More or less every day I visit the Raspberry Pi home page to see if there is any new information on when the allegedly-mostly-working Android 4 will be released, and every day there isn't. As far as I know, Broadcom is the holdup. This does not give me confidence in Broadcom...

Hello, Washington? It's the 21st Century calling. You're less important than you thought.

There is no reason why all 535 members of Congress need to live and work in Washington, DC, disconnected from their constituency. There is also no reason why Representatives should spend upwards of a quarter of each term campaigning and commuting -- or worse yet, ignoring votes entirely. It's time Congress came home to us, the People.

My proposal is simple, and it needs just three words. Let Congress telecommute.

The benefits of this would be enormous, and the costs minimal -- except to the lobbyists, who currently find it quite convenient that they can bend everyone's ear since they're all in one place at one time. Each Congressman should have to live and have an office in the District he or she represents. This office could be owned by the Federal government, as that would certainly simplify matters whenever the seat changes hands, but it is not strictly necessary for this idea to work. All that is necessary is a data link back to Washington. The original concept of Congress centered around 18th century communications -- that is, Pony Express at best. In theory, we could have sent Congress home when the telegraph came into vogue, but that's understandably a bit impersonal. The earliest this idea would have been practical is when the telephone system allowed for 435 people to be on the same line at once -- which had happened by the 1960s at the latest. Still a bit impersonal, even if they could watch proceedings on TV and phone in their comments and votes.

But what's the excuse now? If there is anyone representing a district that has no reasonable data access, then they can be exempted to live in a nearby district that has such provisions. They'll still be a lot more accessible to their constituency than they are now. It will also mean a lot more to people when their Representative lives a couple miles away (as will generally be the case in urban districts) rather than a couple thousand miles away. The fact that they aren't going to talk to their Representative on any given day is irrelevant, what's important is that they feel like they CAN.

Senators should probably operate from the state capitol, unless they REALLY don't like each other. (It happens!) Or, they should live wherever they choose, within the state they represent, and furnish an office and data connection at their own expense if they prefer.

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Is there indeed anything we can do about the new cadre of Microsoft astroturfers with modpoints? Is it just time to finally give up. I can't imagine that they haven't actually paid their way in.

I am looking for a large-format inkjet with continuous inking that is suitable for printing poster prints and the like. Ideally it would have both Linux and Windows support, preferably through a standard protocol, but this is not an absolute necessity. What IS a necessity is the ability to install a continuous inking system for making these large prints, and being able to change inks. I am biased towards Epson or Canon but I want good advice, not just biased.

Copyright is not a natural right, and if it had been instituted in its current form (denial of copying, as opposed to forced copying) two thousand years earlier we'd probably be at least a thousand years behind where we are now.

All you Apple fanboys prepare to gnash your teeth, rip out your hair and throw tantrums, the Woz has spoken.

Essentially, Android is more versatile and does things better than the iPhone, including Siri which apparently has problems connecting Woz to one of his favorite steak houses. Woz also doesn't like the fact the you need a connection, at all times, to get voice commands to work.

In short, the iPhone seems to be a violation of Rule #1 of the Three Rules of IT That Should Never Be Broken: never let programmers design your applications.

Woz also isn't thrilled about the short battery life, though Android has its own problems with battery life.

OK, I know AI is hard (no pun intended) but are there any strategy games out there that don't cheat on any but the lowest levels? Haven't tried Civ V yet, but IV is just another case of easy easy easy IMPOSSIBLE to me... I just can't muster the interest to outsmart a computer program written to cheat against me.

I've submitted this on EA's Facebook wall and repost it when it gets deleted:

EA's website is impossible to use. I started out trying to sign up with Pogo. On the registration page, it provides two fields to type your password into. I type my selected password in both places and fill out the rest of the registration form. I submit the form and get back "you need to provide a password". I go to help and select "Talk to an adviser" It asks me to log in. I follow the links to register an account on the main EA website, check my email confirm, and go back to "Talk to an adviser" I select Pogo as the Product. I get a spinning circle below for about 20 minutes. I stop it... Actually there's one still going as I type this. I log into Pogo using Facebook. It tells me I need to update my profile. I attempt to update it. It tells me my password is not correct. I attempt to go to EA's forums. It tells me I need to create a persona. I'm looking at a page that says Select a default persona, a spinning circle, and "Add a persona". As I type this it finally returns and I click on the icon that beneath it says hackwrench (EA ID). At the forums it says "Your email address is UNVERIFIED. You will be unable to post new topics or replies. Please visit the User Profile page to verify your account.
  Electronic Arts". I thought I already did, that but okay, I click through the links until it tells me a verification email has been sent. I go back to my email and click on the verification link. It tells me I am now verified.I go back to the tab that said it sent an email, click back to the forums, and hit refresh. It still says I'm unverified. I log out and log back in. It no longer says I'm unverified, but I click through a few pages and still don't see an option to post. Back at the help site, I find an article for EasyInfo. I install and run it. I click on test your system. I get an unhandled exception error message dialog box, but it says I can continue. The EasyInfo window has expanded and there is an unpopulated box with the title "Games list:" and a blue button that says update games list. I click on the button, and get a dialog box that says "Progress indicator please wait while the games requirements info is retrieved". Then I get a unrecoverable error box that says "UserImterface has stopped working. Close program." The only option left to me that I can see is to post here on Facebook.
  This post keeps getting deleted, but since it is my only communications line with EA, I'll keep posting it until I get a response...especially since this is supposed to be an option with "Connect with us".

I want some continuous servos. Should I buy or hack? What's good to buy if I just want to do that? Double-BB and metal gear would both be nice.

I would like them to be informed that they are douchewaffles. Even the whole sign-in/password recovery system feels like something running on a 3270.

Anyone else enjoying SWTOR as much as I am?

Sith Inquisitor, Sorcerer Heals... the whole game is just amazingly fun.

And no pandas to be seen, at least in the immediate future.

The trial is two days, so I didn't want to start it, and now I've removed it for disk space, and probably won't bother to reinstall. Let this be a lesson to you, limited-time trials are for fucking idiots.

From Dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange to corn even rats can't eat, Monsanto wants you dead.