Subject: HRCP demands probe into firing on car by security forces

Lahore, December 3: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed concern over injuries to a seven-year-old girl in firing by Frontier Corps personnel on a car in Peshawar, and demanded a credible probe into the incident.

A statement issued by the commission on Thursday said: “The girl was apparently injured when her family’s car approached a security forces’ convoy. Amid a heightened threat of terrorism, it is all the more important that the security forces take every possible precaution to ensure that civilians are not affected by their actions. The government must immediately hold a transparent inquiry to ascertain what led to the tragic incident and how it could have been avoided. It must also ensure that the child is provided the best medical facilities and the family is compensated. The incident highlights the need for improved procedure for the security forces to distinguish between civilians and terrorists.”

LAHORE, 2 December: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the attack on the house of renowned columnist Kamran Shafi and described it as a cowardly bid to stifle the country’s media.

An HRCP statement issued on Wednesday reads as following:

The attack on journalist Kamran Shafi’s house in Wah on the eve of Eid cannot be dismissed as an ordinary crime, it constitutes a cowardly attack on the country’s media, and a threat to all independent-minded journalists. Shafi, himself a retired major of the army, is a vocal critic of defence services’ role in affairs of the state and had suggested in a recent column that the country’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI, should be headed by a civilian. The columnist said he received abusive e-mails on this point of view soon after he had expressed it. Then on Nov 27, a gunman fired six times at his house late at night. In his complaint to the police, Shafi said the attackers were linked to unidentified ‘agency.’  

The attack on Shafi is not the first of its kind. Several other noted journalists have faced similar threats and abuses in the past and umazingly the culprits always remain unidentified and go unpunished. Besides, the targets happen to be journalists whose views disagree with those of the security establishment. Not a single perpetrator of such crimes has been apprehended, which strengthens the belief that some rogue elements within the establishment are involved.

Whatever freedom Pakistani media enjoys today has been gained after an arduous struggle and it should now forge unity to safeguard that freedom. HRCP demands the authorities must hold a credible and independent inquiry into the attack and punish severely those found guilty. Needless to say, that in the age of information technology attempts to muzzle the media are self-defeating.    

Tomorrow, December 4th @ 5pm SLT brave the jungle of Opium Fashion Agency if you dare!  Fight your way through the thorny undergrowth and overgrown reeds and grasses, watching for snakes, leeches and caimans as you board the raft that will carry you to your fashion destination.

The Opium Fashion Agency models will emerge from the underbrush wearing the fabulous men and women’s designs of Jungle Wear.  This is a show that will have you talking for days afterward!  Don’t miss it!!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/CASSARAH/78/129/3503

On Sunday, December 6th, 2009, from 8 a.m. to noon, the St. John’s Council of the Westmont Knights of Columbus will be holding a pancake breakfast at 25 N. Cass Ave., Westmont.  The St. John’s Council is comprised of members from both Westmont and Downers Grove.   All are welcome to attend.

Chronicle contributor Cliff Grammich will be contributing not words that morning but baked goods- including his (Downers Grove) famous Tootsie Roll cheesecake.

Best of all (for the younger crowd) Santa Claus will be there for photos with the children!

For further information, please call Tony Polito at (630)322-8791 or Cliff Grammich at (630)541-5306.

Fourteen student musicians from both Downers Grove North and South High Schools were recently selected by competitive audition to the 2009-2010 Illinois Music Educator’s Association All-State Band, Choir, Orchestra, Jazz Band and Secondary General Music Composition Contest. Performance auditions were held last October at Hinsdale Central High School; musical compositions were evaluated by professional musicians and composers from across the Midwest.

“We are really thrilled for these students and their families,” said Brayer Teague, Fine Arts Department Chair at North High.  “Many people helped these students achieve this success, beginning with their very first elementary school music teachers and extending to their private-lessons teachers today.  North High is very proud to have these incredible musicians representing District 99 at the All-State level.” Glenn Williams, Fine Arts Department Chairperson at South High, added, “All-State selection represents the pinnacle of musical achievement for a high school student musician. We are very proud of our students, and look forward to hearing their performances in January.”

The All-State Band, Choir, Orchestra and Jazz Band will convene for a series of rehearsals in Peoria, IL, January 27-30, 2010.  Their concerts will be held at the Peoria Civic Center on the evening of January 29, and the afternoon of January 30, 2010.

All-State Band

Nick Goergen – Jazz Drums (Senior, DGN)

Marie Kirkegaard – Clarinet (Junior, DGN)

Kelly Lamorena – Trumpet (Senior, DGS)

Sherilyn Munoz – Clarinet  (Junior, DGS)

Lexi Osborn – Flute (Junior, DGS)

Jennifer Poad – Bass Clarinet (Senior, DGN)

Emma Sassano – Orchestral Percussion (Senior, DGN)

Isaac Stevenson – Orchestral Percussion (Junior, DGN)

Mike Walser – Alto Saxophone (Senior, DGN)

All-State Honors Choir

Hank Gordon – Bass I (Senior, DGS)

Tom Reusz –  Bass II (Senior, DGS)

Minh Tran – Alto II (Senior, DGS)

Cory Wilson –Bass II (Junior, DGS)

All-State Choir

Tom Cannan – Tenor (Senior, DGN)

Catie Krygeris – Alto (Senior, DGN)

Collin Ludlow – Bass (Junior, DGN)

Meredith Richard –  Soprano (Senior, DGS)

Josh Smith – Tenor (Junior, DGN)

Caroline Sterr – Soprano (Junior, DGN)

Sam Worlton – Alto (Junior, DGS)

Kyle Wulf – Bass (Junior, DGS)

All-State Orchestra

Chan Choi – Violin (Senior, DGS)

Emily Levine – Viola (Senior, DGS)

Colette Mondragon – Viola (Senior, DGN)

Michael Rau – Violin (Senior, DGS)

Rudy Rendek – Violin (Senior, DGN)

All-State Jazz Band

Matt Kowalski –Trombone (Senior, DGS)

All-State Music Composition

Patrick Long – Commercial/Popular – 1^st Place & Keyboard Solo – 3^rd Place (Senior, DGN)

***

That’s the press release, here’s the skinny:  The music programs at both 99 high schools have an excellent reputation within the state, and traditionally a high number of students are awarded IMEA honors every year.  As good as our faculty is, our students are better!  Kudos to both for their achievements.  And, if you’ve never been to an IMEA concert, you should go.  It’s well worth the trip– our children are AMAZING!

Yes you read that right – the Peace on Earth hunt really has something for everyone to offer, and these amazing yard flags from SL~abrations! (eleven in one pack) prove it. There are flags for any occasion such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, and even a flag for – literally – any occasion, with a fun and inspiring image of party swirls and champagne glasses:)

As you can see, these are not just tiny, handheld flags…these flags are big and colourful, and will look perfect in the yard or in front of your SL home. Solidly built to last forever and with flexi prims that wave realistically in the wind, each of these flags also features an adorable big bow tied to the top of the post. Each bow comes in a different colour and is, of course, sculpted for extra realism. SL~abrations! has truly done a great job with these, and they are completely free for you to get! Do not waste any time, go and pick them up now at the Peace on Earth hunt or read more about it at the official blog

——

Photography by Rhonda Pennell (except for the Peace on Earth official logo) using Kirsten’s S18-1 (214) shadow viewer.

Peace on Earth official blog here

Benefit on Saturday, December 5^th to Raise Awareness for the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare

Punk rock porn princess Joanna Angel is in the giving mood this holiday season.  She’s auctioning off a date…with her!

Date night will take place on December 10^th and includes dinner.  Auctioneers are comedians: Brody Stevens, Steve Agee (The Sarah Silverman Show), Ari Shaffir (National Lampoon’s Lost Reality) and BurningAngel’s favorite record critic Chris Nieratko (Vice Magazine, author of Skinema).  Live music and entertainment provided by the adult stars in attendance as well as Fogelfoot and the Makers and special guest DJ Franki Chan.

Please join Joanna, the BurningAngel Girls and a plethora of other adult stars as they celebrate Belladonna and Kimberly Kane’s Winter Wonderland party to benefit AIM Healthcare.

Saturday, December 5^th 2009, Busby’s East, 5364 Wilshire Blvd (west of La Brea), Los Angeles, CA. Red Carpet starts at 7 p.m. sharp

21+ please

$20 donation at the door to raise money and awareness for Adult Industry Medical Healthcare

http://www.burningangel.com/events/gallery/127/win-a-date-with-joanna

Welcome back to Sex Fifth Avenue! Won’t you please cum inside?

Careena Collins and Ron Jeremy return…and bring back their dirty memories of the good ol’ days!  Sex Fifth Avenue is an exclusive sex club run by influential members of a small town, but now it’s in jeopardy due to the snooping of a nosy female reporter.

She wants the club shut down to preserve the morality of the town (and her teen daughter) but what she doesn’t realize is that her daughter is already a horny slut who goes to the club regularly!

Return to Sex Fifth Avenue features every flavor of fucking, spanking and cock sucking.  The climax of this film is an all-out orgy that is not to be missed!  Starring some of the biggest male stars of the era – including Careena Collins, Ron Jeremy, Peter North and Tom Byron – this kinky feature film is truly a classic.

Stars: Ron Jeremy, Peter North, Tom Byron, Careena Collins, Steve Powers, Mike Horner, Jack Baker, Buffy Davis, Paul Thomas, Troy Tanner, Tanya Foxx, Liz Randall, Regine Bardot, Karen Bree, and Sherry Anderson.

Check out all the titles at Vantage Distribution’s web site:  visit http://v9catalog.com

CUPERTINO, California—November 4, 2009—Apple® today announced that developers have created over 100,000 apps for the revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. iPhone® and iPod touch® customers in 77 countries can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. App Store users have downloaded well over two billion apps, continuing to make it the world’s most popular applications store.

“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”

In its latest mobile entertainment-related trick, adult entertainment studio Pink Visual has scaled down the experience of going to a topless bar down to pocket size – all that’s missing is the fake smoke, the overwhelming scent of body spray, and the retroactive regret of finding your wallet a couple hundred dollars lighter the morning after.

In assembling its new mobile site PVStrips.com (www.pvstrips.com), Pink Visual took striptease footage featuring the studio’s most popular performers and ‘enhanced’ it with real-life touches, including voiceovers done in quintessential strip club DJ style.

“We get a lot of feedback from our fans saying that they’d like to see more striptease content, especially on our web and mobile sites,” said Kim Kysar, brand and product manager for Pink Visual. “We thought, why not have some fun with it? Rather than just post some striptease footage on our existing sites, we decided to go a little further in replicating the experience you’d get at an actual club.”

Pink Visual Director Matt Morningwood said that producing the striptease videos was a pleasant departure from shooting hardcore sex scenes, both for him and for the talent involved.

“Don’t get me wrong: I love filming porn, but this footage was a lot of fun to shoot, and since the dance moves employed were all entirely up to the individual performers, aspects of the girls’ personalities come through that don’t get an opportunity to shine in the hardcore shoots,” Morningwood said. “A lot of models also tour as feature dancers, but many of our girls have never done any stripping before, or haven’t danced with a camera serving as the ‘customer,’ so this was a new experience for them.”

While there’s clearly no substitute for being lied to in person by a young woman who swears she’s only stripping as a means to pay tuition along her way to becoming a doctor or world-renowned physicist, Pink Visual thinks it is otherwise well on the way to capturing the topless club vibe. Kysar vows that the company has more tricks up its sleeve that will make the experience feel even more lifelike, including an option to ‘tip’ girls that feeds into their rating on the site.

Kysar added, however, that Pink Visual also understands there are limits to how much they can (and should) match their virtual club with its real world counterparts.

“You’ll know we’re really getting out of hand with simulating reality when we start charging $14 for a bottle of domestic beer,” Kysar said.

NEW YORK—November 12, 2009—Apple® will open its newest retail store on New York’s Upper West Side on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m. Set beneath a breathtaking all-glass arched roof, the street level of the Apple Store® Upper West Side offers more Macs, iPods and iPhones than any store in the world for an incredible hands-on experience. The lower level features the largest area ever created by Apple for personal training and technical support, including a 45-foot Genius Bar. Located on Broadway at 67th Street, the Apple Store Upper West Side is just minutes from Lincoln Center and Central Park.

“We opened our first store in Manhattan seven years ago, and the response has been incredible,” said Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail. “We hope our new store on the Upper West Side will become as much a part of the community as our stores in SoHo, the Meatpacking District and on Fifth Avenue.”

Stanton Foundation invests $890,000 in non-profit encyclopedia to help study and simplify user interface for first-time authors

SAN FRANCISCO CA, December 3 – The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization behind Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), today announced a new project designed to make it easier to contribute articles to the the free, volunteer-written encyclopedia. The organization has received a grant of $890,000 from the U.S.-based Stanton Foundation to make Wikipedia’s writing and editing interface easier to use for first-time authors. The grant will be used to fund a project team at the Wikimedia Foundation’s offices in San Francisco.

“Wikipedia attracts writers who have a moderate-to-high level of technical understanding, but it excludes lots of smart, knowledgeable people who are less tech-centric,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “One of our key priorities is to attract those people and persuade them to help write and edit the encyclopedia. I am thrilled that the Stanton Foundation recognizes the importance of that work, and will be helping us with it.”

The project team will include three full-time software developers, a user interface designer, and a project manager. The team will commission research to identify the most common barriers to entry for first-time writers, and then work to systematically reduce or eliminate them. It will specifically focus on hiding complex elements of the user interface from people who don’t need them. The project will run through 2009, and all resulting improvements will be made available as open source software.

The Wikimedia Foundation is currently in the midst of its sixth annual giving campaign. Throughout the campaign, visitors to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects are encouraged to make a donation through a site-wide banner on every page and article. The Stanton Foundation grant is a restricted gift which will not count towards the Wikimedia Foundation’s operating budget of $6 million for 2008-2009.

Questions and answers about the project can be found here.

Arlington, Virginia - 12/3/2009

The 2010 International CES today announced an expanded lineup of entertainment technology attractions to address growing demand from Hollywood and the content community for exhibits, conference sessions and show highlights featuring collaboration between the content and technology industries. Owned and produced by CEA, the 2010 International CES, the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology, will be held January 7-10, 2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NBC Universal returns to the CES show floor with a multi-platform content exhibit and will be the official broadcast partner of the 2010 International CES. In addition, CNET/CBS Interactive will exhibit and serve as the official online media partner of the 2010 CES. Sony will join content-focused companies exhibiting at the 2010 International CES, including Dolby, Dreamer, DTS, EchoStar, Roxio, Technicolor and THX.

“The 2010 International CES has a starring role as the must-attend event to experience the latest content distribution platforms and learn strategies for monetizing digital content,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president of events and conferences of CEA. “CES showcases companies and products at the intersection of content and technology, and also offers strategic insights via the great content-focused conference programs at the 2010 CES. It’s the place to be in January for anyone related to the content industry.”

INDIANAPOLIS (December 2, 2009) — The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) has announced that after one more year in Atlanta in 2010, its annual trade show, CEDIA EXPO, will move back to Indianapolis, one of its original host locations.  CEDIA EXPO will take place September 22-26, 2010 in Atlanta, then will be held September 7-11, 2011 and September 5-9, 2012 in Indianapolis.

“After listening to members’ feedback and closely monitoring the trend of exhibitors’ booths, CEDIA leadership performed extensive research on the viability of bringing EXPO back to a city that not only is cost-effective for our exhibitors but accommodates the needs of our attendees and members across the globe,” said Ken Erdmann, CEDIA chairman. “Our members are very fond of Indianapolis.  With the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and new hotels, Indianapolis is once again able to provide CEDIA EXPO with a platform to grow.”

While CEDIA is based in Indianapolis, the association operates internationally, and its annual tradeshow draws tens of thousands of attendees from dozens of countries. Indianapolis hosted CEDIA EXPO from 1999-2001 and again from 2003-2005. The expansion of the Indiana Convention Center includes the addition of more than 250,000 square feet of exhibit/meeting space and a brand new Marriott Place hotel complex with more than 1,300 rooms.

About CEDIA

CEDIA is an international trade association of companies that specialize in designing and installing electronic systems for the home. The association was founded in September 1989 and has more than 3,500 member companies worldwide. CEDIA Members are established and insured businesses with bona fide qualifications and experience in this specialized field. For more information on CEDIA, visit the association’s Web site at www.cedia.org.

Summary: 

Roll-Kraft’s Steve Zienka, Engineering Manager, spoke to a group of students interested in science, design, and engineering during Career Week at northeast Ohio’s Notre Dame Cathedral Latin High School.  Mr. Zienka presented the various aspects of career options in the tube, pipe, and roll forming industries. 

MENTOR, OH,  December, 2009

Roll-Kraft was recently represented during Career Week at the nearby Notre Dame Cathedral Latin High School.  Mr. Steve Zienka, Engineering Manager at Roll-Kraft, spoke to juniors and seniors about career options in the tube, pipe, and roll forming industries during the science, design, and engineering portion of the program.   Roll-Kraft holds a prominent position in designing and manufacturing roll tooling, and Mr. Zienka’s many years of experience provided first-hand knowledge of the industry.

In addition, Mr. Zienka shared an assortment of products that were manufactured by Roll-Kraft’s tooling, and demonstrated Roll-Kraft’s custom tube and pipe tooling design software, which allows  testing of engineering designs in a virtual setting before manufacturing begins.

Roll-Kraft is active in many community organizations and provides similar support to students and curricula in the various schools and colleges in Northeast Ohio.

About Roll-Kraft:

Roll-Kraft is a designer and manufacturer of roll tooling and roll forming equipment for welded tube, pipe, and metal roll forming producers, with headquarters in Mentor, Ohio, and offices in Frankfurt, Illinois (Roll-Kraft Northern), and Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada (Roll-Kraft Ltd.).  Roll-Kraft can be reached by phone at (440) 205-3100, or fax at (440) 205-3110.  Roll-Kraft president, Chuck Gehrisch, can be contacted at 888-953-9400.  For more information about Roll-Kraft products and services, please visit www.roll-kraft.com.