I think we need distinct words for mother and father (biological relationship), and mother and father (social role). They're not always the same thing...

I understood why the decision must be made before they are 18. But the phrase 'the clock is ticking' usually implies that time is about to run out and there is a high pressure to make a decision quickly. My point is, unless they're already 17, that isn't really true; wait until they're old enough to have an informed discussion about this, then let them make the decision, before the deadline.

Why is 'the clock ticking'? You didn't mention their ages, but say that you have to make the choice before they are 18. Can't they make their own choice, long before their 18th birthdays?

Hey at least it still *looks* like an X-Wing and not an iWing, like what happened to the Enterprise...

Where those rovers made what?

Whilst I doubt it would trigger the 'gunshot detector', it does stand a good chance of getting the school shut down for the day anyway

Eh, it'll never be as good as the book.

This is something I've found as well. I've never received any formal instruction in grammar, but I like to think that my standard of writing is fairly high. A few years ago however, I started trying to learn a foreign language and found that my lack of understanding of the grammar of my own language made it much more difficult to relate to the rules of the foreign language.

Password reset process doesn't necessarily need it either. You can just tell the user '*if* you entered a valid username, we're sending you reset instructions', without revealing whether there was a match or not.

The only (non-technical) reason I can think of is that they think that longer passwords are more likely to be forgotten, and they don't want to deal with the support calls.

On the other hand, the people I work with who constantly forget their passwords can't even remember a string of 3 or 4 numbers, so maybe the length doesn't really make a lot of difference there.

I think we have a winner!

I tried recently to change my banking password to something much longer, only to find there's a limit of just 14 characters. None of the several bank staff I asked about it could tell me why that is.

I can do this, no problem. It really doesn't take long to learn where a few knobs are. If they're designed well, the shape also tells you which direction they are pointing and therefore what their current setting is. There's no need to look in order to find or change any of their settings.

I want them to refer to me as 'it'. Is there an option for that?

As someone trying to compete by building a 'Better Product'... unfortunately this is true.