Haiti...and the top 10 deadliest natural disasters in History

With the earthquake in Haiti yersterday (January 12,2010) promising to be a very deadly one, I checked out Wikipedia which currently lists these 10 natural disasters to be the deadliest in History.

Note: This list excludes diseases and famines, which would otherwise occupy the entire list.

Rank Event Location Date Death Toll (Estimate)
1. 1931 China floods China 01931-01-01July-November, 1931 1,000,000–4,000,000*[1]
2. 1887 Yellow River flood China 01887-01-01September-October, 1887 900,000–2,000,00
3. 1556 Shaanxi earthquake Shaanxi Province, China 01556-01-01January 23, 1556 830,000
4. 1970 Bhola cyclone Bangladesh 01970-01-01November 13, 1970 500,000
5. 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami Indian Ocean, India, Indonesia, Coast of Africa, and many more countries 02004-12-26December 26, 2004 230,000+
6. 526 Antioch earthquake Antioch, Byzantine Empire 00526-05-20May 20, 526 250,000
7. 1976 Tangshan earthquake Tangshan, Hebei, China 01976-07-28July 28, 1976 242,000
8. 1920 Haiyuan earthquake Haiyuan, Ningxia-Gansu, China 01920-12-16December 26, 1920 240,000
9. 1839 India Cyclone India 01839-01-01November 25, 1839 300,000
10. 1975 Banqiao Dam flood Zhumadian, Henan Province, China 01975-08-07August 7, 1975 90,000–230,000

CNN's list of the 50 best jobs in America

In 2010, I'm going to try to go with a blog theme or series of themes. One thing I'd like to do is create a book of lists---of what, I'm not sure, but in keeping with that theme, here's a post from CNN that lists the 50 best jobs in America


http://bit.ly/6VxTO3

Top Ten---Pizza Parlors

I wanted to make mention of the fact that my family has been ordering a lot of pizza lately from Milanese Pizza in Riverton, NJ. The pizza is excellent, the staff (particularly Al) is very friendly. Parking is a bit tough around there though.

Tonight, as we picked up a pie for dinner, my wife found $12 on their step, and gave it to Al. He said if no one claimed it, he would give it to her next week when she stops by again. We'll see :)

This got me to thinking about some of my favorite, notable pizza parlors from the past, so I've compiled a list of my favorites.

1. John's Pizza Shack. Richmond St, Bridesburg section, Philadelphia PA. It was the first pizza I ever had. Not what most people would could their favorite, but it's still mine---I can still taste it. I used to eat it with my friend Dave on Friday night's when we were watching Astro Boy in the mid 60's (that was a long time ago)

2. Gearos on Bustleton Avenue in Philadelphia. I learned to drink beer there, as their peperoni pie was a bit spicy. I should say I learned to drink Genessee Cream Ale there. It was delicious.

3. New England on Bustleton Avenue in Philadelphia. My first 'English' Style pie. Delicious.

4. Napoli Village, Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia. Very cheesey, very saucy. Very good.

5. Casa DiNapoli, Bustleton Avenue, Somerton Section of Philadelphia. Jack and his brother were great to me--I wrote a dBase III program for them to help them manage their shop. After we moved, I heard they moved to Atlantic City.

Some other great pies.

6. DeAngelos. Cinnaminson NJ.
7. Charlies on the Boulevard.
8. Celebres in South Philadelphia. This is distinctive. Nothing else quite like it.
9. Talianos. I believe this was the Adams avenue spot where we would occasionally visit after working at Sears. As I recall, it was very cheesy and saucy.
10. Tony's. Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia. It's a tomato pie (although you can order a pizza if you like.) The only problem with Tony's is that I can easily eat a pie and a half, and I'm in training.
11. Santucci's. Square Pizza. Juniata. A family favorite. The sauce is delicious. There are many locations.

Looking for more. I may refine my list.

James Bond Movies

My wife and I saw Quantum of Silence last night at the Ritz. I enjoyed it.

It made me remember that I've seen about 20 James Bond movies at the theater in my lifetime.

I believe the first was From Russia with Love. I remember it pretty well. My brother Joe took me to see it (I'm guessing I was about 10 or 11 at the time), and I believe we drove in a very thick fog to a twin theater on Route 611 to see it.

Let me check to see how close I am here as I use Wikipedia to list the James Bond movies and their release dates...

Dr. No 1962
From Russia with Love 1963
Goldfinger 1964
Thunderball 1965
You Only Live Twice 1967
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969
Diamonds Are Forever 1971
Live and Let Die 1973
The Man with the Golden Gun 1974
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977
Moonraker 1979
For Your Eyes Only 1981
Octopussy 1983
A View to a Kill 1985
The Living Daylights 1987
Licence to Kill 1989
GoldenEye 1995
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
The World Is Not Enough 1999
Die Another Day 2002
Casino Royale 2006
Quantum of Solace 2008

Hmmm...From Russia with Love was 1963, and I would have been 8, but there's no doubt I saw it with him, he was a big James Bond fan, and I saw remember that opening sniper scene.

Moodle---Administrative Wish List

I use Moodle to run my Internet Courses.

It's an Open Source product, and I could download and install it on my own Web Site, but it's easier for me to use this company to do so...

http://www.moodlerooms.com

I can't say enough nice things about this company---the price is good, and the support is personalized and quick.

Tom Murdock and Gina Stevens run the company--and they both do a wonderful job. Because of them, I have this...

http://johnsmiley.mrooms.net

There are some things I would like Moodle to do that I don't believe it currently does...

1. I would like to be able to generate automated, periodic emails to students in my classes. For instance, the first day of a new class, I would like to generate a welcome message. Prior to the first Office Hours chat, I would like to send a reminder. Prior to the half way point in the course, I would like to send a reminder about our midterm. The day the course ends, I would like to send a thank you message. You get the idea. Moodle permits me to use a Group Mail feature--but it's manual.

2. I would like to be able to accept payment for my courses directly through my Moodle site, and link it to my Paypal account. There is some chatter about this on the Administrative Panel--but I haven't figured out if it gives me what I need or not.

3. I would like my courses to be advertised in the world wide Moodle community---not sure how to do that.

webworkerdaily.com

Just found this link...check it out, it seems like a pretty valuable site...

http://webworkerdaily.com/

5 Great things today---May 3, 1999

People who say thank you

People who believe in something greater than themselves

People who hope

Meatloaf

The Please Touch Museum. My wife went to the Museum, and the baby's stroller was stolen. The museum offered to pay for a replacement.