20th child due for "19 Kids and Counting" reality TV couple (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? "19 Kids and Counting" stars Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are expecting the birth of their 20th child, the couple said on Tuesday as they predicted a need to yet again change the name of their reality TV show.

The Duggars, who said their new baby is due in April, star on cable network TLC in a show that describes their daily struggles and triumphs raising 19 children in Arkansas.

"We are just really looking forward with excitement to this new little gift," Michelle Duggar said in a video for TLC that was posted online on Tuesday. "And so the title will change to '20 and Counting.'"

The Duggars' television show has changed titles as the family has grown. It was called "17 Kids and Counting" in 2008, and with the birth of each child the name has been updated.

Michelle, 45, said in the video that she and her husband were surprised at the latest pregnancy. During her pregnancy with her last baby, Michelle was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, or pregnancy-induced hypertension.

Jim Bob discussed that problem on Tuesday's video, acknowledging that viewers had asked whether the family was afraid of a recurrence of that condition.

He said his wife had preeclampsia in her second pregnancy and that it did not recur until her pregnancy with her 19th child. "We're praying that that won't happen this time," he said.

The conservative Christian Duggar couple have given all their children names that begin with the letter J.

Jim Bob is a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111108/lf_nm_life/us_duggar

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Virtual MIDI piano glove even makes MJ's sparkly one look tame (video)

When a piano necktie or keytar just feel too showy, why not opt for the more subdued wireless MIDI piano glove? An excellent choice for daytime or night, the hand accessory allows you to tickle the virtual ivories without putting a finger to a real eighty-eight. It works as such: wired with resistive flex sensors, move a finger and the glove will send an electrical current through a voltage divider and microcontroller to create the corresponding MIDI note. The result? Single notes or chords of musical greatness truly worthy of a bad karaoke singalong. Check out the MIDI throwback video after the break.

Continue reading Virtual MIDI piano glove even makes MJ's sparkly one look tame (video)

Virtual MIDI piano glove even makes MJ's sparkly one look tame (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/virtual-midi-piano-glove-even-makes-mjs-sparkly-one-look-tame/

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Air Force chief questioned over war dead's remains (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The chief of the Air Force was questioned by lawmakers Thursday over revelations the military's main mortuary lost track of body parts of war dead and even dumped ashes in a landfill without telling families.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz tried to reassure members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that past mistakes had been corrected and again defended a decision not to fire anyone who worked at the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

One military officer and two civilians received disciplinary action, steps that investigators at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said in a letter to President Barack Obama did not go far enough.

"Clearly (there) were unacceptable mistakes made. Whether they constitute wrongdoing is another matter entirely," Schwartz told a Senate hearing, called to discuss an unrelated matter involving the U.S. National Guard.

There revelations about Dover have come in two stages this week, as Americans prepare to honor military service Friday, Veterans' Day.

The first came with the disclosure Tuesday of a U.S. investigation that the Dover mortuary lost track of body parts twice and even wrongfully removed a limb of a Marine.

Schwartz addressed another controversial practice, since abandoned, at Thursday's hearing: body parts of war dead had been cremated, incinerated and then dumped in a landfill until 2008. This happened in cases where residual remains were found after families received the bodies of their loved ones.

An Air Force official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that families had granted the military authorization to deal with any residual remains, but acknowledged they had not been made aware those remains would end up in a landfill.

THROWN IN THE TRASH

"I'm deeply troubled by the reports about what's happened at the mortuary at the Dover Air Force Base. And I'm sure you would agree with me, this is outrageous that remains of our soldiers would be put in a landfill," said Senator Kelly Ayotte.

The Washington Post, which first reported those details, quoted one widow saying she was "appalled and disgusted" to learn what happened to her husband's remains in a letter from the Air Force earlier this year. He died in Iraq in 2006.

"My only peace of mind in losing my husband was that he was taken to Dover and that he was handled with dignity, love, respect and honor," Gari-Lynn Smith told the Post. "That was completely shattered for me when I was told that he was thrown in the trash."

Schwartz said residual remains have been buried at sea, according to military custom, since 2008.

"In 2008, the Air Force came to the conclusion that that was not the best way to deal with those remains," he said.

The revelations at Dover are likely to add to questions about treatment of America's fallen troops a year after a scandal broke at Arlington National Cemetery over the misidentification of remains.

"What happened at Arlington, nobody was intentionally mismarking graves," Senator Claire McCaskill said, as she called for greater accountability in the incidents at Dover as well as an independent probe of the Air Force's own investigation.

Dover is hallowed ground for the U.S. military as the main entry point for returning American war dead from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Although U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has so far commended the Air Force, the Pentagon has also not ruled out further "accountability" should that be required.

Panetta Tuesday also announced an independent review of overall current operations at the Dover Port Mortuary, which will be led by former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona.

(Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111110/us_nm/us_usa_military_remains

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SeaWorld Orlando announces new attractions

SeaWorld Orlando is announcing plans for the largest expansion in the theme park's history.

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Park president Terry Prather introduced details on Tuesday of a new sea turtle habitat featuring a domed 360-degree, 3-D movie experience. At SeaWorld's companion park, Discovery Cove, a new "Freshwater Oasis" will allow guests to get face-to-face with Asian otters and marmosets under a rainforest canopy of trees.

Those two attractions are scheduled to open sometime next spring.

In spring 2013, SeaWorld will open new penguin habitat around an immersive Antarctica theme. Prather said the penguin area is the park's largest single expansion project since its opening in 1973.

The new attractions are unique to the Orlando park and are not planned for SeaWorld parks in San Antonio and San Diego.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45206341/ns/travel-news/

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Perry says his campaign won't end (AP)

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. ? Republican candidate Rick Perry says a major mistake in a debate won't be the end of his presidential bid.

"Oh, shoot, no," Perry told The Associated Press Thursday morning, a day after he stood on stage unable to remember the third federal department he would cut. He was asked if his campaign, struggling to regain traction, could survive. "This ain't a day for quitting nothing."

Perry says others have made similar mistakes and that the screw up will humanize him. "The president of the United States said there were 57 states one time. Everybody makes mistakes."

In Wednesday's debate, Perry said he had three agencies he would cut, but couldn't remember them. "Commerce, Education and the ? what's the third one there? Let's see," the Texas governor said. Perry's rivals tried to bail him out, suggesting the Environmental Protection Agency.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111110/ap_on_re_us/us_perry

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50-legged creature was top seafloor predator

An ancient cockroach-like creature nearly a foot long once skittered along the seafloor in what is now Canada, a new fossil find reveals.

The fossil, a series of 500-million-year-old tracks, captured the movement of a large seafloor-dwelling creature with at least 25 pairs of legs. The animal was likely an arthropod called Tegopelte, a rare giant very rarely found fossilized. Arthropods are invertebrates with exoskeletons, a group that includes today's crustaceans and insects.

Reporting the discovery Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers led by Nicholas Minter of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada suggest that Tegopelte was a fearsome predator or perhaps a quick-moving scavenger, capable of "rapidly skimming across the seafloor" with only a few of its many legs touching the ground at a time.

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The new fossils, five trackways made by the ancient arthropod, were uncovered in two locations in Yoho National Park in British Columbia in a geologic formation called the Burgess Shale. The longest track extended more than 9 feet, and the footprints were set more than 4 inches apart, suggesting a good-sized critter with a wide stance.

The researchers compared the tracks with the anatomy of known arthropods from the time period and concluded that the most likely footprint-maker was Tegopelte. This creature, which looked a bit like an enormous beetle and which was possibly related to trilobites, could grow to at least 11 inches long and 5.5 inches wide, with 33 sets of legs. That made it the best fit for the tracks, which represented at least 25 pairs of pattering feet.?

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Tegopelte's flexible, bug-like exoskeleton likely allowed it to make the sharp turns evidenced in some of the tracks, the researchers wrote. The tracks also reveal sections where the animal "skimmed" along the seafloor with only a few legs bearing weight. The tracks suggest a fast-moving creature, the researchers wrote. It could have skittered to avoid predators, but the animal was twice the size of any other Burgess Shale arthropod, the researchers wrote. That size advantage suggests that the animal could have been a top predator itself.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter@sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45215621/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Pakistani leader vows operations against Haqqanis (AP)

ISLAMABAD ? Pakistan's president promised to work with the United States to "eradicate" the militant Haqqani network, a pledge made during a meeting with visiting American congressmen, according to one of the lawmakers.

But the head of the Homeland Security delegation, Michael McCaul, downplayed the significance of the remarks, saying it was unclear whether President Asif Ali Zardari had the power to make good on his pledge, given the influence of the military in Pakistan.

According to McCaul, Zardari also appeared to brush off threats that U.S. aid spending to Pakistan could be significantly cut if Islamabad did not do more to squeeze insurgents like the Haqqanis, who are based in northwest Pakistan but attack U.S. and Afghan troops in Afghanistan.

"I think he thinks it's a given that we are going to continue the aid, but I tried to tell him that it's in jeopardy," McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas, said of Zardari. "He said, 'I appreciate your assistance, but it's trade more than aid that I need.'"

McCaul and the visiting lawmakers met with Zardari in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Tuesday, and revealed details of his conversation later the same day.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan have plummeted over the last year following the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor and the American unilateral raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May. Persistent allegations that Pakistani security forces are aiding or tolerating Afghan insurgents have led many U.S. lawmakers to call for cuts in the billions of dollars in aid given to Pakistan.

The Haqqani network is an al-Qaida linked militant group with roots in eastern Afghanistan that has long been based in the Pakistani border region of North Waziristan. U.S. and NATO officials say it is currently the most deadly foe in Afghanistan.

The problem is especially acute because Washington is committed to withdrawing most of its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Seeing the country fall back into the hands of the Taliban or descend into bloody civil war would be a crushing failure for Washington.

The U.S. has been applying steady pressure on Pakistan to tackle the Haqqanis, but with little effect.

"The president, on the record, said 'I am going to work with you to eradicate them,'" McCaul said. He further quoted Zardari as saying: "I know these people very well, they are snakes and I'm going to go after all of them."

McCaul said he welcomed the president's statement, but "the real question is how much does this president control the military" and the country's spy service.

Zardari heads a democratically elected civilian government, but the military, which has ruled Pakistan for much of its existence, does not follow his orders when it comes to Afghan policy and other defense issues. McCaul said the American delegation asked to meet the Pakistani army and spy chiefs, but this was not possible.

The Pakistani military views neighboring India ? and not Islamist militants at home ? as the country's biggest threat and sees Afghanistan through that lens. Consequently, Islamabad is widely believed to be reluctant to move against the Haqqanis because it sees them as potential allies against Indian influence in Afghanistan when America withdraws.

In talks late last month with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other American officials, Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Perverse Kayani recognized the need to "squeeze the Haqqanis," a senior U.S. official said at the time, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Greater intelligence sharing, cutting financing networks and stopping fighters from crossing the border were discussed, he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111109/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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Avert your eyes! 'Mass Effect 3' story leaked

BioWare

When it comes to the launch of "Mass Effect 3," the waiting is the hardest part.

By Winda Benedetti

It seems it's been a leak-filled week for the developers behind the forthcoming "Mass Effect 3" game.

First, early beta code for the epic sci-fi role-playing game was accidentally leaked on Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service. And then, some of the game's story files were leaked pretty much?all over the World Wide Web.


Needless to say, the folks at development company BioWare have been busy doing damage control.

The "Mass Effect 3" beta code was accidentally made available for a short time over the weekend to some Xbox Live members. It gave players access to some single player and multiplayer sections of the game. And those who jumped into the beta quickly uploaded images and videos of the good bits to internet gaming forum NeoGaf?among other places.

BioWare producer?Jesse Houston was quick to respond in the company's community forum, explaining that:

Microsoft has advised us that through human error at their end, content which was meant for internal beta testing was flagged incorrectly and released to individuals who had signed up for the beta of the Xbox Live dashboard update. It has since been taken down and deactivated.

We?d like to stress that the leaked code is in a rough, unfinished state and was not meant for public release. The content is not final, and is not reflective of the quality of the finished, polished game ...

He also pointed out that the new gameplay modes?? "action mode," "story mode" and "RPG mode"?? that gamers may have gotten a glimpse of "are still in the early stages of development and will receive considerable iteration and refinement."

Though in explaining things,?Houston did give players hungry for information about the highly anticipated game a bit of new info to chew on:

"These modes are designed to give players an even finer degree of control over their game experience than ever before," he wrote.?"Whether it be someone who finds the combat difficult but wants to experience the amazing story, someone who wants to focus on the action and combat game play, or fans who want the rich, story-driven RPG 'Mass Effect' experience they?ve come to love?? 'Mass Effect 3' will support all of these options."

But just as that leak was getting plugged, the great "Mass Effect 3" dam sprung yet another drip. Or rather, a flood.?On Monday,?story files filled with spoilers began making the rounds and, again, appeared on NeoGaf.

And again, Houston took to?the company's online community forum to tell players that the information in those files "is out of date and does not reflect the final story experience." He also urged fans not to read the files "if they want to experience the purest form of the story in Mass Effect 3."

But game site Kotaku reports that BioWare and Microsoft didn't stop there. Microsoft lawyers sent NeoGaf and its ISP a takedown notice insisting that all the leaked materials be removed from their discussion forums. Rather than have their ISP pull the plug on them, NeoGaf complied.

Still, it's not like the leaked material?can't be found in many a corner on the Internet. (Hellooo YouTube.)?The question is: Will you go seek it out?

"Mass Effect 3" doesn't launch until March 6, 2012. Of course, for fans of the "Mass Effect" series who've been waiting almost two years to find out what happens to Commander Shepard and his (or her) intergalactic pals, that date may as well be March 6, 2020. It just seems so far away...

As someone who sunk some 40 plus hours into "Mass Effect 2," I'm having just as hard a time waiting for "Mass Effect 3" to arrive as the next gamer. But I can't help but wonder: Why would you want to ruin the "Mass Effect 3" experience by reading the story and taking a peek at the gameplay ahead of time and in its unfinished version?

Look away, people. Just ... look away.

For more game news, check out:

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+. And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.

Source: http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/08/8703881-avert-your-eyes-mass-effect-3-story-leaked

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