I just used sphericalMercator and converted all of my calculations to meters (which... actually simplified things, but I had already finished writing the code for those things). I still have no idea why lon/lat were broken, but hey, if meters work....
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.