Gregory Pittman

PDF Expert doesn’t suck as an Adobe Acrobat alternative.

The title of this post should be read as including a rating of 0 out of 4 stars. Every time I agree to watch a movie like this with my wife, I finish it thinking, “Well, that was stupid!”

I finished listening to The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien. Andy Serkis’s performance is incredible! If you like the Tolkien tales, you owe it to yourself to revisit them through Serkis’s artistry. I’m looking forward to his reading of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 📚

I’ve downloaded 99 books from my Kindle library before Amazon locks them down. Now, I need to figure out how to use Calibre. I’m assuming it’s fairly simple and straightforward.

I just finished reading Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell. This second book in the trilogy felt more tightly constructed than the first installment. Cornwell’s trilogy presents his version of the Arthurian legend, featuring characters who actually existed and were later connected to the myth. Is it myth? Legend? History? In the first novel, Arthur was barely more than a supporting character. The second book features him more prominently, but I still wouldn’t say it revolves around Arthur. It seems that Cornwell is building up to the third book, where Arthur will undoubtedly fulfill his destiny. 📚

I started using Apple computers in 1991 when I began college. Except for checking my email using Pine,¹ for which my memory tells me I had to use a Windows machine, I gravitated toward Macintosh computers.

As part of my senior project in music technology, I built the first-ever website for the University of South Carolina School of Music’s choral program on a Macintosh. At that time, Apple was the standard computer in creative arts departments. The website was definitely a product of early web design, complete with a blue rock paper background. It served as the official website for the program for an embarrassingly long time. When the university established its in-house web development department, it prioritized designing sites for programs that didn’t already have one. By the time they finally got around to replacing the choral program’s site, I was well into my teaching career and had begged my professors for years to take it down.

After college, when I was starting out and struggling to support a family, I resorted to using inexpensive Windows computers that I had to replace every two years. Using those Windows computers was fine at first—just fine and no better—but after a couple of months, they would gradually devolve into a sluggish mess. No matter how often I defragmented, rebooted, or reinstalled the operating system, using a Windows machine always became a frustrating experience.

For the past 20 years, I’ve exclusively used Apple products.² When my district’s IT staff upgraded Windows units in administrators’ offices, I told them that unless they had to put one in my office, they could give it to someone else who needed it because I would never even power it on. They were happy to let me use the MacBook Air they provided for mobile duties as my main computer. (I’ve always wondered why they give each administrator both a fully capable laptop and desktop.)

I frequently use iPads and would never consider getting rid of them. At times, I’ve even thought about going iPad-only. My 12.9” iPad Pro is my music folder when I perform for everything except church services. I use my iPad when I visit classrooms or supervise lunch or hallway transitions. It lets me quickly look up information a forgetful middle schooler might need. It enables me to document incidents on the fly to keep track of all the shenanigans middle schoolers find for themselves.

But the Mac is my home. My last MacBook Pro served me faithfully for five years. I didn’t realize how slow it had become until I recently upgraded to an M4 machine. The new machine will easily last that long and likely well beyond that. I know every inch of the machine, and it never fails to give me exactly what I need when I need it. I know the machine is going to work before I ever open it up, and I never have to fear seeing a “blue screen of death.”

It brings me joy to open my MacBook and work. And because of that, I’m solidly and happily in the camp of Mac-first users.

Photo by Daniel Korpai on Unsplash

There are lots of weather apps available in app stores today, each with its loyal followers. However, choosing a weather app involves more than just considering its design or available widgets and smartwatch complications. The most crucial factor is the data sources an app uses. App developers have to pay for their weather data, and that data isn’t cheap. Therefore, good apps must decide between displaying in-app ads or charging a purchase/subscription fee. Don’t let that deter you; accuracy is important.

How Do You Know Which Data Source Is Most Accurate?

ForecastAdvisor is a valuable resource for determining which data source has historically been more accurate for your location. For example, in my area, the top three sources in terms of accuracy for November 2023 were Microsoft, The Weather Channel, and AerisWeather.

Local News/Weather Apps

In the United States, every major television market has an app featuring news and weather for the area. Forecasts are curated by meteorologists who know the area and can provide the highest level of accuracy. The problem is that these apps are poorly designed, frustrating to use, and have poor widget and watch support, if they have these features at all.

What Options Are There?

In the iOS App Store, there isn’t a weather app (that I am aware of) that offers Microsoft as a data source. Therefore, I have to choose an app that offers The Weather Channel as a data source.

CARROT is probably the iOS community’s favorite weather app, and I do love it. In terms of features and customization options, no other weather app comes close. However, since I’m looking for accuracy and CARROT does not currently offer The Weather Channel as a data source, I prefer to use other apps.

Weather Underground and Hello Weather are two apps that use data from The Weather Channel. Weather Underground lacks widget or watch support, but the app itself is well-designed. Hello Weather is a beautiful app.

Based on the availability of the most accurate data sources, here is a list of weather apps you might choose. There are privacy concerns with some of these apps, so keep reading below.

• Accuweather: AccuWeather, CARROT, Hello Weather
• AerisWeather: CARROT, Hello Weather
• Apple: CARROT, Hello Weather, Mercury, Weather
• Foreca: CARROT, Hello Weather
• Microsoft: As of the date of this post, no weather app in the Apple ecosystem offers Microsoft as a data source
• The Weather Channel: Hello Weather, TheWeatherChannel, Wunderground

Privacy

The indie apps CARROT, Hello Weather, and Mercury all respect users’ privacy. Apple Weather, of course, follows Apple’s privacy policy. But the corporate weather apps AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, and WUnderground all track users heavily. If privacy is something you’re interested in (and it should be), I suggest staying away from these apps.

And the Winner Is…

When we combine the need for both accuracy and privacy, creating a list of viable weather apps becomes easy.

🥇Hello Weather
🥈CARROT
🥉Mercury and Apple Weather

As you can see from the list above, Hello Weather is the champion of providing users more data sources known for their accuracy. CARROT comes in a close second. Apple’s weather data may, in time, prove very accurate; it’s too soon to tell. But given that the Weather app is a part of Apple’s overall privacy policy, I would use it and Mercury before I used any of the corporate options, at least in their app form. Accessing the AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, and Weather Underground websites in a privacy-centric browser like Firefox or Safari should be relatively safe, so that’s an option.

Good Enough?

Most weather apps are going to be close enough on the forecast accuracy for most people. If app features are important, maybe accepting “close enough” is perfectly acceptable. If I were willing to do that, I could actually go with CARROT because AerisWeather is available as a data source. I mentioned earlier that, for November 2023, AerisWeather was the third most accurate data source. But for all of 2022, AerisWeather was fifth on the list, so there’s some fluctuation there. However, The Weather Channel is perpetually in the top three accurate data sources and, for now, that’s where I land.

Why Not Apple Weather?

Apple’s weather app used to use The Weather Channel for its data source. Now, Apple either uses its own data, or they no longer disclose where they gather their data from. Mercury Weather is an app that has garnered a lot of attention recently because it’s a beautiful app. It uses Apple’s weather data. Since I don’t know where Apple sources its data, I’m not willing to rely on it just yet.

A Big Surprise

In the United States, one might think that the National Weather Service would be one of the most accurate sources for forecasts. Surprisingly, the NWS ranks seventh (yikes!) on the list for November 2023 and sixth for 2022 overall. I might as well flip a coin or use a Magic 8 Ball.

2025 update: The Trump administration is stormtrooper-ing its way through the US federal government, firing tens of thousands of employees. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association alone suffered hundreds of firings of weather forecasters and other employees. This will have a negative impact on the quality of weather forecasts available not only from the NWS but other sources that rely on data from the NWS. (Hint: they all do!).

Conclusion

Choosing a preferred weather app then comes down to deciding what features you need and how important having the most accurate forecast is. And that choice might change from season to season. If you live in an area that gets snow, knowing whether the next system is going to bring a cold rain or an inch of snow is an important distinction; you’ll want pinpoint accuracy. However, during rainy season, it may not matter to you whether you get an inch of rain or an inch and a half of rain. Accuracy becomes a little less important; you know it’s going to rain and the difference in the amount is negligible.

The leader bears full responsibility for explaining the strategic mission, developing the tactics, and securing the training and resources to enable the team to properly and successfully execute (p. 31).

Such a leader, however, does not take credit for his or her team’s success but bestows that honor on his or her subordinate leaders and team members (p.31).

Leadership is the single greatest factor in any team’s performance (p. 49).

There are no bad teams, only bad leaders (p. 49)

Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve and they must build that mind-set into the team (p. 55).

Teams need a forcing function to get the different members working together to accomplish the mission and that is what leadership is all about (p. 55).

Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win (p. 57).

Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism (p. 100).

If the overall team fails, everyone fails, even if a specific member or an element within the team did their job successfully (p. 122).

Willink, J., & Babin, L. (2017). Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (1st ed.). St. Martin’s Press.