Happy fun cloud will kill you now, By Mark Morford

[madokie]

Have you seen the future? Have you felt its hot, Wi-Fi enabled breath on your nervous and sweaty neck? Don't worry: You will.

The future, in case you didn't already know, is all about the cloud. The cloud is, of course, that nebulous, supernatural high-tech storage space purportedly floating just above your head but which is really housed in an enormous server farm somewhere in Ohio, which will soon contain every possible bit of personal data about you -- your lifestyle, eating habits, music collection, photos, blood type, banking and drug preferences, hairstyle and sneeze fetishes, demographics about your kids, your dog, your therapist and your imaginary friend ... everything.

Have you heard about the cloud? I bet you have. The cloud is the new oxygen. The cloud is the new Bieber. The cloud is the Next Supreme Step toward a gloriously sanitized uber-paradise where all worries vanish, all wires come unplugged and the cackling world government manipulates the whole thing very, very carefully.

Apple, for one, is all over the cloud. And if Apple is in on it, you know it must be magnificent. ...


(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/09/07/notes090711.DTL&nl=fix)

[Motown_Johnny]

1. Good, the more irrelevant data it has the harder it is to find what you are looking for

Where can I tell them about my dog?

[pinboy3niner]

2. That cloud looks like a dragon...

Lucy: If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formation...What do you think you see, Linus?

Linus: Well, those clouds up there look to me like the map of the British Honduras in the Caribbean....That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor...and that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen...I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side....

Lucy: Uh huh...That's very good... What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?

Charlie Brown: Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I changed my mind.

— Peanuts

Data: I believe what you are seeing is the effect of the fluid dynamic processes inherent in the large-scale motion of rarefied gas.

Guinan: No, no. First it was a fish, and now it's a Mentonian sailing ship.

Data: Where?

Guinan: Right there. Don't you see the two swirls coming together to form the mast?

Data: I do not see it. It is interesting that people try to find meaningful patterns in things that are essentially random. I have noticed that the images they perceive sometimes suggest what they are thinking about at that particular moment. (pause) Besides, it is clearly a bunny rabbit.

--Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Imaginary Friend"

:hi:

[geckosfeet]

3. Oh my - both those exchanges are wonderful - but that data/Guinan exchange is timeless