How can you forget paren, brace, bracket etc.? You press the shift key with your left pinky if needed. With your right ring and pinky, you play a 'chord' that puts in both the opening and closing symbols. On the way back to the rest position, you hit left arrow to put the cursor where it needs to be. Regards, Bill Drissel Grand Prairie, TX

If the Govt has not de-crypted the disk, how can anyone testify that the disk has been encrypted? Can anyone distinguish between encrypted data and random data without de-crypting it first?

Bill Drissel
Grand Prairie, TX, USA

Working full-time on a cutting edge product. I plan to work as long as I can. Program at work; program at home.

Regards,
    Bill Drissel

My mother, my teachers in elementary, HS and college tried to teach me to write ... all to no avail. One period when I had no money and nujthin' to do, I borrowed Flesch's How to Write Better from a library. In one weekend, I taught myself to write. At last I understood the complaints about unclear referents , complex clauses, passive voice, weak verbs. I reported for work on Monday, a clear, confident writer.

I'm very susceptible to the professor's idea, "I can't teach you to write but you can learn."

Bill Drissel

Clark Kerr, chancellor Cal Berkeley a hundred years ago, said he had three jobs: football for the alumni, parking spaces for faculty and sex for students.

My children read something in a chldren's magazine to the effect, "If you're waiting a long time at a red light, it won't turn green until it can stop a car on the cross street."

It doesn't seem to occur to my fellow commenters that a prudent scientist could simply refuse to predict the future by being silent. The future is unpredictable. The future is more unpredictable than most people think it is. If you think you or anyone else can predict the future, then the future is much more unpredictable than you think it is.

For Pete's sake, OP, it's not about you. The GUI designer has built a path that you and newbies can use to get your work done. Grownups regard command lines and GUIs simply as hurdles between a person and what he wants ... just jump over them.
Bill Drissel
Grand Prairie, TX, USA

Metrication
Actually the United States has been "on the Metric System" since 1866. In 1893, our customary units of weights and measures were defined in metric units. In 1975, Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act "to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States".

Careful observers will note that nearly every package they buy has both customary and metric weights and measures.

In the early 80s, I remember bossy people pushing metrication. Most of them couldn't distinguish between force and mass. Some of them were women whose argument collapsed when I asked them if they had converted their kitchens to metric :-) .

I thought the mixture of screw threads, fasteners and wrenches would prevent metrication on that front. But alas, I've lived to own cars that had a mix of threads on the same vehicle.

So let me try to answer the original question:
1. We don't use Imperial units. Our customary gallon, quart etc. are different.
2. All of our customary units are defined in terms of metric weights and measures. In an exact sense, all of our weights and measures are metric.
3. Unlike many other governments, ours has, so far, not used the threat of force to make us abandon our customary units. (Google for "Metric Martyrs")
4. History is everything. People learn from parents, surroundings and schools. Since most people don't want to use two sets of units, they will continue to use customary units in the absence of coercion.
5. In the event that the know-it-alls in Washington do force the exclusive use of the metric system, I await the outcry of American housewives and cooks who have to convert their kitchens, recipe books, measuring cups etc. ... the howls of mechanics who suddenly must deal with pressures in kiloPascals ... farmers used to buying fence wire in rods and barns in sq feet who have to metricate
6. In aid of what?

Virgin Birth is a different dogma from Immaculate Conception. If you're gonna be sarcastic, ya gotta be exact.

If numbers are important in your job, you should learn the most popular of all programming languages: Spreadsheet.

You are not expected to know this.

I once saw the resume of a man who went to work for NSA at age 18. The entire Work Experience part of the resume was like: "Mr. X has served in a variety of technical and management positions at the National Security Agency for N years."

Don't try to identify the myriads of malware. Persuade such folks to surf from a live CD.
.
Regards,
    Bill Drissel

Daniel J Bernstein has a fix for spam - his Internet Mail 2000. You can see it at:

http://cr.yp.to/im2000.html

Regards,
    Bill Drissel