# man made colored clouds **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861 "2013-07-30T00:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/1 "2013-07-30T00:19:00Z")
so I am driving cross country, and I get an artistic idea. remember the artist, who covered a huge part of a sea, with massive sheets of color floating panels, tied together. I think they were all red or maybe blue. took forever to assembled, and later take apart. very few saw it in person - most just digitally. I am driving along, on a cool, cloudless sunny day. I see a nuclear power plant, with a typical hour glass shaped water cooling tower (which uses fresh water to cool the hot closed loop reactor steam / water in tubes). Its fresh water goes into a free all in the tower, and cools down, releasing huge pockets of condensation, that in essence, are medium size clouds. I noticed these clouds hold their form for tens of miles. Then I recall seeing the city of Chicago pour green non-toxic water coloring into the Chicago River, every St Patricks day. It goes for miles. So my idea: add the same non toxic color additive to the fresh water cool intake of the reactor tower - even alternate it - so you have green, blue, yellow and red clouds floating over cities and countrysides. Maybe red and blue on 4th of July. Green on St Pats day. Orange for the reactors near Knoxville. Red for the Cinci fossil plant that uses a similar tower. Very cheap, yet visible by millions. Non toxic - no harm. Makes a lot more sense than the artist who used the colored plastic sheets on the sea, that only a handful saw in person. We have 102 reactors and numerous fossil plants that use these towers. We could have coverage for most every locale. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/2 "2013-07-30T00:30:24Z")
I think the idea of a reactor tower pouring out green smoke would just cmpletely freak a lot of people out. just sayin’ I HAVE seen “artificial clouds”. Back inthe late 60s/early70s there was some of military test where they had missiles go up and release some sort of stuff in the skies of New Jersey that created very short-lived colored clouds. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/3 "2013-07-30T00:40:33Z")
Sounds like a project for [Christo](http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/). ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/4 "2013-07-30T01:31:23Z")
The preferred phrase is “clouds of color.” ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/5 "2013-07-30T13:26:37Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Sounds like a project for [Christo](http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/). Yes. here it is (and it was pink): [http://www.genetologisch-onderzoek.nl/wp-content/image\_upload/christo.jpg](http://www.genetologisch-onderzoek.nl/wp-content/image_upload/christo.jpg) Christo surrounded 3 islands with pink floating panels Massive costs, lots of time required, and few experienced it. Then it had to all be taken down and discarded. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/6 "2013-07-30T13:57:11Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > The preferred phrase is “clouds of color.” I believe some prefer “Cumulus-American”. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/7 "2013-07-30T15:16:37Z")
you 2 crack me up ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/8 "2013-07-30T20:04:46Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > Yes. here it is (and it was pink): > > [http://www.genetologisch-onderzoek.nl/wp-content/image\_upload/christo.jpg](http://www.genetologisch-onderzoek.nl/wp-content/image_upload/christo.jpg) > > Christo surrounded 3 islands with pink floating panels > > Massive costs, lots of time required, and few experienced it. Then it had to all be taken down and discarded. Did you even look at the picture before you posted? It clearly shows **5** islands surrounded in pink; the total installation was actually 11 islands. Not sure why you would bring up “massive costs”, since it didn’t cost taxpayers a fucking cent: [ > [@](#): > > As with Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s previous art projects, Surrounded Islands was entirely financed by the artists through the sale by C.V.J. Corporation (Jeanne-Claude Christo-Javacheff, President) of the preparatory pastel and charcoal drawings, collages, lithographs, and early works. ]([Christo and Jeanne-Claude - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christo_and_Jeanne-Claude#Surrounded_Miami_Islands)) Your assertion that “few experienced it” is laughable: the Miami area at the time was home to more than 2 million people; SE Florida had almost 4 million people living within 60 miles of the installation AND Miami has long been on the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, with millions of visitors every year. Hundreds of millions of people have seen some of the thousands of photographs taken of it by professional media photographers and ordinary citizens in the decades since. It was called _Surrounded Islands_, btw, and it was one of the most beautiful and breath-taking things I’ve ever seen in almost 50 years on this planet. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/9 "2013-07-31T01:48:39Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Did you even look at the picture before you posted? It clearly shows **5** islands surrounded in pink; the total installation was actually 11 islands. > > Not sure why you would bring up “massive costs”, since it didn’t cost taxpayers a fucking cent: > [url=[Christo and Jeanne-Claude - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christo_and_Jeanne-Claude#Surrounded_Miami_Islands)] > Your assertion that “few experienced it” is laughable: the Miami area at the time was home to more than 2 million people; SE Florida had almost 4 million people living within 60 miles of the installation AND Miami has long been on the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, with millions of visitors every year. > > Hundreds of millions of people have seen some of the thousands of photographs taken of it by professional media photographers and ordinary citizens in the decades since. > > It was called _Surrounded Islands_, btw, and it was one of the most beautiful and breath-taking things I’ve ever seen in almost 50 years on this planet. Exactly where did I say the “massive costs” were paid by “taxpayers” ? Did you even read my fucking post? You seem to have reading comprehension issues. Seeing a photograph doesn’t mean they saw his work on the islands. It means they saw a 2D photograph. With your logic, we should likewise shut down the Grand Canyon, and instead hand out 8.5 x 11 glossy photos to the carloads of visitors at the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/10 "2013-07-31T02:09:54Z")
[**The Purple Cloud**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purple_Cloud) by M. P. Shiel. [**Gutenberg**](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11229) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/11 "2013-07-31T02:44:23Z")
My issues with the OP are two fold A)the water is evaporating so there’s a very good chance it would leave the dye behind B)if they used a dye with a low enough boiling point to evaporate with the water, it’s going to come down somewhere, would you want your house or trees or city or car windshield to be covered in pink dye? Speaking of man made colored clouds, here’s some daylight fireworks. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qiJhGcylZxc/hqdefault.jpg "Biggest Daylight Fireworks In The World (NEW CHANNEL)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiJhGcylZxc) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/12 "2013-07-31T02:53:02Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It was called _Surrounded Islands_, btw, and it was one of the most beautiful and breath-taking things I’ve ever seen in almost 50 years on this planet. It was fucking stupid, and so was that bullshit where he took a giant orange dump all over Central Park. He also did another installation in California where part of it came loose and killed a guy. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/13 "2013-07-31T03:57:53Z")
[quote=“Joey\_P, post:11, topic:664861”] My issues with the OP are two fold A)the water is evaporating so there’s a very good chance it would leave the dye behind B)if they used a dye with a low enough boiling point to evaporate with the water, it’s going to come down somewhere, would you want your house or trees or city or car windshield to be covered in pink dye? Speaking of man made colored clouds, here’s some daylight fireworks. [/QUOTE] Good point Would make a great MTV music video for John Cougar Mellencamps “Little Pink Houses, for Everyone” ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/14 "2013-07-31T04:01:07Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It was fucking stupid, and so was that bullshit where he took a giant orange dump all over Central Park. > > He also did another installation in California where part of it came loose and killed a guy. This Also, the Miami Surrounded Islands irony was that it was made to call attention to the environment. But Christo used a poly man made fabric. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/15 "2013-07-31T04:08:43Z")
6.5 million square ft of polypropylene pink fabric floating in the sea for two weeks. And likely a similar count of lost young turtles, fish, and other life forms, that rely on the close perimeters of those 3, err, 11 islands for habitat. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/16 "2013-07-31T04:20:46Z")
[Fuck Christo.](http://www.overtheriverinfo.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-made-colored-clouds/664861/17 "2013-07-31T04:53:39Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > Exactly where did I say the “massive costs” were paid by “taxpayers” ? Did you even read my fucking post? You seem to have reading comprehension issues. Seeing a photograph doesn’t mean they saw his work on the islands. It means they saw a 2D photograph. With your logic, we should likewise shut down the Grand Canyon, and instead hand out 8.5 x 11 glossy photos to the carloads of visitors at the gate. Yeah, I read your “fucking post”. Who gives a shit what it costs if it was private money that paid for it; why would you bring it up? I assumed you were ignorant of his funding methods. Again: why do you care about the “massive costs” seeing as how it was a privately funded project? Why bring it up if you don’t care? The rest of your post makes little to no sense (closer to no sense).