clouds

The sky was not pleased at North Korea's attempt to give it a rocket.

[via Reddit]

The image above is of one of the "most likable" clouds in the world. I don't like clouds at all. When I watch the forecast I hope for "no clouds."

But I guess I'm not surprised that there's a site out there finding a silver lining. It's called the Cloud Shape Classifier.  They've created an algorithm to help determine which clouds people find most delightful. Here's their spiel:

Many people would like to see interesting clouds, but lack the spare time in which to look upwards. A Cloud Shape Classifier can help by watching the sky as people go about their routines, and showing them the best clouds at a later time.

I don't think the reason people don't look at clouds is because they "lack the spare time" to do so. Staring at the clouds is the quintessential boring thing to do. I don't want to look at clouds "at a later time." My goal is to not stare at clouds. I do not want my head to be in the clouds, both literally and figuratively.

But the Cloud Shape Classifier takes it a step further. It learns from the clouds that you like and recommends new ones for you:

Since not everyone likes the same clouds, the Classifier learns each individual's taste, and tries to show them only the clouds that they will like.

We live in a world of recommendation engines. We used to spend hours picking the right movie at Blockbuster, but now, there?s Netflix. Nobody spends time in record stores anymore. Instead, Pandora picks out music for you. But have you ever once in your life thought, ?Boy, I wish someone could recommend me a good cloud?"

I can't even find a good place to do my dry cleaning and they've got this extensive of a system for "cloud liking."