[development] DEP - cascading variable system

[Robert Douglass]

I have a feature request:

get_or_set_variable()

This will look to see if a variable is in the system, and if not, write 
the default value to the database. This stops the situation where some 
of the state is in the database and some is in the code (in the form of 
defaults). I find it better to have all the state in one place.

-Robert