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If the box office numbers are any indication, you may be one of the roughly googillion people who have spent three hours in a darkened theater watching Avatar. And you probably didn’t notice that hidden deep in the film was a subtle critique of the sedentary, stereotypical-gamer lifestyle. The New York Times reports that creator James Cameron defended the movie against anti-smoking critics, and in the process revealed the intent behind the message. Actress Sigourney Weaver’s character smokes throughout the film, but only in her human body. “She’s rude, she swears, she drinks, she smokes,” said Cameron, claiming she isn’t meant to be a role model. “From a character perspective, we were showing that Grace doesn’t care about her human body, only her avatar body, which again is a negative comment about people in our real world living too much in their avatars, meaning online and in video games.”

It seems like a fair artistic point, but Cameron runs the risk of alienating a portion of his audience by falling back on tired old stereotypes. To be fair, he mentioned online interactions in general, which implicates services like Facebook and Twitter as well. And if people are spending their time (and money) on his game, we doubt he’d be too quick to say they’re neglecting their bodies.

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Filed under: Fit Family Guy

Ah, New Year’s. Time to leap onto the resolution bandwagon and then quite likely fall right back off.

Yeah, human nature sucks.

Many people wake up on Jan. 1st with plans to quit smoking, quit drinking, start exercising, start eating healthy, … Read more

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Jake’s cousin, Jessie Pavelka, also happens to be unmarried and has TV experience. The 27-year-old fitness model and personal trainer hosts the Lifetime series “Diet Tribe” and appeared in the network’s original holiday movie “12 Men of Christmas,” alongside Kristin Chenoweth and Josh Hopkins.
Jake Pavelka: I didn’t go in pushing. The show does have a bit of a rough history, with people breaking up or changing their minds, and that’s OK. I tried to be very honest no matter how painful it was and I just remained open-minded.
Jake Pavelka: My answer to that is I’m going to go on there to be myself. A lot of the dates and different activities we got to do on The Bachelor were geared around what I would do in my normal life – what dates scream Jake.

[THG NOTE: Does that include girl-on-girl action?]

TV Guide: Last season, some of your fellow contestants (and Jillian Harris herself) thought you were a bit too perfect. How do you respond to that?

Jake Pavelka: I don’t know what it is that make Ed and Jillian say that I was too perfect. Something that I see in the dating world these days is a bit of a lack of chivalry. It’s gotten so bad that women almost don’t expect it anymore.

TV Guide: Do you have dating rules you to like to follow?

Jake Pavelka: After an unbelievable date, if I want to call her the next morning, I’m just going to call. If that turns her off, “he’s smothering me, it’s too much too quick,” then that’s OK; we’re probably on two different pages.

TV Guide: We have to ask: Have you joined the mile-high club?

Jake Pavelka: [Laughs] I am not a member of the mile-high club, but I’ll leave you with this: I aspire to be … no I don’t aspire to be, I will be.

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Chip maker Broadcom wants its chips to be the heart of connected consumer gear. The company announced today its array of new chips being launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

Broadcom is a huge publicly-traded chip maker that contents with the likes of Intel, Marvell, Texas Instruments, Nvidia and Freescale. So its new technologies span most of the industry sectors such as set-top boxes, digital video, wireless connectivity and mobile phones. Its core mission is connecting everything. It’s one of the key players in the battle for everything digital, everywhere.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company will show demos that show communication between set-tops, digital TVs, broadband routers, and Blu-ray players. Broadcom said recently at its analyst meeting in December that it had large numbers of combination chips — those that marry multiple radios on a chip, without interference — to bring together Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other wireless technologies together at the lowest power levels and costs.

The company says a number of netbooks — which are smaller than laptops and are meant for surfing the web — will use its chips. Those netbooks are getting more and more capable, with support for web-streaming apps and high-definition video. The company is also pushing 3-D TV technologies to deliver more movie-like experiences in the home. Broadcom reported revenue of $4.6 billionin 2008 and it has more than 3,650 U.S. patents.

If the company has its way, Broadcom components will infiltrate the portable electronics gear that we are beginning to use in our parts of our lives.

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Filed under: Morning Scoop

Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.

Addicted to sugar? Megan Fox is too and she swears that doing shots of vinegar will help undo the damage.

Who says alcohol isn’t good for you? Vitamin-enhanced cocktails could get you buzzed while … Read more

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For those of you elitists with things like a “steady job” and “benefits,” you probably received a hefty Christmas bonus with your paycheck last month. The wisest move would be to invest it, but ask yourself this: can a high-yield savings account scale a vertical wall? Of course not, which means your most logical course of action would be to scour eBay high and low for the most impractical (and possibly by that very quality, totally badass) purchase. Since it was an excruciatingly slow news day, I took the liberty of doing it for you.

Available for a cool $40,900, this 1997 Hummer H1 is in excellent condition with only 7,600 miles on the odometer, indicating the previous owner was either a professional athlete, a rapper, or an exorbitantly wealthy soccer mom. The engine is 6.5L V8 turbo diesel that churns out 195 horsepower, which makes it perfectly suited for all the rock crawling it won’t be doing as it sits in your garage in your gated community. For those days when you want to feel the wind in your hair plugs, this particular H1 also comes with a fully detachable roof and enough interior seating for at least four ladies of ill repute.

On the off chance that you plan on buying it and using it for the purpose for which it was intended, it also comes with all that off-roading crap the Jeep fanboys ramble about. Just go read the listing or something.

Source: eBay Motors

This month Europe’s first electricity super-grid dedicated to renewable energy will become a political reality, as part of Europe’s plan to meet its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. Nine countries will draw …

This looks like the most wide-open NFL playoffs in recent memory; no one is favored by more than four points in the opening round, the NFC looks very evenly matched, and the Colts have all sorts of issues to sort out between now and their debut in two weeks. The sheet below is to be used for drafts that carry through the entire playoffs; game potential is the biggest thing to grab now, over pure talent and scoring potential. More than ever this list is about handicapping the 11 games to come.

To the rankage:

Quarterback
1. Peyton Manning(notes)
2. Philip Rivers(notes)
3. Drew Brees(notes)
4. Brett Favre(notes)
5. Tony Romo(notes)
6. Aaron Rodgers(notes)
7. Kurt Warner(notes)
8. Tom Brady(notes)
9. Donovan McNabb(notes)
10. Joe Flacco(notes)
11. Carson Palmer(notes)
12. Mark Sanchez(notes)

Comments: I’ll be surprised if any AFC team gets past the Colts or Chargers in Round 2, but I can’t decide on a definitive favorite after that. The Chargers look like the conference’s best team on paper right now, but Indy’s got home field and maybe the Colts can get their groove back by pasting someone in the Divisional Round.

I don’t see Brees as much better a play than Favre or Romo; the Cowboys might be the most ticklish play on the board. Sure, they could lose to Philly this week, but this might be the league’s deepest roster and I’d give them a shot at beating anyone, any venue. I think the Jets have an excellent shot at beating Cincinnati, but the easiest call of this entire exercise was burying Sanchez at the bottom of the list. The Jets will try to win in spite of Sanchez, playing hide-the-quarterback all the way.

Running Back
1. Adrian Peterson
2. Joseph Addai(notes)
3. Ryan Grant(notes)
4. Marion Barber(notes)
5. LaDainian Tomlinson(notes)
6. Thomas Jones(notes)
7. Pierre Thomas(notes)
8. Ray Rice(notes)
9. Cedric Benson(notes)
10. Darren Sproles(notes)
11. Beanie Wells(notes)
12. Reggie Bush(notes)
13. Felix Jones(notes)
14. Shonn Greene(notes)
15. Donald Brown(notes)
16. Brian Westbrook(notes)
17. Tim Hightower(notes)
18. Willis McGahee(notes)
19. Mike Bell(notes)
20. Kevin Faulk(notes)
21. Sammy Morris(notes)
22. LeSean McCoy(notes)
23. Chester Taylor(notes)
24. Fred Taylor(notes)
25. Leonard Weaver(notes)
26. Mike Tolbert(notes)
27. Brandon Jackson(notes)
28. Laurence Maroney 
29. Larry Johnson(notes)
30. Tashard Choice(notes)
31. Jacob Hester(notes)
32. Le’Ron McClain(notes)
33. Brian Leonard(notes)

Comments: My faith in the Chargers pushes Sproles up the list, and don’t overlook guys like Hester and Tolbert as REM-type sleepers if you see San Diego getting three games. Thomas says he’ll play through three broken ribs, it hurts just to type that. McCoy was hardly used in Week 17 but that might have been a flow-of-the-game fluke, albeit he has to contend with Westbrook and the underrated Weaver for touches. I wouldn’t pick Maroney on a dare.

Wide Receiver
1. Reggie Wayne(notes)
2. Vincent Jackson(notes)
3. Miles Austin(notes)
4. Sidney Rice(notes)
5. Marques Colston(notes)
6. Randy Moss(notes)
7. Donald Driver(notes)
8. Percy Harvin(notes)
9. Larry Fitzgerald(notes)
10. DeSean Jackson(notes)
11. Pierre Garcon(notes)
12. Greg Jennings(notes)
13. Anquan Boldin(notes)
14. Robert Meachem(notes)
15. Malcom Floyd(notes)
16. Julian Edelman(notes)
17. Austin Collie(notes)
18. Roy Williams
19. Jeremy Maclin(notes)
20. Patrick Crayton(notes)
21. Devery Henderson(notes)
22. Braylon Edwards(notes)
23. Derrick Mason(notes)
24. Jerricho Cotchery(notes)
25. Bernard Berrian(notes)
26. Chad Ochocinco(notes)
27. James Jones(notes)
28. Laveranues Coles(notes)
29. Jason Avant(notes)
30. Steve Breaston(notes)
31. Legedu Naanee(notes)
32. Mark Clayton(notes)
33. Sam Hurd(notes)
34. Brad Smith(notes)
35. Jordy Nelson(notes)
36. Sam Aiken(notes)
37. Early Doucet(notes)

Comments: Ochocinco is nicked up and facing the NFL’s best shutdown corner, Darrelle Revis(notes). Avoid No. 85 at all costs. The Ravens will throw the kitchen sink at Moss but their secondary personnel is no longer a plus group. When you’re filling out the bottom of your roster, a deeper pick off the Colts or Chargers might make more sense than a mediocre player off a team mildly favored this week. The two games with the lowest upset potential, as I see it, are the games at Indy and San Diego next week.

Tight End
1. Dallas Clark(notes)
2. Antonio Gates(notes)
3. Jason Witten(notes)
4. Jermichael Finley(notes)
5. Visanthe Shiancoe(notes)
6. Brent Celek(notes)
7. Benjamin Watson(notes)
8. Jeremy Shockey(notes)
9. Dustin Keller(notes)
10. Todd Heap(notes)
11. Martellus Bennett(notes)
12. David Thomas(notes)
13. Ben Patrick(notes)
14. J.P. Foschi(notes)
15. Donald Lee(notes)
16. Chris Baker
17. Spencer Havner(notes)

Comments: This list sort of ranked itself, a lot of the favored clubs have stud talents at this position. Finley, for what it’s worth, will be a Top 5 tight end on most lists next summer.

Kicker
1. Nate Kaeding(notes)
2. Ryan Longwell(notes)
3. Adam Vinatieri(notes)/Matt Stover
4. Garrett Hartley(notes)
5. Mason Crosby(notes)
6. Shaun Suisham(notes)
7. David Akers(notes)
8. Stephen Gostkowski(notes)
9. Neil Rackers(notes)
10. Jay Feely(notes)
11. Shayne Graham(notes)
12. Billy Cundiff(notes)

Comments: If there’s one position to go strictly by game potential, it’s the kicker spot. But if you draft early in the week, I’d be leery on taking a chance on the Indy guys, given the health concerns.

Defense
1. Colts
2. Cowboys
3. Chargers
4. Vikings
5. Packers
6. Saints
7. Jets
8. Eagles
9. Bengals
10. Ravens
11. Patriots
12. Cardinals

It’s just about post time, amigos. Who do you like?

—

Images via Getty Images

Thanks to our friends over at The Creole Corner.

Although its name suggests perhaps even grander capabilities, Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden “GodMode” feature that lets users access all of the operating system’s control panels from within a single folder.

By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition.

The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash.

To enter “GodMode,” one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once that is done, the folder’s icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options. I’m not sure it’s my idea of playing God, but it is a handy way to get to all kinds of controls.

I’ve asked Microsoft for more details on the feature and how it came to be. But so far, Redmond is silent on the topic.

This story originally appeared on CNET

Casey lost custody of little Ava because of her erratic behavior.

According to the New York Post, Johnson’s father, New York Jet owner Woody Johnson, had recently restricted Casey’s access to funds because she wouldn’t get her life together. She had been in rehab several times but was unable to clean up her act.

TMZ spoke to Tila Tequila who says that she had gotten into an argument with Casey last week and she left the house. She says that she tried contacting Casey on the 29th but her phone had been shut off since the 29th.

She last tweeted on December 29 at 1:13 AM.

Tila just updated her Twitter with the following message:

Everyone please pray 4 my Wifey Casey Johnson. She has passed away. Thank u for all ur love and support but I will be offline to be w family.
Socialite CASEY JOHNSON has died, aged 30.
The body of the heiress to the Johnson & Johnson empire was discovered on Monday morning (04Jan10) in Los Angeles.
The tragic news comes just weeks after Johnson was arrested for grand theft.
She hit the headlines in December (09) when bisexual reality TV star Tila Tequila announced she was engaged to Johnson.
Details about the heiress’ death were not available as WENN went to press.

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This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com.
Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author.

One of the key points to understand in Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma is the idea that the “new thing” that hits the market often gets dismissed early on by the legacy players as not being good enough. Chris Dixon has taken that concept to a different level in predicting that the “next big thing will start out looking like a toy.” It’s a good way of thinking about it, because it really frames the level of dismissiveness that many have towards disruptive innovation. It’s not just that they think it’s “not good enough,” but that it’s so pitiful that it’s only real purpose is to be a toy. But former “toys” can turn out to be much more over time. This isn’t to say — of course — that all things dismissed as “toys” will actually become disruptive innovation (that would be a logic failure), but it does mean you shouldn’t so quickly assume that every “toy” will never amount to anything else. It helps to look at who’s doing the dismissing and what motives they might have — while also looking at the adoption curves and usage of the “toy” in question.

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Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This

Hi Doug, I have enjoyed your posts on Thatsfit.ca for awhile now, and have you to thank for providing a link to Weston Price website, resulting in a years worth of research, which has led me to this question: Do you have any information on … Read more

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The Chie Netbook has made its debut in the U.K. after being the best selling and cheapest netbook in Asia. Retailing for £99 ($142.70 USD) its even cheap in comparison to the $199 Fidelity Netbook we wrote about last year. Currently available for pre-order, it will officially launch in the U.K. on January 23rd. The Chie is actually pretty stylish-looking with a 7” high-clarity screen, 4 hours of battery life, built in speakers, an SD slot and two USB ports to add extra storage.

Technical specification of the Chie Netbook
•    Processor: VIA VT8500 (ARM926EJ-S)
•    Display: 7″ TFT High Clear Digital Screen 800*480
•    Internal memory: 128MB DDRII / 2GB Nand Flash  (Up to 256M Optional)
•    External memory: Can use up to 250GB Portable HDD & 128MB to 16GB SD/MMC Card
•    Connectivity: WIFI RIEEE 802.11 b/g
•    Connections: USB 2.0 x 2 to support external memory and/or mouse
•    Card Reader: MMC/SD CARD slot supporting 128MB-16GB
•    Speakers: Hi-fi Stereo Speakers (Built-in)
•    Audio: Dimensional Sound Earphone Output x1, Dimensional Sound Microphone Input x1
•    Keyboard: Qwerty – Standard 80 keys – UK
•    Mouse Pad: 2.2″ mouse pad – Sensitive Touchpad
•    Battery: 7.4v 1800Mha built-in Lithium battery
•    Battery Life: 4 Hours
•    Adaptor: 100/240V AC Adaptor 9V 2A output
•    Operating System: WINDOWS CE 6.0
•    Software: Word Viewer, Powerpoint Viewer, PDF Viewer, Picture Browser
Microsoft Wordpad (Not full version), Microsoft SpreadExcel (Not full version), Powerpoint, PDF Reader, Calculator, Tudou Video, Windows Media Player, MSN Messenger
•    Browser: Internet Explorer (Does not support Flash)
•    Support: 
Supported audio format: MP3
Supported video format: MPEG2, AVI, 3GP, MP4 format
Supported image format: JPEG

Filed under: Sex, Love & Relationships, Advice

Communication in the bedroom is an issue that perplexes many couples. How do you ask for what you want and keep things interesting? We asked sexpert Dr. Trina Read, author of Till Sex Do Us Part: Make Your Married Sex Irresistible, to offer some … Read more

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