New iMacs

The new iMacs are amazing. I went to see one in the store the other day and wow! That mouse, the screen are great. The mouse particularly struck me. I've thought that this would be a great idea a while ago but to see it in action now is great. And that it runs with the built in radio is great, no need to have a USB dongle in addition!

Frankly I must say that (even though I am not much of a Mac user) the quality of design, the attention to detail that goes into an Apple product is great. No wonder they sell - it's just a great exchange value to the customer.

What I wasn't so happy about is that only 3 weeks before the new iMac was released, I had bought the earlier version for the same value. That was rather boring. In fact I think it was really lame, they should offer a free upgrade of RAM or something like that at least. Or a coupon for a major discount on the new mouse or whatever.

On PCs we know that there are constanly new PCs coming out and that one buys a PC there'll be something like it the next week so it's not so upsetting.

Well that's my first experience with a mac...

Official Scientology Press Release on French Scientology Case

Here is the official press release from the Church of Scientology on the court case it was published a little while a go and I never put it on my blog. 

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY DEFEATS ATTEMPT TO CURTAIL FREEDOM TO PRACTICE THE RELIGION IN FRANCE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Karin Pouw
Church of Scientology International
(323) 960-3500

October 27, 2009

The Paris Correctional Court today rejected the recommendations of prosecutors in a case against a Paris Scientology Church, a Scientology bookstore and six individual Church members.  The Court cited the absence of any complaints against the Church in more than a decade and that the defendants had acted out of sincere religious conviction as the reason for refusing the draconian sanctions sought by the government.  The Court imposed no restrictions on the Church's activities.

The case arose out of the five-month participation in Scientology religious practices in 1998 by the main civil party.   This included studying Scientology Scriptures and receiving spiritual counseling. Throughout the month-long trial held in May and June 2009, the Church decried the case as a blatant heresy trial and an example of the discriminatory treatment to which new religious movements are treated in France-treatment that has been condemned by international human rights bodies.  In its annual International Religious Freedom Report issued on
October 26, 2009 the United States State Department said that "discriminatory treatment" of Scientologists in France "remained a concern."

In 2006, the prosecutor recommended the case be dismissed because there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.  Instead, the court succumbed to pressure from anti-religious extremists in government and turned it into a heresy trial in violation of the rights of the Scientologists under French law and under the European Convention on Human Rights.

This is in marked contrast to the treatment of Scientology in other countries where Scientology is formally recognized as a religion. The European Court of Human Rights has on two recent occasions found that
Churches of Scientology in Russia are entitled to the protection of religious freedom guaranteed by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Today's decision means that Scientologists remain free to practice their religion in France, despite the best efforts to the contrary by anti-religious extremists.  While the fines and suspended sentences issued by the Court will be appealed, they will have no effect on Church activities and the rapid expansion the Church is experiencing will continue.

The Church of Scientology has grown from one Church in 1954 to more than 8,000 Churches, Missions and groups in 165 countries today. The Church sponsors an international human rights education initiative as well as the world's largest non-governmental drug education program. Four new Churches have opened in 2009, most recently the Church of Scientology of Rome on October 24, with a new Church opening in Washington, DC, on October 31. In April, three new Churches were dedicated: in Malmo, Sweden; Dallas, Texas; and Nashville, Tennessee. The Scientology religion has expanded more in the past year than in the past five years combined and more in the past five years than in the past five decades combined.

oOo

And down came the Berlin Wall

Wow, it's already 20 years since the wall came down. Still feels pretty recent though.

I went to visit Berlin last year and was impressed by the speed at which the city has been rebuilt. I love that city, totally different from Paris but really great.

As my girlfriend was from East Germany, we went to see the family in East Berlin and then further in former East Germany, and that is where we got to see what communism did to those places.

They were run down, dirty and amazingly ugly. There was just no space for creation, for artists or for being different. I am posting a picture below which will give an idea of what I mean. And yet, Dessau the city I was in, was one of the hubs of the Bauhaus design movement! Modern design, art-deco all that came after the Bauhaus which was a turning point in design.

While Berlin is better than Dessau - the eastern part of Berlin still bears some serious scars from the communism era.

Well all this Berlin Wall talk, reminds me of the relief that I personally felt when the wall came down. It's odd that as a teenager in a different country (and I wasn't a super responsible teen) I personally felt a relief when this happened.

I guess this is part of the Dynamics that Hubbard mentioned in the book Scientology: A New Slant on Life on the chapter The Eight Dynamics.

Well it's great to celebrate more freedom!

Typical building - 20 years after the wall came down!

News on the Scientology case in France

The verdict of this morning was a fine to a Church of Scientology in Paris and several of the members plus a suspended jail sentence for some members. The case is being appealed and we will see what happens then. In my opinion the biggest part of this case is that the government cancelled the law permitting it to ban a religious group for the mistakes of one person.

That is a major step forward for human rights in France which has had a tarnished history when it comes to minorities (religious and otherwise). Despite a very gory revolution, tyranny came back in power only a few years later. And even though that revolution brought the first declaration of Human Rights - the country has never been famous for ensuring these rights are followed. But I believe this is a major step in the right direction.

As the case goes to appeal now we will see later how it will progress. This isn't the first time Scientology goes to court in France, nor in any other major country in the world. Spain took 17 years, Italy took about 20, US took more than that.

What really matters is what Scientology and other religious minorities do for society. The actions such as drug prevention, literacy campaigns, disaster aid and personal help to the followers make Scientology and other minorities continue to exist and expand.

Lily Allen Concert at Le Zenith in Paris

Last night I went to see the Lily Allen concert at Le Zenith.

Great concert and a great hall. Le Zenith fits about 6000 or so people so the crowd was not too big. It's a major difference to the big bands like Coldplay, U2 etc who fill stadiums and if you're not in the crowd you are just not going to see too much.

As the seats were not numbered we went early so we could catch good places. We came at about an hour early and the hall was only one quarter full. I was worried the concert would be empty, but it filled up.

By the time the warm up band came on the hall was totally full. Then Just Jack came on and the show began. I wasn't sure what to expect from them, but was pleasantly surprised. In fact I found them much better on stage than on their studio recordings. They had punch and life and really got the crowd going.

Here is a nice recording (not mine - all my photos and recordings were so bad I had to trash them) of them doing their song "The Day I Died"



Just Jack managed to get the entire crowd on their feet at the end of their show which was quite a feat. So hat's off to them.

And after them, wait...

Stage gets set up and finally Lily Allen comes on: (another video I didn't take).


She announced that she had been sick all week so her voice may be slightly croaky. But we didn't care - we wanted to see her sing. She also announced that this was her first major concert on her own and with her own big stage so we had to get this one done with her. Which we all agreed to.

She did, Oh My God by Kaiser Chiefs which was awesome, Naive by the Kooks and Womanizer by Britney Spears in addition to all her songs of course.

Lilly does "Smile"


Overall the concert was great. The worst part was probably the two people in front of us who really could have done with some deodorant.

All the best for the rest of the tour Lily.

The Way to Happiness as a Feature length film!

I was just told about the brand new "The Way to Happiness" Feature Length film! Wow, needless to say I am excited to get my copy. It was just released in East Grinstead, at Saint Hill for the 25th Anniversary of the International Association of Scientologists.

The booklet is a tremendously practical guide to life, not proselytizing for Scientology or any other religion, but just based on common sense and not in an authoritarian way. I think we are all tired of being told, you musn't do so and so and you must do the other.

The Way to Happiness is practical and useful, and it's up to date with society.

As soon as it is up on their site you can order it from here: New Era Publications Official Website or click on this links that go through their Paypal site: http://bit.ly/1twthDVD

Nobel Peace Prize to Obama

I must say I was rather astonished to hear that Obama was awarded the Nobel peace prize. I sort of confused me that someone who has just started working on peace is already being awarded the most famous prize for the subject.

If he had ended the war in Iraq and Afganistan and invested the hundreds of millions being spent there every day into the economic crisis I would have understood. But none of that happened, the war is still going on.

Now this post isn't for or against Obama, but rather on the subject of rewarding people for products achieved. There's a concept I grew up with in Scientology which is that rewards, recognitions, recompense etc are all given based on quality products achieved. And there's a balance between quality and quantity.

There are hundreds of people who have done things for peace and surely many would have earned the award. On the other hand with two major wars going - maybe the prize should be given to the one who stops these wars.

PS: Isn't it ironic that the most famous Peace Prize was created by the one who produced the dynamite for which wars are the biggest consumer.