The Cloud is not in the sky

Who came up with this name for a bunch of computers? Why do I have this ridiculous image in my head of servers floating above actual clouds even as I know that this is far from reality?

A brief foray into Wikipedia tells me that it probably came from those cloud-like bubbles in diagrams that stood for the stuff in between the parts you diagrammed in detail.

Somehow this became a way of talking about network connections that happened like magic. It’s really another way of having a “black box” where things happen, but it’s a much lighter, fluffier, expansive version of that.

I vaguely remember the first time I heard a reference to “the cloud” and I remember it sounding really odd.

Now everything is “on the Cloud” or “in the Cloud” – were not sure if it has substance or not. Is it a shelf, or a container?

I think we like the image of the cloud because it makes us feel like our data is up high, out of reach.

You can’t help but feel like it is safer there than it would be down here on the ground in ugly buildings. Connected to a lot of other ugly buildings. Where it actually is.

I like to think of the Cloud as a floating target that anyone can see. Do I really want to put my stuff there? Hmm.

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The Happiness Final

Last year, I was taking a course called “A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment”. It’s really good, I would recommend it.

But not long ago, I was looking at the site and realized I had never actually finished the course.

I had been taking a Machine Learning class at the same time, and that took priority in the last two weeks.

Happiness, schmappiness.

Well, I’ve been telling people I took the course and I felt bad that I didn’t actually finish it. So I re-enrolled and finished the last assignment and studied up for the final.

It was actually a nice reminder of the things we had gone over in the course. Maybe I should take it every year.

I have now officially finished the course and I can have my life of happiness and fulfillment. 🙂

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Lost! In the parking lot

Did you ever have one of those days?

You’re all excited about this event at the expo center and you know that the parking will be horrendous, but you’re okay with that.

You get there and of course you have to drive around a bit before you find a spot.

Once you do, you imagine that you have memorized a clue to where you are parked and you head out across the rows and rows of cars toward the door.

You enjoy yourself for a while, and then you get tired. You are ready to go home.

You go out to the parking lot, and…

Where is the car?

You’re sure you were in this area, the door was that way…

This is where it is so useful to have someone else with you, because that doubles the chance that someone will remember where you parked.

I could have sworn I was in the second row…

I wasn’t the only one. There was another person out there who had lost her car. We ran into each other a couple of times.

I was in the second row of that section off to the side where I’d never parked before.

Just in case you are that other person, this is for you. I hope you found yours.

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Favorite: Free Code Camp

If you’re interested in learning web development, and you like checking things off a list and getting little encouraging messages, this is the place.

HTTPS://www.freecodecamp.org

Not only have I worked my way through most of the front end development section, I am now helping with a local free “boot camp” for anyone who needs help with the FCC curriculum.

Check it out!

Note: I’m hoping to finish the Front End Development Certificate by the end of the year. I’ll let you know if I do.

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So tempting…

Nothing makes my day more than an email from a “job huntering site”, admiring me to suggest a job that has nothing to do with my computer science degree.

So, the place where I live has to be aware? That seems way too technologically advanced for me.

It’s so tempting, isn’t it?

P.S. If you’re interested, I can forward this opportunity to you.

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Silver Bells

Silver bell tree decorationI’m sure I was meant to have this silver bell.

I saw it rolling in an awkward bell-roll way down by the corner of the alley and the road this morning, pushed by the warm pre-storm winds as I left this morning.

When I came back, it was farther down the road, rolling into the entrance to the car wash. Clearly, it was not going to be returning to its home, wherever it came from. I took pity on it and stopped to pick it up.

How far had it traveled? Maybe I’ll go looking for the tree it came from, somewhere south of the alley…

Meantime, I’ll enjoy it.

 

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Picture of the week: Would chips

So this week wasn’t much for taking pictures.

This is an old screenshot from days gone by, but it still makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile, too.

How much would would a woodchuck… ? 🙂

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Falcon Park

Falcon Park

As far as parks around here go, this one isn’t bad. I mean, look at that view.

You can get to it from either side, and there’s a path that goes around the outside. A couple of ball parks, some trees along the path.

If the wind picks up and it isn’t sunny, it gets chilly pretty quickly. It was one of those days.

Just so you know, this was the fourth park I visited that day. That’s what happens when I have nothing better to do – I scout out decent parks using my car’s navigation system.

Park #1 was really just ball fields. No good place to sit or walk.

Park #2 had a couple of police cars in the lot. The officers were talking to a homeless man who was sleeping on one of the picnic tables in the pavilion. It didn’t exactly feel like a comfortable place.

Park #3 made Park #1 look like a nature trail. I’m not sure how they could have used that much cement and still called it a park. The small trees were just growing out of small square openings. The small playground had wood chips on the ground and was surrounded by cement. I can only image how hot it must get in the summer.

So Falcon Park was the winner.

Happy December! And fake birthday for my niece – one of her online accounts told me it was her birthday. I know the truth.

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Never underestimate the power of wallpaper

Remember the wallpaper in your bedroom when you were a kid?

Remember the wallpaper in your grandfather’s house?

Remember the wallpaper in the kitchen of that apartment?

Never underestimate the power of wallpaper.

How many hours have we spent looking at those walls?

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VR or not VR?

Having just come back from an event where I was able to experience a couple of different VR demos, I feel fully qualified to give my opinion about what we should and should not be doing with VR.

We should: let people feel like they are in places they have never been.

We should not: force someone to stand still and listen to a lecture about that place while wearing a headset and holding VR hand-things that do nothing.

We should: find better ways of letting people move around by physically moving their own feet.

We should not: require more effort to move forward a couple of feet in VR than one would expect to expend in real life.

We should: keep trying to make VR useful and/or fun in creative and innovative ways.

We should not: use VR to make 3D versions of 2D charts and immersive versions of horrifically boring educational experiences.

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