Jonathan Gardner writes that data is ubiquitous, and the “big data” era is nigh. "I work in a techie industry that’s constantly discussing data, eating and even sleeping data — advertising technology. However, it has become abundantly clear in recent months that data is ‘mainstream,’ and not just for nerds anymore." At the jump, a few reasons everyone ("including your grandma," he writes) needs to really care about data, right now. Probably not my grandma.