Now I am confused.
(1) I've never seen this 'padlock' logo before, especially as an icon. I don't know for sure what it means. I might guess that the OS (Ubuntu) thinks AFNI is a security risk?
(2) This isn't caused directly by AFNI setting a "waiting" state, since that turns the blank spot with the "AFNI" dodecahedron into the "AFNI" sunburst. So my original posting is in the wrong direction.
In short, I don't know what is happening. Since I don't use Linux any more (Mac OS X all the way for me, now), perhaps Rick Reynolds might be able to help?