Thank you for this. I worked on the original Weather Underground apps and I'm sad every time I have to use the new one.

Mongo just pawn in game of life.

I wonder if the author minds that every store that he shops in and restaurant that he visits records his face on their video surveillance systems? Sure, maybe it's 2D instead of 3D, but much more pervasive.

Thank you for posting this. I've been trying to convince people they can do this for the last week and they look at me like I'm insane. They can even buy an insulin syringe carrying case for a few dollars if they need something robust.

Everyone knows global variables are bad, but when you need to ship an app soon and would have to modify a dozen classes and methods to transmit one tiny piece of information from the top level of an app all of the way down to the bottom (or vice versa), a global variable works nicely.

Multiple heads on each side of the platter might be a better solution, one for the inner part and one for the outer.

Turn on FileVault to encrypt the drive. Set a firmware password. Make sure there are no guest accounts. See https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.apple.com%2Fkb%2FP... and https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.apple.com%2Fen-u... . Turn off iCloud and don't enter an AppleID. Use an encrypted text editor on top of this with a 3rd password. This won't stop the NSA, but will stop most hack attempts. Putting documents on an encrypted SD card is not a bad idea.

Obligatory West Wing map discussion: (it's worth it if you haven't seen it) http://youtu.be/vVX-PrBRtTY

Don't forget Africa.

One spin-off can handle A-M searches and the other can handle N-Z.

K & R
Effective C++
Object-Oriented Software Construction by Bertrand Meyer
The PostgreSQL manual

People were afraid of being treated like numbers rather than human beings. It was a very different era.

This clip from The West Wing sums up map projection issues nicely: http://youtu.be/n8zBC2dvERM

"People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones." - Charles Kettering

Drones can be hacked. Their signals jammed or spoofed. Their satellites destroyed. Their home bases attacked or infiltrated. They work very well against low tech enemies like Iraq and Afghanistan. Against the Russians or Chinese it would be a different matter, especially when the chips in a drone originate in China. War is an ever-changing game where every move has a countermove. The nice thing about human pilots is that they understand their orders and the underlying reasons for those orders. They can change their minds quickly and use situational information that drones would lack.

I'm not sure that g-force matters all that much in an era of smarter, faster missiles. When was the last real movie-style dogfight?

On the other hand, there is no question that drones are useful and will continue to improve at a rapid pace. Eventually they will replace most of our planes. With longer flight times we might be able to replace half of our aircraft carriers with land-based drones, but the inevitable cost overruns won't magically disappear.