The sky could be used as a new media. A logo could be projected with laser to use the sky as a huge canvas. At night, above major cities, neon signs would become obsolete. A bit like the bat logo in batman´s films, but with a commercial purpose.
-- wood, May 21 2002

yeah, let's f*ck up the natural view more....

go get rid of your other attempt at an idea, wood, and fishbone for this idea which won't permit me to see the stars....

and, the word is COMMUNICATE. try a dictionary now and then.
-- runforrestrun, May 21 2002


Could be used for painting raibows at nigth or stars above major cities.
-- wood, May 21 2002


is this the business section? The advertising media zone?
-- wood, May 21 2002


//raibows at nigth//

your alien passwords, bliss ;-)
-- runforrestrun, May 21 2002


[wood]: The category appears to be right for this idea ( Business: Advertising Media ).  I think that the originality of the idea might be questionable as I have seen laser-based, sky-writing advertising with mine own eyes some years ago. It's very hard to see, though, as there's no real surface to project against. If you are very close to the point of origin for the laser, you can kinda' make out what's being written. I think it is just reflecting off of dust particles in the air.
-- bristolz, May 21 2002


Is it "harsh treatment for newbies" day?
-- half, May 21 2002


I may have missed something, but I don't see what wood has done to deserve this kind of "welcome." If I haven't missed something, wood, welcome to the halfbakery. Keep trying.
-- beauxeault, May 21 2002


I'm sorry....was I unkind? That's so not like me at all and I apologize. You'd think I would approve of this considering I work in the advertising business. However, I am not fond of billboards and I just can't see screwing up the natural world any more. Leave advertising where it belongs....TV, print, internet, and radio. In other words, leave it where people can turn it off or walk away from it. Anywhere else and it's just annoying.

This sky writing is just ramming it down the throats of everyone regardless of whether or not they would rather see the stars. Am I an advertiser? Yes. Would I sell my soul to the devil or prostitute the natural world to make money? No.
-- runforrestrun, May 21 2002


runfy, you Jekyll and Hyde you.
-- po, May 21 2002


ideas like this give advertisers a bad name, some of us are *good* ;-) and would rather look at a pasture full of cows than at another McD's billboard....
-- runforrestrun, May 21 2002


I think that I shall never see
a billboard lovely as a tree.
In fact, unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all.

From a 'fortune' file.
-- supercat, May 21 2002


thank you all for welcoming me to HB. In your own way, that is. Please note that i was not trying to sell anything.

I will keep on trying, and i promisse to place a more poetic new one just for blissmiss, who gave me such a worm welcome.

Relax runforresrun, you are under great stress. So many ungry inside you. Have you been selling to many toothpaste?
-- wood, May 22 2002


I wood also like to extend a worm welcome.

Hit it, Maestro!

May the first thing you see
every morn'
in your front yard
'neath the worn
ad for lard
in front of the one for your tush
always be a tree
or a bush
as the case may be

FIN
-- thumbwax, May 22 2002


Well, I've got an application which might make everyone a little happier:

As a soon-to-be-ex-astrophysicist, I found the light pollution from nearby cities to be a large stumbling block when, for instance, trying to find an asteroid. Scientists are now worried that, in the inner cities, the view of stars above us at night is almost obsolete.

Why not project a map of stars, at least in those parts of the world where they are no longer visible?
-- yamahito, May 22 2002


//I found the light pollution from nearby cities to be a large stumbling block when, for instance, trying to find an asteroid//Why not project a map of stars//

Sad. Fake stars....

I'm all for laws making lights illegal from 11 pm to 6 am instead. Oh, wait, then crime rates would go up. Yeah, now I remember why I bought this big house out in the country.....
-- runforrestrun, May 22 2002


Hmmm... Don't know about illegalising lights, but surely it wouldn't be hard to make streetlights much more downward-directional?

There might be an idea in that one...

<later> damn! baked! but why don't we have them?
-- yamahito, May 22 2002


The nicest modern streetlights I've seen are on a 1 mile stretch of Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica, CA. The light is emitted upwards, but reflected downward by a single solid cover plate. The covers look as if they are unpainted metal rounded petals. Less light kisses the sky, no glare from side, enough light below. Looks good at a distance or up close.
-- thumbwax, May 22 2002


[yamahito], I remember hearing about such anti-light-pollution type street lights being used in cities that have an observatory near by, e.g. Flagstaff, Arizona.
-- half, May 22 2002


Yeah, i found 'em when i googled it. But again, I ask, why don't we have them? At least we don't have them here in UK. Apparently they have efficiency advantages as well.
-- yamahito, May 22 2002


As soon as this thing is implemented, we can say goodbye to astronomical observation.

Definitely fishbone.
-- Wesha, May 22 2002


The better-directed lights have been around for a while, but my guess is that most cities can't quite justify the extra budget needed to research and use them instead of whatever they use now.

This idea (sky logos) is actually kind of similar to the already-common practice of just shining searchlights or laser beams into the sky randomly when opening a new store or whatever.
-- wiml, May 23 2002


Los Angeles: it seems there is not a night without those lights, and then some
-- thumbwax, May 23 2002


Croissant for implementing this with yamahito's spin. As with bristolz's laser-writing, this wouldn't be too visible or intrusive in clearer-skyed areas, and since cloudier/foggier/smoggier areas are going to be so regardless, why not project a starscape on the clouds? Better fake stars than none at all, I say. And, if you insist on keeping the advertising slant, include periodical "These stars brought to you by..." marquees.
-- nick_n_uit, May 23 2002


It's a bit of a snag when the aircraft hits you though, after you've blinded the pilot. Lasers bright enough to work in this application tend to be a little bit too, errr, bright.
-- drew, May 23 2002


runforrestrun - I think the whole idea of this was not to obscure stars, but to make use of cloud-cover. I don't see how defined images could be projected into the sky in any other way.

Oh, and get that dictionary out of your arse? Everyone has typos every now and then - don't be so arrogant.
-- blindingphil, Jul 21 2004


phil, be nice. We lost runforrestrun a while back.
-- evilmathgenius, Jul 21 2004



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