen above San Francisco: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Rare-noctilucent-clou...

Here's the HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34025981

One of the perks of living at 60°N: noctilucent clouds are a fairly frequent phenomenon in the summer, moreso than northern lights in the winter in fact.

Looks like this is not the digital "cloud" HNers often engage with.

As a movie-watcher, I really appreciate the way John Ford depicts the majestic clouds of Monument Valley. More interestingly, he had underexposed them in B&W films like "My Darling Clementine", increasing their contrast and shadows as if they were sculptures in the sky.

Their newsletter/membership famously featured on Taskmaster!

Taskmaster?

Taskmaster

Taskmaster!?

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/taskmaster/episodes/4/3/

To be fair I only watch Youtube and 90s tv shows. So I have missed this

Taskmaster is famous as being one of the few TV shows to release full episodes on YouTube.

Just checked it out, seems great!

I suppose it is a tv show after some googling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJszhVdxj4M&t=206s

Gh GVC gvgvgggggc

Who hasn't admired Mammatus clouds? Or a "Mackeral sky" at sunset?

I still class discrete Cumulous clouds as "simpsons" clouds. I keep expecting a couch to appear.

Seeing Lenticular clouds over Mt Ranier as a tourist made that day.

Reminds me of the wonderful passage about clouds from Herman Hesse's novel Peter Camenzind: "...zeigt mit das Ding in der Welt, das schöner ist als Wolken sind! Sie sind Spiel und Augentrost, sie sind Segen und Gottesgabe, sie sind Zorn und Todesmacht. Sie sind zart, weich und friedlich wie die Seelen von Neugeborenen, sie sind schön, reich und spendend wie gute Engel, sie sind dunkel, unentrinnbar und schonungslos wie die Sendboten des Todes. Sie schweben silbern in dünner Schicht, sie segeln lachend weiß mit goldenem Rand, sie stehen rastend in gelben, roten und bläulichen Farben. Sie schleichen finster und langsam wie Mörder, sie jagen sausend kopfüber wie rasende Reiter, sie hängen traurig und träumend in bleichen Höhen wie schwermütige Einsiedler. Sie haben die Formen von seligen Inseln und die Formen von segnenden Engeln, sie gleichen drohenden Händen, flatternden Segeln, wandernden Kranichen. Sie schweben zwischen Gottes Himmel und der armen Erde als schöne Gleichnisse aller Menschensehnsucht, beiden angehörig — Träume der Erde, in welchen sie ihre befleckte Seele an den reinen Himmel schmiegt. Sie sind das ewige Sinnbild alles Wanderns, alles Suchens, Verlangens und Heimbegehrens. Und so wie sie zwischen Erde und Himmel zag und sehnend und trotzig hängen, so hängen zag und sehnend und trotzig die Seelen der Menschen zwischen Zeit und Ewigkeit..."

> show me the thing in the world that is more beautiful than clouds! They are play and eyebright, they are blessings and gifts of God, they are wrath and the power of death. They are delicate, soft and peaceful like the souls of newborns, they are beautiful, rich and bounties like good angels, they are dark, inescapable and ruthless like the emissaries of death. They float silver in a thin layer, they sail laughingly white with a golden edge, they stand resting in yellow, red and bluish colors. They slink darkly and slowly like murderers, they rush headlong like mad riders, they hang sad and dreaming in pale heights like melancholy hermits. They have the forms of blessed islands and the forms of blessing angels, they are like threatening hands, fluttering sails, migrating cranes. They hover between God's heaven and poor earth as beautiful parables of all human longing, belonging to both — dreams of the earth in which she nestles her tainted soul against the pure heaven. They are the eternal symbol of all wandering, all searching, longing and longing for home. And just as they hang timidly and longingly and defiantly between earth and heaven, so the souls of men hang timidly and longingly and defiantly between time and eternity.

I really thought this post was about AWS, Azure or GCP, you got me! I will use it in my workplace now

I remember bookmarking this site years ago, nice to see it here. The about page says it was founded in 2005.

https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/about-us/

https://www.cloudman.com/atlas.htm

Cloudman has been running since at least 1998.

I'm personally migrating to a multi-cloud setup: https://www.wsav.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/75/2016/02/10-...

The NYT has a great long read on this organization: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-amateur-clou...

An old manager of mine was a member of this. Favourite bit was their motto "say no to blue sky thinking"

Today I learned from that site; that "okta" is a measurement of cloud cover in a given location.

Currently in my area of it would 4 oktas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okta

Fun song from Josh Grider & Drew Kennedy: West Texas Cloud Appreciation Society https://youtu.be/udecELOV-Ng

What’s the best place on the planet to see clouds?

I've had good results with the sky

Mountainous regions that aren't totally arid

Equatorial clouds are also much better it seems.

Some immature part of me hopes that someone still has that old "cloud to butt" browser extension installed today.

Wow, got me there! Expected some kind of "fight back against the on-prem movement" thing.

This is the best and wholesomest thing on the internet today. Thank you!

Makes we want to invest some time in whitepuffies.com

A bunch of villains selling clouds to Hugh Dennis?

Ha ha, this gave me a good laugh

Context is everything

i thought this was going to be about AWS.

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