| The Tightening Noose: Gaza Under Hamas, Gaza Under Siege
Images from Rafah flicker on my computer screen. Gazans blowing up chunks of the wall that stood between them and Egypt, punching holes in the largest open-air prison in the world and streaming across the border. An incredible refusal to submit. I learn via email that my friend Khaled Nasrallah rented a truck in order to drive food and medicine from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. He was acting for no humanitarian organization. He's just a resident of Rafah, a Palestinian town which borders Egypt, with a deep need to help and an opportunity to seize. Rarely does our media offer images so laden with the palpable despair that has become daily life in the Gaza Strip. The situation has bordered on desperate since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in October 2000, when Gazans could no longer work inside Israel and the attacks and incursions of Israel's military, the IDF, became a regular occurrence.
Larry Richman Joins PrivateBancorp, Inc. as Chief Executive Officer
CHICAGO, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of PrivateBancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB) announced today that Larry D. Richman, 55, has joined the Company and on November 5, 2007 will assume the role as its President and Chief Executive Officer succeeding Ralph B. Mandell, 66, who will continue as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Richman was also appointed to the positions of Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of The PrivateBank - Chicago and was appointed to the board of directors of PrivateBancorp, expanding the board to 16 members. Mr. Richman was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of LaSalle Bank, N.A., Chicago. "We are thrilled to have Larry join us to lead PrivateBancorp into its next stage of growth, building upon the unique approach to private banking that we have successfully fostered since our inception.
'Beauty and the Beast' at Stage West Dinner Theatre
"Beauty's been decreased," ran the parody version of the title song in the satirical revue Forbidden Broadway. Well it has been further decreased now to fit the cozy confines of Stage West. Even so, director Lee MacDougall delivers a crisp, tightly paced production that will surely delight family audiences. Adults in search of something edgier may want to steer clear but they are about the only ones who will not respond to this charming fairy tale. Gino Berti's lively choreography is executed with precision by a talented team of dancers. The "Gaston" number was particularly dazzling. "Be Our Guest" suffers a little from the reduction, but the song is so well known and loved it hardly matters. The leading performers are especially effective starting with Ashley Taylor as the winsome Belle.
Johnson Announces An Extra 4,000 Midwives For The NHS, UK
The total value of the package will be around £3,000.
Alan Johnson said:
"The number of births in England is rising. To keep pace with this increase and to improve the quality of care to mothers, we will recruit an additional 1000 midwives on our wards and in our communities by 2009, rising to around 4000 by 2012.
"Many of these extra midwives will be new to the profession, but there are also former midwives whose expertise could be brought back to the NHS given the right support. This is why we will make up to £3000 worth of support available to each returning midwife, providing free training and financial support while they study.
"In January I announced extra funding of £330m over three years for maternity services. Trusts will have access to this additional money from April to invest in expanding the workforce."
Dame Karlene Davis, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said:
"I welcome Alan Johnson's announcement which represents a recognition of the need to increase midwifery numbers.
Feb. 27, 1812: Rage, Rage Against the Industrial Age
1812: The poet Lord Byron makes an impassioned speech before the House of Lords in an attempt to convince Parliament not to enact the death penalty against the Luddites. He fails. The Frame Breaking Act made it a capital offense for anyone convicted of "machine breaking," the willful destruction of mechanized looms and cloth-finishing machinery and other new devices that were eliminating jobs. The Luddites were a loose association of craft workers, especially croppers and weavers, who saw coming industrialization as a mortal threat to their livelihoods. They took their inspiration, and their name, from the folkloric figure of Ned Ludd, who was said to have smashed a couple of stocking frames (knitting machines) in the late 1770s. The movement began in early 1811, with a series of letters sent to factory owners and craft employers in the Nottingham area, calling on them not to install the new machines.
PCI Express Version of Matrox Axio LE Realtime Editing Platform Now ...
Montreal, Canada . Matrox Video Products Group today announced the immediate availability of the new PCI Express (PCIe) version of the Matrox Axio LE realtime HD and SD editing platform. "We are introducing the PCIe version of Axio LE as part of our commitment to continually evolve our realtime editing platforms to take advantage of new technologies that can lower cost and increase performance for our customers" said Pierre-Martin Dion, Matrox Axio product manager"The PCIe version of Axio LE expands users system choices to include many lower cost workstations including the HP xw4600" Matrox Axio LE provides a complete post-production solution that lets users get the best from Adobe CS3 Production Premium. The Axio platforms are designed to provide the most comprehensive realtime feature set, the highest quality native codec technology, and complete file-based workflows - totally integrated with the Adobe software.
From football frenzy to the passing of a literary legend,2006 was a ...
DROWNED, over 1,000 passengers aboard the ferry Al-Salam Boccaccio 98, which sunk in the Red Sea off the coast of Safaga in February. The ferrys captain was initially blamed for the catastrophe, which began when a fire broke out aboard the ship. Ferry owner and Shura Council member Mamdouh Ismail denied charges of corporate negligence, saying the captain was clearly responsible. .
Hardware Wal-Mart to Give HD DVD the Boot, Sides With Blu-ray
I enjoy seeing the angry little fans I have rate me down. I know for a fact that a couple of them have rate down alt accounts and purposefully go through and rate down my stuff regardless.Regularly I have watched +5 posts end up at -1 once my little fanboys get done using their alts. It really thrills me to think that they get so excited over everything I say just to go to that trouble. .
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