Today's Shared Google Reader Items, 12/10

I'm sleepy, but that doesn't mean I won't get today's shared Google Reader items out of the way before drifting off to early sleep.

Austin:

• Yesterday it hit 80 during the day in Austin, then snowed at night:
  
• In other Austin news, a teacher in Austin sent an angry letter to a charity that gives away Linux laptops, chiding the charity for fraudulently telling children the software was free, when "No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful." For those who aren't sure, yes, Linux and other free and open-source software really is free. The teacher is an idiot. Also, Ubuntu is awesome and way easier to use than Windows, and I really need to start using it on more than just my backup desktop.

Technology:

• Nintendo is bringing eBooks to the DS. I strongly approve.

The Internets:

• Google has published it's year-end zeitgeist round-up. My personal favorite is the large number of international top-tens which include "google" as a search term on google.
• This image "evolution" system is fairly cool, but, after running it for a bit, I found it did what the weak version I wrote several years ago in Javascript did: it bloats and bloats, and starts to take over your memory. I'm still hoping to borrow from their idea (which, in turn, borrows from someone else's idea) to get my version up soonish, but I still think Flash would be a much faster way to go.

Politics:

• 538.com had a good rundown of what happens next in Illinois, now that Blagojevich has been indicted but neither convicted nor impeached (yet). He followed it up with more details of whether the Senate can reject a Blago pick, and a run-down about what Obama didn't know.
• The Obama transition team added a badass question voting system to change.gov. When you have a few minutes, register and vote. It took me a few tries to get logged in (probably because the servers were getting hit heavily from the news spreading), but it was very cool once I got there. Bonus awesomeness: the check, x, and "skip" buttons show "yes," "no," and "meh...", respectively, when you mouse-over them.
• Obama has chosen his Energy Secretary, EPA head, energy "czar," and head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. I love the Energy pick: a Nobel Prize-winning physicist (and biochemist, 'cuz he's cool like that) and long-time alternative-energy advocate, Steven Chu.

That's it for today. As always, comment below!

Coming tomorrow: A blog about something else, with photos!