As I said, I upgraded the HDD to an SSD. Obviously, the extra time needed to boot via the hard drive masked the keyboard lockout.

Obviously the file type would need to be embedded within the file itself.

I trust the file name implicitly... as the name of the file. Like Shakespeare said: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell...". Rose.jpg is an entirely trustworthy name for a batch file; and it should be designated as a batch file by a file type field, not by hacking the filename.

I disagree. We don't need extensions. We need an entirely separate file-type field. We don't store the creation date in the name, or the security bits in the name, or the archive bit in the name, so why store the file type in the name? Extensions are a hack that should have been dealt with decades ago.

Enabled? Disabled? No. It shouldn't exist at all. The file type should be a separate field, not mingled into the file name.

I agree. The file type should not be a function of the filename, but its own field, like the date. Hiding the extension gives the illusion of a separate file type field, but it's a hack. It's a hack masking another hack, and like most other such cruft, we owe its continued existence to Microsoft.

Impossible. The "extension" isn't a separate field. The file name field was repurposed into a combined file name/file type field. As long as users have access to the whole field, there will be problems.

Extensions should be eliminated, and a separate file type field, uneditable by the user except by special program (like the date fields, ownership/permission flags, and backup status indicator) should be created.

er,.. Linux was aping Multix and other *nix. It came out pretty original.

While I do wish the kids would go outside and play, it's not minecraft that's the problem, it's just the way kids are in the time of "playdates". Minecraft however is such a great game for them. It basically replaces the hours I spent with lego. I find hardcore first person shooters psychically disturbing so I'm greatly relieved when they find shooting sheep with enchanted diamond bows or building cat fountains amusing. Its similar to the way I used to build lego things that I could smash. Even better with things like raspberry pi, you can write in your own python code to build stuff or launch other people in the air when they come into your house.

The very best feature of minecraft is that there is no objective at all. Again like lego. it's up to you and your imagination. It just gives you an organized platform for creating.

What will MS do? I was afraid they might shutdown the python API on raspberry pi but they just released Windows for free on the new raspberry pi, so it looks like they might embrace it even more. I think Microsoft is finally re-learning how they became successful by being the low cost alternative to apple and IBM. they want the love again. Market share uber alles.

I suspect they might pervert it the way lego has been perverted by selling specialized kits that just build one thing. So they might sell pre-built minecraft worlds with various happy-meal like themes. Or hook it into microsoft live where you gotta pay the man a subscription to live in the microsoft amusement park. I would really resent that because kids come and go from their toy interests and so a subscription for something they are not using would hurt.

This exact same topic was covered in Frontline's special on North Korea over a year ago. Their point of contact was Jiro Ishimaru of Asiapress who was sneaker netting USBs over the border. They even took a video of people trying to watch on a tiny screen and having to shut everything down whenever they heard someone outside.

The documentary also touched on humanitarian issues as much as it could using a secret camera. Sad stuff. Great thing to watch. Occasionally you can catch it streaming on Netflix but it seems to not be available right now.

Those poor harness racers, all put out of work because nobody makes buggy whips anymore.

I switched my laptop from a HDD to a SSD. Before the changeover, it used to be that once the login screen came up, I could log in. Now it boots much faster, but now when the login screen comes up, I have to wait for 30 seconds or so until the keyboard becomes responsive. (And before you suggest it, I have updated the bios to the latest version with no effect.)

You can already buy identity concealing glasses. They work by projecting a false set of the facial landmarks used by facial recognition software while obscuring your own.

Best of all, you can get them at the dollar store.

[Cough]Ron Jeremy[/cough]

For target practice?