If you're a pilot, altitude usually means height above mean sea level, and is called indicated alititude, true altitude, baro altitude, pressure altitude, or density altitude (mostly slightly different due to which factors are being corrected for, but referenced to sea level). Then, we have height above ellipsoid and height above geoid, which come into play when using GPS. What you're calling altitude is called either AGL (above ground level) or sometimes, absolute altitude. Elevation is most commonly used to mean "height above sea level" in geography.

I have a feeling that Al Queda doesn't expend the same level of resources on the care and feeding of prisoners that we do in the USA.

Half of the world's Internet users are active users of Facebook (where 'active' is defined as using at least once a month). http://www.statista.com/statis..., http://www.statista.com/statis...

84% of Facebook users are aged 18 - 29, while nearly half of teen Facebook users say they're using it more than last year. http://www.businessinsider.com...

That doesn't look much like "fleeing in droves".

It's California. Property tax is initially set at 1% of the purchase price, regardless of location. Prop 13 limits annual increases to 3% (of current tax) OR change in assessed valuation, whichever is less. My property taxes actually went down for several years in a row when values dropped a few years ago.

"Substantially" means "Considerable in importance, value, degree, amount, or extent". So, "substantially equal" means "Equal in importance, value, degree, amount, or extent." It doesn't mean equal in subject matter. So, what universe? Maybe the universe where girls underperform in computer science and boys underperform in english language arts. Sort of like the one we're in, for example.

I would settle for seeing the Pledge of Allegiance not referred to as the National Anthem.

I own an angle grinder, and I've never thought of using it on a computer. I have, however, considered my table saw on a couple of occasions.

I can't tell whether you're kidding, but I'll bite. Lots of people aren't chained to a smartphone 24/7. I know quite a few people who only have their phones on their persons when they're out of the house. I usually put my phone in airplane mode and plug it into the charger when I get home from work; it doesn't wake up until I leave for work the next morning. It's not unusual for the phone to go untouched from Friday night until Monday morning unless I go someplace where it might be handy to have it with me.

I'd say that when one of the most anticipated features of a new operating system is a web browser, there isn't much to look forward to.

Unless you need to cut a mimeograph stencil. Which would be either nostalgia or for love of the smell of mimeo ink.

Hmm. You must be referring to the obscure, little-used app named "Phone". So 20th century.

I'm interested to hear your (or the AC's) ideas on how Hillary Clinton could be quietly shuffled off to jail.

Science fiction != real life. But that aside, what's up with the whole lame "two phones" argument? Most people who have smartphones know you can have two email clients connecting to two different accounts on two different services on a single device.

Or Selene, if you prefer Greek mythology to Roman.