dre in the morning

Former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson dies aged 76
Charlie Wilson, the architect of the US support for anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan and subject of the Hollywood movie Charlie Wilson’s War, died today. He was 76. (guardian)

Australia cyber attacks could last ‘months’
The group, Anonymous, blocked the main government website www.australia.gov.au and www.aph.gov.au, the Australian parliament’s homepage, for a second day running in protest over controversial plans to filter the Internet. (afp)

The U.S. is Now a Police State
Americans have been losing the protection of law for years. In the 21st century the loss of legal protections accelerated with the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” which continues under the Obama administration and is essentially a war on the Constitution and U.S. civil liberties. (counterpunch)

Millions of people ‘waste their time by jogging’
Around 20 per cent of the population do not get any significant aerobic fitness benefit from regular exercise, according to an international study led by scientists at the University of London. (telegraph)

Picturing the Blizzard
Readers are sharing their best photographs from the snowstorm that hit the East Coast Wednesday. (nytimes)

Mayer apologizes for ‘Playboy’ interview
In it, he calls former girlfriend Jessica Simpson “sexual napalm” and says Jennifer Aniston is a technophobe who wishes she could go back to her career prime in 1998. He also uses the N-word. (usatoday)

‘Deadliest Catch’ captain Phil Harris dies after recent stroke
Harris, who was based out of Seattle, suffered the stroke during an offload of crab. He was found unconscious in a stateroom, was airlifted to Anchorage for 12 hours of surgery, then placed in a medically induced coma. He’d shown signs of improvement last week, squeezing hands and even telling his doctors and nurses, in his signature gruff style, to not screw things up. (latimes)

Hackers target PM’s website in protest
The government’s Cyber Security Operations Centre discovered the attack was coming on February 5 but was unable to stop the parliament house website going offline and Prime Minister Rudd’s site becoming home to “Operation Titstorm”. (smh)

14 Miserable Facts About St Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day traces its roots to an ancient pagan holiday called Lupercalia, in which men stripped naked, grabbed whips, and spanked young women in hopes of increasing their fertility. (listverse)

What Is Google Buzz?
So what exactly is Google Buzz? Used on a PC or mobile, Buzz reminds us of an RSS combined with all of your social networking—all within the existing Gmail and Google.com infrastructure. (gizmodo)

Journalists Out of Work, But Bono Still Has N.Y. Times Column
Leave it to a disgruntled Gen Y blogger who regularly complains about the lack of opportunities for young journalists to break through in mainstream outlets to be pissed about Bono’s place on the New York Times op-ed page. (trueslant)

Casey Johnson DEAD: Tila Tequila’s Girlfriend, Johnson & Johnson Heiress Dies At 30
ohnson’s death may have been from natural causes since a preliminary death investigation didn’t turn up any signs of foul play. (huffington post)

Former mayor admits to breaking into women’s homes to steal underwear
Ian Stafford, 59, resigned as Mayor of Preesall in Lancashire when he was arrested in connection with the missing garments. (mailonline)

Just add water – students invent alcohol powder
“Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16,” said project member Martyn van Nierop. (reuters)

Dating site for beautiful people expels ‘fatties’ after holiday weight gain
“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.” (cnn)

4chan Presents: YouTube Porn Day
It looks like 4chan has found its first major target of 2010. In a message sent to what is presumably a huge amount of undisclosed receipients, 4chan is announcing that this coming Wednesday, January 6, is going to be a very special event: YouTube Porn Day. (techcrunch)

Apple to Buy Quattro Wireless for $275 Million
Google recently forked over an astonishing $750 million for Silicon Valley’s AdMob, a Quattro competitor, which Apple had also made a bid to acquire. Both innovative start-ups are aimed squarely at the fast-growing market to advertise on smartphones, such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android devices. (allthingsdigital)

The Things
This is way cool. (clarkesworld via metafilter)

Bearianna Huffington Begs for Oral Sex and Purrs in that Weird Arianna Accent
Arianna Huffington: So powerful she will insist on being taken seriously even after we hear her sexy bear voice in The Cleveland Show, and read a blog about her sleep patterns and dream life. (gawker)