Wanna Watch Netflix Movies On Your Wii?

If you have a Wii and a Netflix account you will soon be able to stream movies to your TV. Click on the link above to read more.

Big Picture: Haiti six days later

Haiti remains a place of profound need, anguish, desperation and danger, with a few glimmers of hope and slowly growing capabilities to receive and distribute the international aid now flowing in. Sporadic looting, sometimes violent, was met with force by security oficials and ordinary citizens, resulting in a number of further deaths and injuries. The tenuous security situation has led to at least one temporary evacuation of a medical facility, to protect the care-givers. Despite the long time since the earthquake, at least five people were pulled from the rubble alive this weekend, including a young girl trapped inside a supermarket who was fortunately surrounded by food, and survived on fruit snacks. (38 photos total)

Click the image to see the full collection. Warning: Some images are graphic.

SpaghettiOs Creator Donald Goerke Dies

The Campbell Soup Co. executive who was behind the enduring brands SpaghettiOs and Chunky Soup has died.

Donald Goerke (GUHR'-kee) was 83. A Campbell spokesman confirmed that Goerke died of heart failure Sunday at his home in Delran in southern New Jersey.

Goerke was marketing research director of Campbell's Franco-American line in the early 1960s when his group started dreaming up pasta in shapes that would appeal to kids. He chose the o's. They were marketed with the unforgettable tagline, "Uh-oh, SpaghettiOs."

Later, he helped introduce Chunky Soup, a hearty ready-to-serve soup that stood out from the company's traditional line of condensed soups.

The Waukesha, Wis., native worked for Camden-based Campbell for 35 years, retiring in 1990.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Spitting Cobra - Artillery in Afghanistan

From Michael Yon, and Independent Journalist in Afghanistan.

Artillery is called “The King of Battle.” When it comes to the delivery of force, probably nothing outside of nuclear weapons can outmatch the sustained delivery of extreme brutality. Cannons also can deliver small atomic weapons.

Click the image above to read the dispatch and see Mr. Yon's incredible pictures.

Big Picture: Fire and Ice

For today's entry, an exercise in contrasts: Fire and Ice. Fire can be a life-sustaining, constructive element, or, at worst, a powerfully destructive force - something we humans continue to use, play with, and struggle to control. Ice is closer to the natural state of the universe, cold, still and lifeless. Earth's orbit lies in a "Goldilocks zone" where we may seasonally experience icy environments, but never freeze completely. Collected here are several recent alternating photographs from around the world of both Fire and Ice. (40 photos total)

Click the image to see the full collection.

Definitely Something to Think About

Update: The Manhattan Declaration

On November 25th I created a blog post regarding the Manhattan Declaration. Earlier today I received a note indicating that there are now over 385,000 people that have signed this document.

If you have not already done so, please click on the image above to learn more about the Manhattan Declaration and then add your signature.

Thanks.

Ten deadliest natural disasters since 1900

From the Houston Chronicle Science Blog

To put the tragedy in Haiti into context, I have attempted to make a list of the deadliest natural disasters since 1900, an arbitrary point but one that largely represents the beginning of the modern era.

Such lists are invariably difficult due to often sketchy or conflicting information. I
have chosen only to rely on the best sources, including the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I have excluded famines, droughts and disease outbreaks in favor of discrete events such as earthquakes and hurricanes.

Finally, I chose to exclude partially manmade disasters, such as the 1938 floods in China, which were self-inflicted by China's Nationalist Government in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of the Japanese forces.

Click the image above to read the blogpost.