The state of Jamie Lynn Spears’ relationship with the father of her unborn baby was shrouded in mystery on Wednesday.

While one US report claimed the teenagers want to get married, another said they had broken up.

And a website, which claims to be the MySpace page of dad-to-be Casey Aldridge, carried the message “Me and Jamie are over”.

Jamie Lynn, 16, and 18-year-old Casey were thrust into the spotlight earlier this week when the actress revealed she was pregnant.

The Zoe 101 star, together with her mother Lynne Spears, sat down with OK magazine and told the world she was 12 weeks along and that Casey was the father.

The news came as a shock to tabloid magazines and entertainment shows, who had not realised the youngsters were in a serious relationship.

Recently Jamie Lynn told the Associated Press she did not have a serious boyfriend and was keeping her “options open”.

But on Wednesday, a source close to the Spears family told US entertainment show Access Hollywood that Jamie Lynn and Casey were keen to get married.

The source said the teenagers “want to get married really bad”, but their parents were trying to discourage them because they thought they were too young.

The source told Access Hollywood that Jamie Lynn still had the mind of a teenager, which is why her Mum and Dad want her to wait. “She doesn’t understand the ramifications,” the source said. “She’s just a child with not a lick of sense.

“There’s no reasoning with her. She’s not thinking 10 years down the road, not even two years down the road.”

But despite reports of marriage, one US magazine claimed Jamie Lynn and Casey are in fact no longer seeing one another. “Jamie Lynn and Casey are not together,” a Spears family insider told Life and Style magazine.

“They’ve broken up numerous times, but he was her first and she kept taking him back.

“They’re not dating now. He’s really got nothing to offer this baby. He’s a kid himself. They have no plans to get married.

“At this point, Jamie Lynn has asked her mom - and not Casey - to be in the delivery room with her.”

A rep for Jamie Lynn was not immediately available for comment.

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A tie! Congratulations, CheeseDuck and lila: you two, should a fight break out, could take out 31 attacking 5-year-olds each. Good for you! Or, you know, shame on you.

In second place (also a tie): Matty J and Dan (E. - there were two Dans I think). You both could take out 30 each. My own twelve pales in comparison…yet I feel I am the real winner.

And in third place, taking home the bronze of child-kickery: Vexworth with 29. Rest assured, there are at least four people worse than you.

And thank you all for playing! You can keep posting your scores, but the contest is closed.

So! Continuing on with the sort of horrible guilt-inducing fact generator, here’s something that will tell you what people died on the day you were born. As for me:

144,307 People

Find Sonography schools near you

Dag. It also gives you a list of natural disasters that occurred that day (I thought I was the only one!)

* 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake
* Edmonton Tornado
* Great Storm of 1987 (how awesome is this name?)
* Whittier Narrows earthquake

Whoo! So, what about you guys?

Also, Merry Christmas! (I’ll try to get cheerier closer to the day…this season gets me morbid).

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Filed under: On the Blogs, How To, Sugar, Christmas

Christmas is rapidly approaching, but there is still a day or so left to get a package in the mail to your friends and family (although you may have to second-day air it). If you’ve made a batch of cookies or fudge to send to a loved one and you haven’t gotten it in the mail yet because you are uncertain how best to send it, then Nicole over at Baking Bites has some good tips for you.

She has put together a list of advice about how to ship, what foods work best shipped and some recommendations on how to pack your goodies so that they arrive at their location still tasting good and in one piece. So check out her info and get your treats into the mail! Your family and friends will thank you for it!

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Filed under: Vegetables, Poultry, Recipes, On the Blogs

Have you guys discovered the blog Wasted Food yet? I ran across it about a month ago and it’s become of the sites I look forward to seeing pop up in my reader with a new post. It’s not always a happy site, in that it is devoted to raising awareness about the amount of food that we, as Americans, waste. But it is always interesting, well-written and helps me look at food from fresh perspectives.

Earlier this week, Jonathan wrote a post about how he made a pot of stock with some leftover chicken bones and a few aging veggies. He decided to make stock because it was one more way in which he could walk his talk and attempt to reduce the amount of waste in his personal food cycle. I thought it was interesting, because I rarely think about making stock as a way to reduce wasted food. I make stock because it tastes good and has the power to improve the taste of nearly everything you add it to. It was nice to be reminded that I was doing something right each time I turn the remains of a roasted chicken into a pot of stock or chicken soup.

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Filed under: Dairy, Beef, Poultry, Pork, Eggs, Sugar

The race is on to prepare for Chiristmas entertaining. Start with Eggnog like you’ve never had before, then go for Russ Parsons’ Christmas menu with Frozen Tangerine Soufflé, Spiced crown pork roast with glazed root vegetables, and Clam chowder. Stollen and panettone recipes are useful for the season as well.

To help with preparation, Leslie Brenner analyzes a luxurious new ricer, and Regina Schrambling does a round-up of cookbooks that could also serve as super gifts.

In restaurants, SIV sings the praises of Lucques as a Holiday standby. Tam O’Shanter Inn is busy this time of year with revelers seeking a traditional holiday.

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Filed under: Snacks, Dessert, Recipes, Books, Holidays, Christmas

December is the month that everyone seems to make gingerbread, and I guess you can only go so far with the variation on the basic recipe (though you can put gingerbread into all kinds of shapes - person, house, etc). But this recipe from the late author Laurie Colwin adds a little zip.

Along with the usual spices and butter and molasses, the recipe also calls for 2 teaspoons of lemon brandy. You can substitute vanilla extract for the lemon brandy, but what’s the fun in that?

Continue reading Gingerbread with Lemon Brandy

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Filed under: Gaming

Although we’ve seen some interesting uses of the Wii for rehab and exercise — and even seen some positive results — a new study says that so-called “active” gaming is really no more active than simply sitting around. The research — funded by Nintendo’s UK marketing division, ironically enough — compared the calories burned by five gamers playing Wii Sports Boxing, Tennis, and Bowling to the calories burned by the same group simply sitting around playing Project Gotham 3 on the 360. Although Wii Sports definitely burned more calories, it wasn’t very significant: an increase of “less than two percent,” according to the report. Of course, that doesn’t mean that other active games like DDR or even a vigorous Rock Band drumming sesh won’t burn more calories — so don’t give up your gaming-fitness dreams just yet.

[Via Ars Technica; Image courtesy of Nick Cueva]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Gaming

DIY virtuoso Johnny Chung Lee has already more than proven himself with his Wiimote whiteboard and finger-tracking hacks (to say nothing of the famous $14 steadycam), but he now looks to have vaulted himself into a whole new league with his latest project, which uses a Wiimote for a full-on VR head-tracking system. As with his other recent hacks, the Wiimote and a sensor bar substitute swap their usual positions, with a pair of IR-equipped safety glasses stylishly getting the job done in this case. Toss in some custom-made software (available at the link below) and you’ve got a setup that’s sure to make anyone’s jaw drop. Whatever you do, be sure to hit up the video after the break (and watch ’till the end), as the image above certainly doesn’t do it justice.

[Via Hack a Day]

Continue reading DIY head-tracker takes Wiimote hacking to dizzying new heights

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Gaming

It looks like web browsing on the Wii is about to get a whole lot more interesting, as an entirely unofficial Wii Opera SDK has now been released to the general public, opening up the possibility for all sorts of browser-based games, among other things. What’s more, the SDK allows developers with the necessary know-how to take full advantage of the Wiimote, including the ability to detect the remote’s distance from the sensor bar, along with any button presses, and movement along the Z-axis. That makes things like the familiar-looking “2 Play Ship Demo” pictured above fully playable using the Wiimote, as well as more basic things like drawing and 3D rotation. Those looking to get started on a homebrew game of their own can hit up the read link below for the necessary files, while the rest of us can try out a handful of ready made demos at the same link.

[Via Joystiq]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming

We suppose it was just too good to be true, having a solid release window and target device for N-Gage, even if it was going to be merely in the form of a “First Access” test service. Nokia has been going over the service internally with about 1,000 testers, and has uncovered an “issue” that it needs to address, but wouldn’t elaborate much further about the problem, other than that the games and service are supposedly working smoothly. That means Nokia won’t be releasing First Access for N81 users this week as promised, but instead will wait until the new year to finally make its new push back into the gaming market. Don’t worry Nokia, it’s not like we’ve got anything else going on.

[Via Pocket Gamer]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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